You may know ForeverLawn from its partnership with Jeffrey Earnhardt and that fantastic Black and Green Grass machine you may see whipping around the track at Xfinity races. Maybe you heard about one of the finest sports fields in the nation at the Pro Football Hall of Fame – installed by ForeverLawn. Or you could have seen the name flash on the billboard at the Cleveland Browns stadium on Sundays since ForeverLawn is the official artificial turf partner of the Cleveland Browns. Or maybe you’ve not heard of them at all. If not, you are missing out on an amazing brand and quite a story.
To say that ForeverLawn is a family business is underselling it a little bit. In this northeast corner of Ohio, the Karmies are seemingly everywhere. Dale and Brian, brothers, partners, and leaders of this merry enterprise, have surrounded themselves with family, figuratively and literally. Their wives, daughters, and sons work alongside them in creating an organization that has flourished over the last two decades.
A Leap of Faith
The story is relatively unique. Two brothers moved from their native Ohio to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to start a new business. The year was 2002, and as Dale Karmie grabbed the wheel of his Ford F-350 and got ready to pick up his younger brother Brian to make the long trip from Ohio to Albuquerque, the newfound headquarter for their nascent business, a bit of panic came to the surface. Behind him was his home, his wife and kids, and ahead laid uncertainty.
Parts of him just wanted to get back in the house where safety abounded. However, he knew that the future was ahead. A couple of issues arose; they had no money, experience, or connection to this new industry: synthetic grass (some call it “Astroturf”). Nonetheless, their spirit of adventure and firm belief put them on a bumpy road where many heartaches would reveal themselves. But, to paraphrase a popular country song, “God was at the wheel.”
They knew it was the right thing to do; they had prayed countless times over it, they knew that God would provide, yet, as we know, faith is the evidence of things not seen. Many years of tribulations would follow, and their faith would be tested more than once. Ultimately, their faithful persistence would be rewarded with the thriving business that it has become today.
Brian summed up the beginning of their journey with this quote: “I had just sent a simple email to Dale when I read that a local college was putting in synthetic turf on their field, one of the countless emails I have sent to my brother over the years, somehow this one was different. This lone missive would change the course of our lives.”
Dale added: “Words mean something; that small email Brian sent was the start of our journey, one that I could not have dreamed about. I think that Brian was a little surprised when I questioned him a bit more about it, as he had not thought about it much more.”
When Persistence Pays Off
Those who know Dale well would tell you that there isn’t a crazy idea that he is not willing to explore; something about the spirit of adventure brings the best out of him. The fact that his younger brother was involved was even better; this could be a way to work together. They both loved the idea of risk-taking and stepping out in faith. After kicking around a million ideas over the years, this one seemed like it was worth developing, but no one knew, not them nor their families, what this ride would be. Their faith would be sorely needed.
Two decades later, ForeverLawn has grown into a successful all-American business with more than 80 employees and a network of about 90 dealers throughout the United States and Canada, and is proliferating. ForeverLawn is known throughout the industry as a market leader and is the brand that defines the standard of quality in the artificial turf market.
Not Your Typical Success Story
The Karmie journey was the epitome of hard work and dedication. This was learned from the patriarch of the family, Fred, a remarkable man who was undoubtedly (in Dale’s and Brian’s words) the hardest-working, most determined man they had ever known. From him, the boys (Dale, Brian, and their older brothers Ken and Jim) learned that working to a higher standard was not just a goal, but essential, and that the reward for work was not necessarily money, but the satisfaction and the pride of a job well done. This is what helped them define the Core Values of ForeverLawn: Quality. Integrity. Innovation.
What does this translate to for the customers of ForeverLawn? Integrity. Business dealings built on the value of doing the right thing all the time. Quality. A premium product built to a standard far beyond anything else in this industry, and craftmanship on the installations that match the quality of the product. Innovation. The newest, most innovative products can be found at ForeverLawn.
A unique, market driven focus has enabled ForeverLawn to bring many new ideas to the industry – simply by listening to what customers want and solving problems customers face. Examples of this are K9Grass, the first artificial turf product developed specifically and uniquely for dogs. The use of tan thatch in the turf products to more closely mimic real grass. Bringing antistatic technology to the turf used for playgrounds (Playground Grass) to solve the problems of static buildup from the play equipment. And there are many more.
Today – 2025, ForeverLawn has introduced a new product to the landscape market that has never been seen before – It is called Mow Lines. Now, customers can have an added level of realism to the landscapes around their beautiful homes with a stunning mow line pattern. Artificial turf has never looked so good.
This is also the year that ForeverLawn is continuing to solve problems and meet needs with the release of EquineGrass. This is a product designed specifically for horses and their owners and offers a clean, neat and safe environment for stables, bridle paths, small riding areas, and more.
So whether you are looking for a way to beautify the landscape around your home, reduce the maintenance and effort to keep your yard looking so nice, looking to solve the challenges that come with our four-legged friends like mud, holes, dead spots in the grass, etc, are wanting to improve your short game by adding a putting green to your back yard, or maybe creating a safe surface under your playground set, ForeverLawn is the brand and company you need to know.
You can learn more about ForeverLawn by visiting www.foreverlawn.com. And if you want to dive into the story behind the company and the brothers that founded it, you can either check out their podcast – Impact Without Limits (available to stream on Apple, Spotify, etc.) or look for their book, Grass Without Limits (available on Amazon, or at www.grasswithoutlimitsbook.com).
This article was written in collaboration with Yves Le Sieur.
