Landscaping Across the Pond: A Conversation with Andreas Baumgart

Every now and then, I get to sit down with someone whose story really opens up the world a bit—and this chat with Andreas Baumgart did just that.

Andreas runs a landscaping company in central Germany and joined us for an episode of The Kid Contractor Podcast that turned into a fascinating dive into how landscaping is done across the Atlantic. Let me just say—despite the language and miles between us, the challenges, victories, and philosophies in our work are strikingly similar.

Andreas, who you’ll find on Instagram under the handle @wir_lieben_gaerten (which translates to “we love gardens”), shared the journey of how he took over what was once his family’s struggling business. After his parents’ company ran into legal and financial trouble, Andreas and his wife took a huge leap of faith—started from scratch, took out a major bank loan, and launched their own company in 2019.

What I loved most about our talk was hearing how deeply connected Andreas is to both the design and build side of things. He’s formally trained as a landscape architect, having worked on major projects—even Olympic-level planning in Switzerland. But after a few years, he realized he missed the hands-on work. He wanted to see projects through from start to finish, boots on the ground, machines running, gardens coming to life.

His company now works mostly on public projects—schools, kindergartens, cemeteries—which is a far cry from the typical residential design-build work many of us are doing. But the parallels are real. He talked about client frustrations, employee challenges, tight margins, and finding joy in building something with your hands. If you’re in the industry, you know exactly what he’s talking about.

One thing that really stood out: the equipment setups and logistics over there are completely different. Andreas uses a big Mercedes-Benz hook lift truck to haul everything—materials, machines, debris—while his crews stay put on-site. Excavators are everywhere, skid steers? Not so much. And if you’ve ever wondered how wheel excavators are used in Europe, this episode will clear that right up.

And hey, turns out concrete surfaces like we pour all the time here in the U.S. are practically non-existent in German residential projects. It’s all pavers, all day. And when you start to think about why, and how customer expectations shape that, it gives you a new lens on how we do business stateside.

Whether we were talking about employee training, burnout, how to charge properly to cover your labor burden, or just finding quiet in the woods with his dogs—Andreas brought a calm, thoughtful perspective that was refreshing and relatable.

It was such a cool experience, and I’m pumped to do a follow-up with him mid-season. Definitely check out the episode if you haven’t already—especially if you’re interested in seeing how the green industry looks in other parts of the world. You might walk away with some new ideas, or at least some encouragement that we’re all in this together—no matter what country’s name is on the side of the truck.

Listen to the full episode here if you haven't already!

Catch you on the next one.

—Caleb