Did You Know a Lot of Commercial Maintenance Landscaping Jobs Lose Money?

Recently, a commercial maintenance landscaping company in California became a Momentum customer because they wanted to figure out which jobs lose money. They asked us what the average was for our other customers. We didn’t know, so we looked at the financial data from thousands of commercial maintenance jobs in our database. What we saw blew our minds: the average was 21%! That’s right, over 1 in 5 commercial landscaping jobs loses money. But it doesn’t have to happen to you.

There are three big things that kill your margins:

 
1. Underbidding
Everyone wants to win the job. There is a lot of pressure to give your “best price”. Old-school owners/estimators often estimate costs in their heads based on decades of experience. Younger owners/estimators struggle more and might resort to pulling numbers out of their, um, hats. Both make mistakes because they don’t have hard numbers, just gut feelings and guesstimates.

2. Unforeseen Issues = Overtime
When the crew is onsite, things pop up that you never even hear about. We’re talking about dead plants, equipment breakdowns, damaged trees, special requests. Some of these are outside of the scope of your contract, but get taken care of to keep the customer happy. These unexpected issues eat into your bottom line, and next thing you know, that “dream” job you landed has become a nightmare.

3. Flying Blind
Not knowing where every vehicle, piece of equipment, and <a href="http://https://momentumiot.com/automatic-time-tracking/”>crew member is throughout the day costs you money. You chase people and paper to try to track how long it took to get to each job, how much time was spent there, and what was done, but it’s hard. That’s in addition to manually tracking mileage on vehicles and usage hours on equipment for preventative maintenance. Then there’s gas, oil changes, etc. And all that hard work? Yeah, you won’t get good numbers. Why? Because people suck at keeping accurate records of what they do every minute of every day.

Here are three ways to help stop losing money on jobs:

• Get Automated GPS Tracking & Job Costing
  Powerful tools like Momentum IoT’s GPS tracking systemstrack your vehicles, equipment, and crew without requiring you, or your crew, to do anything. It’s like magic. No more wondering where a truck is or if it needs preventative maintenance. No more guessing how long a job actually took, what equipment was used, and if you’re making any money on the job. No more leaving expensive equipment at a job site and hoping it hasn’t been stolen by the time you figure out it was left behind. And no more asking field crews to fill out timesheets that never seem to add up. The answers you want are right on your phone, tablet, or laptop.
  
• Install Dash Cams
  Eliminate risky behaviors using AI-powered dash cams that send real-time alerts to both the driver and you when monitored events occur, like speeding, aggressive driving, cell phone use, or even blocking the camera. You also get notified instantly if there is a possible collision and the video footage is automatically saved forever. Momentum dash cams lower your liability and can save you serious money on your insurance premiums. 
• Watch the Extras
  Clients love to ask for extras—a little tree trimming here, a little extra grass cutting there. Before you know it, your crews are providing a lot of extra services, at no additional cost. To stop this, set clear boundaries with both the customer and your crew on what’s included in the contract.

Yup, nice catch. Their number of unprofitable jobs was much higher when they first started with Momentum. Now that they can see which jobs aren’t profitable, they can focus on turning them around.

Here are the main reasons they still have unprofitable jobs:

• They’re mid-contract and can’t rebid yet, so they use the information Momentum provides to minimize losses.
• They don’t want to have that hard conversation with long-standing customers, or they lowballed a bid to get their foot in the door.
• They are only focused on part of what Momentum offers, like GPS tracking, and haven’t dug into the financials yet.

Whatever the reason, Momentum customers always have access to their dedicated Customer Success Team to help them achieve their goals.

You’re not in the business of providing free landscaping. If you’re taking on jobs that aren’t profitable, you’re essentially doing just that. The fix? Start automatically tracking your jobs, equipment, vehicles, and labor hours. And, for the love of everything green, charge a fair price for the work you do. Because at the end of the day, you’re not just maintaining landscapes—you’re also maintaining your business.