John Mohns

John Mohns started Poway-based Benchmark Landscape Cos. 22 years ago when he estimated projects on a kitchen table in Santee and stored his equipment in a garage in Tierrasanta. Times have changed.

Today, Mohns has a 300-employee business that has seen steady revenue growth -- from $16 million in 2004 to $19 million in 2005, with expected revenues of $20 million in 2006.

Providing landscape services to San Diego-area homebuilders, the company did booming business throughout the 1980s and hit a slowdown in the early 1990s.

"As a team, we became more organized and efficient at what we did," Mohns said. "The result was we managed to survive our first recession. This restructuring of operations helped prepare us for the second half of the '90s -- another growth period."

Expansion is in the cards for the future. In 1999, Benchmark moved into its new home, an 18,000-square-foot professional industrial facility at 12575 Stowe Drive in Poway, and the company has also opened up a smaller satellite facility in San Marcos. Mohns' ambition is to build a strong reputation with quality workers.