For more than three decades, The Klausing Group has reshaped how commercial businesses and corporate campuses across Lexington and Louisville think about their outdoor spaces. Now, the company has added a distinction that formalizes its people- and environmentally centered approach: Certified B Corporation status.
Awarded by the nonprofit B Lab, the designation recognizes companies that meet rigorous standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. The certification evaluates operations across governance, workers, customers, community, and environment, and requires companies to codify in their governing documents that decision-making considers the interests of employees, communities, and the environment, not just owners or shareholders.
The Klausing Group provides commercial landscaping services across roughly 175 properties per week, including corporate campuses, bourbon distilleries, hospitals and universities.
For The Klausing Group, the certification reflects years of work already embedded in how the company operates.
“Our work was always about the environment and educating the community,” said Roscoe Klausing, co-founder and president. “That led me to what the ‘B’ stands for in B Corporation, which is ‘benefit.’”
The company provides commercial landscaping services across roughly 175 properties per week, working exclusively in the business-to-business space. Clients include corporate campuses, bourbon distilleries, hospitals, universities such as the University of Kentucky, Kentucky State University, and Bluegrass Community and Technical College, as well as major manufacturers like Toyota.
Its services range from routine maintenance — mowing, pruning, irrigation — to large-scale landscape design, green infrastructure installation, and winter snow and ice removal.
But central to its growth has been what Klausing calls “smart landscaping,” an approach that prioritizes environmental performance alongside aesthetics. That includes planting native species, expanding tree canopy, managing stormwater runoff, and designing landscapes that support biodiversity.
“Our goal was to demonstrate how landscape can be used as a tool to do the work of Mother Nature,” Klausing said.
Roscoe Klausing
That philosophy took shape over time. Klausing Group began in 1992 when Roscoe and his brother, Brook, started a neighborhood lawn-mowing business with the goal of earning enough money to buy a car. Their slogan? “We’ll cut class, to cut your grass.” What started as a side hustle grew into a regional operation, with a Lexington headquarters near McConnell Springs.
After Brook left the business in 2001 to start his own landscaping company in New York City — focused on rooftop gardens and urban courtyards — Roscoe became more involved in the National Association of Landscape Professionals, which helped shape the company’s long-term direction.
At the same time, external pressures were also reshaping the industry. In 2011, Lexington entered into a consent decree with the EPA following Clean Water Act violations tied to sewer overflows. The agreement led to infrastructure improvements and grant opportunities aimed at better stormwater management.
Klausing Group, which also opened a Louisville branch in 2013, was the first to secure one of those grants, using it — along with private investment — to transform its own headquarters into a model of sustainable design. The site now includes one of Fayette County’s first vegetative “green roofs,” rainwater harvesting systems, bioswales, permeable pavement, and infrastructure capable of capturing tens of thousands of gallons of stormwater.
Those investments, along with internal policies and workforce development efforts, laid the groundwork for B Corp certification.
The company also operates as a Public Benefit Corporation, a legal structure that formalizes its commitment to balancing profit with social and environmental impact. Through its “10% For the Community” initiative, which began in 2000 and is managed by Blue Grass Community Foundation, the company has long donated a portion of its profits to local causes.
Klausing notes that much of the landscape industry remains highly fragmented, with a low barrier to entry and increasing consolidation by private equity-backed firms.
“Most of our competitors are owned by private equity, where the goal is to sell in three to four years,” he said. “Our model of reinvesting in the community, the environment, and our employees is a stark contrast.”
While achieving B Corp certification solidifies and reinforces the social and environmental values that have long been central to The Klausing Group’s mission, the process was extremely rigorous and “one of the most challenging things we’ve done,” Klausing said. Still, he sees B Corp status as a significant milestone in the ongoing journey of a firm that started with two teenagers and a lawn mower and has grown to become a regional leader in sustainable landscaping.
“I’ve long believed that running a good business is about more than just having a giving program,” Klausing said. “After reading Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey, I was introduced to a broader way of thinking — that a business should exist to serve all of its stakeholders, not just shareholders.
“For me, certification has never been about sales or marketing,” he continued. “It’s about structure and standards. The process has pushed us to adopt better practices and has given us a clear roadmap to become a more impactful, purpose-driven business.”