Meet Your Team of Landscaping Experts in Bloomington, IL

Our experienced team combines craftsmanship, creativity, and local pride in every project.

Driven by Craft. Defined by People.

Get to Know Us

Bill Hayes and Eric Cramer bring decades of experience, leadership, and local roots to Knob Hill Nursery and Landscaping. With backgrounds in business, finance, and agriculture, they combined their expertise in 2001 to grow the company into a trusted name in central Illinois. Their shared commitment to quality, service, and long-term relationships continues to shape every project and partnership today.

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BILL HAYES

OWNER

Bill Hayes grew up in Gridley, IL, on a grain farm and graduated from Gridley High School in 1982. He attended Indiana State University and graduated with a degree in Business in 1987.


Upon graduation, Bill worked for Liberty Mutual Insurance for 12 years, starting as a commercial business sales representative and eventually becoming business sales manager. Bill moved back to the Bloomington area in 2000.


He met his business partner, Eric Cramer, in 2001 when he was building a new home that Knob Hill Nursery and Landscaping, Inc. was landscaping for him. Eric was looking to grow the company, and Bill decided to buy in and join him in the landscape industry.

Smiling man in a green cap and gray jacket against a plain beige wall

ERIC CRAMER

OWNER

Eric Cramer was born and raised on a large commercial grain and livestock farm in central Illinois. Upon graduation from Greenview High School in 1982, he attended Illinois State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness.


Upon graduation from Illinois State, he was hired by the Farm Credit Bank of St. Louis as a credit analyst. He continued in the banking industry, later to be named Executive Vice President and Chief Lending Officer of City Bank of Bloomington.


In August of 1994, he left the banking industry to acquire a 23-acre tree nursery and formed Knob Hill Nursery and Landscaping, Inc. While growing the landscape business, he partnered with Bill Hayes in 2001 to further expand the landscaping services. In 2004, the business partners purchased the Scotts Lawn Service franchise for central Illinois and have grown this business to over 5,000 customers.