Founder Joshua Malik Shares How Culture Supports Employees, Clients and Growth
Born as a scrappy service business, Joshua Tree Experts has built a rock-solid franchise system around its culture and five core values. Those intangibles support employees, strengthen customer relationships and empower franchise growth, says founder Joshua Malik.
As a teenager in 1992, Malik began learning the tree-care industry from the ground up. “When I launched Joshua Tree Experts in 2005, I used my three-car garage as a storage and maintenance facility. My equipment then was similar to each franchisee’s required startup package of a sales vehicle, a truck with a spray rig, a forestry truck and chipper.”
By 2009, he had 20 employees and moved to a site that better accommodated the growing business, which aims to save rather than remove trees. The Pennsylvania-based company, which has 27 franchise partners in 16 states, added lawn care in 2017 and pest control in 2020.
That broader service mix also positions Joshua Tree Experts to benefit from homeowners’ growing willingness to invest in the spaces outside their homes. Average spending on mid-to-large yard, garden and outdoor projects reached $13,447 in 2025, with a median spend of $7,000, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute. The research found that 63% of landscaping and hardscaping projects were motivated by appearance, while 47% were driven by comfort and livability and 47% by the desire to increase home value. The benefits are personal, too. The National Association of Realtors found that 68% of homeowners wanted to spend more time at home after completing an outdoor project and 60% enjoyed their homes more. For Joshua Tree Experts, that investment creates multiple opportunities to help customers protect, improve and enjoy their outdoor spaces.
A Winning Culture
Joshua Tree Experts had developed a great company culture, but Malik didn’t prioritize it until 2021, when franchising began. “Business culture exists whether the owner focuses on it or not. If the culture builds itself and it’s not right, the brand will be negatively affected,” he says. So Joshua Tree Experts identified five core values to guide its people-centric ethos:
1. Work hard/play hard.
2. Improve and adapt.
3. Be reliable.
4. Be a team player.
5. Find a way.
Malik says the core values determine who’s hired, rewarded, terminated and retained. The franchise’s goal is to keep 90% of all employees year over year, and employee retention is tracked weekly.
To reinforce employee engagement as a team, company-wide biannual meetings cover franchise status and goals, he says. “We talk about production numbers, profit numbers, reinvestment in the business via benefits, vehicles, equipment, training, etc.” Regarding “play hard,” Joshua Tree Experts holds end-of-day cookouts multiple times per year and a company picnic in May. Whitewater rafting is scheduled for August.
Core values apply to client interactions, too, with clear communication from project proposal to scheduling to completion. “We want to build rapport, educate clients and perform the additional services of plant health care, lawn care and pest control,” Malik says. “We focus on client count, client penetration and client retention.”
People-Oriented Culture
Joshua Tree franchisees readily adopt the brand’s people-oriented culture and core values. A prime example is Austin, Texas, franchise owner Katy Flores (above, left), whose career includes 20-plus years in corporate leadership and supply chain management. “I try to create an environment where every team member understands they make a difference,” says Flores, whose franchise opened in June 2025. “We don’t just remove or prune trees. We help families protect their homes, improve their properties and preserve the beauty of the Austin landscape. I invest in training, encourage professional development, and make safety and communication a priority every day.
“I believe in leading by example. Whether I’m meeting with clients, helping solve a challenge in the field, delivering lunch or Gatorade to the crew to say thank you on a brutally hot day, or sitting in the shop waiting on equipment repairs, I want my team to see that we’re all in this together.”
Flores invested in Joshua Tree Experts to build something of her own while serving her community. “Joshua Tree Experts focuses on proactive care rather than simply reacting to emergencies, which resonated with me. In Austin, people can be emotionally attached to a 100-year-old live oak in a way they never will be to a fence or roof. Trees hold memories, increase property value and shade us from the hot Texas sun.”
For more information, visit Joshua Tree Experts’ franchise website.
