The Very Beginning

Forge Ahead Consulting & Software is the culmination of Rick Kier’s 40 year career in the snow removal and landscape grounds care industry. As a pre-teen, Rick enjoyed using his father’s snow blower to clear the family driveway and soon started doing some of the neighbors for $2.00 each time out. He saved his money so that he could buy his first lawn mower and soon started mowing neighborhood lawns as well. At age 15, Rick bought his first plow truck and worked all through high school plowing driveways and mowing lawns with the intention to grow his business. He soon hired some friends to help with the work and by the time Rick graduated high school, he had three trucks on the road making him money. In those early days, he called his company “Rick Kier Summer and Winter Services”.

Early Growth

Rick continued to operate the business while he attended Alfred and Morrisville State Colleges earning his degree in Landscape Horticulture. The business began to grow in earnest and the name was changed to “Pro Scapes” to better fit the professional, high quality work Rick and his team were committed to. A wide variety of grounds care services such as lawn care and flower planting were added to the basics. Accounting, dispatching and record keeping were all computerized in 1985. Pro Scapes incorporated in 1987 and in 1988 moved to a new 12 acre site Rick had purchased.

Changing Markets

During the 1990’s Pro Scapes Inc. continued to grow steadily and a wide variety of different landscape construction services were added to the offering. The team soon realized the value of focusing on certain aspects of the market and began to concentrate on providing year-round grounds care services for commercial, industrial customers as well as large Homeowner’s Associations. Pro Scapes Inc. continued to offer lawn fertilization and irrigation services to residential clients but shifted all other work to the commercial market.

Involvement with Associations

In 1994, Rick became an active member of ALCA, a national trade association for landscape professionals. This offered opportunities to exchange knowledge and experience with other landscape professionals from all of the US and Canada. ALCA later became PLANET and finally, NALP, as it is known today. While attending the 1995 ALCA convention, Rick met others who invited him to help form the Snow and Ice Management Association (SIMA). SIMA is a trade association for snow removal experts that has grown to over 2,000 members worldwide. Attending annual conventions of both organizations has been a great opportunity for Rick and his team to gather and share new ideas across the industry. Rick has always been one to give back. He often speaks at conventions of various trade associations across the snowbelt of North America and always helps other contractors when asked. Consulting with other contractors has been in Rick’s blood from day one.

Adapting for the Future

In 2008, Rick and Karen invested in building a new facility on their property which would provide ample office space for the growing team of managers as well as provide dedicated meeting space for employee training. It was a natural step in professionalizing the business operations. Soon after, Rick’s wife Karen joined the team full time to help take the company to the next level. As a former social worker, she was well attuned to dealing with people. She focused on company culture, human resources, education, career development for team members, and safety, which allowed Pro Scapes to grow threefold over the next ten years. More importantly, Pro Scapes grew in a way that was sustainable, people oriented, and safety minded – all critical aspects in today’s modern business world. In 2014 their son Jeff came on board to play a key role in developing industry specific software that would fully automate the company and accommodate today’s digital world. Through the software program they designed for iPhone, iPad, and computers, the company was able to implement real time planning, dispatching, and recording of work and go 100% paperless. The savings of time and resources allowed them to reinvest in both their employees and their equipment.

Innovative Equipment

As the company and its reputation for quality and professionalism grew, Rick was asked by many vendors to test prototypes of grounds care equipment. As industry leaders, Rick and his team were always eager to try the latest innovations in snow removal and landscape equipment. The team used all sorts of cutting edge equipment and provided critical feedback to the factories for product improvement. Rick was never afraid to try new ideas. In 2009 Rick was one of the first in the USA to use inverse snowblowers on agricultural tractors to clear condominium driveways cutting clearing time in half. In 2017 Rick invested in equipment needed to make his own salt brine which helped the company become an industry forerunner in reducing salt usage to protect our environment. The team also designed and created some of it’s own equipment in order to achieve “industry best” results in the most efficient manner.

Consulting and the Future

With the success of Pro Scapes Inc., more people were interested in learning how to do the same things with their businesses. After so many requests for help, in 2017 Rick and Karen made their consulting official and opened a new business “Forge Ahead Consulting & Software LLC.” They began traveling to help other contractors and brought many contractors to see Pro Scapes Inc. in action firsthand. In August 2019, Karen and Rick sold the business operations of Pro Scapes Inc. to the largest landscape grounds care company in the USA. The deal was a huge undertaking and took almost a year to finalize. They developed vast knowledge of mergers and acquisitions as well as the need for planning and having an exit strategy. Consulting provided the long-term plan Rick and Karen sought and selling Pro Scapes provided them the opportunity to focus on this new venture full time.

“It has been very exciting to take the programs we perfected at Pro Scapes Inc. and use them to help younger contractors grow their businesses without all the “trial and error” we experienced over the past 41 years. This is the core of our consulting business. We give back to the industry by helping other contractors and property managers get to the best results sooner with less headaches than if they had to figure everything out on their own."

Rick Kier, CSP, CLP