Meet a Mom: Serendipitous Sarah Davidson of Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care!

Hello friendly faces! It’s a new Chicago North Shore Moms spotlight brought to you in part by Mary Gifford of Gifford Law.

Running a successful business while raising a family is no small feat, but Highland Park mom of three Sarah Davidson has managed to do both with dedication and perseverance. As the co-owner of Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care with her husband Justino, Sarah has spent the past 15 years growing her company from a small, word-of-mouth operation into a thriving business with over 250 loyal customers… currently! Beyond weekly lawn maintenance, Sarah has carved out a niche as a talented landscape designer, helping North Shore families create stunning outdoor spaces (read on to get a taste).

When she’s not managing her business, she’s a busy mom of three, working as a flight attendant during the off-season to fuel her love of travel. Deeply committed to giving back, Sarah is an advocate for pediatric cancer foundations, including the locally based Dragonfly Foundation as a way of giving back to a community who deeply supported her own family’s journey with childhood cancer. Get to know more about Sarah’s story behind the formation of her business which began as a love story and endures today. Welcome, Sarah!

Photo credit: Diana Gran Photography

Hi Sarah. Please introduce yourself. Where are you from originally? What city do you live in now? What brought you here?

My name is Sarah Davidson. I was born and raised in Highland Park, and I live here now with my family. I have 3 children. My oldest son is 20, my daughter is 13, and my youngest son is 11.

What’s something people might not know about you?

My business is my baby, but I am currently working as a flight attendant during the off-season so that I can pursue my dream of traveling the world with my family.

What are your favorite North Shore places, spaces and eats to frequent?

For breakfast, I am a big fan of Walker Bros, and I love to lunch at local spots like Mil Colibris, La Taquiza, and that Little French Guy. Our favorite family dinner spot is Los Mogotes de Michoacán. Although I normally work from home, I prefer to get my work done at Dayhouse Coworking whenever possible because it is such a relaxing place where I can focus.

Shout out to Dayhouse! When you’re not working or playing, what are you reading and watching?

Hmmm. I am mostly reading seasonal landscape proposals at this time of year, but I like to zone out to Netflix at night.

Your mantra?

Work hard, play hard, and give back as much as you can!

Let’s get down to business. Please introduce Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care. Tell us when it was founded, what it started as and how it’s evolved over the decades.

My husband and I met while we were both working in a restaurant as second jobs. At the time, I was a 4th grade dual language teacher and my husband worked for a local landscape company. I have always been fascinated with languages and language acquisition, so we fell in love while I was practicing my Spanish.

After we married, we decided to open our own lawn care service. We started very small – I called everyone that I went to high school with and asked them to hire my husband, and I convinced 12 people to hire us! Over the next 15 years, I taught myself everything possible about lawn care and landscape design and took many classes in horticulture, ornamental plant materials, and landscape design so that I would be able to successfully run our company from a place of knowledge.

My husband already was extremely experienced. From rural Oaxaca, he worked on his family’s coffee farm when he was young and has a natural talent when it comes to planting and caring for plants so that they thrive. He also worked many years in the landscape business before we opened our own company. We slowly grew and developed our company from mowing those 12 lawns to a booming small business with over 250 lawn care customers.

We also now have a landscape design and installation department, and we are proud to have created many backyard paradises on the North Shore.

As a local small business owner, what do you believe has contributed to your success?

As a local small business owner, I’d like to share that my priority is to make meaningful connections with my customers and to be as transparent as possible when describing what we can do to meet their needs. I believe that we have been successful because I have gotten to know my customers personally and I take pride in being able to anticipate what services they would like and being able to offer those customized services to each customer.

Spring Cleanup with Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care. Photo credit: Diana Gran Photography

Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care is known in the community for stellar weekly lawn care but many people don’t realize that you’re an accomplished landscape designer. Tell us about this aspect of the business.

Our landscape design side of the company is our new baby. I have been studying landscape design for the last few years, and it has been very exciting to see my ideas come to life in my customers’ yards. I am excited to see this side of our company continue to grow and thrive! We are actively growing, and I am hiring two assistants this year to help us continue to grow!

Tell us about a recent project you loved being a part of.

We have a customer that had a beautiful, but plain, backyard. He wanted to make a drastic change and add ornamental trees and many, mostly native, flowers with a path running through them. We completed this project in stages. First, we removed the existing plants, then we planted larger trees and shrubs and created the footprint for the path. Next, we added perennial flowers and groundcover. Finally, we added the finishing touches to the path.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Tell us about the landscape design process. How long does it typically take from design to implementation?

Normally, it takes me a few weeks to design a project based on initial feedback from my customer. Then, I meet with my customer to discuss the initial design and make charges. Then, we get the project on our schedule. Once we start installing, a project normally takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to complete.

What season or month do you recommend we start on a project?

Now (February) is the perfect time before the planting season begins in May. That way, we can be ready to plant once the weather is right.

As a mom of three children, how do you balance the demanding responsibilities of being a mom and owning a bustling small business? It takes a village, what does yours look like?

We are all hands on deck at my house.

North Shore businesses are known to proudly give back to community investment and initiatives. In what ways is Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care involved in community outreach and what does it mean to you?

My daughter was diagnosed with cancer when she was 4 years old, and she went through almost three years of chemotherapy. Luckily, she is thriving today. While she was sick, our community wrapped its collective arms around our family and made sure that we survived. While our family was struggling, strangers and acquaintances brought us dinner every day for the first six months that she was sick, and they showered us with money for expenses, gifts and love.

Many local pediatric cancer foundations also embraced us. They provided us with essentials like gas cards and parking, birthday parties for my daughter, a plane ride to the North Pole, and an amazing Make-A-Wish trip. We are eternally grateful and thankful for the opportunity to give back.

Currently, I am on the executive board of Dragonfly Pediatric Cancer Foundation, which is an amazing local foundation run by the equally amazing Highland Park resident, Jess Merar, and Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care is more than happy to sponsor their events every year. Please see the picture of Justino and I at one of their galas.

Sarah and Justino at the Dragonfly Gala in 2024. The next Dragonfly Gala is Saturday, May 3, 2025 at Fields’ Lexus Dealership in Glenview.

Additionally, we were happy to partner with Diana Gran and her local business, Diana Gran Photography, as well as many other local businesses to create the Day of the Dead community event in Highland Park this past fall. It was an amazing event, and we were happy to donate and install all of the flowers for the event. (Please see pictures!)

Nicolaz and son lawn care, sarah davidson and jutino owners

Justino and Sarah at Day of the Dead Altar in Highland Park.

What’s coming down the pike for Nicolaz and Son Lawn Care?

We are excited to announce that we are in the process of rebranding our company with a greater focus on landscape design. We will be sharing our new website and information soon!

What are your contact details for our readers who want to reach out?

You can see more about us on our website at www.nicolazandson.com or call 224-735-1071 to discuss your lawn care and landscaping needs.