PETER’S BACKGROUND
Peters History: Peter is the son of an Italian immigrant. His father worked in masonry and plaster and did construction work in a small town called Castelgrande. His father married his mother and came to the United States in 1952, fleeing the socialism that was taking over parts of Europe at the time. He knew that there would be better opportunities for a hard-working ambitious man in the United States of America. At that time people took pride in their work, producing true Craftsmans, people who love their trade and excel at what they did. After working several years for other contractors and companies in the United States, Peter‘s father decided to open his own construction company. He became a licensed contractor and called his company Angelo Masi Contracting. For the majority of his adult life, and time in the United States, Peter’s father was self-employed. He created a business, worked hard and provided for his large Italian Catholic family. Peter’s parents had seven kids. Five boys and two girls. Peter is the fourth oldest boy. At some point or another, all of the sons had to work for their father. Of course, that’s how it was back then – kids worked with their parents and learned a trade, the value of a dollar and of a hard days’ work.
When Peter was very young, he worked for his father on weekends and in the summer. His father instilled many important values in him. One of these values was: doing the job the right way the first time. Do it right the first time or don’t do it at all. No matter what you’re doing, do it right, take pride in what you do. If you didn’t, there was a price to pay. His father was very passionate about what he did, demanding the very best from all his sons. The valuable lesson of doing it right the first time is probably the most important lesson that Peter has ever learned and it is what sets him apart from others in life and in his business. He loves what he does and when he does it, he does it right the first time and he hires others that share in this same philosophy.
Peter is a 55-year-old male who has been self-employed since the age of 16. Back in the early 80s when he started his first business, Peter’s Lawn Service, he used to pull his equipment behind his bicycle using a bike trailer. He was always very ambitious as a young man. After graduating high school in 1983, Peter started doing lawn maintenance and landscaping full-time. In 1983 he renamed the company and incorporated it, calling it Greenstar Landscaping Co. Although he took some college courses here and there for either business or landscaping, most of what he learned was hands-on through daily adventures, life lessons, etc. Peter has always been successful in this industry: having a vision, knowing as much as there is to know about many plants, best locations in the yard, height and spread rates, etc.
In early 2000 Peter started branching off and slowly began taking on more and more irrigation work. Over the years Peter became increasingly interested in irrigation. He studied very hard for many months and passed the county contractors exam, becoming a licensed irrigation contractor. Over the years the irrigation division of his company grew larger than the landscape portion of it. Peter enjoys learning about the ways in which the irrigation world is changing due to technology, etc. and does his best to educate his customers, as well as his employees, as to the latest technology regarding having the most efficient irrigation system for your property.
Now in 2020, Peter is going to focus the majority of his time building his irrigation company.
