News & Press
Landscape Firm Preps for TV Appearance
Daily Hampshire Gazette - Chad Cain
03/17/2008
There seems to be a reality show for everything these days, but it's still a bit rare when you can watch a neighbor star in one these shows.
That will be the case for Valley residents sometime this summer when Daniel Hartley, an Easthampton resident who has owned Hartley Bros. Landscaping Inc., with his three brothers Andy, Bret, and Brian for 25 years, appears on a new landscape architecture reality series created by the Do-It-Yourself network.
Didn't know there was such a thing as the DIY network? That's probably because it's way up there on Channel 240 for Comcast subscribers, and isn't even aired by Charter. But exposure is exposure, and few businesses would say no to the chance of their work featured on a national TV show.
Hartley Bros., a Westfield-based company that has completed projects throughout the Valley, sure didn't.
A film crew from the DIY will visit western Massachusetts the week of May 12, when it will shoot two episodes featuring Hartley Bros. The yet-to-be-named series will focus on the creation of outdoor living spaces, and is designed to show the struggles, setbacks and successes such projects face, said Cathy Hartley, Daniel Hartley's wife and the company's marketing director.
"They want to see the good, the bad and the ugly of a job site," said Cathy Hartley.
The producers of the new show, who are from the Boston area, were familiar with Daniel Hartley after appearing with him as a guest on a Springfield radio station's gardening program years ago.
Cathy Hartley said the episode will involve transforming an existing deck at a home in Russell into an outdoor dining area. She said the site will be challenging because it is sloped and unusable. The project will involve prepping the area, paving a patio and building a retaining wall. Designs also call for a built-in grill or fire pit and outdoor furniture.
A bigger challenge will be the crunched timeframe in which the project has to be completed. DIY producers have given the company a three-day window for a job that normally would take as much as three weeks, Hartley said.
The network also recently told Hartley Bros. that it would like to film a second episode in the area that calls for construction of an outdoor cigar room. Hartley said the company has a few home sites in mind, although one hasn't been selected.
Hartley Bros. will not be paid for the two projects, and all materials will be donated by manufacturers and vendors. Even though the two episodes will eat up the time of many of the company's 19 employees for six days, Hartley said the potential exposure is worth the sacrifice. "This is definitely a marketing opportunity," she said. "We are not paid per se, but I think it will be in our best interests."
DIY is a sister station to the Home & Garden Network and the Food Network. The network has not announced when the show featuring Hartley Bros. will air.
Founded in 1983, Hartley Bros. began as a lawn-maintenance outfit. The company branched into landscape and general contracting over the years after three of the four owners completed a landscaping program.
"What we do is a good fit for the program; we can do different projects" such as decks, porches, barns and garages, said Hartley.
