John Ploss Senior Project Manager
John is a Senior Landscape Designer and Project Manager out of our Old Mill Creek office, and he has worked with BEI owner, Bruce Church since 1991. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has been working in the landscape industry ever since. John has been an active member of the American Association of Landscape Architects since 2008. His career sees him collaborating with BEI Account Managers to design, estimate and project manage landscape enhancement opportunities. He also pursues landscape design/build projects through lead development, estimating, sales and project management. John believes for a commercial landscape design/build project to be successful; it must consider two important goals. One, to provide the best value to the client, by meeting the particular needs of the space within determined budgets and two, to allow for successful growth and health of the landscape with long-term maintenance considered. When these goals exceed the client’s perceived expectations, the project is truly a success.
John has won numerous landscape awards over the years including Illinois Landscape Contractors Association Merit Awards for both landscape construction and landscape maintenance for a residence—Glencoe, IL, and Winnetka, IL; a Merit Award for Landscape Construction from the Associated Landscape Contractors of America, ALCA; and ILCA Silver Award for Landscape Construction for a residence—Chicago, IL.
John was an early adopter of the native plant, prairie style of landscape design and is particularly proud of being an integral part of the successful BEI collaboration with Motorola Solutions in Schaumburg, IL. He worked to create and manage the “turf to prairie” multi-year site renovation projects. This project was significant in providing a highly practical collaboration for site services cost savings, combined with creative, value-added site enhancements. This project received recognition awards for Best Native Landscape from the City of Schaumburg.
John grew up in a home on a natural lake with woods and farm fields surrounding the home. His love of the outdoors, woods and water, trees and fields grew out of this time. He discovered a way to combine his art talent with the outdoors through landscape work and then landscape architecture in college. Having a chance to work at a landscape and garden center in college got him started, and he hasn’t stopped creating beautiful outdoor environments.