Today we’d like to introduce you to Rob Meanix.
Hi Rob, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I graduated high school in 1995 and went off to college for a couple of years. College wasn’t really where my head was, though — I’ve always been someone who’d rather build something with his hands than sit in a lecture hall. So I left and went to work for Scott Whitfield at Whitfield Landscapes, and that’s where everything started to click. Scott taught me how to hardscape — how to set a base, lay stone, build something that would still be standing decades later. I took to it right away. There’s a satisfaction in hardscaping you don’t get from much else: you show up to a bare yard and leave behind a patio, a wall, a walkway that a family will use for the rest of their lives.
Then the company I was working for went out of business, and just like that I needed a paycheck. My father was a carpenter — a good one — so I went to work for him learning how to build homes. At the time it felt like a detour, but looking back it was one of the best things that ever happened to my career. Framing houses taught me how a structure actually goes together from the ground up: foundations, drainage, how water moves around a property and where it’ll cause trouble if you ignore it. That knowledge made me a far sharper hardscaper. To this day, when I’m scoping a patio or a retaining wall, I’m thinking about water and grade before I’m thinking about stone.
While I was working for my dad, I started picking up side work on the weekends — small hardscaping jobs for people who’d heard I knew what I was doing. The side work kept growing. Eventually I had to ask myself the hard question: did I want to spend my life working for someone else, or did I want to bet on myself? I’d figured out by then that employees don’t get rich just because the boss does — if I wanted to make real money, I had to be the one making the decisions. So 20 years ago I went out on my own and started Meanix Landscaping. I didn’t have it all figured out, but I knew the trade, I knew how things were built, and I knew I’d outwork anybody.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
And no — it hasn’t been smooth. It’s hard work. I’m 20 years into the business now and only just getting out of the field. The reason it took me this long is that I’m obsessed with the details. I need everything to be just right, and for a long time that meant doing it myself. But I’ve been training Tim for about 10 years, and he’s got it now — so these days I’m mostly handling sales and office work and keeping the guys busy. The addition of my life partner/office manager has eased my workload and given clients better experiences at Meanix Landscaping Inc. Colleen is a huge help. She’s a great communicator and puts clients minds at ease when they have questions. We’ve brought on two other young helpers, Mitch and Leo, who are really coming into their own. The future looks bright!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We specialize in hardscaping — the building of patios, driveways, walkways, and walls, along with everything that surrounds that work, which is a lot. A patio is never just a patio. It’s built into its environment, and when it’s done right, it looks like it’s been there forever.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Honestly, I’ve never thought of myself as a big risk-taker. But looking back, starting my own business in 2006 was a real risk — I just didn’t see it that way at the time. I was young and didn’t fully know what I was getting into. Sometimes not knowing better helps. You don’t get stuck on all the reasons something might fail.
The way I see it, risk isn’t about big leaps. It’s about whether you’ve done the work to back yourself up. When I went out on my own, I didn’t have everything figured out, but I knew the trade. I’d learned hardscaping from Scott Whitfield and spent years building homes with my dad. So it wasn’t reckless. I was betting on something I was good at and willing to outwork anybody to prove.
That’s the difference between a smart risk and a gamble. A gamble is just hoping it works out. A smart risk is putting in the work so the odds are on your side. To me, the real risk was staying somewhere that would never get me where I wanted to go. Betting on myself was the safer bet.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.meanixlandscaping.com
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