Matt Bell wanted to play hockey. His summer job cutting grass allowed him to do so.
It’s safe to say he didn’t get into this industry with a grand vision of building one of Manitoba’s premier landscaping and hardscaping companies. But today, as CEO of Geller’s Design Build Landscape, he leads a team of nearly 100 staff members, creates award-winning projects, and cultivates a warm company culture that treats hardscaping as the skilled trade it truly is.
The Path to Entrepreneurship
When Bell’s hockey career shifted to a hobby, he transitioned into working for a landscape company full-time. After a few years and still in his early 20s, he found himself at odds with the owner over the direction of the business.
“I went home frustrated and basically overnight decided to start my own company,” Bell said.
It was a huge leap of faith. But Bell said it was an easy one to take.
“I had no wife; I had no kids. It was easy when it was just myself I had to take care of,” he said. “It was an attitude of ‘what do you have to lose?’ If it doesn’t work out, I’m back working for somebody else in a year.’”
His initial goal was just to make the mortgage payments, but it quickly evolved. Within two to three years, Bell began building relationships with clients who wanted more than landscape maintenance and he expanded into hardscaping, tree planting, and larger projects.
“By late year three we were starting to do some very basic paving stones and hardscaping,” he says.
The company continued to snowball, taking on increasingly complex projects that pushed the boundaries of what was possible in their Winnipeg market.
“In Winnipeg, we have six months to enjoy the outdoors and then we’re covered in snow,” Bell said. “So, when you have somebody that’s going to spend $1 million on their yard only to use it for a few months, it’s a new movement. Living well outside is so important and being able to see that shift is pretty cool.”
Prioritizing People
Geller’s has grown more than 20 percent each year since Bell started taking it seriously around 2015. The company now operates multiple divisions—landscaping and hardscaping, carpentry, in-ground pools, maintenance, snow removal and horticulture —with six full-time designers on staff. Despite the cold weather, the company is able to operate year-round.
They recently earned an Honorable Mention at the 2025 HNA Awards and are preparing to submit another massive residential project for next year’s competition.
But for Bell, the numbers and accolades aren’t what make him most proud. It’s the people.
“Seeing my staff succeed in life and achieve their goals is the most rewarding part of my job,” Bell said.
He lights up talking about a young foreman who recently bought his first house.
“Knowing that he was able to buy that house with his wife by working at Geller’s, that’s really special,” he said.
One of Bell’s core beliefs is that hardscaping deserves to be treated as a legitimate trade.
“There’s an old school mentality in the industry that you can only pay so much for certain positions. That’s not the reality. Hardscaping is a trade just like electrical work, just like plumbing, and as owners we need to treat it as such, recognize it as such, and then pay accordingly,” Bell said.
“If I want an employee to take care of my company and my clients, I need to take care of that employee as well.”
This people-first approach also applies to clients.
“Maybe we take a loss on a job in order to make sure that client is happy with what we ended up doing,” he said.
He knows this approach is worth it when he gets unsolicited feedback from clients.
“When you get the text from a client on a Saturday afternoon and it’s the unrequested picture of their family hanging out on the patio or the first time the kids jump into the pool,” he said. “Those moments are really special. It’s rewarding to know that I played a part in making that happen.”
Learning from Others
As Geller’s has grown to become the largest landscaping and hardscaping company in their market, Bell often looks beyond Winnipeg for inspiration and education. He invests heavily in sending team members to Toronto and Montreal to meet other contractors and learn from them.
Bell is a firm believer in mentorship and continuous learning. He regularly attends industry events and challenges himself to always ask questions and share ideas freely.
“I believe rising tides lift all ships. I think competition is a mess of a mindset,” Bell said. “I’d happily share anything with anybody within my local market because it’s just going to make the industry better.”
Bell said one of the greatest privileges in his career has been sitting on an advisory council for Belgard North America with contractors from across the continent.
“Being able to sit in a room with 15 people that are doing things at the highest level from all corners of North America—I learned so much from those individuals,” he said. “Being able to rub shoulders and just listen to best practices and what’s worked and what hasn’t in business, in hardscaping, in life, in marriage and fatherhood.”
Advice for Aspiring Hardscapers
For aspiring hardscapers, Bell encourages persistence and a strong work ethic.
“Persistence wins in so many aspects of life,” he said. “You’ll beat smarter people, you’ll beat quicker people, you’ll beat kinder people if you are the hardest worker. If you persist, you will come out on top.”
Bell is always looking for people who can demonstrate work ethic when hiring for Geller’s.
“We find it very difficult to teach hard work. You’re a hard worker or you’re not. We can teach attention to detail. We can teach dexterity on site with the advancement of tools and technology. We can teach the math and grading and planning and all of that stuff, but when we look for somebody that’s going to be a hardscaper, I need somebody who is going to work hard and work hard to be happy,” Bell said.
“If somebody is willing to show up every day and work hard, within four or five years, they’re going to be earning six figures. They’re going to have a big sexy truck. They’re going to have a whole bunch of staff reporting to them. They’re going to have the world.”
Looking back, Bell wishes he had understood this potential earlier in his career.
“I wish I knew that if I take this seriously—I love being outside, I love working with my hands, I love this type of work—I’m going to be able to build a pretty awesome life if I stick with this trade.”
Building a Life, Not Just a Business
Bell’s personal life has grown alongside the business.
Being single gave him the freedom to start Geller’s but his marriage to his wife, Madison, has imbued it with more meaning. Together, they have a four-year-old son named Ben.
Two of Bell’s brothers work with him at Geller’s, as does his brother-in-law, along with staff he refers to as brothers because of how close they’ve become over the years.
For Bell, success is measured in the foreman buying his first house, in the family photos by the pool, in the team members who show up on Saturday mornings with smiles on their faces ready to work. It’s about building not just driveways and paver patios that last, but careers, relationships, and a life worth living.
“I feel pretty darn grateful,” Bell said. “I feel pretty spoiled that I get to have as much fun as I do at work.”
