Our live support will be down temporarily for an upgrade on May 17, 2012.   Support staff however are still available and standing by.

To reach tech support by phone:  888-347-9865

To reach tech support by email:  support@landscapemanagementnetwork.com.

Come and catch up with the Landscape Management Network at SIMA’s Snow and Ice Symposium 2012 in Buffalo, NY. We’re at Booth #1520 and will be on hand with free trials and answers to your questions about estimating and business management software for the snow and ice industry.

And on Friday, don’t forget to catch LMN’s Mike Lysecki at an Educational Session that might change the way you estimate and manage your jobs:

Don’t Lose Money Before you Start a Job

Mike Lysecki, Landscape Management Network

2011’s highest rated Symposium speaker is back for an encore performance! Mike Lysecki, director of the Landscape Management Network, will help attendees learn how to not lose money before starting a job. This session will cover knowing costs & contract pricing in advance, customer expectation management, prepping for route & site management, how to adjust for variables per account, and overall risk management strategies.

Sponsored by:

And be sure to check in to SIMA’s booth to register for the workshop that’s guaranteed to change the way to see and manage your snow operations. Creating a Profitable Snow Company is taught by snow contractors to contractors and will give you the best nuts-and-bolts look at the finances that run your snow operation – and how you can use them to build a more profitable snow + ice control company. For more information, check out this quick video:

Dates will fill up fast. Guarantee your spot at one of these upcoming workshops by clicking here:

Estimated Job Cost Report

What is it:  The estimated job cost report will break down the hours and costs for each work area on the job.  Totals for labor, equipment, materials and subs will be shown, as well as estimated total costs, overhead, and profit.

When to use it:  This report is ideal for jobcosting – comparing estimated times and costs (which you’ll get from this report) to actual times and costs (which you should get from your accounting software).   At a glance, you’ll quickly be able to see total hours and costs estimated for each work area, as well as total hours and costs for the entire estimate.  Compare these numbers with the hours and costs assigned to the job through your accounting and you’ll have an excellent idea how you made out on the job.

Estimate Review Report

What is it:  The estimate review report will print a copy of the key information for each line item on the estimate (quantities, costs, prices, profit, etc.) so you can review the estimate for accuracy.

When to use it:  This report is ideal for double-checking an estimate, or printing the information that is (almost) identical to what you see on screen.  It gives you a picture of the entire estimate in one report without having to dive in and out of work areas.  The work areas’ customer description is also displayed, so you can review the description you typed as well.

Landscape Management Network is estimating and business management software built by landscape contractors for landscape professionals.  With estimating, budgeting, systems, procedures, training, checklists, there’s never been a better tool built to improve landscape businesses.  See more at www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com

For those of you who are too young to remember this quote, it is from the cartoon “Popeye the Sailor Man”. One particular character, “Wimpy”, would often utter this phrase. You see “Wimpy” (actually Wimpy J. Wellington for you nostalgia buffs) consumed an extraordinary amount of hamburgers daily, but somehow never had the money to pay for them. In each episode he would find some poor sucker to help him out and cover his costs. His strategy was simple yet highly effective. He would say to the unknowing victim, – “I’ll gladly repay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today”. Tuesday is never that far away and he seemed like a nice enough guy, so the other characters typically fell for it (usually Popeye). Somehow, Tuesday never came and repayment was never made.

So why am I writing about this? Because if you’ve been in business long enough you have certainly had your share of “Wimpy’s”. He looks different every time so you need to be alert. Your Wimpy could be a builder, a subcontractor or a homeowner. He can even be a “she” and quite often is. Although they aren’t discussing hamburgers their motives are still the same – to take advantage of you and get “something for nothing”.

Landscape design/build Wimpy’s will typically say things like, “Hey give me a good deal on phase 1 and I will give you a lot more work”. Or, “I’ll see how you do on my house and then get you the other houses that I am building”. Or my all time favorite, “Everybody in this development uses the contractors I recommend so you better give me a good price”.

So the next time you meet Wimpy, and you will, I want you to be prepared. Go ahead and offer him some sort of deal, but only after the he has provided you with referral work, not before. Either you’ll call his bluff and save yourself months of aggravation or take advantage of the situation and secure future install work. No matter what happens, at least you’re not worrying about getting paid on Tuesday for a hamburger today.

If only Popeye would have learned his lesson, he could have dined on something better than just spinach.

Jody Shilan is a former landscape contractor and award winning designer. He has sold tens of millions of dollars of installation work throughout his career and now uses his 30+ years of experience to teach other landscape design/build contractors how to dramatically increase their sales and standardize their landscape design/build/sales process. He does this through private consulting, public speaking, group workshops and his “exclusive” members only website www.FromDesign2Build.com.

Jody Shilan appears as a guest blogger for LMN Blog, Landscape Management Network’s resource hub for all things related to building a better landscape business.  For more on the Landscape Management Network, check out the website at www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com.

Creating a More Profitable Snow Business

Snow and ice management services are unique. Most people who don’t do snow logically think that this type of work is a simple maintenance-based service. Those who have tried to run a successful snow business understand the challenges of creating a profitable, sustainable revenue stream in an inherently risky line of work. Most often, what can be lacking for growth is a proven system to help you analyze your operations, identify waste, leverage efficiency, and create a leaner and meaner plan for success.

This one-day workshop could be one of the single-most important investments you’ll make in your snow business. Actual snow contractors lead this hands-on workshop to help your company price work based on your own costs. You’re going to leave this workshop with:

• A comprehensive plan for profit , specifically for your snow services
• The ability to calculate how much overhead your snow business should recover
• A breakdown of the hourly cost of each piece of equipment providing service
• Tools to teach your employees to act like entrepreneurs and contribute more effectively to the bottom line

About the Instructor

TBG Landscape started from a humble backyard but in just 14 years grew to a top-100 company grossing over $17M annually. Join Mike Lysecki of TBG and the Landscape Management Network as he guides you through your own numbers to build planning and pricing systems customized for your snow operations that you can put to work the very next day.

More info? Watch the video below or scroll down for dates.

Dates + Locations: See chart below
Time: 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
What’s Included: Pre-Workshop Preparation Package, Full-Day Workshop, Lunches + Coffee Service
What’s Required: A laptop computer with a wireless network card (free internet access will be provided)
Cost: SIMA members = $119, Non-Members = $159

Workshop Dates + Locations

Location	At	Dates	Register!
Albany, NY		July 26, 2012
Minneapolis, MN		Aug 2, 2012
Denver, CO		Aug 9, 2012

Check out:  http://www.tracker-software.com/product/downloads

Download/install the first link on the page PDF X-Change Viewer.  It’s similar to Adobe .PDF Reader, but with 100 times the functionality… (and did we mention it’s free?)

When you open .pdfs with PDF X-Change Viewer you have the ability to do a lot of things you wished you could do with standard pdfs…

• On-screen linear measurement takeoffs
• On-screen area measurement takeoffs
• On-screen perimeter measurement takeoffs
• Add sticky/notes or comments right on the .pdf
• Show/hide all comments with one click
• Highlight areas
• … even add links to webpages (handy for linking to products, manuals, inspiration images, or specifications)

Then you can save your new (marked up) drawing as a .pdf without affecting the original.  All for free?  Yep.  Give it a go.  You can take a .pdf design from this:

To this in just a few seconds…  (shading is optional and was done for demonstration purposes)…

Save yourself hours of time doing hand measurements of drawings and save your measurements permanently – right on the drawings with this handy tool.  Save your results as a new .pdf file, print them on a printer or export them to an image.  And, if you love it, check out the professional versions (paid) which have even more handy features for editing and manipulating .pdf drawings.

Smarter, faster estimating for landscape design projects.  Get another leg up on your competition in 2012.

Landscape Management Network is online estimating and business management software built by top landscape contractors in the industry.  

Click here to read just a few stories from actual landscape contractors about how LMN is helping the build better, more productive, more profitable landscape businesses.

1. You’ll notice we’ve renamed many of the reports.  As our report options continue grow, it was important to re-categorize and improve the names of the reports so that they are more descriptive.
2. A new report has been added Customer Proposal (Total Price Only).  This report shows each work area and the customer description for each, but does not show any work area subtotal pricing.   All subtotals are ‘hidden’ and the customer is presented with one final price only.
3. Another new report was added called Job Planner (Material Budget).  This report shows all the materials, subs and other items for each work area and includes all their cost, description and SKU information.  This is a handy report for picking up materials at vendors.  It displays what was budgeted (cost) for each item, both in unit costs and total costs (unit cost x quantity)

We’ve also added a new section to the Human Resources section of the Landscape Management Network Systems Library.  Now included are standardized job descriptions for a variety of common landscape-related roles and positions.  These job descriptions can be used to:

• Clearly define responsibilities for each role
• Create better accountability from staff + employees
• Create informative, professional job ads
• Create goals and objectives for employees looking to advance in rank and pay

Landscape Management Network (www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com) is online estimating and business management software built for landscape contractors.  Read some of our testimonials to find out how we’re helping great landscape contractors build great landscape businesses.

Click here to read just some of the stories from our members.

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” –
Abraham Lincoln

For most of North America, spring is in the air and has come earlier than expected.  Landscaping jobs are starting earlier, customers are calling earlier and its easy to get caught up in the action… especially if your snow revenues were down from the mild winter.

But take a minute to remember Lincoln’s great quote (see above).  Your work might be well underway already, but just remember – if your business is a ‘dull axe’, you’ll spend a lot of time and effort swinging with frustrating results.  Far better to sharpen the axe.  Better still – turn your business into a whirling chainsaw.

Here are some Spring ideas to ‘sharpen the axe’ in your landscape business….

• Work Your Company’s Budget…  have a plan for what its going to cost to get the work done (labor, equipment, materials, and subs) and what you’re going to spend on overhead.  Set sales goals based on the budget, communicate the goals to your company, and go out and make it happen.
• Recalculate your Pricing – Are you charging too much?  Are you charging too little?  Price your work accurately and you’ll win more of the profitable jobs and less of unprofitable work.  Your budget will tell you how to price your estimates.   Never done it before?  Take a free online course here:  http://www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com/index.php/virtualworkshop/
• Organize Your Shop and Yard – make places for things.  Label these places with signs.  You don’t need it all done at once, but start with little things in important areas.  Like a set of stairs, small steps will get you where you want to go too… and they’re far easier than trying to climb the face of the mountain.  Start with designated areas for broken tools and equipment, common tools and parts, and common materials.  80% of your inefficiencies come from 20% of your problems.  Find that 20% and fix it… you’ll have much more time to solve the rest when 80% of your problems disappear.
• Organize Your Trailers - create a space for everything, and label it.  Get your staff involved.  Work a Saturday or some evenings if you have to.  Invest the time to ‘sharpen your trailer’ and your crews will work faster and more efficiently for the rest of the year.

Staff from TBG Landscape organize their landscape crew trailers

The Job Planner (Job Totals) report will print a summary of all your job resources (labor, equipment, materials and subs) by resource type, not by work area.  This will allow you to look at information like crew hours, equipment days or material quantities for the entire job without having to add up the quantities in each Work Area.  This will make ordering materials, scheduling equipment, and giving labor hour goals even easier than before.

To find this report, simply open up the reports menu on your estimate screen.  You want to select the Job Planner (Job Totals) report.

The report will open, and rather than being separated by Work Area (the default for most reports), it will be organized by resource type:  Labor, Equipment, Materials, and Subs.  All your items (and quantities) will be merged together so you can see total quantities required for any/all resources for the job.

Report text quality has been reduced to fit on page

Landscape Management Network is budgeting, management, and estimating software built for landscape contractors.  Know your costs, your overhead, and your profit on every job and instantly translate your estimates into job planners that ensure your staff get the work done on time, and on budget.  For more information on the Landscape Management Network, check out our homepage here:  www.landscapemanagementnetwork.com

Well I can tell you, there is!

It’s at the time of our initial appointment when we have just finished walking the site with our client, discussing ideas, taking notes and reviewing their goals and objectives. Now it’s time to play everybody’s least favorite game –“Guess My Budget?”

Although the concept of the game is quite simple, winning is extremely difficult. We ask our potential clients in various direct and indirect ways what they are looking to spend, clients hedge, weave and bob, and do everything they can to protect or hide that information from us. If we succeed in getting “the magic number”, we win, and will most likely get the project. If not, we are destined to completely waste our time and not get the work. If only they would have told us how much they wanted to spend! We could have created a proposal that met their expectations and even given them a few different options.

So why won’t they tell us their budget?

There are two main reasons. One is fear, and the other is hope.

• Fear that we are going to raise our prices artificially because they told us what they want to spend.

• Hope in that we are going to propose something that is less than they want to spend, thus getting a deal.

After you’ve walked the site and discussed the scope of the work, you should have some idea of what the “value” of the project is. As an example, let’s say that you think a project is going to come in around $25,000. Here’s how your conversation should go:

Designer: This sounds like a really great project. What would you say your budget is for this project?

Prospect: Well, we don’t know what landscaping costs. Why don’t you come up with something and we’ll tell you if it is what we want to spend.

Designer: I can certainly understand that. Let me give you some idea of price ranges. I’ve done projects that are very similar to this from $10,000 up to $75,000 depending on the type of materials we used or the size of the plantings we installed.

Prospect: $75,000? That’s a lot of money! The most we want to spend is $20,000.

What you have just done is intentionally given the client a low and unrealistic budget number and also scared them with an unrealistic budget number that is very high. They never would have thought that this much money could be spent on a project like this and they also realize that $10,000 probably won’t go that far. The prospect will quickly realize that if you were thinking $75,000 and they were thinking $15,000 or $20,000, then this would be quite a mismatch and a waste of everyone’s time if they don’t offer their budget number.

Another similar approach is to give the prospect a more narrow price range. In this example, when the prospect tells you, “We don’t know what we want to spend”, you say something like this:

Designer:  ”Depending on how much of the work you do, and what materials we choose, we’ve done similar projects for 10-20K, 20-30K,30-50K or 50-75K. What would you say is the range you are thinking of?

Your clients will look at each other and say, “Well, I guess $20,000 to $30,000 is what we were thinking”. Quickly follow up with “Would you say closer to $20,000 or $30,000?” They will respond with, “We were really thinking of $25,000, but could go to $30,000 if we had to.”

So, the next time you meet with a prospect and it is time to discuss the budget, you will have a much better understanding of why they hesitate. The good news is that you now have some “tried and true” responses to overcome that hesitation and get you the landscape budget number every time. The best part is that you will minimize the amount of time you waste drafting designs and proposals while dramatically increasing your chances of selling your services.

Jody Shilan is a former landscape contractor and award winning designer. He has sold tens of millions of dollars of installation work throughout his career and now uses his 30+ years of experience to teach other landscape design/build contractors how to dramatically increase their sales and standardize their landscape design/build/sales process. He does this through private consulting, public speaking, group workshops and his “exclusive” members only website www.FromDesign2Build.com.