Jurgen Broos: 'The outdoors becomes an extension of the indoors'

ARTICLE

MARKET & CURRENT AFFAIRS

Rosanne de Boer, Monday 17 March 2025

220 sec

'Outdoor cooking is a trend'

Jurgen Broos, owner of Broos Groenvoorziening in Hoeven (North Brabant), observes that the outdoors is increasingly becoming an extension of the indoors, and that people are paying more attention to their gardens. Outdoor cooking has become a trend. Broos is also installing more and more outdoor living spaces. Especially during the COVID period, the need to be outdoors grew. 'Garden sheds turned into luxury outdoor pavilions with all the amenities.'

This garden in Oud-Gastel offers many opportunities for outdoor living

Jurgen Broos

'As demand for outdoor living spaces increased, we invested in all the machines and materials needed to build them,' says Jurgen Broos, owner of Broos Groenvoorziening. 'Our customers are generally willing to spend quite a bit and want outdoor pavilions with all the luxuries. It's becoming increasingly exclusive, with saunas and sometimes even swimming pools. We can excavate part of the garden for a pool, but we don't install the pool itself. That's the only thing we don't do ourselves; we do build saunas and outdoor kitchens. For our customers, it's convenient to have a single point of contact, so they don't have to hire different contractors for each job.'

The white panels create unity and a sense of cohesion

outdoor cooking

'Are people setting aside more money for their gardens? They're certainly spending more than before COVID, and even more than two years ago. But keep in mind that higher material prices and inflation have also driven prices up. Everything has become more expensive in recent years.'
Broos notices that more and more customers want an outdoor kitchen. 'Outdoor cooking is a trend. FORNO from Uden, a subsidiary of Adezz, offers a wide range in this area, which we gladly make use of. For example, we recently installed a fire table from FORNO in a client's garden in Oud-Gastel, near Roosendaal.' The fire table has a round shape and is made of corten steel, which develops a deep rust-brown color over time. 'For this client, a family with three children, we were able to build a sunken seating area with a fire pit, a patio for outdoor cooking, and an outdoor pavilion.'
Much of the garden furniture, such as that for outdoor cooking, the chairs and tables, comes from FORNO and Adezz. 'It's convenient to get everything from one supplier, as the customer wanted everything to be well-coordinated. To give our clients a good impression of how their garden will look, we recreated the garden furniture in our design software. The large white planters in this garden in Oud-Gastel are also from Adezz. The client chose both round and square planters.'
There are also white panels in the garden that can be illuminated and reinforce the sense of unity.

The fire pit is atmospherically lit in the evening

fire pit

Broos observes that the outdoors is increasingly becoming an extension of the indoors, and that gardens receive a lot of attention. He notices that customers often want to echo the colors of their home in the garden. For the family in Oud-Gastel, the white tones of the house return, for example, in the choice of white planters.
An LED strip has been installed in the sunken seating area, reflecting the glow of the fire. The strip can also light up the fire pit in various colors. The client can select the color that best suits the mood of the moment. 'Already during the initial meetings, they expressed their wish for a fire pit. They thought it would be fun for the children, who are between four and twelve years old. Some parents might find that dangerous, but these parents wanted their children to grow up with it. They even organized a kind of unveiling ceremony. The children gathered sticks in the woods to roast marshmallows over the fire.
When you're sitting in the sunken area, you really feel immersed in the garden among the plants. It feels more intimate than sitting about fifty centimeters higher on a terrace chair. The perspective is completely different.'

'I have clients in both the Netherlands and Belgium,' says owner Jurgen Broos

belgium

After posting photos of the sunken seating area on his website, Broos received more inquiries. 'But you do need a large garden. If you see the photos online, you might think three square meters is enough, but for this sunken seating area with fire pit, you need five square meters. Many of my clients have large gardens. Land is also more affordable here in Brabant and Flanders than in the Randstad. I have clients in both the Netherlands and Belgium.'
The main office of Broos Groenvoorziening is in Hoeven, just a few kilometers from the Belgian border, between Etten-Leur and Roosendaal. 'We have locations in both the Netherlands and Belgium. Our service area extends between Breda and Bergen op Zoom, Moerdijk and Brasschaat near Antwerp.'
Broos Groenvoorziening is a family business founded in 1961 by Jan, Jurgen's grandfather. 'It was then called J. Broos Tuinen. In 1984 my father Stan took over and gave the company its current name, Broos Groenvoorziening.' Jurgen took over the company from his father around the turn of the century. Running the family business had always been his dream. 'From a young age, I knew I wanted this. I chose horticultural school and then completed vocational training in Green Space Management. Do my sons have the same ambition? My eldest son is about to turn fourteen and is already getting a taste of the landscaping business. I don't know yet if my sons will want to take over the company later. They don't have to make that decision yet. My father still works at Broos Groenvoorziening. He hasn't reached retirement age yet.'

decking

Broos Groenvoorziening has experienced strong growth over the past ten years. The year 2024 was a good year, as was 2023. 'I had about the same number of orders as last year. The outlook for 2025 is also good. I have 25 employees, but I still review all the projects myself. I am the point of contact for every project and involved from start to finish. I like having personal contact with my clients, but I do work long hours. I regularly work from six in the morning until nine at night. My wife supports me in the business.'
Broos recently worked on a garden in Etten-Leur. 'We installed decking there using wood from Awood, which is also a subsidiary of Adezz. We regularly install decking. There's a lot of demand for it. In the design for this garden, we had also included a water table from Adezz. But the client eventually found that financially out of reach. This garden belongs to a family of four, with two teenage children.'

This article was previously published on March 17, 2025 on the website of De Hovenier.

Broos Groenvoorziening vo...

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