Ares-Backed Landscape Workshop Buys Aero Groundtek From Outworx Group

What happened

Landscape Workshop, the Birmingham, Alabama, commercial landscape maintenance company, announced on August 25, 2026, that it had acquired Aero Groundtek, a landscaping business in Ocoee, Florida, that serves the Greater Orlando area. The seller was Outworx Group, which sold Aero Groundtek together with its two other landscape maintenance businesses, Gold Landscape and Lawn Butler. The announcement did not include a price or other financial terms.

The seller

Aero Groundtek has served the Greater Orlando area for more than 35 years, working in and around Orange and Osceola counties from Maguire Road in Ocoee. Florida corporate records show the business was first registered as Groundtek of Central Florida, Inc. in November 1989. Its work covered landscape maintenance, installation, and irrigation for commercial properties and homes, along with an integrated pest management program for landscapes.

This was not a founder's sale. Outworx, then called Aero Operating and a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital, bought Groundtek of Central Florida in April 2020. It was one of three landscaping acquisitions announced that day, with Lawn Butler, a landscaping and snow removal company in Centerville, Utah, and The Shepherd's Landscaping of Belleview, Florida. With those deals, the company rebranded as Outworx Group, and the Ocoee business became Aero Groundtek, one of Outworx's landscaping and maintenance divisions. Outworx describes itself as a North American provider of commercial exterior services, including snow and ice management and landscaping.

Outworx CFO Derek Simon explained the sale this way: "This transaction sharpens Outworx's focus and allows us to continue investing in our core national exterior facilities maintenance platform." McDermott Will & Schulte was Outworx's legal counsel.

Christopher Null, who was vice president of landscape services at Outworx, joined Landscape Workshop as regional vice president. Employees of the three businesses also joined Landscape Workshop.

The buyer

Landscape Workshop has maintained commercial properties since 1984. In May 2025, an Ares Private Equity fund acquired a majority stake in the company, which had been backed by Carousel Capital for the five years before that. At the time of the Ares deal, Landscape Workshop operated 38 locations across the Southeast. It now reports more than 50 locations in 16 states, serving office, industrial, retail, healthcare, multifamily, municipal, HOA, education, and hospitality properties. Landscape Management ranks it No. 24 on its 2026 LM150.

Aero Groundtek adds to operations Landscape Workshop already runs in Orlando. Gold Landscape and Lawn Butler give it its first operations in Dallas and Salt Lake City. CEO J.T. Price said the deal "strengthens our presence in Orlando while establishing new operations in Dallas and Salt Lake City, positioning us to better serve customers across some of the country's fastest-growing markets." Bradley Arant Boult Cummings was Landscape Workshop's legal counsel, and Warren Averett provided diligence support.

What this means for landscaping owners

Aero Groundtek has now been sold twice in six years, both times to a private-equity-backed platform. The 2020 buyer was a snow and ice removal company adding landscaping. The second sale came when that parent chose to concentrate on its core exterior maintenance platform, and its three landscape businesses went out as one package to a commercial landscaping company. For a Central Florida owner selling to a platform, that is the point to take from this deal: the company that buys your business may not be the last one to own it, so ask how the buyer's own investors have handled lines of business that stopped being central. Owners weighing that kind of buyer can read our guide on selling a landscaping business to private equity.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with landscaping businesses in Florida.

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Source: Landscape Workshop - https://landscapeworkshop.com/landscaping-blog/landscape-workshop-expands-national-footprint-through-acquisition-of-outworx-groups-landscape-maintenance-businesses