The History of Field

Field Started in 2005
With the proverbial truck in the garage the founders settled on the name “Field” because it was a word that was about possibility and that everyone who came into the company could feel ownership over.
Our first tagline “Limited Space? We’ve Got Ideas” still sums up what we do, although hopefully we have even more ideas now and 17 years of projects in our portfolio to prove it!

3 Different Shop Locations
With three different shop location in Northeast Minneapolis and one short stint in Seward, we’ve always been part of the local Minneapolis scene.

Sum of People’s Hard Work
Field truly is the sum of all the people who work here and who have brought their hard work to build great projects.

Desire to Solve Problems and Build Spaces
With a sense of camaraderie and true desire to solve problems and build spaces that enhance peoples lives our crews and design team have always ….

Started working with Jon and His Family at Harold Pietig and Sons Concrete in 2007
Field started working with Jon and his family at Harold Pietig and Sons Concrete in 2007 and we have been working together ever since. That’s how we work – we find the best in class partners and form a long-term relationship where we can bring the best value for customers where they don’t have to worry that everything will be taken care of.
Field has been working with Andrew Laliberte from Dakota Unlimited since 2010, Tony Schmidt from Accentual Lighting since 2010 and Duggan Kelly from Kelly Green Irrigation since 2011.
In 2013, Andy Wilson from Wilson’s Nursery came to our shop to ask whether they could do more for Field. We said we were looking to custom grow plants and establish more control over this important part of our project. He agreed! For the last 8 years we have been working with Wilson’s Nursery to grow exactly the plants that are right for our clients, in the sizes that are most effective and in the pots that are easiest to install.

Developed a Property in the Perfect Location in the perfect way
In 2017, Field saw the writing on the wall that we would no longer be able to stay in our leased property on Tyler St. We worked as a team to strategize how to find another leased property and the ridiculous process of moving huge concrete blocks, piles of boulders and all the things you collect as a landscape company.
Talking to our banker, Roger Hamilton, at Cherokee Bank he advised us that we should look at purchasing a property. We were stunned and excited – everyone seemed to tell us that we would need over $100k cash to pull that off. But Roger pulled together an incredible team that included multiple parties that pulled together loans including a loan for the downpayment!
But that turned out to be the easy part. Finding a location was truly a needle in the haystack. A commercial property that was 80% outdoor space, in a location close to our urban clients and our urban employees, that didn’t require us to become a huge landlord – was this impossible. After looking at 10-20 properties it sure looked like it. We even looked at taking over a church in Golden Valley!
But then one Friday I got a call about our current property and when we went to look at it the whole team was shocked – it was truly, truly perfect in everyway. After a few calls, and some negotiation we sealed the deal and were able to develop a property in the perfect location in the perfect way for our company!

Operation Healthy Landscaping
In 2015-2016, after many years of having a GOAL of creating a work environment where our prized employees could settle into a full-career job – we knuckled down and created a plan. Talking to employees and looking at the industry we pinpointed two main obstacles to full-career employment in the landscape industry: having full-year employment (not just seasonal) and creating a healthy approach to landscaping that someone could do into their late 50’s and early 60’s.
Right away we kicked into “Operation Healthy Landscaping”. Joey Larson had a major back issue and did deep research into what can be done to have a healthy back. He both collected resources for healthy backs and found a relationship with Von Gilette from Gillete Fitness. Year by year, we both worked on required exercises, opened up weekly assessments with Von and purchased new equipment to insure that backs, shoulders, wrists and knees could be strengthened, maintained and managed to make landscaping healthy.
2019 – In 2018 and 19 we fully committed to full-season employment and settled on snow removal and winter remodeling as our path. We decided to purchase a house and do the flip work as a way to work on skills and bought a house in St. Louis Park. That project – working with our friends at Roehr Schmitt architecture on the design turned out incredible and was just what we needed to get some tiling, dry walling and other key skills under our belt. Since then we have pivoted to bathrooms and basements and are on the way to offering employees a unique full-year employment.