-Submitted photo
Landscaping is a growing segment of the business for Darr Lawn Service, operated out of Manson by owner and founder, Connor Darr.

MANSON — Connor Darr is a young man who knows what he wants — and he isn’t afraid to do whatever it takes to get the job done. The Manson native and Manson Northwest Webster graduate hasn’t yet had a five-year class reunion, but he’s already the owner of two businesses, and has a vision for much greater growth in the years ahead.

Darr owns and operates both Darr Lawn Service and CD-Industries. He’s even working on a patent for his “Grass Assassin,” a lawn seeding device that improves germination and helps new grass get off to a healthy start.

A 2022 graduate of Manson Northwest Webster High School, Darr said he never had a lot of wealth to start his business, but he has never been short on ambition.

“I started my lawn care business when I was 9 years old,” he recalled. “I started mowing my grandma’s yard and it just kind of scaled up from there.”

Darr enjoyed the work and soon appreciated the ability to earn his own money. He saw what work could do for a person, and he was hooked.

-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
Connor Darr, of Manson, stands next to his invention, the Grass Assassin, at the recent Farm News Ag Show in Fort Dodge.

“I started with a push mower, a bike, and a bungee cord to pull the mower,” Darr said looking back on that early start.

He was quick to realize that a little hard work could go a long way to build a client base and generate a revenue stream. Business acumen came like a sixth sense to Darr.

“It was one of the models that you look at; I’m building something myself. I’m money-motivated. It’s a scale-able asset,” Darr explained.

By the time he was a senior in high school, Darr had more than 80 clients. He graduated early and went full-time with his own business, Darr Lawn Service.

In those days, he took any job that came his way, and didn’t say no to hard work or, as Mike Rowe would say, any dirty job that came his way.

“People don’t realize that you have to take stuff that you don’t want to do,” Darr explained. “That’s part of growth. I was learning all the time as I went.”

But he was also smart enough to realize that he couldn’t learn everything on his own.

“In eighth grade, I wanted nice stuff, and I wanted to scale the business,” Darr explained. “I went out and got a job at a turkey farm. I worked there until my senior year.”

To Darr, it wasn’t just a side job, it was an opportunity to learn and gain experience. He increased his mechanical skills, but also his managerial skills.

“I learned decision-making and time management,” Darr said. “I learned so much out there.”

From simple mowing, Darr has expanded his business to now include a substantial array of landscaping, dirt work, patios, retaining walls, and more. Most recently, Darr Lawn Service completed the landscaping work on the new downtown apartment complex in the historic district of Fort Dodge.

“That was a big project,” he said, and he is very proud of the way it turned out. Such large projects allow him to expand his business with several seasonal employees.

He has upcoming projects in Ames, Twin Lakes and other area communities. In the future, he would like to expand his business to a second location, possibly looking at the Okoboji area. In addition to lawn and landscaping services, he also provides snow removal service in the winter months. With more than 200 snow removal clients, he provides services in Calhoun County, Fort Dodge, and several agricultural sites in Pocahontas County.

CD-Industries develops Grass Assassin

Constantly looking for ways to better serve clients and improve his own business model, Darr took to the drawing board earlier this year to develop the Grass Assassin.

“I was inspired looking for ways to bring another service to my clients, to better serve my clients and to make us more profitable,” Darr said.

The connection between more and better services for clients, and the growth of his own business is what drives him forward.

“We built this unit out of a 300-gallon chemical tank,” he explained. “It’s a hydro-feeder. It will spray a grass seed slurry, used on the side of roads and in new construction.”

Inputs such as fertilizer can be added to the slurry. The slurry protects the seed during germination and helps the new seedlings get off to a healthy start, according to Darr. He has accepted his first orders on the Grass Assassin and is in the process of securing a patent.

But Darr isn’t done yet. He’s also working on his own invention to provide better service to his snow removal clients, and in the process, continues to grow his own business.

When customers do better, Darr knows he will do better as well.

“Eventually I would like to build a shop for CD-Industries and Darr Lawn Service with a full-service greenhouse,” Darr said.

It’s a vision for the future, and visions take work, but Darr stands ready to make those visions a reality.

“You set a vision, and then you start meeting those visions as you go,” Darr said. “You set goals and you learn as you go.”

Clearly, CD-Industries and Darr Lawn Service have just begun to grow.