ASPM LANDSCAPES

Growing up on a farm in northeast Nebraska, Matt Wilke gained mechanical aptitude and familiarity with earthmoving by helping his dad work the land and keeping the equipment and machinery running.

In 2008, Wilke made the decision to start a landscaping company in the northwest suburbs of Chicago utilizing the knowledge and equipment he had accumulated over the years. “I basically took all the years of training and experience I gained and put it to use for myself,” he said. His business, originally called All Seasons Property Maintenance (ASPM), took off from there and Wilke has never looked back.

Eventually, life brought him back to Nebraska in 2012. Wilke initially questioned whether the Norfolk area could support the type of business he wanted to build, but his business grew quickly based on word-of-mouth referrals and a strong social media presence.

GOING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

In 2018, Wilke decided that ASPM had outgrown its space and began an expansion on a 5.5- acre property in a highly visible location, constructing an 8,000 square foot building for office space and equipment storage.

“Once we made those business moves, it took us to another level,” Wilke says, “We purchased more equipment and bought another 40 acres across the road to stockpile topsoil, aggregate and other materials.”

Today, ASPM handles a wide variety of landscaping projects, including residential design- build, hardscapes, and grading and seeding. However, the majority of its work is centered on commercial projects. “We primarily handle big commercial jobs,” Wilke says. “We do a lot of finish-grade and hydroseeding for large-scale erosion control projects in our area.”

In addition to the landscaping side of the business, ASPM’s snow and ice management operation utilizes an entire fleet of Cat® wheel loaders. “We started out using just the Compact Wheel Loaders, then we began migrating to Medium Wheel Loaders—our largest right now being the 950,” Wilke says. “We actually use the machines all year long. We like the speed and the efficiency for handling snow and the landscape materials, and also for just loading and unloading trucks. The Compact Wheel Loaders are great for handling trees and heavy hardscape materials. Also, if our crews need to move aggregate or dirt around a jobsite, these are really fast load-and-carry machines.”

THE TECHNICAL ADVANTAGE

Wilke continually taps into the latest technologies to help his business thrive. ASPM utilizes 3D landscape design software that enables customers to see their personal design features come to life prior to construction. “Clients can expect to work directly with our design staff and installation crews receiving straight-forward communication throughout the entire process,” Wilke says.

All ASPM trucks and equipment have GPS installed in them, enabling Wilke to monitor and record progress as the vehicles move from one jobsite to the next. They have a Cat 306 Mini Excavator equipped with 2D grading for digging and grading, and a D5 Dozer that is equipped with 3D grade control.

“We started by adding 2D to the 306 with a rotator, and then we put the automatics on it—it just totally changes the way we do things,” Wilke says. “We can make a lot of things happen fast with it, such as backfilling curbs. As fast as the side dumps can feed it to us, we can put it in place.”

TOP NOTCH DEALER SUPPORT

ASPM is covered by product support agreements (CVAs) on its machines, and receives notifications from its Cat dealer, NMC, when a machine is due for scheduled maintenance. “If I have a wheel loader that’s close to requiring service, it will show up on Cat Product LinkTM, and they’ll call me to get it scheduled,” Wilke says. “That works really well because it’s another set of eyes paying attention to our equipment’s service intervals.”

“I like taking my machines to the NMC branch here in Norfolk—they have really sharp technicians in shop and field service,” Wilke says. “As far as machine knowledge, when you have a problem with something, they can think outside the box. With the resources that Caterpillar has, they’re able to extend it to the dealerships—and it’s superior to the competition.”