A Note From Our Founder
Mike Haynes, Founder & CEO, LOVING
November 2026
Since 2022, LOVING has been quietly pivoting toward where we believe our greatest opportunities lie.
The last phase of that work over this past season has been challenging, yet it has also produced some of our most energizing and rewarding work to date. During that time, our TEAM has made extraordinary progress across our technology, operations, Next Day Sod and Upgrade My Backyard platforms.
I’m super proud of what our dedicated and hard-working TEAM has accomplished, and I’m excited to share a few updates.
Why We Pivoted
In 2022, a mentor challenged me with something simple: Businesses that keep growing rapidly are willing to reinvent themselves.
LOVING had done it before at a smaller scale. In 2010, we doubled down on serving homebuilders. A lot of people thought we were crazy, but it changed the trajectory of our company.
By 2022, we knew it was time to pivot again.
That same mentor compared transforming a business model to turning a boat. A jet ski can turn instantly. A cruise ship can’t. We had become a pretty big ship.
So we began laying out a vision for how to double down on our Outdoor Living and Online Sod platforms.
The reasons for the evolution were right in front of us. Our average production homesite had shrunk from roughly 7,500 square feet of sod to about 3,000 square feet. Our average sale per production installation had fallen from approximately $8,800 to just shy of $4,000 as builders value engineered their offerings on smaller homesites.
Multifamily was gaining share. Single-family production was slowing. Builder pricing pressure kept increasing. Labor became more complex.
Farming created another concentration of risk, with nearly 10,000 acres in production. Over several years, we experienced estimated losses of more than $12 million tied to a theft scheme affecting our farming operations, along with the impacts of two extraordinary hurricanes.
At the same time, growth was teaching us some hard lessons.
Before 2020, we were growing 30–40% annually, with an occasional spike. Then came multiple years of triple-digit growth.
Growth at that speed exposes everything... including weaknesses in the organization and weaknesses in me as its CEO.
Before that expansion, LOVING had repeatedly been recognized as a Best Place to Work. The award mattered far less than the culture behind it.
As we grew, we lost that culture.
We tried more than once to reset it. At times we did, but we couldn’t sustain it. Eventually, I had to ask whether we simply needed to operate better... or whether the business models themselves were making it harder to build the company and culture we wanted.
The answer was a little of both, and that became part of the pivot too.
Building a Different Model
In 2022, we began developing NXXT, our proprietary software platform.
We wanted to use technology to build better operating businesses... with the margins to invest in people, create Raving Fans among our clients and scale responsibly.
Then the pieces started moving and the plan began to unfold.
In 2023, we transitioned Florida production landscaping to Juniper and repurchased Lennar’s minority ownership position in LOVING. In 2024, we transitioned out of Florida sod farming operations. By late 2025, we transitioned out of South Carolina farming operations.
As we moved away from owning farms, we doubled down on what we knew would serve sod customers better: Technology. Localized supply. Logistics. Next Day Sod.
Our original plan was to continue production landscaping in the Carolinas through Q3 or Q4 of 2027.
The timeline accelerated when our primary farming lender called the note following the inventory impacts on the farming business. We were able to address the obstacle and pay them off, but it created a disruption, to say the least.
Then came immigration.
Late in 2025, we held a fundraiser to support TEAM members and families being affected by increased ICE activity. It wasn’t political. People who helped build LOVING were hurting. We simply wanted to help, and we did.
About a month later, we received notice regarding many long-standing TEAM members, all of whom had been with us for more than 13 years. They had completed our hiring process prior to E-Verify, but we were subsequently informed that documents presented during that process were invalid.
We had to let them go, and the operational impact was immediate.
In August, we exited production landscaping.
If I had to make the decision to support those families again, I would make the same decision today. They helped build our organization. Supporting them was the right thing to do.
Today, our direction is clear, and I am more excited than I have ever been. Will there still be bumps in the road? For sure. Do we have a culturally aligned TEAM to navigate them? 100%.
Next Day Sod
NXXT.SOD powers Next Day Sod.
Here, our customer is the Professional Landscaper.
We combine technology, logistics, great people and quality farms located as close as practical to the markets we serve. That means less unnecessary freight, less exposure to logistics challenges, less dependence on weather at a single farm and a better opportunity to give professional landscapers what they actually want:
Great sod. Fair pricing. Reliable service. An incredibly easy experience.
Our laser focus is on creating Raving Fans by leveraging our people + technology to offer the best service and quality in the industry.
Upgrade My Backyard
NXXT.ODL powers UpgradeMyBackyard.com.
Here, the customer is the homeowner.
Our technology gives us the ability to connect directly with homeowners in a way I once could have only dreamed about... bringing design, transparent pricing, financing, scheduling and installation into one experience.
We’ve also developed proprietary grilling-island and fireplace designs to make outdoor living more affordable and more efficient to install.
We see the path to build the best residential outdoor-living business in the country that serves homeowners with top-notch quality and service.
Different customer. Same philosophy: Serve the right people incredibly well and create Raving Fans.
That matters to our TEAM too.
I’ve learned that people do their best work when the customer on the other side values the effort required to serve them.
For NDS, that customer is the landscaper. For UMB, it’s the homeowner.
When customers value great work, our people feel it. I believe that creates better experiences, stronger businesses and healthier cultures.
Longer term, we want the technology and systems behind these businesses to help other entrepreneurs grow... particularly Hispanic-owned landscaping and contracting businesses with the talent and work ethic to build something meaningful, but without all the systems and infrastructure needed to scale.
The Responsibility Is Mine
There is something else I want to say plainly.
I’ve heard several of our senior executives blamed for growth getting away from us and for decisions made during some of our toughest seasons.
That is on me, not them.
I chose to empower those executives. The buck stops with me. Period.
I cannot accept praise when things go well and point somewhere else when they don’t. Are there decisions I would make differently today? For sure. But that responsibility is mine.
There has also been a lot happening outside the business.
I’ve been navigating a brain tumor over the past couple of years. Thankfully, the outlook is great, but the physical effects have been challenging.
Our family has also spent much of this year navigating an incredibly difficult immigration situation that hit our home.
I don’t share either for sympathy. I share both for the perspective they gave me on time, people, purpose and what I want the next chapter of LOVING to mean.
Why Scale Matters
Creating a positive impact has always mattered to us. It’s not just our mission statement... it’s part of our DNA.
We’ve been able to give away millions of dollars to outreach partners over the years. We want what we’re building now to multiply that impact.
By 2029, we want to play a meaningful role alongside others working to end homelessness in our hometown of Charlotte.
By 2032, our goal is to help educate 100,000 children in Honduras, with a particular focus on technology.
We also intend to keep supporting our other incredible outreach partners doing good locally and around the world.
That is why scale matters. Not simply to build bigger companies, but to create more opportunity and more impact.
Thank You
To our CLIENTS, VENDORS and TEAM members... past and present... who have helped build LOVING: Thank you.
We are excited to build on the foundation of successes and setbacks that shaped us into who we are today.
And if you were a sod client and your experience with Next Day Sod during our growing pains or inventory challenges was less than stellar, we would genuinely appreciate the opportunity to earn your business back.
I’m proud of the TEAM we have today and what they’ve accomplished during this transformation. I see the spark, energy, and passion in them that helped build our organization, and I’m grateful for their commitment to our purpose.
This pivot has taken years. We’ve made mistakes, and we’ll make more. We’ve learned. We’ve adapted. We plan to keep doing that.
I have more clarity and conviction today about where LOVING is headed than ever before.
Technology that makes complicated industries simpler.
Operating businesses built around Raving Fans.
A culture where great people can thrive.
More opportunity for Hispanic entrepreneurs.
Scale that creates greater positive impact.
That’s what we’re building...
and The Best Is Yet To Come!
Thank you for your support,
Mike