Outdoor Projects With Victor Ayala

By Charles McGuigan 06.2020

America just got greater.

Sitting across from me on the front porch is a man I am proud to call amigo. We are nursing a couple of tall gin and tonics, the lime tangy, the quinine bitter, the glasses chilled to the touch and sweating as profusely as both of us.

Back in January, I made my way down to the Federal Courthouse at 7th and Broad streets where my friend Victor Ayala would be sworn in. Although I was unable to actually see him take his oath, I was there in the waiting area as he became an American citizen. And it is an honor to now have him woven into the fabric of this nation. His presence, and that of his family, makes America a much greater Experiment than it has ever been before.

Victor came here as a boy, just sixteen year old. His back story, like that of many immigrants, is absolutely harrowing (you can hear the full details of it in an audio story here.)

As soon as he arrived in Richmond, Victor went to work learning skills that would help lay the foundation of the business he would eventually create—My Outdoor Project.  “My first job was in landscaping,” he tells me at a safe distance on my front porch. “We would put in new beds, clean the existing beds, mulch, trim. I was learning it all. That was seventeen years ago.”

He later encountered a man named Gary Daniels, a seasoned mason, who saw great potential in the young Victor Ayala. “He was a good man,” says Victor. “And he gave me a good job. He had a gift to push people to do more and to learn.”

Anytime business went slack in either landscaping or masonry, Victor would take whatever job he could find. “Charles, you know how it is for us immigrants, we have to hustle,” he says.  “Sometimes they tell you, ‘We don’t have work and you have to wait for two weeks.’ So you don’t stay home and wait for that two weeks, you move on and find other work.”

Frequently, that work was in construction. At the time, a lot of older buildings in downtown Richmond were undergoing major renovations to satisfy a new demand for residential housing. “I would do carpentry, hang drywall, just about anything,” he says. “I am always learning.”

And perfecting his skills. Victor has done contract work for a number of landscape businesses over the years. He would primarily handle the hardscaping, and his masonry skills are unmatched.

Four years ago, he took the plunge and opened his own business. Fusing the multitude of skills he’s acquired over the years, he can do pretty much anything in terms of, as his business’s name suggests, outdoor projects.

“We do a little bit of everything,” Victor says. “We do patios. We do sidewalks. We also do steps and stoops.” From raised beds of river stone to fire pits and outdoor kitchens, my Outdoor Project can handle any job, big or small. “We do fencing,” says Victor. “We build decks. We do landscaping, and even lawn maintenance.”

After consulting with a client, Victor makes recommendations. He sometimes suggests a client go Pete Rose out in Glen Allen, where Victor buys most of his stone for hardscaping. “They have it all,” he says. “Bluestone, flagstone, limestone, river rocks, cobblestones. They also have nice displays of fire pits and outdoor kitchens. They’re really nice with the customers, and help them to choose the right product.”

If a client is considering landscaping as well, they can inspect some of the best plant material in the area right next door to Pete Rose’s at Glen Allen Nursery, which are both located on Old Staples Mill Road. “You can walk through and choose any plants, trees and shrubs you want,” Victor says.

One of the things Victor reminds people of is that patios and other outdoor projects can grow with time.

“The good thing about doing a patio is that you’re going to start enjoying it with the family to make a special moment,” he says. “If you think you need to add more patio, do it later on. And you can start making family memories right away.”

Victor says that during these COVID -19 times it’s particularly desirable to have an outdoor refuge.

“It’s tough to be at the house all the time,” he says. “Twenty-four hours inside; it’s crazy. Right now, especially right now with all this pandemic, if you’ve got a patio, you can have the space six feet apart, and you can be out there talking to your neighbor or a friend, someone who is special, and you don’t have to bring them inside to your house, just be out there on the patio.”

Above all else, Victor prides himself on being up front with his customers. “I think you just have to be honest with the people,” he says. “I’ve got experience, I’m going to do my best. This is what I can do, this is what I can bring to the table, and this is how much it’s going to cost.”

If money is an issue, Victor suggests paring the project down to a bare minimum. “Maybe all you can afford right now is the crushed stone base for the patio,” he says. “Put it down and then put up one of those fire pits from Lowe’s, the ones you can move around. Just put it in the middle, then bring the chairs, and have some good times. One day you’re going to have the money to put pavers on the top. Then you can build it out.”

He tells me about his own backyard, and how much time he and his family spend out there. His daughter, Diana is now ten years old.  His wife, Jasmine, works side by side with him in the family business. “She’s the one who does the office work,” says Victor.  “I’m good in the field, but I’m really bad on the office stuff. Jasmine helps me a lot, and we love our backyard.”

And then he speaks of gratitude, and how he sometimes can’t believe his own good fortune.

“I really am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to be in this country,” Victor tells me.  “When I look back on my past and I see everything I have come through and what I am right now, it’s because of the grace of God.”

He enjoys visiting other countries, most recently Peru, where he does mission work for his church. “People will tell me, ‘You in America, you’ve got everything. It’s easy for you,’” he says. “And I tell my story, ‘Look I had to leave my mom and my whole family when I was sixteen. I had to put my life in danger. I had to do a lot of things and now I have another life. When you are young you think the money is going to solve everything. It’s not about the money. It’s about having faith in God.”

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Victor had travelled to Puerto Rico with his church group. He and fellow congregants from El Camino Baptist made their way to the town of Utuado, twenty miles outside of Arecibo, home to the world’s largest single-unit radio telescope, an observatory that can see some of the most distant galaxies in the universe, can train its eye on the furthest reaches of creation.

For seven days, Victor and his friends toiled under the Caribbean sun, doing whatever work needed be done, while restoring hope to people who felt both frustrated and deserted.

“We worked with local pastors,” Victor tells me. “If somebody needed help cleaning their house, which had been under ten feet of water, we would go in and clean the floors, and wash the walls and the ceilings. Whatever needs they had, we would help. We supplied labor. And we tried to give some hope to people because I think that was a big need over there.”

Victor reaches for his gin and tonic, and sips slowly, then looks around my front yard. Before even considering an outdoor project, Victor recommends the homeowner let their imagination run wild. “Just go out to your backyard and imagine what you want,” he says. “Spend time talking with your family.  Put a couple chairs around where a fire pit might be, and imagine the patio’s there.”

Victor Ayala looks over at me and smiles. “I love my job, Charles,” he says. “Doing something for happiness. At the end of the day, it’s hard work. But I enjoy when I finish a patio, when I finish a project. It just feels so good. People’s dreams come true.”