The commercial engine: who buys landscaping by the property, and how we find them
Urth Landscaping, 23 September 2026. Worker plan for Alan (dispatch URTH-20260923-003Z). Nothing here is decided, and nothing in it has been sent to anyone. Figures come from public sources read today; where a figure is somebody else's claim that could not be checked, it says "unconfirmed".
One page
Commercial for Urth is more than the lead platforms. The website already names fourteen kinds of client, from associations to gas stations. Each kind has its own source of names, its own signal that says "now", its own thing we hand them, and its own first contact. That four-step chain is the engine, and every chain below is written the same way.
What exists today:
- Associations and their property managers (built today, live in the app as the HOA registry tool). 18,011 associations across Miami-Dade (6,825), Broward (5,490), Palm Beach (5,486) and the northern Keys (210), rebuilt from the county registry, the state's condominium and cooperative files and the four counties' parcel maps. 4,288 are pinned on the common grounds they own; a management company is known for 6,823. A monthly pull reports what is new: 264 registrations have appeared in Miami-Dade since Alan's saved export of September 2025.
- Property managers are the lever. 756 management companies answer for those 6,823 associations. The biggest in our counties by portfolio: Seacrest Services (341 associations, mostly Palm Beach), Campbell Property Management (194, Broward and Palm Beach), Phoenix Management Services (193), Miami Association Management (134, 89 of them in Miami-Dade), FirstService Residential (115, 16,746 units), KW Property Management (113, 23,008 units, 80 in Miami-Dade). Each has a card in the tool with its properties on a map, the ones we would want and why, an evaluation and a proposal outline.
- Development leads: free county permit data finds houses being torn down and rebuilt: 190 demolition-then-new-house folios in Miami-Dade's county permits over two years, 121 in Coconut Grove alone from the City of Miami's permits. The state's free tax roll finds lots bought to redevelop: 135 strong candidates in zip 33133 (land worth 80% or more of the property, bought by a company since 2024, often now vacant or pre-1960).
- General contractors: 13,877 active general, building and residential contractors are licensed in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach; the permits show the few hundred actually building now, and which ones build custom houses in the Grove and the Gables.
- Government: the road-landscaping contracts are public with their winners (Superior Landscaping, Visualscape, Grow Care, T&M Lawn-Fence, Knight Property Management on the state's District 6 and 4 lettings). Subcontracting to them is realistic now; a prime bid is not yet.
- The other client classes on the website (retail, convenience stores, fast food, gas stations, dealerships, industrial, hotels, healthcare, schools, public facilities): each has a free list. Gas stations, for example: 750 open retail stations in Miami-Dade, 553 in Broward, 400 in Palm Beach from the state's storage-tank register, grouped by operator so one yes covers many sites.
- Lead platforms: open the free ones now (Google Business Profile, Yelp page, Nextdoor page, Facebook page, the free Yellow Pages listing); prepare Google Local Services Ads and keep them off until there are reviews, insurance papers and someone to answer the phone; keep Thumbtack paused; Angi only pay-per-lead, never an advertising contract.
The order of work (worker suggestion): property managers first (the data is built and the prize is biggest); general contractors on custom houses second (one presentation, recurring work, and landscape is on the path to the certificate of occupancy); development leads as a monthly feed to both; government as subcontract offers to the current winners; the platforms as free listings for reviews and cash-flow jobs.
1. The chain, class by class
| Client class (as on urthlandscaping.com) | Where the names come from (input) | The "now" signal | What we produce (output) | First contact (planned, not made) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeowner and master associations | Miami-Dade registry; the counties' parcel maps (the land an association owns); Sunbiz (needs Alan's decision) | New registration; new board; a manager change; the budget season (third and fourth quarter) | A one-page community evaluation from the aerial and a walk: turf, beds, trees, entrance, irrigation, with a price band | The property manager if there is one; otherwise the board through the manager's office or Sunbiz's listed address |
| Condominium associations | The state's condominium file (every condominium, its units, often its manager) | The same, plus the state's "delinquent" flag | The same evaluation, lighter on turf, heavier on entrance, planters and pool deck | The manager named on the state record |
| Property management companies | The state's licensed firms file; the "care of" lines and office addresses in the association files | A firm growing its portfolio (new associations under its name each month) | A portfolio proposal: the company's properties on a map, the ones we want, a pilot on two or three | The regional director, or the manager of the pilot community |
| General contractors | The state's contractor licences; county and city permits ranked by active permits | A permit reaching final inspection within 3 to 9 months | A capability sheet and a prequalification packet (insurance, W-9, licences, references), priced per project | The estimator, or the project manager on a named project |
| Real estate developers | Tax roll (company buyers, land-heavy value, vacant lots), demolition permits, site-plan applications | A sale, then a demolition permit, then a new-house permit | An early offer: planting-plan value engineering with the landscape architect, installation, maintenance through the warranty | The development manager named on the application, or the company's registered agent (Sunbiz) |
| Landscape architects and designers | The state's landscape architect licences (98 individuals and 8 firms in Miami-Dade); designers through the designers' association, Houzz, the Florida-Friendly professional list, permit applicants | A project on the permits with their name as architect | "We install your plans exactly and send photos at 30, 60 and 90 days" | The architect or designer directly |
| Property managers of commercial buildings | Tax roll mailing addresses "care of" a management company on commercial parcels | New ownership or a new tenant (certificate of use) | A centre maintenance bid | The property manager listed on the leasing sign or broker listing |
| Hotels and resorts | Tax roll land use 039; county certificates of use | A renovation permit; a new flag | A brand-standard grounds programme with seasonal colour and night lighting | The director of engineering |
| Retail and shopping centres | Tax roll land uses 011, 013, 014, 016 | New tenant certificates of use | A centre bid: parking islands, sign sight lines, irrigation audit | The centre's property manager |
| Convenience stores and gas stations | The state storage-tank register (open retail stations), tax roll land use 026, certificates of use "service station" | A new station or a change of operator | A multi-site route price with a photo report per visit | The operator's facilities manager (one operator often runs many stations) |
| Fast food | Tax roll land uses 021 and 022; certificates of use | A remodel permit | A brand-standards checklist (drive-through sight lines, clean beds) and a multi-unit price | The franchisee group's director of operations |
| Auto dealerships | Tax roll land use 027 | A remodel or new showroom permit | "Showroom-ready" frontage | The dealer principal or general manager |
| Industrial and logistics | Tax roll land uses 041 to 049 with large land; new warehouse permits | A new building reaching completion | Large-area mowing, pond banks, code buffers | The owner's asset manager |
| Healthcare | Tax roll 073 and medical offices; the state's facility locator; certificates of use | New assisted-living certificates of use | A calm, safe grounds programme | Facilities director |
| Education | Private schools (tax roll 072); public school vendor lists | The school calendar (summer work) | A calendar-based plan | Business manager (private); vendor registration (public) |
| Public facilities | County, city, school board and state bids | A solicitation or an award | A bid, or a subcontract offer to the winner | Only through the procurement process (the "cone of silence" applies once a bid is out) |
2. Associations and property managers (built)
Where it lives. APPS → front door → Start here → HOA registry tool (hoa.html); also under Knowledge & reputation, and in the finder (type "HOA"). Four views over one set of filters: Associations, Map, Property managers, Charts. Every card opens with the aerial.
What it holds (pulled 23 September 2026; full source table in SOURCES.md):
| Miami-Dade | Broward | Palm Beach | Northern Keys | All | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Associations | 6,825 | 5,490 | 5,486 | 210 | 18,011 |
| Homeowner or master | 1,115 | 1,148 | 2,021 | 67 | 4,351 |
| Condominium or cooperative | 5,710 | 4,342 | 3,465 | 143 | 13,660 |
Where the pin is: 4,288 on the association's own common grounds, 3,272 county matched (a condominium building or the parcel at the registered address), 6,563 at the street address (US Census Bureau geocoder), 3,797 at the middle of their zip only, 91 not located (4 geocoder answers fell outside the four counties and were reset). For homeowner and master associations, 3,792 of 4,351 are on their own grounds: the PO-box problem is mostly solved for them.
How the managers are known (each card says which): 3,889 by the "care of" line on the state's condominium record; 1,617 because the association's official mail goes to a licensed firm's registered office; 1,235 because the county sends the common grounds' tax bill to a licensed firm's office; 82 from Alan's saved workbook. Big national firms often run an office on site, so their mail does not go to their head office and they are undercounted; FirstService Residential is the clearest case.
The managers to look at first in Miami-Dade (ranked on their Miami-Dade portfolio only; "wanted" = fit 55 or more):
| Company | Associations in Miami-Dade | Units | Homeowner or master among them | Wanted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Association Management | 89 | 3,577 | 34 | 19 |
| Allied Property Group | 53 | 2,375 | 22 | 9 |
| KW Property Management & Consulting | 80 | 17,771 | 3 | 3 |
| Renovations Property Management | 52 | 4,988 | 5 | 3 |
| FirstService Residential | 42 | 5,580 | 4 | 3 |
| Top Service Property Management | 50 | 2,073 | 3 | 3 |
Worker reading: Miami Association Management and Allied Property Group run the homeowner associations with grounds (the landscaping-heavy kind) in our home county, which makes them the first two manager cards to open. KW and FirstService run towers: large contracts on paper, little ground each. In Broward and Palm Beach, MLP Property Management (119 associations, 89 wanted, 2,162 acres of common grounds), Lang Management (89, 55 wanted) and Davenport Professional Property Management (72, 50 wanted) are the ground-heavy portfolios, a longer drive but the same pitch.
The fit score (0 to 100, never distance): a homeowner or master association starts higher than a condominium (the grounds are its job; a tower of 8 floors or more starts lowest); acres of common grounds and units add; a known manager adds (one relationship opens many); a lapsed registration subtracts. 1,609 associations score 55 or more.
What Alan can do with it today: open a manager card, look at the map of what it runs, read "the ones we would want, and why", press "drive past the ones we want" for a Google Maps route through up to nine of them, and read the draft evaluation and proposal. Nothing on the page sends anything.
Limits, said plainly: Miami-Dade's parcel points carry no area for most common grounds, so Miami-Dade acreage is understated (the card says "the county does not publish their size"); Broward's parcel layer with owners dates from July 2024; the address match to a firm's office picks the first licensed firm when several share a building; 3,797 associations are still at the middle of their zip code.
3. Development leads: permits and sales
Input.
- Miami-Dade County's building permits, updated daily, two years rolling (139,367 permits; mostly unincorporated Miami-Dade plus part of the cities). Each permit has the folio, the type (new, demolition, alteration), the use, the value, the contractor, the architect and the owner.
- The City of Miami's permits since 2014 (Coconut Grove is in it) and its tree permits (tree removal and replacement is planting work). The city's permit service looks capped at 153,000 rows, so recent years may be incomplete (unconfirmed).
- The state's tax roll and sales files for Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, free, yearly.
- Not available as open data: Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Palm Beach County and most Broward cities (lookup portals only). Fort Lauderdale's permit feed stopped in March 2026.
Processing.
- Nightly: new permits since yesterday.
- Weekly: match demolition or tree-removal permits to new single-family permits on the same folio (a teardown), and flag permits that reach final inspection.
- Yearly (July and October): score parcels for "bought to redevelop": a sale in the last 24 months; land at least 80% of the value, or the parcel turned vacant; a company buyer or an out-of-state mailing address; a small old house (built before 1960). A demolition permit confirms it.
Output. A lead sheet per folio: the address, the stage (bought, demolished, permitted, near completion), the builder and its licence, the architect, the owner company, the value. The builder gets an installation approach; the new owner gets a maintenance approach at completion. New houses take 8 to 24 months from permit to certificate of occupancy; landscape is one of the last trades.
What today's test found. 190 folios in the county permits with both a demolition and a new single-family permit (104 of them owned by a company). In Coconut Grove, 121 folios in the city's permits, for example 2613 Inagua Avenue (demolished January 2026, new house permitted June 2026, 1.25 million dollars) and 3975 Little Avenue (a 2.8 million dollar, 11,944 square foot house). In zip 33133, 135 parcels score as bought to redevelop; 27 of them already appear in the teardown pairs, which is a rough check that the score works. The builders who appear most often in the Grove: Diango Group, Victory Management, AG Contractors, HB Construction, Adasi, Cron, Galaxy, Contemporary Construction Group.
Multiple listing service (MLS). Every feed of the Miami and Beaches listing services needs a licensed agent or broker as the participant, and signed data licence agreements; the broker back-office feed is 1,702 dollars a year; display rules generally forbid using listing data to market a service business (unconfirmed in detail). The realistic path: a friendly licensed agent who sets saved-search alerts (new listings and just-sold in target zips) and forwards them. Paid alternatives, not signed up for: PropStream (99 to 699 dollars a month), BatchLeads (119 to 749), Reonomy (commercial only), ATTOM (sales-quoted).
4. General contractors
Input. The state's contractor licence file (free, weekly): 13,877 active certified general, building and residential contractors across Miami-Dade (5,887), Broward (4,242) and Palm Beach (3,748). Ranked by permits, the ones building now in Miami-Dade's county permits: Lennar (1,571 new houses in two years), D R Horton (249), Bluenest Development (about 100), Guzman Developing (63), Flexible Builders (48); commercial: Civic Construction (60), Alston (17), Brasfield & Gorrie (15). In the City of Miami (custom infill, the best fit for us): RC Construction & Investments (19 new houses since 2022), Diango Group (11), Insignia, Caibai, R&G (7 each), Blanco Design Build and Anrod Builders (6).
Processing. A monthly ranking by active permits and value; for each builder, its open projects expected to reach completion in the next 3 to 9 months; screen out builders with discipline records (the state publishes discipline files).
Output. The presentation below (section 8), a prequalification packet, and a unit-price sheet for change orders. The one-sentence reason a builder should care: in Miami-Dade the landscape plan's preparer must certify landscape and irrigation compliance before the final certificate of occupancy (county code 18A-8), so landscape sits on the builder's critical path.
5. Landscape architects and designers
- Licensed landscape architects (state file, free): Miami-Dade 98 individuals and 8 firms, Broward 119 and 9, Palm Beach 131 and 13. Many who design in Miami are registered elsewhere, so the architect's name on permits is the better list.
- Designers need no licence (Florida law lets anyone do "landscape design" without the title). Find them through the Association of Professional Landscape Designers' directory, Houzz listings (browse, do not scrape), the University of Florida's Florida-Friendly certified professionals list, nursery counters in Homestead and the Redland, and permit applicants.
- The offer: we are their installation and maintenance crew; they keep the client. A referral fee or protected pricing.
- The state chapter of the landscape architects' society sells vendor sponsorships at 5,000 to 15,000 dollars a year; local section events are the cheaper door.
6. Government subcontracting
Alan's notes from December 2025 list the priorities (Miami-Dade plant material and tree services, Miami Beach general and emergency landscape, Miami-Dade fertilizer and landscape, the county's janitorial and landscaping pool) and the gaps (client references, an arborist on staff, a hauling permit, small business certification, insurance limits). Today's research adds who holds the work now:
| Where | Contract | Who holds it |
|---|---|---|
| State roads, District 6 (Miami-Dade, Monroe), 2025 | Landscaping; mowing and litter; power shearing; wildflowers | Superior Landscaping & Lawn Service; Visualscape (two); Grow Care Outdoor Solutions (two); T&M Lawn-Fence Service; Knight Property Management Service; Smiley Interior Renovations; Agricultural Land Services |
| State roads, District 4 (Broward, Palm Beach) | Broward mowing (June 2026) | T&M Lawn-Fence Service. Not yet awarded: Broward landscape (September), Palm Beach landscape and mowing (October 2026) |
| Miami-Dade County | Country Club of Miami golf course, 1,000 days, 15.7 million dollars (February 2026) | BrightView Landscape Services |
| Broward schools | Grounds maintenance, 7 zones, 11 million dollars, to October 2028 | Zone winners not found (unconfirmed). Subcontracting is allowed only for pest control and fertilization. |
Realistic now: offer overflow crews to the road-contract winners above, on named corridors. Next: free registrations (SAM.gov, Miami-Dade's supplier portal, DemandStar, the school boards' vendor lists); Miami-Dade small business certification; the county's janitorial and landscaping pool once an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture is on staff and two references exist; a first state mowing bid once bonding is in place. Miami-Dade's awarded-contracts search needs a normal browser session; the county commission's agenda papers are public and name the winners.
7. The lead platforms, one by one
Each platform behaves differently, and none of them delivers association or commercial contracts; they deliver reviews, cash-flow jobs and some larger installation jobs.
| Platform | How a lead arrives | Cost (Miami figures are unconfirmed everywhere) | Can Urth's software read it? | Does an idle account hurt? | Worker recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Maps and search listing; calls, messages | Free | An application programming interface exists (Google approval) | No charge; a wrong setup gets suspended (a service business must hide its address); ranking fades without reviews | Open now |
| Google Local Services Ads | Pay per lead, the lead is yours alone | About 30 to 80 dollars a lead | Yes, through the Google Ads interface | Slow answers lower the ranking; paused costs nothing | Start verification now (background checks take weeks), keep paused until reviews, insurance and a phone answerer |
| Angi (now includes HomeAdvisor) | Shared with up to five companies, pay per lead; or an advertising subscription | About 300 dollars a year plus 15 to 45 a shared lead | Angi pushes leads to a web address we give it; no pulling | Leads can be paused; the risk is auto-charges and 12-month advertising contracts with early-termination fees | Alan likes Angi's "big lumpy jobs" (new owners fixing up). Worker view: pay-per-lead only, installation categories only, never the advertising contract |
| Thumbtack | Charged when a customer contacts you | Lawn 8 to 20 dollars; landscape more | Partner interface, approval needed; lead webhooks without it | Charged whenever targeting is on | Build the profile, keep it paused; turn on only irrigation, lighting, pavers |
| Yelp | Free page and "request a quote"; click ads with no term | Clicks 5 to 25 dollars | Leads interface is for resellers only | Messaging switches off after 7 days without a reply | Claim the page now, messaging on, no ads |
| Nextdoor | Free page, neighbours' recommendations; zip sponsorships | Sponsorship 32 to 150 dollars a month a zip | No lead interface | No | Open now (the free page); board members recommend vendors there |
| Houzz | Free profile; paid Houzz Pro | Pro about 399 dollars a month | No | No, if free | Free profile later, with hardscape and lighting photos; also a way to find designers |
| Yellow Pages (Thryv) | Free listing; paid call ads under contract | About 17 dollars a call (their figure) | No | Sales calls | Free listing only (keeps the name, address and phone consistent across the web) |
| Page and local groups | Free | Pages interface only | Groups ban advertising | Open a page now; answer questions in groups, do not post ads | |
| GreenPal | Homeowners post mowing jobs, companies bid | 5% plus card fees | No | No | Optional: route-filling mowing near commercial routes (already in the simulator's lead formats) |
| LawnStarter | The platform sets the price | Keeps 21 to 28% | No | No | Skip (margin); already modelled in the simulator as a filler |
| Porch, Networx, Bark | Pay per lead or credits | 10 to 120 dollars | No | Prepaid credits expire | Skip |
| Craigslist | Classified post | 5 dollars a post | No | No | For hiring more than for clients |
Should we open some idle? Yes for the free listings (no charge, and reviews take time to collect). No for anything that charges on contact or signs a term. Opening any account is Alan's action (each needs his details, a verification and sometimes a background check); this lane opened none.
8. Two presentations (outlines)
Full outlines with sources: research/presentation-outlines.md. Anything that needs Urth's own facts is marked "Urth to fill"; nothing is presented that is not yet true.
A. To a property management company (12 to 15 slides, 20 minutes, a pilot as the ask).
- One accountable landscape partner for your portfolio.
- What managers say they need: one contact and a backup, weekly updates, written reports for the board, value over lowest price, credentials they can check.
- Who we are, honestly new, with the owner personally accountable.
- The portfolio model: one account manager, one crew lead per community, one scope template, routes built around their properties (their portfolio map from the HOA tool).
- The free community evaluation, shown on one of their own properties.
- Scope and service standards by season; what is included and what is extra; the storm plan.
- Irrigation management: monthly wet checks, county watering rules, rain sensors.
- Pricing: a monthly price per community, a unit-price sheet for extras, 12 months held, 30-day exit.
- Reporting: after every visit, a monthly page for the board packet, a quarterly walk.
- Response times (Urth to fill).
- Insurance and compliance ready for their vendor programme (FirstService Residential's Florida template: general liability 1 million per occurrence and 2 million aggregate, auto 1 million, workers' compensation, a 5 million umbrella in some cases, the manager and every association named as additional insured).
- Quality control and safety.
- References for a new company: a 90-day pilot with written success criteria.
- The transition plan.
- The ask: one pilot community and a date.
B. To a general contractor (10 to 12 slides, or a two-page packet).
- Landscape and irrigation that never holds up your certificate of occupancy.
- Why: county code 18A-8, landscape is late on site and on the critical path.
- What builders check in a subcontractor, answered one by one.
- What we do ourselves and what we subcontract (hardscape, disclosed).
- Working exactly to the landscape architect's plans; submittals; substitutions only in writing.
- Schedule and coordination: grades, sleeves, the irrigation connection and backflow timing, the planting sequence, a daily report.
- Punch list and closeout package (as-built irrigation, controller sheet, warranty, plant list).
- Warranty and optional establishment maintenance to turnover.
- Permits we handle (tree, irrigation, right of way).
- Insurance and paperwork.
- The hand-over to maintenance after the builder leaves.
- The ask: the bid list for named projects from the permit data.
9. Decisions for Alan
- Sunbiz bulk data: may a lane use the state's published shared login for its public file server? It would add every homeowner association as a corporation (names and addresses; officers dropped).
- Monthly refresh of the HOA tool: job A15 covered this build. Standing approval for a monthly data refresh through the same pull-request route, or one approval per month?
- Which property managers to court first, from the manager view (worker suggestion in section 2).
- The free platform listings: open them (they need Alan's details and verification).
- A licensed agent friend for listing alerts instead of a paid data service.
10. What was not done
- No outreach, no account, no sign-up, no purchase, no form sent. No property manager or contractor was contacted.
- Sunbiz was not used (blocked by a Cloudflare check; the bulk server needs a shared login).
- Broward's parcel layer with owners is from July 2024; newer Broward associations can be missing from the grounds.
- The permit and sales pipeline is researched and tested, not built into the app; it is the next build if Alan wants it.
- Individuals' names are kept out of every file here (parcel owners that are people, managers, officers).