A landscaping company founded in Chicago back in 1976 is now part of a fast-growing national collective. Schill Landscape Collective has acquired James Martin Associates in Chicago and LID Landscapes in Boulder, Colorado, marking the company's 20th acquisition and its first entry into the Boulder market.
According to Lawn & Landscape, the two companies had already merged with each other before Schill stepped in to acquire them, and the deal also folded in Schwake Stone, a business that specializes in stone and concrete paving products for northern Illinois contractors. Together, the outlet reports, James Martin Associates and LID Landscapes add 130 employees and two service branches to Schill's roster, while Boulder becomes the company's new market and westernmost location yet.
James Martin Associates traces its roots to 1976, when it was founded in Chicago by Jim Martin, the same report notes. On its own website, James Martin Associates describes serving residential, commercial, and snow-management customers across Chicago's North and Northwest suburbs and says it has more than 45 years of experience.
Leadership Stays in Place as Integration Begins
Despite the ownership change, the people running day-to-day operations aren't going anywhere right away. Per the same account, Tom Bolas, senior vice president and general manager of James Martin Associates, will continue leading that company's operations, while Scott Natter, vice president and general manager of LID Landscapes, will keep leading the LID team in Boulder.
Jim Martin himself will also stay involved with the company he founded nearly five decades ago until his retirement, the report states, a move framed as supporting a smooth integration into Schill's broader network. Jerry Schill welcomed James Martin Associates, LID, and Schwake Stone to the collective, describing Martin, Bolas, and Natter as leaders and visionaries who built respected businesses, according to the Lawn & Landscape report. Schill said the acquisition enables growth in both Chicago and Boulder along with deeper service offerings for commercial customers that operate numerous locations.
CCG Advisors, an Atlanta-based investment banking firm specializing in the green industry, exclusively represented James Martin Associates in the transaction, the outlet reports.
A Pattern of Partner Companies Keeping Their Names
The arrangement fits a pattern Schill has used elsewhere. According to Landscape Management, Schill structures its partner companies so each one continues to lead in its home market under the same local name, with centralized support in several business functions. That same approach showed up in February 2026, when Schill acquired Andrew's Lawn & Landscaping of West Chester, Pennsylvania, a company founded in 2001, and said at the time that the business would maintain its brand and market presence in the Philadelphia region, according to a Schill Landscape Collective announcement.
The Chicago and Boulder deals widen Schill's service footprint for multi-location commercial clients, the Lawn & Landscape report notes, and the company now operates across the Upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States as well as Ontario, Canada. Schill ranks No. 25 on Lawn & Landscape's Top 100 list, the outlet reports, and the seed story puts its current headcount at more than 1,800 team members across 36 branches — figures that differ somewhat from earlier 2026 reporting describing more than 1,700 employees and 34 branches.
Part of a Broader Buying Spree
This is far from Schill's first swing at expansion this year. The company's first acquisitions in Michigan, Begonia Brothers Services and Atlas Outdoor, were announced in February 2026, according to Landscape Management, and that came not long after TruArc Partners acquired Schill Grounds Management — the business now known as Schill Landscape Collective — from Argonne Capital Group that same January.
By February 2026, the company said it had made 16 acquisitions since 2021 and was continuing to look for new partners, per Schill Landscape Collective's own announcement. Schill's growth has also shown up in its financial results: the company reported 2025 revenue of $183 million, an 11 percent increase over 2024, and landed at No. 27 on the 2026 LM 150 list, its highest placement to date, according to Landscape Management's profile of the company. The same outlet reported that Schill posted another double-digit growth year in 2026.
The deal-making isn't unique to Schill. A separate Landscape Management report on industry trends found that private equity firms have remained active in landscaping transactions from late 2025 through the first half of 2026.
