NORTHAMPTON — As the weather warms up and the outdoors become lush with greenery again, Cyrus Copen is looking forward to tidying up overgrown spaces.

For Copen, springtime means long days spent being active outdoors. But he also gets to show off his company’s approach to lawn care, which aims to give customers the perfectly tended lawns they desire without leaving a massive environmental footprint.

When the city begins to thaw, Copen’s company Eco Valley Lawn Care moves away from snow removal and back to its all-electric lawn maintenance services. These services include landscaping, cleanups, pruning, hedge trimming, grass cutting and more. The best part, Copen said, is that the company’s electric equipment is stealthily quiet and eco-conscious.

“Just as much as the environmental impact for me, it’s the low-noise aspect,” Copen said.

Copen’s journey into the lawn care business wasn’t a straight shot. After the UMass Amherst grad completed his studies in Spanish and business management, he shipped off to Spain to spend two years teaching English. When he returned home, he craved a career path that would allow him to practice his environmental values and leadership skills while spending as much time as possible outside, away from a desk. Upon spending some time working for the Pedal People as part of a zero-emissions yard care team, he realized that his dream job was a possibility — he would just have to create it.

Thus, the Southampton resident founded Eco Valley Lawn Care in 2021. He traded zero-emission bike pedals for motor vehicles that would allow him to expand his mission of offering a more environmentally friendly version of lawn care to as many people as possible. Now, his team of six to eight full-time employees and fleet of three trucks serves all of Northampton, and he hopes to continue growing beyond the city’s borders.

“I wanted to find out if it was doable on a bigger scale,” Copen said.

It’s not easy being green

But scaling an electric lawn care business has come with its challenges. As Copen continues to pursue his eco-friendly business dreams and looks to expand his operations, there are several factors he continues to consider.

“Using this equipment has its drawbacks,” he said.

One of those is that all-electric tools tend to be less powerful than their traditionally fueled counterparts. They also can lose their charge during bigger projects, which can slow operations down.

In fact, for Eco Valley’s winter snow removal services, Copen said there is “no commercially viable option out there yet” when it comes to all-electric tools. During the winter months, Eco Valley utilizes traditional snow removal equipment.

The company still uses gasoline-fueled vehicles to transport its electric equipment as well, but Copen said he is looking at ways to electrify the fleet as well. Eco Valley purchased its first electric Ford F-150 about a year ago, and Copen said they are still testing its limitations. Because of the challenges that come with charging port availability and more, Copen said the company will likely continue to use some traditional vehicles, though he is considering acquiring some smaller hybrid vehicles.

As Eco Valley eyes growth opportunities, Copen said they continue to stay true to their mission: “doing things in the least harmful way possible.”

Growing loyalty

Eco Valley’s green mission is what has attracted most of its customers. Northampton resident Andrea Ayvazian has been a customer since seeing the team working in her neighborhood soon after the company was founded in 2021. Ayvazian said she was impressed by how “approachable” and “enterprising” Copen was when she reached out, leading her to sign up for services immediately.

Today, Ayvazian said Eco Valley takes care of all of the lawn care needs for her modest front and back yards. She brings the company on for an array of services including flower planting, pruning, mulching, seasonal cleanups and more.

“He keeps our little yard looking lovely and inviting,” Ayvazian said of Copen.

Ayvazian continues to recommend the company’s services to friends and neighbors because of the care Copen and his team show for both their work and the environment.

“Eco Valley cares about the environment and the neighborhood — they use electric equipment and rakes, and they use environmentally friendly materials on our lawns and flower beds,” she wrote. “Plus working with Cryus and his crew has been such a pleasure because they are attentive to our requests and needs, responsive to our suggestions, helpful with new ideas, and appear exactly when they say they are coming.”

And it isn’t just customer loyalty Copen has sought to cultivate. He also seeks to provide his employees with professional development opportunities and generous compensation for their labor. Copen prides himself on the company’s pay-for-performance model, which guarantees employees a certain amount of the labor revenue for each job they complete, rather than receiving a flat hourly rate.

Copen said “it encourages them to be efficient and think like owners,” regardless of their levels of experience. He calls what they do “dignified green-collar work.”

While expansions are likely on the horizon for Eco Valley, Copen said that right now, the goal is to move the company’s “home base” from Hadley to Northampton, to be closer to its current service hub.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.