In your landscape company, it’s a challenge trying to make the numbers match. There are many reasons why you’re losing profits. You know that your overhead costs are out of control and it’s costing you.

The company is stagnating or losing money because you’re getting inaccurate data and your people sometimes forget to enter additional purchases, and paperwork doesn’t reflect what’s truly happening.

You waste precious time tracking down lost or illegible paperwork and timesheets. Or you end up copying and pasting information as you try to stay ahead of your accounting duties.

And when you aren’t getting the right data, you can’t even stay ahead of the project’s billing. Every system you’ve tried, including QuickBooks, can’t solve your problem either. Something has to change.

If your company invests in landscaping business software, you’ll find that disorganized landscaping paperwork becomes accurate data that you can count on. And work orders stay up-to-date as well as the overhead starts to go down--allowing your company to gradually to become more profitable.

Your company becomes more profitable because you can stick to competitive pricing—as well as your customers begin to experience better service, pricing and communication with your company.

In this article, you’ll learn how green industry software can improve your landscaping business in some tangible ways. You’ll learn of a solution that keeps everything in one place to decrease human errors.

Human Errors in Your Landscaping Company

People are a necessary function of running your company—you don’t want to get rid of them. Yet, you want a solution that lessens their chance to miss important details.

Do you have these common problems in your landscape company?

1)  Billing and Payroll Errors

There are billing errors because you didn’t get the receipts for the extra materials that were bought for the project. Then, there are payroll errors. Crew leaders wait until the end of the day, when they’re tired, hungry and ready to get home to their families, to fill out timesheets. Since they can’t remember the exact hours worked on site, the crew leaders’ estimate or round up to the highest number. And the company ends up getting distorted job costing figures.

2)  Inaccurate Recall of Labor & Materials Used

Crews don’t take the time during the workday to log in the extra hours they worked at a job site. They can also forget to log in materials that were used at the site that day.

3)  Missed Change Order Details

If the work order changed, or if more materials, overtime and equipment were needed for the job, that new information doesn’t always get transferred to the work order. Additionally, your company ends up losing more money if your sales team forgot to get the client’s signature to okay these work order changes---and your customer refuses to pay the extra charges.  

4)  Client Billing Disputes

You may find yourself in a sticky position when a customer refuses to pay for overtime or extra materials because they were never asked to approve and sign for it, or if there isn’t clear documentation of what the additional charges are for.

5)  Lost Profits

All of these data entry issues lead to more overhead. And more overhead means lost profits, frustration and company stagnation. Because your company is bleeding losses from every point possible, you can’t find the main artery to staunch the flow. Instead, you need a solution to systemize your departments so the money loss slows down and eventually stops altogether.

How Landscaping Business Software Reduces Errors

When you have landscaping work order software added to your company’s computer system, you’ll notice right away a more streamlined process to paperwork.

Once you’re set up with the software, all departments are connected and located in one centralized system. Sold work orders contain all of the information, and you’re able to easily access it at any stage of the project.

In order to get accurate working hours and other changes to a work order, your green industry software has an app that crew leaders can download on their mobile devices. They can put the actual hours worked on a job in real time. Then that recorded information is automatically uploaded from the app directly into the software.

You don’t have to wait for sales or operations to send the office the most current information. Since the system is centralized and updated in real time, you can instantly get your billing work done for a particular client.

Plus, the salesperson is prompted through the software to get the client’s approval when there are changes to the work order. The customer also knows when overtime, extra materials and equipment are added to their work order.

There are no more billing surprises for the property manager. He/she knows exactly what his/her bill will be at the end of the project.

What happens if you have questions about the entered data? You can easily communicate with the operations manager or the crew leader through the software.

You no longer have to wait until the general manager or the crew leaders return at the end of the day. You get the communication you need right away to help you do your job.

Your Company Gets a Return on Investment with Landscaping Business Software

Once you have the software up and running in your green industry business, you’ll notice right away how everything is more streamlined and accurate.

All of your numbers, from estimating up to the final bill, will match. Your staff now spends less time chasing down landscaping paperwork and more time helping your company grow.

Since there’s less overhead spending, you’ll also notice that your landscaping company is now making money, and customers are happier. And that’s what it’s all about.

Your landscaping company isn’t the only one struggling with data entry errors. Other green industry companies have gone through the same problems with human error in data entry until they implemented landscaping business software.

If you’re ready to stop inaccurate work orders, wasted time on the job and other critical data entry errors, check out Include Software’s Asset. Request a free demo or call us at 800-475-0311.