Senske is a well-known name in the Tri-Cities.

If you spot a crew working on a lawn, trees or in pest control around town, you’re likely to see “Senske Services” emblazoned on their rigs. And if you’ve ever been to the popular annual holiday light show on North Quay Street in Kennewick, you’ve been in the Senske orbit.

That’s a Senske Services production, staged at the corporate headquarters.

But the company that started as a family-run operation 76 years ago has a reach far beyond the Tri-Cities. It now has 27 locations across eight states – and a great deal more growth is planned.

Senske late last year partnered with the private equity firm GTCR, and it has acquired six other lawn care or pest control companies in the months since – on the top of the transformational growth it already had experienced in the months and years leading up to that deal.

Since 2012, more than 28 companies have joined Senske Services.

There are no plans to slow down, said Casey Taylor, chief executive officer. “We expect to do 10 to 15 acquisitions a year, some small and some large. We’ve got a lot of the U.S. to cover,” he said.

Recent acquisitions have ranged from Liqui-Lawn in Denver to Emerald Lawns in Austin.

Some acquired companies take on the Senske name, while others keep their own.

That’s part of Senske’s philosophy and strategy for growth.

“We might buy a business in Florida that’s been around 50 years and has a great name in the area. We want to retain that and retain the culture of that business as well,” Taylor said.

“(We’re looking to) gain some efficiency and productivity while also maintaining the existing culture of the business, the family feel and the customer service focus,” he added. “We’re not really looking to build your traditional national business where everything is done the same way. We’re looking to maintain the strengths of each of these businesses (that we acquire).”

A pioneer history

Senske Services traces its history back to World War II.

Bill Senske, who started the business with his wife, Elizabeth, served in the U.S. Army’s Chemical Corps. As part of his work, he learned about some chemicals that had applications in agriculture.

That planted a seed, and when he returned to his native Spokane, the company now known as Senske Services was born. Bill developed a wheelbarrow and pump system, and he’d charge 50 cents for clearing a lawn of dandelions, said son Chris Senske, who eventually took over the company.

“He was a pioneer,” Chris Senske said of his father, noting that the company was one of the first providing commercial weed control on lawns in the United States.

Senske Services expanded to Kennewick in 1976 and to Yakima in 1984.

In the mid-2010s, it started down a path of more rapid growth.

The deal with GTCR closed last December; the terms haven’t been disclosed.

Chris Senske said he was looking to bring in partners to help the company continue to grow and help him “take some chips off the table.” The arrangement with GTCR was the right fit, he said.

He’s stayed on as a board member and as an “acquisition ambassador,” meaning he helps recruit other companies to come into the Senske fold.

Looking ahead

GTCR is based in Chicago, with offices in New York and Florida.

It’s invested more than $25 billion in 270-plus companies since it started in 1980, and it currently manages more than $35 billion in equity capital, according to company information.

As for Senske Services, the company brought in $62.1 million in 2022, according to a list compiled by Lawn & Landscape magazine that ranked the Top 100 companies in the field based on revenue.

Senske was no. 45. With all the growth that’s happened and is in the works in 2023, “we expect to be closer to 20 (on the list) next year, depending on what other people do,” Taylor said.

In the long term, the company hopes to have a presence in 30 to 35 states and perhaps Canada, he said. And it aims to continue fulfilling its mission of creating and maintaining environments where people live, work and play, and supporting and providing growth opportunities for its employees, he said.

Chris Senske concurred. “The fun part has been creating opportunities for employees – watching them be able to make a living and grow their families and grow in the business and their professional careers,” he said, adding that those advancement opportunities will keep expanding as the company does.

Senske has 840 employees across all its locations, with 128 in the Tri-Cities.

One local tradition that won’t change as Senske Services continues to grow is the annual holiday light show. Taylor and Chris Senske both pledged that the show will continue this year and beyond.

Chris Senske said it’s fulfilling to see his family’s company continue to expand and to see the Senske name spread. And it’s special to think about how far the company has come since his late father – Bill Senske died in 2007 at age 93 – started eradicating weeds in Spokane.

“I’m thinking he’d be proud of what we started and where it got to,” Chris Senske said.