Business & Tech
Northshore Landscaping Business Creating And Thriving Despite Pandemic
J. Brick Paving and Landscaping Inc. grows, with not only existing clients creating new projects, but by sharing the business with friends
Unlike most small businesses, J. Brick Paving and Landscaping Inc. was not negatively impacted by Covid 19.
“That didn’t really hurt us as much because basically all the work we do is outside,” owner Javier Huerta said. “We don’t really have to deal with customers face to face. We were always (outdoors) doing our work.”
Huerta founded J. Brick Paving and Landscaping Inc. in 1996, when he decided to take his passion for designing hardscapes and strike out on his own.
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“It’s just what I love to do, that’s what I have been doing all my life,” he said. “I (grew up) in the field working with my dad, (the) kinds of stone work that he used to be doing in Mexico.”
Huerta came to the US in the 1990s.
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“It’s hard to make a living down in Mexico so you always go somewhere else,” he said. “You never stay in the place where you are born.”
Hardscaping - pavers, patios, sidewalks, driveways and stonework just to name a few - is only part of what makes up J. Brick Paving and Landscaping Inc. The other half is landscaping, which is a full service part of the business. In the cold and snow, the business transitions into things like plowing and shoveling and planning for the projects that can get started in the spring.
“Now I have a partner, but before it was just me, myself,” he said. “I brought in a partner in 2010 and that’s when we incorporated the landscaping part.“I’m really not a landscaper myself. I can do my own, but not for somebody else.”Huerta partners J. Brick Landscaping Inc. with Jesus Maldanado.
Maldanado is the landscape manager.
“I just go out there and do my hardscape and the patios and concrete work,” Huerta said. “I am not moving from one place to another every day, I am there for weeks.”
Huerta does not do much advertising. His business grows by word of mouth and by return customers.
“It’s all referrals from existing clients who know what I do,” he said. “I am always in the same areas for a long time. I still get a lot of (additional) projects from existing clients who want to extend the patio or build up something else. I have a few of them that will give me work almost every season every year.”
Huerta was recently featured on ABC - 7 news two days in a row, bringing in his own flora and fauna for the show. He truly loves what he does.
“I love every piece of work that I do out there. I make sure the client is happy and the client is happy with the project and everything goes happy and smooth,” Huerta said.
Huerta lives in Beach Park with his wife. He has four grown children. He does not currently have plans to expand the business, but is open to that in the future.
“We are pretty much where we need to be,” he said.
For more information on J. Brick Paving and Landscaping Inc., visit the website.
Edited to correct typographical error