Chris Hulme’s story in landscaping started when he was eight years old. Just like any other young man at that age, he wanted a dirt bike. So, what does any good dad do when junior wants something special? He makes a deal. Seizing an opportunity to instill some life lessons, he mapped out a plan where he would pay for half of the dirt bike if Chris got a job and saved enough money to pay for the other half.

Now of course, being at the ripe age of eight, he wasn’t what you’d call “legally employable” but that didn’t stop the young man for a second. With the sage advice of his Dad encouraging Chris to do chores around the house and asking the neighbors to do odd jobs like washing cars, cleaning windows, mowing lawns, and even on one occasion, a stump removal, Chris started to put a dent on his end of the bargain.

Pulling weeds and shoveling dirt was hard work, especially considering he was only asking for $5 here and $10 there. He worked all through that Summer, but within a couple months he finally had enough money to take his father up on his offer. That summer did a lot for Chris Hulme, it served as a catalyst for something that would change his life.

Fast forward to Junior High, where Chris started a gardening route. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just mowing lawns, edging the grass near sidewalks, and blowing grass off of driveways. With a simple and efficient mindset he managed to build up a route of a dozen or so neighbors that hired him on a weekly basis to maintain their front lawns.

College took him to Brigham Young University where he studied business with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. After having a taste of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, he was hooked and wanted to pursue it long term. 

Drumming up business in college wasn’t much different than in high school, turns out knocking on doors and saying, “Hey! I’m trying to earn some money for school, is there anything you need done around your home?” was a pretty good business model. Things started to pick up quickly so Chris decided to hire his brothers in order to get all of the work done. With his family at his side and the work pouring in, Chris almost had it all.

With every strong man is a stronger woman, that’s when Chris met Jen. She was going to school in Santa Barbara while he was going to school in Utah, juggling classes and Clearview at the same time in, you guessed it, Santa Barbara. Between her and all the work waiting for him in SB, he had all the motivation in the world needed to come back on the weekends. Serendipity played its part as they eventually got married in 2005, having the absolute time of their lives everyday since.

What more could you ask for? Chris found the love of his life, had all of his brothers working with him, and he even got several of their friends in on Clearview. It just made sense to stick with Clearview instead of trying to find a job somewhere else. Over the span of just a few years they cleaned thousands of windows, painted hundreds of homes, and pressure-washed dozens of Saltillo tile roofs, among other random odd jobs throughout the Santa Barbara area.

Always the opportunist, they took a shot at hanging holiday lighting and founded Santa Barbara Holiday Lights in the 2000s. The intent was two fold: expand their service offering to the same clients who hired them for everything else, but also keep our team busy during the “slow” season. It went off without a hitch, they began fielding requests for larger landscape projects and responded with a full yard transformation service.

This personal approach paid dividends, as some of the first big landscape projects came by way of clients who had grown to love the team cleaning their windows, hanging their holiday lights, and painting their homes. Chris was able to find a bit of himself in the process as well, offering a more in-depth service that flexed a muscle he hadn’t used before: collaborating on a vision and the creative process of treating landscaping like a blank canvas. This sparked a new passion which carries Chris, Jen, and the rest of the company to the present day.

In 2012, Jen and Chris welcomed twins into the world, what a year that was. Time, as it often does, flew by in what they could only describe as being one big blur. No matter what though, family makes all of the stress and success worth it. They now have three incredible daughters and their bond is inseparable. Chris has always preached the importance of self discovery, so how do they do that as a party of five? Explore the outdoors often by going camping, wakeboarding, riding ATVs, skiing, boogie boarding, mountain biking … you get the idea. Anything with the outdoors, they’ve done it all together every step of the way

Clearview has given Chris the ability to support two families. Of course, Jen and their children, but also that of the team itself. Many of them have been with the Hulme family for over five years, working harder than anyone and being royally treated with paid days off to properly balance their lives outside of work with their families. The result is a committed team that’s loyal and dedicated to building the perfect outdoor living space for you and your family.

At the end of the day, that’s what Clearview is all about, family.

We can’t wait to see what we can do for you, from our family to yours.