Chosen By Top U.S. Lawns Franchises

The owner of the top 2 most profitable U.S. Lawns franchises, Brandon Shively, wanted to take the guesswork out of job costing. He knew that having accurate data about which jobs were profitable and which weren’t was important to keep his businesses thriving. While the cost of labor and materials is a big issue in the industry, he knew that as a landscaping company, you have little to no control over them. Accurate job costing, on the other hand, was something that could be fixed with the right tools.

A Meeting of Minds

Momentum IoT already offered a world-class fleet GPS tracking solution that was used by thousands of landscapers. Justin Silva, Momentum’s CEO, was interested in learning more about their challenges. His discussions with customers uncovered a common theme: uncertainty about job profitability. The root seemed to be that customers struggled with knowing if individual job sites were making money or not. Justin thought about this and came up with an idea to use real-time GPS data to calculate accurate job costs. Next, he needed to partner with a landscaping company to bring this idea to market. When Justin was introduced to Brandon, the two knew that they had each found what they were looking for.

Old Way Wasn’t Cutting It

Figuring out a price or quote for a landscaping job is pretty simple. Most people use this simple formula:

Labor Costs + Materials + Overhead + Margin = Price/Quote.

Of course, getting accurate numbers for labor and overhead was anything but simple. Sure, his crews logged their hours, but it seemed that jobs always took nice round numbers. Plus, using a standard charge for travel time was obviously not accurate. Overhead was the same. A standard amount was added to cover all the operational costs like fuel, maintenance costs, supplies, and depreciation. The hope is that these standard charges would “equal out” in the end. Turns out, they don’t. 

What Every Commercial Landscaper Needs

What started as a sketch on a whiteboard when Brandon and Justin met evolved into a sophisticated system that accurately captures job site costs without disrupting day-to-day field operations. The two companies worked together for almost a year planning, developing, and testing this new functionality. By tying real-time GPS data from tracked crew and equipment movement for each job, to accurate fleet costs for fuel depreciation and maintenance, Brandon and his team could have up-to-the-minute, down-to-the-dollar accurate costs for each job.

After a trial period to prove it worked in the field, Brandon went all in and installed Momentum across all of his locations. Read the press release here.

Automated reports show actual vs. budgeted costs, a burndown analysis across the life of the contract, and a listing of unprofitable jobs. This information focuses everyone’s efforts on what’s important to ensure each job is completed on plan.

Everyone involved has access to information on actual costs updated in real time. If something is going off the rails, it can be addressed quickly to bring it back on track. No more unpleasant surprises, no more guesswork.

The Competitive Edge of Automated Job Costing

Armed with these actual cost reports, the team can go into every renewal meeting with confidence, knowing exactly how much they need to make the job worthwhile. With clear insight into labor, equipment usage, and actual job duration, customers using Momentum’s automated job costing aren’t undercutting the competition—they’re outsmarting them. Now, customers’ bids are accurate, defensible, and profitable. If a customer questions the price, they can share the data to justify the numbers. If some hungry competitor comes along and lowballs an account, automated job costing lets you make an informed decision about what to do.

“With job costing, we know how each site is performing against budget so we can address issues quickly. When it’s time for renewals, we know exactly how each contract performed.”
– Brandon Shively

Sample Budget vs. Actual Report

Momentum’s data across thousands of landscape companies shows that over 20% of jobs that look profitable on paper aren’t. Customers using automated job costing are eliminating those from their book of business by either fixing the issues or walking away.

Why Automated Job Costing Matters More Than Ever

Margins are under strain. Rising wages, fuel, materials, and insurance costs are eating into profits—and landscapers have little control over any of them. But they can control how accurately they track job costs. The gap between budgeted and actual costs is where profits go to die.

Many business owners are shocked when they see the difference between their estimated costs and the actual numbers.

Accurate data leads to better decisions. And better decisions lead to growth.

Automation Is Where the Industry Is Headed

Automation is taking hold across the landscaping industry—and for good reason. With labor shortages and rising costs squeezing margins, business owners are turning to smarter systems to stay competitive. By automating job costing with Momentum, savvy landscapers, like U.S. Lawn Charlotte, are moving from a cost-cutting mindset to one focused on growth.

It’s a strategic move—the kind that separates the landscapers who thrive from those who just survive.