An operator. On site. For a defined window.
Three engagement shapes for three kinds of leadership gap. Someone in the seat, doing the work, until the right long-term answer is in place.
Different situations. Same gap.
Landscape companies are being acquired faster than they can develop leaders. Platforms close, vacancies open, founders run out of room, and recruiters race a clock that doesn't care how thorough they want to be.
The work that closes those gaps doesn't need advice from a distance. It needs an operator in the building.
Not selling, not in crisis, just want the business to run without you in every decision? That's a different door. It starts with the Deep Dive.
The Deep Dive →Three shapes. One operator in the seat.
Each engagement is built for a specific buyer with a specific window. Pick the one that fits.
A platform closing in the next 90 days, or one already in the post-close window.
Read the shape → For landscape platforms with a vacancyA leadership seat that can't wait 60 to 120 days for a search to land.
Read the shape → For executive recruitersA search where the seat can't stay empty while the work gets done right.
Read the shape →The deal closes. The risk begins.
The deal team goes home. The management team is uncertain. The field does not know who is in charge. The 100-day clock is already running. The deal thesis is most fragile in this exact window.
Post-close performance runs 5 to 10% EBITDA drift in the first 100 days when leadership is uncertain. On a $14M revenue and $2.3M EBITDA platform, the most common landscape PE deal, that's between $115K and $230K of EBITDA put at risk in the window where the deal thesis is supposed to be taking root.
Most of this drift is invisible until it shows up in the first board package. By then the deal thesis is already explaining itself rather than executing.
Observed across 80+ green-industry companies audited.
Not the strategy. Execution.
The departing leader's authority dissolves. The incoming leader hasn't arrived. Mid-level managers escalate decisions that used to get made in the field, and the operating partner becomes the bottleneck for things that should never reach the portfolio level.
Where equipment is in rotation. Which crews work well together. The handshake on pricing for the strip mall on 41 that's been at the same number since 2019. None of it documented. All of it in the departing leader's head.
Without an operating cadence, every board cycle is a one-time data hunt. The IC asks reasonable questions that take a week to answer. Confidence in the deal model erodes in the silence.
When the permanent CEO finally starts, their first 30 days get spent learning what's broken by breaking things. The thesis they were hired to execute is already three months behind. Most of them recover. Some don't.
Operator in the seat. From day one. Through exit.
The 100-day window has a structure. The engagement is built around it. Each phase produces a specific deliverable the next phase depends on.
Walk operations. Review financials. Interview leadership. Identify the decisions that have been waiting. Establish the baseline.
Operational Assessment Report delivered. Risk areas missed in diligence flagged. Board cadence locked. Decision rights mapped.
Operating cadence installed. SOPs built for the highest-risk processes. Field execution stabilized. Same numbers, same format, every board meeting.
The incoming permanent CEO receives what's working, what's broken, what got installed, and what to prioritize in the first 30 days.
One rate. Three scenarios that show the math.
All-in. Travel built in. No variable billing, no expense layers. Fee shown as a percentage of deal value because that's the lens an Operating Partner uses to defend stabilization spend to the IC.
90 to 120 day typical engagement window. Optional 30-day overlap with the permanent CEO at the standard rate, prorated. Deliverables and terms below.
| Entry Independent sponsor or first add-on | Core Most common | Larger Anchoring a roll-up | |
| Revenue | ~$9M | ~$14M | ~$20M |
| EBITDA | ~$1.4M | ~$2.3M | ~$3.2M |
| Implied deal value (6×) | ~$8.5M | ~$14M | ~$19M |
| EBITDA at risk (8% drift) | ~$112K | ~$184K | ~$256K |
| Engagement length | 90 days | 90 days | 120 days |
| Total fee at $60K / mo | $180K | $180K | $240K |
| Fee as % of deal value | 2.1% | 1.3% | 1.3% |
How the math works: EBITDA at risk uses 8% as the midpoint of the 5 to 10% post-close drift observed when leadership is uncertain. Deal value uses a 6× EBITDA reference multiple for landscape platforms in this range.
This works in specific situations.
100-Day Protection isn't for every deal or every platform. The discernment is part of what makes it useful when it does fit.
When the seat is empty, the business doesn't pause. It leaks.
Leadership gaps at a growing platform are not rare events. They are operational risk. Decisions slow down. Field confidence drops. Workarounds replace process. Margin quietly disappears.
Most platforms try to cover it internally. That works for about two weeks.
Different problems. Different products.
Sprint and Full Seat are not different sizes of the same thing. The Sprint is diagnostic under pressure. The Full Seat is continuity under transition. Choose based on the question you're asking yourself.
For when something is off and the platform needs an operator's read on it. Fast.
Outcome: a clear picture of what's actually happening, what it's costing, and what needs to change next.
For when the seat is empty, and every week it stays empty is costing you.
Outcome: your next leader walks into a working operation, not a rebuild.
"What's actually going on?" Start with the Sprint.
"Who is running this right now?" You need the Full Seat.
I don't compete with your search. I protect your placement.
The recruiter introduces. The client pays directly. Your placement fee is untouched. Your candidate starts into a working operation, not a rebuild.
The risk isn't yours. But it determines whether you get paid.
Searches don't fail on the candidate pool. They fail on the client. Scope drifts. Decisions stall. Candidates hesitate late. Offers go to the wrong people, get declined by the right ones. Every one of those is an operations problem with a recruiting price tag.
Something feels off. The operation hasn't broken yet. The client wants a read before the search closes.
The seat is empty. Decisions are stalling. Your candidate is still ninety days from a start date and the operation can't wait.
Full Seat runs $34,000 a month direct. Through a recruiter introduction it's $26,000. The client still pays me directly and your fee is untouched.
Two ways the search fails. The deal stops closing, or the placement quits inside ninety days. I work on the first so the second doesn't show up.
Untouched. Your name does not appear on my invoice. No referral fee, no kickback structure.
All-in pricing. No travel surprises.
Fixed fee per engagement. Travel built in. Every term agreed before day one. There are no ambiguous expectations in an interim engagement.
2 to 3 weeks · 3 to 4 days onsite weekly · diagnostic and immediate stabilization · travel built in
60 to 180 days · branch or company GM / COO seat · 3.5 days onsite weekly plus Friday remote · all deliverables · travel built in
90 to 120 days · platform-level COO seat · board cadence and sponsor reporting · Operational Assessment Report by week two · travel built in
Travel tiers. Standard rate covers Tier 1 markets: Southeast, Texas, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic. Tier 2 markets (West Coast, Mountain West, Northeast metros) carry a $2,500/month premium built into the rate. Tier confirmed in the engagement letter before signing.
Sunday evening to Thursday afternoon. 3.5 days weekly. Friday remote.
Full operational authority defined in the Statement of Work before day one.
Client provides a business vehicle during onsite days.
33% on signed engagement letter. Balance in equal monthly installments.
ACH or wire. Net 15 from invoice date.
Either party with 30-day written notice. Pre-engagement schedule applies.
$2M Professional Liability, $1M General Liability. COI provided.
Built by an operator. For operators in the seat.
LeadScape was founded by Paul Lukert, a three-time landscape company founder with thirty years of green-industry operating experience. The interim service line was built around what was missing when Paul was running his own platforms, and what he's seen missing in the 80+ companies he's audited since.
Fluent in the language of the deal team, the board, and the field. The three audiences a sponsor is briefing simultaneously. The same three an owner-operator is trying to lead.
An operator. Not a consultant. Slow learner. Fast builder. I've made most of the mistakes already. I build the systems so you don't have to.
The questions that come up first.
Different products, different problems. The Sprint is for when you're asking "what's actually going on?" You sense something is off but can't put your finger on it. Two to three weeks of operator-grade diagnostic work, a written Operational Gap Assessment, and immediate stabilization in the highest-risk areas. The Full Seat is for when you're asking "who is running this right now?" The seat is empty and the longer it stays empty the more it's costing you. 60 to 180 days, full operational authority, in the seat. The Sprint is not a smaller version of the Full Seat. It's a different product entirely. If you're unsure, book the call and I'll tell you which one fits.
100-Day Protection is a platform-level seat. Board cadence, sponsor reporting, decision rights mapped across the org, and an assessment the IC can read by week two. The Full Seat is a branch or company GM / COO seat with full P&L authority, scoped to the vacancy. Same operator, different buyer, different reporting, and the price reflects it.
Consultants write decks. I sit in the seat with full operational authority, run the P&L, and make the decisions a permanent GM would make. If at the end of week one I haven't delivered an Operational Gap Assessment that you would pay for on its own, the engagement ends and you owe nothing.
That is exactly why this works. When you promote Marcus into the GM seat next quarter, his first 60 days are the most fragile period of his career. I sit in the seat next to him while he ramps. The branch does not lose a step. When I leave, Marcus has a Decision Rights Document and a Transition Memo that compress his learning curve by six months. I make your internal hire succeed. I do not replace it.
Typically 7 to 21 days from signed engagement letter, depending on calendar availability. Pre-engagement preparation (research, SOW drafting, scheduling) happens in week zero. For a deal that is closing imminently, scoping can begin pre-close so the engagement starts on day one post-close. Day one onsite is a working day, not an orientation.
Engagement scope, defined operational authority, weekly schedule, deliverable list with delivery dates, exit criteria, payment schedule, travel tier, and acceptance criteria. Drafted by Paul, reviewed and signed by both parties before week one. No ambiguous expectations.
Travel is built into the engagement fee. There is no separate travel invoice, no receipts to chase, no end-of-month surprises. Standard rate covers Tier 1 markets. Tier 2 markets (West Coast, Mountain West, Northeast metros) carry a $2,500/month premium built into the engagement rate. Tier is confirmed in the engagement letter before signing.
Extensions happen at the standard rate, prorated, with no setup fee or re-onboarding. The most common reason is a longer-than-expected permanent search, in which case the engagement simply continues until the new leader is ready. Either party can end it with 30 days written notice.
If the permanent hire arrives ahead of schedule or the operation stabilizes faster than projected, the engagement ends with 30 days notice. The Transition Memo and final deliverables are completed regardless of timing. Unused months are not billed.
I shift from operating in the seat to operating beside the new leader. They make the decisions; I provide context, walk them through what's installed, and stay reachable as questions surface. The goal is to compress their first 30 days into 10. After the overlap ends, I'm available for follow-up calls but not on engagement.
Generally no. The engagement model is designed around being in the seat at one platform with full operational authority. Portfolio-level engagements are scoped differently and typically involve a roving cadence rather than embedded leadership. Worth a separate conversation if that's the situation.
Mutual NDA signed before the Fit Call if you want one. The engagement letter includes confidentiality terms, IP ownership terms, and standard PE-appropriate non-compete language for the duration of the engagement plus 12 months on directly competing portfolio companies in the same vertical.
The placement fee on a permanent GM is $40K to $80K. That fee evaporates if your candidate starts into a slipping branch and quits in 90 days. I protect the placement. The recruiter and I do different jobs. The recruiter finds the permanent hire. I keep the operation running while they look.
No. There is no kickback. I bill the client directly at the partner rate. My invoice does not include a referral line. You can introduce me as someone you trust who fills the gap, full stop. You stay clean.
It will not, because I am explicit with every client from day one. My role is interim. I have a defined exit. My deliverables are designed to make your placement succeed. If anything, I make them more confident in the permanent hire because they see what good leadership looks like in their seat. I have not converted a single interim into a permanent role at the client.
Good. You should have a bench. Different interims work for different situations. Some are better at PE-backed turnarounds, some are better at family-owned companies. I would rather be the second name on your list and earn the call when the first person is unavailable than not be on your list at all.
The default is goodwill. You benefit because your placement sticks. There is no formal referral fee structure. Some recruiters prefer reciprocal referrals (my clients who need permanent placement go to your firm), and we can structure that informally. The cleanest version is the simplest one: you make the introduction when it fits, I do the work, your placement sticks, and we both look good.
Tell me about the situation. I'll tell you which shape fits.
Twenty-five minutes. Three shapes on the table: 100-Day Protection, Direct Interim, Recruiter Partnership. By the end of the call we'll have an answer. Or you'll know that none of them fit, which is also useful information.
No pitch. No deck. A conversation about the seat.
Operational infrastructure for landscape companies that want to run without the owner in every decision.
Slow learner. Fast builder.
Twenty-five minutes. Audit, Deep Dive, or Interim, which fits where you are. No pitch.
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