Desmarais hopes to break ground in the near future. She’s working with Landscape Ontario on the details, and has three acres carved out of the 26 her company bought recently — another symbol of its growth. Plantscape earned $1.1 million in revenue in 2016 when Desmarais took over and she expects to surpass three million this year. Only one employee returned in 2016, but 16 came back this year. Desmarais believes every business is built differently, but having a business background has been an advantage for her. "I have to believe what I'm doing is working. Those are the two measures for me: do the staff enjoy working here, do they come back, and are we growing as a company? And the answers to both of those is yes,” she said. Plantscape won their first Landscape Ontario Award of Excellence in 2021 in the Commercial Construction category. This was meaningful for Desmarais as it represented the hard work and tenacity she’s put into upholding her dad’s legacy. She submitted two projects for consideration this year. “2021 was our 45th anniversary, and we dedicated the award to my dad and his 45 years of service,” Desmarais explained. “That was pretty cool.”
Ontario podcast that aired in June 2023. She understands you can’t hold people accountable for mistakes without setting clear expectations. She facilitates formal training for her crews to encourage skill development and establish best practices. Plus, when people know what they’re doing, not only are they happier, but the company gets better projects and becomes more profitable. For Desmarais, it’s all about setting and fulfilling clear goals: “It’s an intentional In true financial planner style, Desmarais just finished a 10-year business plan for Plantscape. A key part of this plan — and a dream for Desmarais — is to construct a new building in the off-season that will act as a training centre to offer more programs like GROW. “That is my passion project that come hell or high water I will get done,” she said. “I just think it would be great to host the training down here in Windsor, so that my staff or fellow members from Southwestern Ontario don’t have to travel all the way up to Milton in a snowstorm and battle the [Highway] 401. It would be such a huge win for this area.” business for me. This is my dad’s legacy.” A TRAINING FACILITY FOR WINDSOR
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