Weston Ivy League
Every crew sprays poison ivy and calls it dead. I built a premium service that pulls it out by the root, and the brand that lets it charge for that.
Why it exists
In 2022 I asked a local landscaper to remove poison ivy from my own yard. The proposal came back with a two-year waitlist and a year to complete the work.
The market was slow, chemical, and vague about results. The opening was the opposite: hand removal, root and all, a 30-day return visit at no charge, and plain language about what can and cannot be promised.
The 2022 proposalThe competitor document that started the business, redacted. It is published on the site as the reason the offer exists.
westonivyleague.comThe site states the offer in the first line and spends the rest of the page teaching: how to identify the plant, why spraying fails, what a survey includes.
The offer
Four steps, priced as a fixed proposal rather than an hourly estimate.
Send the worst spots, the address and the property size.
On-site walkthrough, documentation, a custom map and a fixed-price proposal.
Hand removal of leaves, stems, vines, crowns and roots, hauled offsite.
Covered zones re-inspected and regrowth pulled at no added charge.
How it sells
Three buyers, three channels, one position. Each piece of outreach is written for how that buyer decides.
Handwritten letters to the hundred largest properties in Weston. Slow to produce, impossible to mistake for a flyer.
Cold email built on compliance: no herbicide applications, no pesticide parent notifications, no chemical entries in the IPM record. Three schools answered the first round.
Farms, conservation land and property managers get the survey free; the contracts are larger, so the survey is the lead generation.
Key decisions
Teach before you sell. Most people cannot identify poison ivy. The site's reference desk and the public note (“Never burn it. Don't mow it. Don't trust the spray.”) do the educating, and the sale follows.
Price the work, not the hour. Hand removal is slow; one two-day job on Cedar Road filled 20 contractor bags. A fixed proposal with a 30-day return visit makes a premium price easy to accept.
Say what can't be promised. Permanent removal isn't possible, and the site says so. Anyone promising it is selling something they can't deliver.
Give institutions the survey. The paid survey is the homeowner's first step; for schools and farms it is free, because the contract that follows is larger.
Results
The brand, the site, the outreach system and the service process, and I deliver the work.
Booked the 2026 season out; three private schools answered the first cold-email round; institutional proposals are in progress for 2027.
Revenue doubled year over year in 2026. One operator sets the ceiling, so the next decision is what the brand becomes beyond me.