A. J. Criss Industries
Incorporating A Home Owner's Individual Personality Into Each Landscape/Hardscape Contracting Job They Complete

By Tammy Boone

(Directly Above, Left To Right) A.J. Criss Industries owner, Tony Criss, “teams up” with Landscape Designer, Eric Kiviat, to offer their customers that special one-on-one personal service to ensure they are helping to create exactly what the customer wants.

A.J. Criss Industries was started thirty-eight years ago by Tony Criss’ grandfather in Canton, Ohio.  The family-owned business included Tony’s dad and five uncles.  The only drawback the landscape company faced was the cold and snowy winters in the Midwest.  When Tony’s father retired from the business 23 years ago, Tony decided to move A. J. Criss Industries to Southern California to a more favorable climate for the landscape contracting business.

Today, A.J. Criss Industries is a $2-3 million company with a company goal to grow to a $5-6 million volume by the end of 2006.

Tony, who was trained in drafting and mechanical drawing, always worked for his dad when he was young. The experience of working with his father taught him the “ins” and “outs” of the landscape business.  He does all the bidding and sales work himself. Gil Fernandez is the company’s general manager.

A.J. Criss Industries is a full-service landscape company, focusing its work on custom and residential homes in San Diego’s north county area.  Their projects include irrigation systems, patios, patio covers, masonry, pizza ovens, fireplaces, barbecue pits, arbors, stonework, flagstone, lighting and preparation for swimming pool installation.

The company office is located in Escondido.  It employs approximately 10-12 full-time employees and 30 part-time employees.

“I was a commercial contractor for 15 years in Northern and Southern California until the late 1980’s,” says Tony of his tenure as owner of A.J. Criss Industries.  “I switched to custom residential homes when commercial construction slowed down due to the economy. By making the change I found I could focus on doing what I enjoy most, creating.”

One of A.J. Criss Industries hallmarks is for Tony to meet with his perspective clients in person.  This way he and the homeowner can discuss the lifestyle, personality and the landscape/hardscape features that will suit each individual.

(Above Left) Overlooking beautiful Lake Hodges, in Escondido, CA, A.J. Criss Industries employee, Frank Thomas, uses the CAT 226 Skid Steer purchased from Hawthorne Machinery to easily clear debris from the job site. (Above Right) A.J. Criss Industries owner, Tony Criss, gets the job done with the CAT 303.5 Mini Excavator.

Eric Kiviat, is a landscape designer who works directly with A.J. Criss Industries.  Eric creates an individualized design for each client. Tony, along with Eric, has found that when meeting with their clients personally they are better equipped in creating a personalized plan to suit the client’s needs and lifestyle.

“Eric and I will spend anywhere from 1 to 3 hours with a client discussing things like color scheme, use of space (if they entertain a lot or like privacy), plant theme and lifestyle,” Tony explains. “All these things are very important.

“I want to put the homeowner’s personality into the plan,” he continues.  “I need to look at that person and insure my designer has created the exact plan they want.”

Their smaller landscaping projects range from $40,000-$80,000 and take about three to six weeks to complete.  Larger projects ranging from  $500,000-600,000 may take up to six months to complete.  A typical project total runs about $130,000-$350,000.

Currently, A. J. Criss Industries is working at a $2 million dollar property that is having $780,000 worth of renovations done to it.  The company is doing about $220,000 to $280,000 of landscape features.  The company is using a CAT 226 Skid Steer and a CAT 303 .5 Mini Excavator.  Their scope of work includes 145 lineal feet of walls that are 10-12 feet high.  The walls have footings that are 2 feet wide and 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet in depth.  The wall will also have a gateway included.  A. J. Criss Industries is constructing a concrete block garage with #5 rebar.  Besides the block walls, the landscape package includes irrigation, fire pit, spa, flatwork—flagstone and stamped concrete, trees, plants and an outdoor barbecue area.  The property sits on five acres that overlooks Lake Hodges, located in Escondido.  The work began on this project in early November and should take approximately three months to complete.  This project is pretty straightforward for A. J. Criss Industries, with the biggest challenge making sure the wall footings are engineered properly.

“We go over and above the standards of the industry on this and every project we do,” Tony says.  “We put our steel 16 inches on center, when specs call for 32 inches on center and grout every cell.  We use concrete fiber to reinforce all our concrete work along with steel instead of just wire mesh.  And, we pour our slabs a full 4 inches thick, with 2 inches of base underneath it so that we have minimal problems with cracking.”

(Above L to R) Clearing, moving, and loading debris at a job site in Escondido, CA is an easy task for employee of A.J. Criss Industries, Frank Thomas as he uses the CAT 226 Skid Steer purchased from Hawthorne Machinery.

One of the greatest challenges A.J. Criss Industries faces on some projects is working in small areas with minimal space between home lots.  The houses typically have a space of 5-8 feet on either side with fences usually separating the properties.           

“When we’ve finished a project, we want the client to have privacy, as well as a spacious look,” Tony states. “We want to maximize each home to have curb appeal and keep in mind resale value.”

“At A.J. Criss Industries the focus is on balance,” he explains. “We don’t do what we call “heavy on the end” where the pool, fire pit and other features are on one side and lawn is on the other. We create little areas that people utilize such as a seat wall in the fire pit area, giving a small area a fuller look.”

One of the company’s most memorable projects was a series of three swimming pools and a “lazy river” that A.J. Criss Industries designed.  They worked with a pump manufacturer to design the “lazy river”, which at first ran way too fast.  After trial and error, they were able the slow down the speed of the water flow.  The three pools were connected with an island in the middle and slide from the adult pool into the children’s pool area.  The “lazy river” was in the children’s pool area.  Some other features in and around the pool areas include a bridge over one of the pools, a bathhouse, bar and grass huts.  It was a $380,000 project for the company.

“It was a project that turned out extremely well and we, as a company, are very proud of it,” Tony says.

Tony believes that integrity, credibility and an “old school” work ethic are what sets A.J. Criss Industries apart from the rest.  He explains the “old school” work ethic with an example from his own life. “In Ohio I used to drive a truck long distance during the winter and work for the company during the warm weather,” he says. “I was also a police officer for four years, but always worked landscaping when I wasn’t on my patrol shift.”

The companies and people A.J. Criss Industries works with are professionals and have the same work ethic. Tony says that all of the company’s employees are screened before they are hired.  “We think it’s important that we know who our employees are since they are working around our clients’ homes,” he explains.

“A.J. Criss Industries does what they say they will in a timely manner,” Tony says. “We are always in contact with their clients just in case of changes or possible additions to the project.

“We are not about getting it done as fast as possible, but getting is done right,” he continues.  “We’re sticklers for details.”

For instance, when working with flagstone, instead of just laying it, they take the time to match the stones for a smooth look.  The company’s masons will take a piece of stone and knock an edge off to give it a natural look.

Tony is the last of the Criss family working for the company.  His brother and son have decided not to continue in the family business and both reside in Ohio.

For more information about A.J. Criss Industries, call 1-800-48CRISS.