Leading Man

A desk job wasn’t in the cards for Ahmed Hassan. He was always destined to be a landscaper.

“I don’t do sports. I don’t have other hobbies,” says the famous green industry architect. “My hobby is landscaping. My passion is landscaping. My career is landscaping. My livelihood is landscaping. My knowledge base and my education is landscaping. What can I talk and teach about better than anything? Landscaping.”

The 20-year landscape veteran has made a career of sharing his hobby, his passion and his livelihood. He gained popularity in 2007 when he became the hands-on host of HGTV’s Yard Crashers, a show that picks homeowners shopping at their local home improvement store and gives them a fully-designed and landscape yard, Ahmed Hassan-style. After a six-year stint on the landscape construction show, his name now has a reputation in the industry. People want to showcase his brand, and that keeps Hassan busy.

Life Experiences

Hassan manages his own small landscaping firm in Sacramento, Calif., where work is steady, largely because of his celebrity status.  

“I don’t feel like I’m having to sell myself so hard,” he says now that many have followed his projects on the television screen. “I’m not trying to get people to believe in my credibility or try to prove any credibility. People don’t ask to see my portfolio anymore.”

Things might come a little easier to him now, but hard work got Hassan to this point. He grew up around landscaping — his father was a landscaper in the ‘60s and ‘70s and eventually took on construction elements. He would watch his father using earthmoving equipment and see projects take shape. He wanted to get involved any way he could.

“Landscaping was something I gravitated toward because I was able to do it as a kid,” Hassan says. “I wasn’t able to drive a truck and tractor by myself, but I could work outside in the yard with my dad at home. That was sort of where I first began to grow that appeal.”

As a teenager, Hassan was hooked on the fact that he could take a talent he was capable and competent at and get paid for it. He did work for neighbors and mowed lawns. After high school, Hassan knew that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

“Landscaping is something that I decided at about 19 that this is what I want to do. This is what I want to get educated in, this is the vision I have for my life, to be a landscape contractor, to run a business, to have tools and equipment and clientele and yards,” he says.

After working his way through several companies (private residential landscape firms, commercial landscaping, production landscaping) and eight years of municipal work for Redwood City, Calif., Hassan decided to give TV a shot.

“Landscaping on TV was way more glamorous and glorified,” he laughs.

Hassan had been hosting a gardening show on the DIY Network when execs fell in love with his bubbly personality. They approached him to do a show that would attract a larger male audience to the network.

Instead of just gardening, they wanted to take on landscaping.

“What they wanted was a show with makeovers with more construction, more building, earth moving equipment and drama, testosterone and sweat,” he says. “The concept was, we’ll take you to a home improvement store, you’ll end up talking someone into taking you home and doing their yard. It was brilliant, and it was very different.”

Yard Crashers introduced the concept of big construction to home projects. Hassan has always considered landscaping to be a gardening-based profession, but the show had elements of carpentry, welding and other professions he was not fluent in. He established a team of carpenters, electricians, welders and more pros to put life into the projects. Hassan fell into the role of project manager, but he understood enough of the terminology to relay what was happening to viewers. The experience itself was a learning opportunity for Hassan.

“Yard Crashers was a huge learning experience. It thrust me into higher levels of landscaping,” he says. “Before Yard Crashers, I was doing small-time installations, a lot of maintenance. Yard Crashers had nothing to do with maintenance. It was really all about construction.”

New Levels of Landscaping

Yard Crashers is part of an evolution in landscaping. Before, landscaping consisted of putting in lawns, a few trees, some mulch and maybe some pathways. Now, landscaping jobs have many elements of construction — outdoor kitchens, hardscaping, gazebos, overhead structures, you name it.

“I’ve seen a shift in construction growing so much more with landscaping, and they’re sort of melded together as one,” Hassan says. “When it comes to construction, there are so many details. [With] landscaping, there is a lot less details. You put plants in the ground, and they grow. Construction doesn’t grow, so you have to do it all and get it down to the finite details. With an outdoor kitchen, you have to talk about a grill, a sink and storage door, and are we going to put a back splash on it? What kind of tile? Is it going to be stucco? Are all the appliances going to be stainless steel? So many little details. In landscaping you talk about what kind of grass you’re going to have. And then you go and plant.”

The small details and construction elements may have changed landscaping from 20 years ago, but when it comes to the compact equipment, Hassan isn’t complaining. He says he loves playing with new toys. When Ditch Witch equipment started showing up on jobsites for Yard Crashers, the crews would lose Hassan for hours, only to find him behind a SK650 ripping up the yard.

“I got to utilize the Ditch Witch equipment for the last two years on television,” he says. “I got really good at it really fast. Within no time, I was just a pro.”

Hassan still uses the compact tool carrier today with his personal business.

“That little tool by far makes me more money than any other tool in my arsenal,” he says. “It has more stamina all day long than any of us. To have a tractor that will fit into a 3-ft wide opening and get into most of these backyards, it’s phenomenal.”

Hassan likes to use the SK650 (and has high praise for the SK755 he tested at last year’s GIE-EXPO) for all his rough, demolition work, including ripping out trees, shrubs and concrete, trenching for irrigation, digging holes for ponds, setting rocks and even loading wheelbarrows. He uses the tooth bucket, smooth bucket and trencher attachments and plans to buy the rototiller attachment next for a powerful boost to his worksite. He’s able to fit everything on the same 5×12 trailer he’s been using for years.

When purchasing equipment, Hassan always uses his father’s advice.

“I only use top-notch, name-brand equipment,” he says. “[My dad] said when you get equipment, this is stuff you expect to last you for years. Your equipment is making you money, so you don’t buy garbage.”

Hassan offers the same advice to those purchasing equipment for the first time.

“Look at reputable companies that are known in the industry. Go with a name,” he says. “Spend the money and go with what’s quality. You’re going to be happier and have less problems. When it comes to clothes and shoes, I’m less concerned with name brand. But there are certain things you don’t want to go cheap. I spend good money on my equipment. These tools are going to make you money.”

Always Learning

“I’ve always believed in continuing education, because you can never know it all when it comes to the trades,” Hassan says. “I’ve wanted to be someone who is respected as a professional and as an expert in my field. In order to do that, I have to stay connected and continue to know what’s going on, what’s up to date.”

When able, Hassan takes classes to expand his awareness and understanding of landscaping and horticulture. Now that a higher level of professionalism is associated with his work, he says continuing to grow with the industry helps him maintain pride in his workmanship.

Hassan also provides the opportunity for other landscapers to build their skill set while working for him.

“This last season I got up to nine guys [working for me] in the heat of the season,” he says. “It’s a very high turnover rate. I consider that I run an apprenticeship program, and I teach them how to work, I teach them about landscaping, teach them how to gain the skill and a trade so they can continue to make money beyond working for Ahmed. I don’t assume anyone will work with me for more than two or three years.”

For the most part, Hassan enjoys encouraging others to feel passionate about a hobby he loves. He’s been teaching his young son the tricks of the trade, but he’s not forcing it. His son will have to come to that decision on his own.

“When it comes to landscaping, you either love it or you don’t,” Hassan says. “I decided early on I wasn’t going to do the doctor or the lawyer thing. I loved landscaping. I loved working outside and creating and going through the entire process and being able to look at the fruits of my labor. I think it’s so powerful to be able to imagine and put your knowledge base and all your physical attributes together and create what you envisioned in your mind.”

Kelly Pickerel is associate editor of Compact Equipment, based in Brecksville, Ohio.