Landscaper supports folks stuck inside during pandemic

Nine years ago, Butch Hazzard started his own landscaping company, Honey Dew Landscaping, in Groton. After taking a break from the business, he took up the profession again, this time starting a new company in Freeville, BHazzard Landscaping.

While BHazzard was founded before the pandemic hit, Hazzard has taken pride in working all through the crisis, providing everything from lawn mowing and snow removal to odd jobs like painting houses for residents of Freeville and beyond. As Hazzard described it, he’s filled a need created by the social isolation during the pandemic.

“I have a lot of older people, probably their late 60s,” he said. “I’ve had college people. I’ve had moms and dads that don’t want to get out of the house to do their own stuff because of the coronavirus and stuff like that, or their landscaping people aren’t doing anything, or they can’t find anybody reliable to come to their house.”

When the pandemic hit, Hazzard knew he wanted to keep up his services and serve the community that knew him well. One reason to keep it up was the chance to spend time outside seven days a week, he said, but there was a greater purpose at play.

“The biggest thing is making sure everybody is still being safe and stuff like that, and with older people, make sure they’re doing all right, make sure they still have communication with people,” Hazzard said. “It helps with them so they’re not stuck at home, saying, ‘I don’t have anybody to talk to. I have nothing to do. I don’t want to go outside.’”

While the job has been rewarding, Hazzard has faced some challenges caused by the pandemic. For one, social distancing has meant he can’t spend as much one-on-one time with customers.

“[I miss] just being closer to the customer, being able to sit down and talk to them,” he said. “I like taking time out of my day to talk to somebody, like the older people when they have something to say, or they need somebody to talk to. … You can’t really sit down and do much talking anymore. … They don’t want exposure.”

Aside from the social challenges, Hazzard said he’s also faced difficulties in getting materials for the odd jobs he does.

“During the pandemic, everything is harder to get,” he said. “Everything’s gone up in price. Lumber has gone up.”

Even so, Hazzard has kept his prices the same for all his services, acknowledging that this is a tough financial time for many residents.

“It doesn’t matter if I charge them per hour or give them a flat rate,” he said. “If I say, ‘It’s going to cost you this much for flat rate,’ and I’m there longer than my flat rate, that means I’m still there. I’m still doing the job. I don’t ask for any more money.”

And that integrity policy applies to how he does the work as well. As Hazzard described, he takes great pride in the work that he does and tries to establish a good reputation through his work.

“I try to do the best I can … because I figure, if somebody’s only going to pay me once to come in, chances are they’ll have me come in again,” he said. “If I don’t do it right the first time, they’re not going to have me do it. So, I always like my work being done at 100%. … There’s nothing that I don’t do for my business to make it thrive.”

Hazzard said his hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“All my feedback is good,” he said. “I haven’t had one bad remark on [any] of my work. I have customers [who say] that they should have called me years ago because now, they see the quality of my work. They know the quality of my work. Plus, a lot of people know me through the town.”

And that sense of community has helped him stay in business this past year.

“I never had to struggle about getting customers or keeping customers because one customer tells another customer, ‘Hey, you should hire him. He does an excellent job. [If] you want something done, he goes the extra step … instead of just coming in, mowing and not even talk to you,’” Hazzard said.

Hazzard said that, moving forward, he does hope to grow the business and get new customers, though he’ll probably keep it a one-man show for a while. To that end, he said his customers, as well as other landscapers, will help him to continue well after the pandemic.

“If I can’t do the job, I’ll refer them to somebody else,” he said. “All the landscaping companies work together and say, ‘Hey, I got your name from so-and-so.’ And that’s how my business is thriving too because I got one landscaping company out there that will, if they don’t want to do the job, they’ll send it my way. … If everybody works together, everything should be fine.”

In Brief:

Holiday Happenings at Southworth

Looking for some ways to experience the holidays safely? Come to the Southworth Library at 24 W. Main St. to pick up a Nutcracker Scavenger Hunt Sheet and solve the riddles to find the 12 nutcrackers displayed in village businesses and organizations. When you have found them, just turn in your sheet to the library for an opportunity to win prizes. All sheets must be turned in by Dec. 21.

The library will also welcome Pete the Cat for Stories in the Snow with Ms. Diane on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. It will be held in the library’s outdoor reading area for a safe venue for stories with take-home kits with crafts, activities and a free book as well.

Also on Dec. 5, the library will be streaming Santa reading “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement C. Moore on the library’s YouTube page. Viewers may win a beautifully illustrated copy of this classic after watching it and messaging the library.

All kids can sign up for a free Holiday take-home bag with crafts, activities and a free book as well by emailing the library at southworthlibrary@gmail.com.