The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
TREE SERVICE GROWS AS TIMBER COMES DOWN
Lavish Lawn Care & Tree Service has grown from a one-man operation to one of Lorain’s hometown specialists in taking down timber.
“Where I’m at in the food chain, I’m satisfied,” said owner and founder Adrian Velez, 48.
Velez began the company when he was working for steel company supplier P.C. Campana.
Spring, summer and fall were busy for the company, which remained open as an essential service during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
An alumnus of the former Admiral King High School, Velez said his interest in outdoor work originated in mowing his own lawn, an enjoyable point of pride at home.
Working for others grew into a side job that he would do after his shift ended at P.C. Campana, with Velez working both for five years.
"Where I’m at in the food chain, I’m satisfied.” — Owner Adrian Velez, 48
One winter, when work slowed at the plant, Velez said he offered to take a voluntary layoff from P.C. Campana.
He left there on good terms, and after a month, the landscaping company took off — due to winter storms and snow plowing, he said.
Customers needed more than just grass cut.
Velez said he kept giving away tree work until finally decided to take it on.
“When you’re on the property, they’re asking you for everything — hey, do you know somebody who paints? Do you know somebody who does this?” Velez said. “And I was always giving away the tree work.
“Finally I said, I can’t keep giving this stuff away, I have to start doing this.”
He added a bucket truck and chipper truck to his fleet and began offering the service
Velez rented cranes from Leimeister Crane Service until about six years ago, when he bought his own, a 28-ton, 100-foot reach crane mounted on a Ford chassis.
“There’s been no looking back ever since,” he said.
When not in use for tree trimming, the crane doubles for lifting objects up and over things, such as hoisting roof trusses, air conditioners to rooftops or carrying heavy loads over a fence and into a yard.
The company is based in a shop at West 13th Street and Washington Avenue in Lorain.
The jobs take them across Lorain, Cuyahoga and Erie counties.
The tree crew includes two sets of brothers, Markie and Orlando Santiago, and Elliott and David Feliciano.
Markie Santiago serves as lead climber, making him the conductor of operations when cutting starts from the
top down.
On the ground, Chello Carreras and Zach Marshall make up the mowing team and usually work away from the tree team.
On large trees, the work can be dangerous with height, chainsaws and the possibility of falling branches.
OnOct. 14, Velez had.a cut tree trunk still loaded on the bed of the crane.
The diameter appeared at least three feet across, with the wood largely solid.
The trunk was the remainder of a tree that blew over onto a house in South Lorain this fall.
“There’s nothing small in South Lorain,” Velez said.
That day’s job did not require using the crane.
The crew was clearing trees from the back property line of a new house in the McIntosh Farms subdivision off Moon Road in Avon.
On one side of the home, a new house was under construction with builders adding the roof that day.
On the other, the homeowner’s backyard was graded with grass growing.
The Lavish Lawn Care & Tree Service worksite was in between, both in location and progression, of creating a family outdoor space.
The cutting crew used chainsaws to take down trunks and branches, which were fed into a chipper to become wood chips.
The clearing was impressive because that morning, the greenery was so thick the workers could not see through it, Velez said.
If owners don’t want to keep a downed tree for firewood, muchof it goes to Brian’s Wood & Eggs of Collins.
Chipped wood goes to Alvarado Landscaping Inc. & Garden Center of Lorain to become mulch.
“So, everything gets reused,” Velez said.
The crew works yearround, but business slows down in December through February, Velez said.
They do winter plowing when snow falls.
Velez thanked his customers and workers because there’s no way he could do the job by himself.
He said his wife, Dina, and their children, Adrianna, 14, and Adrian, 9, also back the business.
“I definitely cannot take the credit myself, that’s the bottom line,” Velez said. “If you want some longevity in anything, you have to be humble.
“I know where I come from, and I definitely am humble.”