Be it residential lawn care or an industrial project, folks in the Leechburg and Gilpin area will be seeing some familiar faces as the weather heats up.
Leechburg natives Chace Wadsworth, 23, and John Wagner, 24, are cornering the local market in landscaping services.
The men have worked together since 2025 in Wadsworth’s company, Property Polishers, which he founded in 2022.
Appropriately named, the company specializes in maintenance services that put finishing touches on properties, including mulching, trimming bushes, pulling weeds, laying decorative rock, mowing, weed whacking and edging garden beds.
The business partners’ latest endeavor is the takeover of Boulder Landscape, Excavation and Supply in Gilpin.
“I like being busy,” Wadsworth said about running two companies. “I like working.”
Wagner said the previous owner of Boulder Landscape, Kristopher Kulick, approached him and Wadsworth last summer about selling the company.
They signed the papers in September.
“It’s been exciting and scary,” Wagner said. “I think we’re both definitely working on our gray hairs.”
The men have known Kulick since their high school days when he was a business and computer and information technology teacher in Leechburg Area School District.
In their professional lives, they’ve both worked various jobs with Kulick and maintained a good relationship between Property Polishers and Boulder Landscape.
According to the Boulder Landscape website, Kulick opened the company in 2014 after leaving teaching. He reportedly told Wagner and Wadsworth he decided to sell so he could spend more time with his family.
Kulick, of Gilpin, declined a TribLive interview request.
Wagner said Kulick has been staying with the company on a part-time basis and acts as a mentor for them.
“He’s been in the business a lot longer than us, so he’s been able to give some wisdom we don’t have quite yet,” Wadsworth said.
On the flip side of Property Polishers, Boulder Landscape offers landscape supplies, stocking different types of stone, mulch, rock, sand and soil. Boulder Landscaping also offers excavation, dumpster rentals and hardscaping jobs.
“We like the idea of keeping (the businesses) separate,” Wagner said. “They both have their own reputation.”
Between the two companies, the men manage a team of 10 to 12 employees, depending on seasonal work.
Through running both companies, Wadsworth and Wagner have realized at least one thing about themselves. They have grit, Wadsworth said.
“It definitely takes a little bit to make this happen,” Wadsworth said. “Through adversity, we can push on.”
Wagner called the experience humbling.
“Entrepreneurship is almost like a constant path of personal development and self-improvement,” he said. “The business is only ever as good as you are. You almost have to constantly improve yourself.”
Wadsworth said community members have been supportive of Kulick passing the torch to him and Wagner.
Both agreed it has been challenging to navigate their friendship and business relationship. Wagner said he spends more time with Wadsworth than anyone else most days.
Learning how to hold each other accountable while maintaining their friendship has been a large part of their professional growth.
“We’ve learned to become best friends and business partners,” Wagner said.