Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment is located at 2122 Bemiss Road.

Powerhouse Outdoor gets back to the basics

VALDOSTA — The local commercial landscaping industry was just getting going when Ray Hedgecock started up Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment in 1993.

“When we started, the commercial landscaping business was in its infancy,” said Hedgecock. “There were probably five commercial mowers here when we started. We grew with that industry.”

In its first year, Powerhouse focused on fixing and repairing mowers and lawn-care equipment.

It was something Hedgecock had grown up around in Tampa, Fla., working as a mechanic in his teenage years at Al’s Lawn Care Products, before moving to Valdosta to work on a business degree at Valdosta State.

In 1994, Powerhouse started selling lawnmowers and other equipment as well.

The following year, Hedgecock was joined by his brother, Russ.

“When we first started, it was a homeowner-driven industry,” said Ray. “We sold lawnmowers to homeowners and that business was very good for us. As the commercial business grew, Lowe’s and Home Depot were getting into the lawn business and that killed the residential business for us.

“Now, the market has really come all the way back around to where the commercial business has very little growth and the residential market is where all the growth is.”

Hedgecock describes those early years as lean, but through the years Powerhouse grew, eventually opening a second location in Tifton and a third in Warner Robins.

When the Warner Robins location opened six years ago, Hedgecock sold the Valdosta location and focused on the Warner Robins one.

While the Warner Robins location is still going strong, Hedgecock decided last year to refocus on Valdosta, the place where he started all those years ago.

“I want to stress that we’re back at this location,” said Hedgecock. “We’re the same business we’ve always been; we’ve got the same people we’ve always had. We can handle everything we’ve always handled, fix anything we’ve always fixed, sell anything we’ve always sold.”

Hedgecock estimated that the stores business today breaks down to 70 percent residential/30 percent commercial and 70 percent sales/30 percent repairs.

While a lot has stayed the same, in recent years the technology used in the lawn-care business has started catching up with the automobile industry.

Some mowers today use the same kind of fuel-injecting engines that can be found on trucks; other mowers use bluetooth technology to send a signal email to service providers letting them know that the mower is due for service.

“We’ll have that same technology at least by 2016.”

Even something as seemingly simple as a chainsaw isn’t immune to technological changes.

For some newer chainsaws, repair jobs are started by hooking them to the kind of diagnostic computers auto mechanics hook to car computers.

Along with repairing and selling lawnmowers, weed eaters, chainsaws and anything else used for lawn care, Powerhouse does ATV repairs, with a mechanic on staff certified as a Polaris mechanic.

“Everything you do in your yard, we do.”

Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment is open 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday.

Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment is located at 2122 Bemiss Road.