WHEN Frenchman Thibaut (Tibo) Holl arrived in Perth in 2015 he needed money to go backpacking so he advertised his weed-pulling skills on Gumtree.

Five years later his Perth Landscaping and Gardening business has notched up a couple of awards and he employs three gardeners.

Holl is now settled in Hamilton Hill, but when he and his mate first arrived in Australia, they had a good time, not a long time in mind.

They’d travelled up the east coast to Darwin before taking on work-visa jobs as station hands in Yalgoo.

Thibaut Holl. Photos supplied.

Weed pulling

When they got back to Perth, money was pressing, but jobs were elusive.

“I couldn’t find enough work to make my bank account happy again,” Holl says.

He was prepared to turn his hand to anything to fund his travels, including French tutoring and catering, but he eventually settled on weed pulling.

“Starting a business without a network of family and friends, in my second language, was a challenge,” Holl says.

“We have been lucky to have some amazing and loyal customers who helped spread the word and stuck with us since the beginning.”

At the same time he was setting up his business, Holl was completing a Tafe landscaping and design course.

Since then he has won the Australian Achiever Award for Customer Service, two years running, and took out bronze at this year’s Perth Garden Festival.

“It was a bucket-list item and to submit a garden which received so much positive feedback from the punters was really rewarding,” Holl says.

His 10sqm design was a wander-through garden incorporating Australian native and Mediterranean styles.

The four-day festival was a busy time for Holl, as he got married shortly afterwards.

Perth Landscape and Gardening
3/2 Pritchard Street, O’Connor
6555 0942