Consulting for landscaping businesses
Landscaping Business Consultant for Maintenance and Install Crews
Maintenance keeps the lights on. Installs pay for the year. Most owners can't tell you which one is actually carrying the business.
The situation
What we usually find in landscaping and hardscaping companies
Landscaping is a capacity business. Revenue is limited by crew hours and daylight, so profit comes from what happens inside those hours: route density, drive time, rework and pricing that accounts for equipment.
Seasonality makes everything harder. A strong spring can hide a structurally unprofitable maintenance book until the slow months arrive.
Route density and drive time
Two accounts on the same street earn far more than two accounts twenty minutes apart at the same price. Density, not headcount, is the growth lever.
Crew cost per hour
Wages, burden, truck, trailer, fuel and equipment replacement all belong in the hourly number used to price work. Most bids only carry wages.
Maintenance contract pricing
Multi-year contracts signed at old labor rates quietly turn into unpaid work. An annual repricing rhythm is basic protection.
Install and hardscape margin
Installs are estimated jobs with material risk and rework exposure. They need job costing, not gut feel.
Equipment and replacement reserve
Equipment is a cash expense that hits at the worst possible time unless it's priced into the work and reserved for.
Seasonality and winter cash
Planning the slow season during the busy season is the difference between a calm January and a stressful one.
Where this leads
Related services
If the issue is pricing and margin, see the profitability review. If it's scheduling, delegation and daily flow, see operations consulting. If the same mistakes keep repeating, start with process improvement.
Other industries
Every Business Has Something That Needs Tightening.
Let's find what's slowing yours down and figure out what to fix first.
$500 flat fee. No long-term commitment required.