The history of Tierra Verde

Tierra Verde was established in 1979 in Arcadia California., when Paul Michael Contreras was 19 years old. He remembers when he was 12 years old, that he was asked by his father Apolinar "Paul" Contreras to help out his elder Grandfather Apolonio " Paul" Contreras who was working in town as a professional gardener. Paul Michael would work every Saturday, school break and summer vacation for the next few years.

After high school at just 17, He got his first taste of working for a very large landscape and maintenance company, working there for a little over a year. Paul M. was then hired by a local Municipal Park dept. to work for them, he was very excited to have this oportunity to be able to work and learn this new type of job.

It was 1980 inside the garage and backyard of his parents home he began operating his newly named company which he named Tierra Verde meaning "Green Earth" it was there that he started "Moon Lighting" from his Park job, after working his 8 hour shift, he would go and mow lawns for homes and businesses in town. He even did the local city Mayor's home, he would not quit working until the sun went down.

With his one small Datsun gardening truck Paul and his small crew would go door to door in his community promoting his business. Paul got his C-27 Landscape Contractors license at the age of 21. Starting from his first job he built up enough clients in the next two years to eventually quit his Park job to work full time into his dream business.

In 1985 when he was doing his garden and landscape maintenance services he met William G. Hynek, "Bill" an up and coming Landscape Architect. Bill would become his most influencial mentor in landscaping. Paul did not know very much about how to even read a landscape plan much less install one, but Bill took him under his arms and tought him. Each week when Paul and his crew would come to do the weekly gardening service, Paul would go inside of Bill's small office and absorb all of the information that Bill would teach him.

Soon after Bill and Paul built such an amazing relationship and because of that, Tierra Verde moved to the next level.

Tierra Verde soon started to provide more Landscaping services and added the title of Landscape Contractors to its name. From gardening to landscape maintenance to full Landscape services Tierra Verde started to develop beautiful landscapes in residential homes and commercial properties. Tierra Verde has since added Masonry and Custom Iron in house work to handle all phases of this field.

Paul has been working hard to concentrate in building relationships with other contractors, designers, developers and most importantly his customers. Tierra Verde's future is serving our customers with the best of quality work.

In the 20th century Tierra Verde Gardening Services became Tierra Verde Landscape and Masonry Contrators. We now serve hundreds of customers. We have become members of the California Landscape Contractors Association. We carry full Liability Insurance, Workman's Compensation Insurance and we are fully bonded. We are licensed by the State of California under license #438974.

All our employees are skilled professional craftsmen in each specific field plus they have a basic diverse knowledge outside their field. We own our own trucks and have an array of specialized equiment; we make sure each job runs smoothly and the project is completed on time.

After more than 30 years since the first vision of Tierra Verde, Paul can be proud that his goal for having relationships with his customers and building a great foundation for customer service and care has been the very reason Tierra Verde is still in business today.

Special Thanks to the referrals and recomendations from our customers, who we can now consider friends, for helping Tierra Verde achieve its goals.