The Top Choice Team
Top Choice employees enjoy their work. They laugh loud and often while striving to provide the best service and operating efficiently.
The Top Choice Crew - The True Heros
These are the guys directly responsible for the high quality work done in every yard we visit. We are proud to have such an experienced and hard working crew. Without these guys we could never provide you and your family with the expert lawn and landscaping services all of Austin has come to expect from us.
Nolan: General Manager / The Guy that tries to be funny in the emails
Nolan was born and raised in Austin. The son of a landscape entrepreneur, he has been around the business since he can remember. Nolan attended Texas A&M university where he graduated with a finance degree and spent many Saturdays disappointed by the football team. After college, Nolan joined the Marine Corps as a combat engineer officer and moved to Virginia. Over four years, he and his wife – Joanie – lived on both coasts, and he served one tour in Iraq, and had other adventures. Nolan and his lovely wife have three rambunctious kids.
He enjoys a good book, a hard workout, a close game, and his kids’ laughs.
Golden: Operations Manager / The Guy That Actually Makes This Place Run
Golden hails from a suburb of Salt Lake City. He is the son of a small-town Idaho farmer. He graduated twice from Brigham Young University – once as an undergraduate and once as a graduate. For most of his professional career, he has been involved in sales and service management – overseeing sales professionals, service representatives, underwriters, and even technology resources. He is our protocol and procedures guru. Organizing and arranging materials, installations, safety processes – you name it. In 2011, he moved to Austin to get his wife closer to home. Shortly after arriving, he joined Top Choice and has loved being here. Enough to become part owner!
Golden is married to a perfect woman, has three girls and one boy and a couple small dogs.
Tom: Service Manager / The Top Choice Spirit Animal
Tom, as our Service Manager, will be someone you get to know well. He is tremendous with our customers. About as outgoing and personal a person can be. One of those people who helps others too much. He was born and raised in Fresno, California, but has lived Texas for 23 years. He certainly considers himself a Texan (and talks like one, too!). He studied industrial technology at Fresno State University. He has one son, plays in a band, and enjoys his involvement with his church. This is his second time at Top Choice – after a year hiatus, we convinced him to come back to us. We’re very glad he did! He is the glue that holds the team together. He can be reached at service@topchoiceaustin.com.
Justin: Operations / Safety / HR / Utility Man - He Does Everything
Justin makes the trains run on time and does most of our nuts-and-bolts scheduling day to day. (So, if you’re ever annoyed at our scheduling, Justin’s direct phone line is…oh, wait…never mind…oops). When he isn’t arranging huge mulch deliveries or tracking down an exotic plant for your property, Justin also recruits, hires, trains, manages, coaches, etc – all our team.
Justin was born and raised in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. He later came to the States and graduated from Brigham Young University. Before joining Top Choice, Justin worked in foreign-visa-program recruitment in the Houston Oil & Gas industry. He is happy to be in the green industry now. Justin is always humming or singing or whistling something and is notorious for getting a tune stuck in his head. He has two boisterous sons that keep him busy!
John: Only person from California in Texas / Customer Service
John joined our team from Northern California. Before he moved, he owned and operated a burger joint beloved by the community North of San Francisco. After years of late nights and weekends, he decided to take his customer service skills to the green industry. Restaurateurs across the globe shed a tear as we gained a valuable team member. John is originally from Boston so you may enjoy getting him to say “Park the car”. Forgive him, he is a Patriots fan. He is married to a fantastic woman and has two sons.
Derrick: Irrigation Wizard / Aquaman
Derrick is a master at his craft. But more importantly, he loves to provide great service. Irrigation is a strange industry where you have to build trust with your clients (you bury the work). Derrick thrives on building and maintaining trust via excellent communication and proficiency in his work. When he isn’t elbow deep in a hole or sopping wet from adjusting your system, he is with his family. He has a lovely wife and two wonderful daughters that keep him busy. They are always up for an adventure at the drop of a hat. Finally, BEWARE…if you get him talking about softball, Derrick won’t let you go without an ear full. Derrick and his family are even better at smashing balls over fences than they are at irrigation.
Allison: Estimator Extraordinaire / Horticulture Phenom
Allison is originally from Dallas (Don’t hold it against her). When she was a kid she loved extreme sports (I actually saw 3 skate boards in her car the other day – how on earth could you ever ride 3?!) She attended Texas A&M where she studied Horticulture. She finds viticulture (wine making) very fascinating and actually had several offers with vineyards up in the northwest. Before Top Choice, she worked for a well know tree company in the DFW area. She is one of those weird people that actually walks around plant nurseries for fun – she really likes plants.
We love her because she is spunky and isn’t afraid to tell you what she thinks. She genuinely cares that customers get great service and she couples that with her love for the green industry. She is a team player and a fantastic estimator. You may catch her in your yard doing an estimate, or on the phone when you have a question. She’s a “Jack of all trades”, or should I say “Jane”?
Formally, she is a certified arborist, so feel free to direct your tree questions her way. See her recognized on ISA here.
Steve: The Gray Fox / "Been there done that" / Estimating Legend
Steve has been doing landscaping and lawn care in Texas for over 30 years – most of it in Austin. He has spent time at a number of companies around town and has even run his own high-end maintenance company for a number of years. He is quick with a story about his grandmother and her begonias – Spoiler: Steve would save them in burlap sacks through the winter. He is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. If you ever get the chance, have him walk you around your yard – you won’t regret the information or the stories
On the weekend you will find Steve laughing on the golf course (probably in a bunker). He may be with his buddies or with his birdie prone son (his son is reeeaaallly good). He has been married to his wonderful wife for 20 years (she is obviously a saint). Steve and his bride will eventually retire to a fishing boat in Florida where his daughter is currently in college.
We are blessed and grateful to have Steve on the team.
Adriana: Customer Service / The Lady That Keeps Tom In Line
Adriana is our office veteran. Kind as can be on the phone – you’ll appreciate her willingness to help you. She is a native Texan and has been in Austin a long time. She is married (13 years) and has 3 beautiful kiddos. She enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies (especially Star Wars!), taking and watching her oldest play fast-pitch softball, running and other fitness activities. She is a Halloween expert – her family has had some outstanding Halloween costumes over the years. She’s an awesome person. You’ll appreciate her like we do.Her name is pronounced Adri-ah-na. If you have trouble remembering, she won’t be offended – Tom still messes it up!
Crystal: Administration / The Lady That Keeps Golden In Line (His Wonderful Wife)
Crystal is our bookkeeper. While she generally deals with our corporate and vendor relationships, if you call our office, you’ll end up talking to her at some point. A friendly person by nature, she’s not afraid of a good laugh and conversation. While not paying for materials and supplies, she enjoys spending time with her 4 children, crazy husband, and beautiful puppy.
The Top Choice Story
Top Choice Lawn care was founded in 2005 with the customer in mind. Throughout the years, the team has refined our processes, services, and area of operations and we now provide lawn care, landscaping and irrigation to the greater part of west Austin as far north as Steiner Ranch and as far south as Buda. We are proud to be local and we are proud to be from Texas. We are veteran owned and operated. It would be an honor to serve you.