When it comes to any trade, generational knowledge is essential for creating excellent work that will last. For Theo Tidmore and the team at Holloway Company, those skills that have been passed down through decades of experience were the key to winning December’s HARDSCAPE HERO Award.
Theo Tidmore was born into the landscaping business. His father Ted started the business 30 years ago, and Theo grew up spending summers digging trenches and laying pavers. While they mostly did lawn work at the beginning, Theo’s father saw a niche in hardscaping that could help expand the business and grow it into something much bigger than simply mowing grass and trimming hedges. After spending some time away at college, Theo returned to the family business three years ago and now works as a masonry project manager for Holloway Company.
This was Theo’s first major job as a project manager, and anyone who’s seen the results can tell he rose to the occasion. The driveway had to be planned out before the house was even built. “Because it was a new build, it was hard for the homeowner to visualize the driveway when there wasn’t even a house yet,” says Theo, “so on top of the 3D renderings we provided, I walked them through the space and sprayed the ground to lay everything out so they could visualize it to size.” The homeowner wanted something “regal,” according to Theo, who looked around at the other houses in the neighborhood and knew he had to give them something that would make a statement. “The circular driveway allowed us to create a beautiful driveway with the elegant fountain centerpiece, while also making sure there was plenty of parking for guests. We were able to make it both functional and sophisticated.”
With any project comes challenges, regardless of how well you prepare. “Really the biggest challenge was a logistical one,” Theo recalls, “because the house was still being built while we worked, we had to coordinate with all the other contractors because the driveway was their access point to get to the work site.” Theo saw this challenge as an opportunity to grow. “Communication is such an important skill for a contractor, and learning to collaborate with the other trades so that everyone had the time and space they needed to do excellent work was an incredible learning experience.”
As one of our younger HARDSCAPE HEROES, Theo sees himself and other young folks in the trade as keeping the tradition alive. “I think more and more people my age are going to start gravitating toward the trades,” he theorizes, “as AI becomes more advanced, I think that human touch is going to become more important, and my generation will need to pick up where those before us have left off.” And Theo is doing everything he can to absorb as much knowledge from those who came before him as he can. “I work with people who have been doing this craft as long as I’ve been alive, so I try to learn from them to become the best craftsman I can be.” Not only is Theo looking to the past, but to the future. “My little brother is learning this work now, and by the time he’s my age, he’ll be leaps and bounds beyond me,” Theo says smiling, “which is really exciting to think about.”
If his first project is any indication of what’s in store for Theo, the future is looking pretty bright for him and the team at Holloway Company. We can’t wait to see which Belgard products he shows off next.
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The Crew:
The following Belgard products were used in this project:
Origins 6×9 – Midnight
Dimensions 6 – Mountain Mist
Dimensions 6 – Sable
Brooklyn 3×9 – Midnight with DuraFusion