In this episode of The Contractor Grow Show, host Mark Lamberth talks with Dustin Walker of Landscape St. Louis about how he went from leading 400 creatives at a Fortune 500 real estate data company to acquiring a 39‑year‑old landscape design‑build firm and carefully modernizing it without breaking what already worked.

Dustin shares how, as a non‑landscaper by trade, he bought a legacy residential company known for high‑touch garden and estate work, spent his first months in the field with foremen to understand the work firsthand, and then began layering in software, systems, and marketing to drive 20–30% annual growth.

He explains how he’s moving the business from purely referral‑based to a more scalable model with targeted ads and tighter project selection, why he’s so selective about only taking on the “right” design‑build clients in affluent St. Louis neighborhoods, and how he approaches change management with long‑tenured team members—including a foreman with 31 years at the company—so they embrace new tools instead of resisting them.

If you’re thinking about buying a contracting business or leveling up an established shop, Dustin’s story is a masterclass in respectful, systems‑driven growth.