Published Sunday, September 1, 2002
Herald Business Editor
Ken Peterson works on the border.
Actually, he creates the border.
This isn't about state or international boundaries. Rather, it deals with something a little closer to home.
Creating Peterson's Ultimate Edge Inc. four years ago, the blue-eyed, white-haired Hadley resident produces concrete landscape borders for homes and businesses. Such landscaping techniques have been used on the West Coast for nearly two decades but is only now gaining a foothold on the East Coast.
Initially, the technology for the concrete borders came from Australia. Using a hand-guided machine that's a little larger than a lawn mower, it extrudes concrete in one continuous piece. A crew of four to five keeps it filled with concrete and moves the equipment along the desired landscape path and can be textured into various forms, such as giving the appearance of brick or rock.
Although the concrete emerges from the equipment like a giant-sized version of a pasta maker, three- to four-foot sections are cut to allow the concrete to expand and contract with the temperature. This, said Peterson, prevents the border from cracking or flaking.
The end product, which can be up to six inches thick, creates a permanent barrier, keeping garden soil or mulch separated from grass. This barrier can be crafted into a variety of forms such as tear drops, hearts and small circles. A number of mostly earth-tone colors can be created for the borders.
"The color goes all the way through the concrete so if it's chipped or scratched it will still have the same color,'' Peterson said.
Co-owned by his son Kevin, this company isn't the soft-spoken 60-year-old's first venture.
After a four-year stint in the Army, Peterson returned to his Hadley home in the early 1960s and worked at what was Chicago Bridge & Iron for 11 years. After getting laid off at the Greenville company, he joined up with the Lake Erie & Bessemer Railroad, where he also worked another 11 years before he met the same layoff fate.
Always having a knack for creating things, Peterson formed his first company, Peterson's Assembly Inc. Operating out of a building near his Hadley home, the business produces machines for other companies, such as one that inserts cleats in football shoes and another that is a wick assembly for food warmers.
Enjoying success with that enterprise, he became semi-retired five years ago and oversaw the company's books.
"I got bored after six months and decided I had to do something,'' he said.
He had latched onto an Australian border-making machine 10 years earlier, but the equipment had remained untouched by Peterson. After operating the device a few times he grew frustrated.
"It wasn't very good,'' he recalled. "It was too slow, it didn't fill in right and it cost a lot of money.''
Having improved on the machine's technology, he decided to take it for a spin by creating a border around his home patio. Finally satisfied with the results, he decided to create a landscaping border business.
"It's really taken off,'' Peterson said. "We're pretty busy with orders; we've been called as far away and Erie and Pittsburgh for jobs.''
Costs for the border depends on the length of barrier, color and texture, but generally costs between $4 to $6 a foot with the typical job running about $1,000.
Operating from mid-March through October, Peterson's company, like any true landscaping business, is at the mercy of the weather.
"We can't lay it down if we know it's going to freeze overnight because that will cause the concrete to flake,'' he said.
Employing a crew of five, he's looking to add a second crew next year. Anyone thinking this is a low-skilled job had better think twice, he said.
"It's a real learning process -- it's very difficult to do,'' he said.