Paul Vlietstra stands alongside a couple of the implements he uses in his new Lawns Northwest business Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, at his home in Joseph. At left is a brush hogger and at right is a blade for plowing snow.

JOSEPH — After more than a decade as a house painter, Paul Vlietstra of Joseph has hung up his brush and traded it for a lawnmower.

“I had a successful business called Plenty of Paint and I decided 12 years was enough,” he said Saturday, Nov. 13. “I enjoy doing this and this is what I want to do.”

His new business, Lawns Northwest, started in late summer after he was done with his painting jobs, summer being the prime season for house painting.

But to start a lawn-care business right when most people are putting their lawn-care tools away for the winter raises a question: Why now?

“The reason I started then is because I painted all summer and then shut that business down,” he said. “I started now because that will give me a foot in the door for the spring rather than trying to start in the spring, people can hear about me now. … I’ve had some clients, but I’m just getting started.”

Vlietstra is looking ahead for the new venture.

“I was planning ahead on getting my new business started,” he said. “I just painted through the summer and then sold my equipment and started this.”

Lawns Northwest is primarily a lawn-care business, Vlietstra said.

“The main focus of the business is scheduled lawn maintenance and lawnmowing,” he said.

But he also offers other yard-care services. He has trimmers, does fall and spring yard cleanup, has a blade for his small tractor so he can plow snow or maintain gravel driveways and can cut brush.

“I have a tractor now, so I do brush hogging,” he said. “I have a couple goats here, so they keep my pasture down, but in situations (without goats), I can brush cut. … But it’s based around lawns.”

Looking over the implements he has sitting in his yard for the business, he emphasized they are extras.

“This stuff here (plowing, brush hogging) is just other stuff that I offer,” he said, noting his smaller tractor can “get into the smaller spots.”

The long-time Joseph resident has lived here since 1989. Vlietstra graduated from high school here in 1995, but went directly to work rather than college.

Now he’s ready to service as much of Wallowa County as is practical.

“It just depends. I service as much of the county as I can,” he said. “But it makes it kind of tough to go mow a lawn way out in Wallowa.”

His fees usually include a charge for the distance he has to travel.

“I don’t want to scare people away, but it kind of has to be that way,” he said. “It’s all affordable. It depends on the size of the job.”

Vlietstra said jobs cost when he bags yard waste because he has to haul it to the landfill.

“It makes for slower mowing, too,” he said. “But it depends on what the customer wants.”

“Me not having any employees, I’m able to keep my prices down. I really don’t plan on having any employees; that’s what I did with the painting business,” Vlietstra said. “Unlike some other construction guys have tons of employees, but this is completely different. This is me doing the work.”

What: Yard maintenance service

Who: Paul Vlietstra

Where: 501 E. Wallowa Ave., Joseph

Phone: 541-263-1247

Email: lawnsnorthwest@yahoo.com

Web: lawnsnorthwest.com