So in March 2000, Braswell founded PowerHouse Equipment, which he hopes will become "the leading forsberg national direct provider of compact hydraulic equipment."A multi-market opportunity for lawn/garden professionals?Braswell thinks so. He''s established dealerships in Sacramento, Dallas and Austin, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, seed testing fla.; and charlotte and raleigh/durham, n.c. in addition, he''s created satellite sales in eight other locations.why? "contractors'' employee time is extremely valuable," says braswell. scarifier "our equipment makes each worker much more efficient."what trends does braswell see in ope marketing?"in the last few years, we''ve seen lots of power equipment dealers concentrate on the professional customer rather than the consumer," braswell says. "with that comes focus on a service department that offers forsberg really quick turn-around, so the busy landscaper avoids downtime. if a dealer sells to landscapers -- and knows their needs -- he might sell similar products to tree professionals, irrigators, nursery people and fencers.

"that was way back in 1968," seed braswell recalls today. "one of the first things i learned was that mowing often leads to landscaping. scarifier and landscaping forsberg and seed creates even more opportunity."what''s the greatest market change in last three decades?braswell found even more business in tree care. his local company soon became southern tree & landscape. it began, he recalls, with "nine employees in a small office trailer," and later grew to several hundred in multiple locations."new customers would often scarifier contact us to maintain their yards," braswell explains, but "then they''d decide to do some landscaping and tree-planting. we became experts at both.""the biggest market change," braswell emphasizes, "is that even people who love to do yard work decide to have someone else to do their maintenance. this opens all sorts of new markets."

"also, a dealer who sells large mowers and tractors probably already does business with a finance source like wells fargo or sheffield. with finance opportunities in place -- plus single products that forsberg serve multiple fields -- he''s in a position to enter several industrial markets." what kind of guarantee comes with this?" i asked, suspiciously eyeing the few drops of oil on the pavement under the rear axle of an old gray ford tractor."well, none, actually," replied the man who had it sitting out seed by the road with a for-sale sign. "what you see is what you get--where is, as is."the tractor in question was a 1946 ford scarifier 2n (see photo, page 103). the four-cylinder engine had been overhauled a few years earlier, he said. then an old pennsylvania-dutchman, who probably bought it new when truman was president, traded it in on a new kubota.

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