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Legacy in the Making: How My Daughter and I Built a Business Together | 018
Episode 187th August 2025 • Landscaping with ZebraScapes • Rodney Steidinger
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Great businesses don’t just happen—they’re built with vision, grit, and the right people. In this episode, Rodney sits down with his daughter Trinity to share the inspiring journey of Father Daughter Construction, from early days on landscaping crews to running a million-dollar remodeling company in just two years. Listeners will learn how to grow a business through reputation, word-of-mouth, and a strong team culture, plus why talent, trust, and leadership matter more than quick expansion. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at family business done right.

Key Highlights

  • From Crew to CEO – Trinity’s journey from blowing leaves at 12 to running a thriving remodeling company
  • Building Through Reputation – How client trust and word-of-mouth drive sustainable growth
  • The Talent-First Approach – Why hiring the right people comes before chasing more work
  • Leadership Under Pressure – How handling tough situations builds confidence and skills
  • Family & Business Balance – The benefits and challenges of running a company with loved ones

Father Daughter Construction:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatherdaughterconstruction/

Website: https://www.fatherdaughterconstruction.com/

Connect with Rodney and ZebraScapes at:

Website: https://www.zebrascapes.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zebrascapes 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zebrascapes/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@zebrascapes8116 


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Transcripts

Rodney Steidinger:

Welcome back to landscaping and zebrascapes.

Rodney Steidinger:

I have Trinity who's been here today on our podcast. Thanks for

Rodney Steidinger:

coming. Thank you. So we have a long history. This is my

Rodney Steidinger:

wonderful daughter, the oldest one she was at the very

Rodney Steidinger:

beginning when we first company, was TK Lee, after our three

Rodney Steidinger:

daughters, and we ended up adopting our youngest, and we

Rodney Steidinger:

changed the name to zebra scapes. If you haven't had a

Rodney Steidinger:

chance to check the story out, but she's been at the very

Rodney Steidinger:

beginning. When did you start blowing leaves? I

Trinity:

think 12. Think the first time I was on a

Trinity:

maintenance group was 12 or 13. What

Rodney Steidinger:

were you doing? From nine to 12?

Trinity:

Horseboarding? Oh, horse

Rodney Steidinger:

boarding. Something so she didn't already

Rodney Steidinger:

have pictures of her in a backpack, about too big to

Rodney Steidinger:

handle, but she's been with us at the very beginning of

Rodney Steidinger:

landscaping. She's riding the maintenance truck after school,

Rodney Steidinger:

and then the summer and spring break, learning all that,

Rodney Steidinger:

working at it and not really enjoying it so much,

Trinity:

not as much. But then I got moved up to the office,

Trinity:

where I started scheduling and answering phone calls. Didn't

Trinity:

really like that either. I liked working here. And then I did

Trinity:

marketing for a little bit too, and then we decided to start a

Trinity:

company by ourselves.

Rodney Steidinger:

Yeah. So in the journey of learning business

Rodney Steidinger:

and numbers and people. She enjoyed the hands on in the

Rodney Steidinger:

field. So we had an opportunity to when I worked at Zebra,

Rodney Steidinger:

scheduling a project. We had a client that really got taken

Rodney Steidinger:

advantage of by a contractor, and they asked me to take it

Rodney Steidinger:

over. And because of my we had a contractor's license. We say, we

Rodney Steidinger:

take it over. I asked her, as she was working for a financial

Rodney Steidinger:

advisor, and I said, Hey, pays, not great, but, you know,

Rodney Steidinger:

interact with this older lady and work with her, and she was

Rodney Steidinger:

kind of the go to person to put fires out and to communicate.

Rodney Steidinger:

Liked it, though,

Trinity:

yeah, every day before and after my finance job, I

Trinity:

would go over to that house and check on it, and we got it done.

Trinity:

And that's where it started.

Rodney Steidinger:

That company is now called father daughter

Rodney Steidinger:

construction, where we have taken over. And prior to that,

Rodney Steidinger:

we've done a little bit of flipping houses. We found some

Rodney Steidinger:

houses, flipped them, and didn't do great at the first one, but

Rodney Steidinger:

overall,

Trinity:

17.

Rodney Steidinger:

We waited that long, yeah, so she was out

Rodney Steidinger:

of school, flipping the House Remodeling, and did a lot of

Rodney Steidinger:

redo stuff and not being fully focused just trying to juggle

Rodney Steidinger:

other things. But that was our first house. Then several since

Rodney Steidinger:

then, and through that, you got your realtor license, and trying

Rodney Steidinger:

to continue to flip houses. And as we keep our crews busy, yeah,

Rodney Steidinger:

so it's been a great journey, and now things are hopping at

Rodney Steidinger:

father daughter. What do we have going over there?

Trinity:

We have a great crew. We have. We try to run between

Trinity:

eight and 10 projects at a time, and we're booked out about two

Trinity:

months. So we've definitely picked up and are staying busy.

Rodney Steidinger:

The one thing is interesting of all my past

Rodney Steidinger:

experience of landscaping is I was tackling everything on

Rodney Steidinger:

bidding, jobs, managing, project managing, and Denise, my wife,

Rodney Steidinger:

and she was doing all the book work. And now this the second go

Rodney Steidinger:

around everything I have learned the hard way of finding great

Rodney Steidinger:

people don't find Okay, mediocre. Let's go after and go

Rodney Steidinger:

for the ones that got lots of experience to take it to the

Rodney Steidinger:

next level, and we've done that right.

Trinity:

Even with that experience, we found people that

Trinity:

we knew really cared and really bought in, and so we were

Trinity:

willing to work with them until they got really experienced,

Trinity:

which has been great

Rodney Steidinger:

that actually that's really good to see people

Rodney Steidinger:

grow through that. We found some big hitters like Stacy sales and

Rodney Steidinger:

sales manager, tons of experience that she brings to

Rodney Steidinger:

the table. She'll be on, she's already has a podcast been on

Rodney Steidinger:

the episode. Of just what it takes to stay, to be excellent,

Rodney Steidinger:

to stay, to get to the top. Stay on top is a challenge every day.

Rodney Steidinger:

So overall, what do you enjoy the most

Trinity:

about the business? Yeah, I say that I hate sales,

Trinity:

but I really enjoy meeting clients and coming up with

Trinity:

solutions for them with the issues that they have. And then

Trinity:

when the job is over and they're really appreciative. It's

Trinity:

rewarding.

Rodney Steidinger:

Yeah, it is good. Sales is it takes attack,

Rodney Steidinger:

and I know you wanted out of that pretty quick, which is

Rodney Steidinger:

surprising, but we need to find a great sales guy.

Trinity:

I liked the project management better,

Rodney Steidinger:

yeah, and doing the work. Yeah, I remember

Rodney Steidinger:

you came home one day and you're like. Just give buy a flip. Let

Rodney Steidinger:

me go tear it apart, instead of going in there and putting with

Rodney Steidinger:

the TD stuff and dealing with some difficult situations. Yeah.

Rodney Steidinger:

So what does your day to day look like right now?

Trinity:

Today, in the mornings, we line up the guys. I get here

Trinity:

at 630 should probably be here earlier, but we went out the

Trinity:

guys at seven, and then I usually go meet them at a job,

Trinity:

to meet with a client for first starting out, and try to get to

Trinity:

a few jobs in the morning, have at least one sales call, and

Trinity:

then try to meet with our existing clients and go over

Trinity:

what's next. And then I come back here, we type estimates. I

Trinity:

go over everything with Stacy, and then we go back out and make

Trinity:

sure that everything looks good at the end of the day.

Rodney Steidinger:

So part of business and understanding,

Rodney Steidinger:

like, Do you have a like, where do you want to get to in the

Rodney Steidinger:

next two to three years? What's your goal? What's your vision?

Trinity:

Well, originally, I didn't even, I was worried about

Trinity:

making it through this year, but we are going to hit our goal for

Trinity:

this year. So our goal for the next two to three years is to

Trinity:

continue creating a great reputation and the most

Trinity:

rewarding thing is when clients call us back, because they

Trinity:

appreciate the work that we did in the beginning. So continue to

Trinity:

have a lot of return customers and gain all of our business

Trinity:

from word of mouth.

Rodney Steidinger:

That's awesome. That's actually it's a

Rodney Steidinger:

very great goal, and exciting goal, and how you do that your

Rodney Steidinger:

reputation. I mean, you build that reputation word of mouth,

Rodney Steidinger:

that's and what's awesome about it here, building a legacy in

Rodney Steidinger:

your community. And then you, when you build that great

Rodney Steidinger:

customer phase, not only do you build great customers, we end up

Rodney Steidinger:

building great employees and buy in. And you will never have

Rodney Steidinger:

great customers without great employees, and you'll never have

Rodney Steidinger:

great employees without a good reputation. So it's very

Rodney Steidinger:

important that we keep those values and thrive on that. And

Rodney Steidinger:

17 years of zebra scapes, I learned the hard way with lots

Rodney Steidinger:

of ups and downs, and how we can funnel that in. And that's a

Rodney Steidinger:

blessing of growing a business from you know, start from you

Rodney Steidinger:

know, you working with us to growing your company. Now, we

Rodney Steidinger:

take the experience of zebras case. We bring in our general

Rodney Steidinger:

manager, Paula, who comes in and helps. The most difficult part

Rodney Steidinger:

is HR and working with all the legal stuff, and that's a huge

Rodney Steidinger:

help, yeah, to thrive on that. So what's your goal? Personal

Rodney Steidinger:

goal at father or daughter, like, where do you want to be?

Rodney Steidinger:

You got the company, where the company wants to go, you know,

Rodney Steidinger:

you want to grow, keep a reputation. You want to grow

Rodney Steidinger:

word of mouth. You want to it's exciting that you're not wanting

Rodney Steidinger:

to just be big or wanting to, you know, dominate the area, but

Rodney Steidinger:

you want to have built a very core group with high quality in

Rodney Steidinger:

it. That's the best. And when you do that, the rest will all

Rodney Steidinger:

come into play afterward you file that. And that's most

Rodney Steidinger:

important, just to keep on track of that and always finding great

Rodney Steidinger:

guys before you find the work, because you can't do the work

Rodney Steidinger:

without the great guys. So it's looking for and honestly, we're

Rodney Steidinger:

very blessed for the people we have with the experience. We

Rodney Steidinger:

have, high quality people, tremendous amount of years of

Rodney Steidinger:

experience that came on at a very quickly in the game, early

Rodney Steidinger:

stage. Yeah, early stage.

Trinity:

My personal goal for myself in the business is

Trinity:

proudly to help the people on our team achieve what they want

Trinity:

to achieve. One of the guys bought a house last year. The

Trinity:

next one once bought a house this year. So helping them reach

Trinity:

that goal, I guess, and doing more in real estate, finding

Trinity:

more flips, because that's what I like a lot about construction.

Rodney Steidinger:

You think you'll, I mean, you're like, you

Rodney Steidinger:

got a goal to get into construction, building houses,

Rodney Steidinger:

or you think that you want to stay away from that, like

Rodney Steidinger:

building a new house. We're doing garages right now. We're

Rodney Steidinger:

doing several garages, big patios, great decks. What about

Rodney Steidinger:

new construction? Is that in the forecast, I

Trinity:

think it's in the future. We talked about doing it

Trinity:

this year, but And next year, I feel like we'll be fully

Rodney Steidinger:

equipped to do it. Yeah, no, it's just it's

Rodney Steidinger:

good to keep your lane. And obviously it changes a good

Rodney Steidinger:

leader changes with the market. The worst thing to do is get

Rodney Steidinger:

tunnel vision. This is what I'm doing. So it's always be open

Rodney Steidinger:

minded and see where are we off to, and see what the future

Rodney Steidinger:

holds. One thing I do at theater escapes is I go where the talent

Rodney Steidinger:

is. So if you have talent do remodels, you do it. If you get

Rodney Steidinger:

talent to be like, Hey, you're full. Capable of taking on a new

Rodney Steidinger:

build, and when I know it and proved it and seen it, then it's

Rodney Steidinger:

like, okay, let's tackle a job. Let's take on a new build, and

Rodney Steidinger:

then you watch it. We never want to take on a project that we

Rodney Steidinger:

don't have the skill and talent to do. So like where we are. We

Rodney Steidinger:

never wanted a tree division, but we had skill and arborist

Rodney Steidinger:

come and say, I want to build a tree division under zebra

Rodney Steidinger:

scapes, and I want to be the lead. I want to run it. And

Rodney Steidinger:

that's where we got the tree division. So, you know, father

Rodney Steidinger:

daughter, have we have the right guy comes in and said, I can

Rodney Steidinger:

build a house. This is what it is. I can run it. And we're not

Rodney Steidinger:

there today, but, you know, three years from now, we might

Rodney Steidinger:

be, yeah, we're

Trinity:

definitely going where the talent is. We haven't done a

Trinity:

whole house remodel besides the one we got through zebra scapes,

Trinity:

and we're going to start one next month, because we have a

Trinity:

guy on our team that used to do a lot of flips as well. So it's

Trinity:

great that he's able to manage all of that with all the

Trinity:

experience that he has.

Rodney Steidinger:

And if I remember right, that lead came

Rodney Steidinger:

from your real estate lead, yes,

Trinity:

hopefully I will sell it as well. Yeah, we

Rodney Steidinger:

haven't done yet, but bringing that all in,

Rodney Steidinger:

it's very it is great where you are. I mean, I'm very impressed

Rodney Steidinger:

Trinity, where you are today from you got into, you know, in

Rodney Steidinger:

school, we flipped a house, you know, at 17. Then you went into

Rodney Steidinger:

a job shadowing. And you did that, you know, for a year with

Rodney Steidinger:

zero pay, as we flipping houses with the realtor. And then you

Rodney Steidinger:

got your financial advisor license for financial advising,

Rodney Steidinger:

which is great to understand numbers, understand all that

Rodney Steidinger:

budgeting, that's exciting. And then, you know, I let's keep

Rodney Steidinger:

getting educated. You got into your real estate license, and

Rodney Steidinger:

you look at now how all that comes into play. You're

Rodney Steidinger:

diversifying. You're going from understanding the blue collar

Rodney Steidinger:

part of it in the dirt a very young age, and then you got into

Rodney Steidinger:

financial advising, and then that got you into real estate.

Rodney Steidinger:

And now it all circles back diversifying. And when, the more

Rodney Steidinger:

you diversify, the more opportunity, the more, the more

Rodney Steidinger:

you can grow. And like I always say, we don't put our skill in

Rodney Steidinger:

one basket. You know, it's very important to to put to get

Rodney Steidinger:

education is important, but also to diversify and see how we can

Rodney Steidinger:

grow? Yeah,

Trinity:

definitely, a lot of the things that I've learned in

Trinity:

my years before starting this have helped with behind the

Trinity:

scenes in the company. A lot. They've also helped with meeting

Trinity:

new clients. It's very easy connect, to connect with people

Trinity:

when you know a little bit about a lot, because everyone has

Trinity:

something that they want to talk about, and if you know a good

Trinity:

amount about what they're talking about, then it's pretty

Trinity:

easy to get on the same page with them. So that has helped

Trinity:

tremendously in sales.

Rodney Steidinger:

Yeah, for sure.

Trinity:

Did you ever think when I asked you to start a

Trinity:

remodeling company that this

Rodney Steidinger:

is what would happen? That's a good question.

Rodney Steidinger:

Wow, be honest. No, no, we we did that house. We remodeled it.

Rodney Steidinger:

What happened was, remodeled that house, and then we started

Rodney Steidinger:

getting word of mouth leads, right from referrals, and people

Rodney Steidinger:

that work for us started bringing us work. And that's

Rodney Steidinger:

when we're like, well, his name, in that name, we sat around, we

Rodney Steidinger:

brainstormed, and I thought to get personal. You know, get

Rodney Steidinger:

that's that people know we are personal. We are a family. We're

Rodney Steidinger:

tight knit, and so, you know, father daughter was brought up,

Rodney Steidinger:

and I was surprised. You took that name. And as you know, I

Rodney Steidinger:

love I truly enjoy business. I enjoy development. I enjoy

Rodney Steidinger:

putting process together a lot. I get very excited about it. And

Rodney Steidinger:

I just thought, you know, like, you know, your other or your

Rodney Steidinger:

sister, my other daughter, Kylie, we have Lighthouse coffee

Rodney Steidinger:

and we put it together. She has a coffee truck and puts it out.

Rodney Steidinger:

And I want to see where this goes. I thought it would be

Rodney Steidinger:

father daughter construction with Zebra skates employees

Rodney Steidinger:

doing kind of construction and doing an all 100% subs.

Trinity:

So you didn't see it growing this big.

Rodney Steidinger:

No. I mean, this grew faster than zebra

Rodney Steidinger:

skates did.

Trinity:

You gave us all the knowledge to start ahead.

Rodney Steidinger:

Well, thank you. Yeah, I mean, I mean, we'll

Rodney Steidinger:

do well over a million our second year, right? That's

Rodney Steidinger:

pretty impressive to do a million dollars your second year

Rodney Steidinger:

in home remodeling, and we're going to be significantly into

Rodney Steidinger:

that. And honestly, it doesn't projection, if you ask me where,

Rodney Steidinger:

I mean, it's way bigger than I thought. And actually, the

Rodney Steidinger:

salesman, sales Stacy, told me, like projected where it's going.

Rodney Steidinger:

And I told her, it makes me nervous to think that we could

Rodney Steidinger:

be doing 3 million next year in home remodeling. Very possible

Rodney Steidinger:

of happening that gives me anxiety to think. About just

Rodney Steidinger:

everything to get in place to do it, especially in where it is. A

Rodney Steidinger:

lot of people think that, what do they think annoys the crap

Rodney Steidinger:

out of you?

Trinity:

I don't say it to anyone. I only say it to him.

Trinity:

That's why he's saying this. But a lot of people assume that I go

Trinity:

out on the sales calls just because my dad's too busy. A lot

Trinity:

of people think that we just, like, install doors together and

Trinity:

call it remodeling. They also think that he manages all the

Trinity:

projects. So our tile subcontractor last week was

Trinity:

like, it's only four times you need to ask your dad about this,

Trinity:

and I just kept walking away and being like, Okay, I'll get you

Trinity:

an answer. And then I would come back with whatever the answer

Trinity:

the customer was wanted and tell him. And eventually, at the end

Trinity:

of the job, he was like, Oh, so you're the one that, yeah. So

Trinity:

the

Rodney Steidinger:

irritating part is, everybody thinks I'm

Rodney Steidinger:

running the company, when actually I do very little, to be

Rodney Steidinger:

honest with you, right? I mean, I we talk, you know, about

Rodney Steidinger:

business, talk about employees, thought about strategies and

Rodney Steidinger:

stuff, but overall, you're meeting the clients. One thing I

Rodney Steidinger:

will say, I'm very impressed. We had a very disappointed

Rodney Steidinger:

customer. I said, I'll take care of it. And you said, No, I got

Rodney Steidinger:

it. I got to do this. I got to step up and take the

Rodney Steidinger:

responsibility. You did that pretty much every time. Is

Rodney Steidinger:

basically saying, I need to grow. And that's very, I'm very

Rodney Steidinger:

proud of you to take those difficult conversations, the

Rodney Steidinger:

stuff that fell apart, warranty work, you grabbed it and ran

Rodney Steidinger:

with it and challenge it. That's That's where you grow. You know

Rodney Steidinger:

you grow under pressure. You know gold and diamonds, fire and

Rodney Steidinger:

pressure, that's how you purify, purify yourself to be great.

Rodney Steidinger:

It's not easy. It's not easy at all. And you know why any you

Rodney Steidinger:

know why? Very few people are doing it. Very few people are

Rodney Steidinger:

stepping up out of their box and be where you are. I mean, you're

Rodney Steidinger:

21 right? And you are, you know, million dollar company or two

Rodney Steidinger:

years into it, and hats off. I mean, honestly, you earned it.

Rodney Steidinger:

You've done it 100% I love watching people excel, and I'll

Rodney Steidinger:

do everything I can to give you tools, but and push you as as

Rodney Steidinger:

right to the breaking point to see how far we can get there.

Rodney Steidinger:

I'm not a no, it was not given to you, like everybody thinks.

Rodney Steidinger:

And no, as you no one in this household, nothing's given.

Rodney Steidinger:

Yeah, it's earned.

Trinity:

But I will say that none of it would have been

Trinity:

possible without Paula. Yeah, for sure, my dad, now, Stacy,

Trinity:

really, everyone on our team, it wasn't. It's not just me running

Trinity:

it and like it works out. It's all of them helping.

Rodney Steidinger:

Don't forget mom in the back end, doing all

Rodney Steidinger:

the starting up the stuff that's that's

Trinity:

should help a lot with the books, because I don't like

Trinity:

numbers.

Rodney Steidinger:

You know, like sitting front Peter

Rodney Steidinger:

punching numbers, and how zebra skates, a lot of she's a lot

Rodney Steidinger:

like me is crazy is the numbers are in our head, right? We know

Rodney Steidinger:

what we did a job. We know what is going out. We know what the

Rodney Steidinger:

material is, and we know it's gotta be done this day. We're in

Rodney Steidinger:

the Red, yeah, it's very important, and that's the old

Rodney Steidinger:

farmers, the old school way of running books, and then you put

Rodney Steidinger:

it on paper. And if you're if you know you're in head, your

Rodney Steidinger:

head, because you're always rounding up, you'll be good.

Rodney Steidinger:

You'd be good where you are. And then in the back end, you have

Rodney Steidinger:

Denise track and all that. Now we moved it over to zebra

Rodney Steidinger:

scapes, accountant, who does father daughter and zebra

Rodney Steidinger:

scapes. And that's the awesome part. When you have a company

Rodney Steidinger:

and you're growing, you get amazing staff, and you get a

Rodney Steidinger:

great system. With all the technology we have, you can take

Rodney Steidinger:

on another company. When you have, for instance, we have our

Rodney Steidinger:

bookkeeper, we're able to go from just a bookkeeper to a

Rodney Steidinger:

senior bookkeeper, very knowledgeable. Stephanie's a

Rodney Steidinger:

great and we get able to afford to pay someone with that

Rodney Steidinger:

knowledge, because you're bringing two companies together

Rodney Steidinger:

and more money. Instead of putting all that you can't

Rodney Steidinger:

afford that wage of who we have now, someone that's really on

Rodney Steidinger:

top of it, and she's doing amazing. So one company's

Rodney Steidinger:

running great. You can add more and then you add a little less

Rodney Steidinger:

experience. You know, be like a Girl Friday coming and taking

Rodney Steidinger:

over Stephanie's role to grab the easier data entry stuff. And

Rodney Steidinger:

once you see that happening, and then all sudden, things go well,

Rodney Steidinger:

then you can go into Kylie Lighthouse coffee, and grow that

Rodney Steidinger:

and bring that in, and then other add area, other areas with

Rodney Steidinger:

low overhead. So great to have you exciting. It's a blast

Rodney Steidinger:

working with you. I truly love it. Probably don't show it,

Rodney Steidinger:

right?

Trinity:

It's weird that he's saying all of

Rodney Steidinger:

this. I'll say I gotta be better at that as

Rodney Steidinger:

being a day. Had. I know I'm hard to please. Someday you'll

Rodney Steidinger:

appreciate it. It's a good thing anyway. Thanks for listening at

Rodney Steidinger:

zebrascakes. Put the comments below on anything you have, and

Rodney Steidinger:

we'll touch base. My oldest daughter, Trinity, love working

Rodney Steidinger:

with her, as we see in this grow your sales manager or sales guy.

Rodney Steidinger:

His goal is to pass zebrascapes Who can hit 10,000,001st and the

Rodney Steidinger:

race is on. But most importantly, like we talked

Rodney Steidinger:

about, it's all about quality. It's about building that legacy

Rodney Steidinger:

here in this community and representing who we are. Thank

Rodney Steidinger:

you.

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