This article lists the best landscaping business software for effectively managing clients, crews and job sites.

The Pivotal Guide to Landscaping Business Management Software 

‍

Don’t get mowed down by the many – MANY! – software options for landscaping businesses. Breakthrough Academy has compiled a list of the best tech solutions to help streamline every area of your operations.

The key tech takeaways for landscape companies

#1: Don’t start with the tech

At Breakthrough Academy, we’re fully aware how the right software can help you grow your landscaping business. Howeverrrr… 

If you haven’t implemented solid systems and built a reliable team FIRST, even the most cutting-edge tech tools won’t bring you the success you’re seeking.

#2: Don’t worry about your competitors’ software

Just ‘cause Mr. Leafblower across town uses a particular solution doesn’t mean you should. Nobody knows your business better than you do. The best app is the one that BEST meets the needs of your team and fits your budget. 

Anything else risks becoming wasted capital.

#3: Don’t upgrade everything at once

Assuming you’ve taken care of the business management essentials, you’re ready to rock and roll. Even then, you don’t need to overhaul your entire tech stack in one go. We’ve broken down this guide into different operational sections. Feel free to jump to the area most in need of your attention:

• Job costing and accounting
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Scheduling and time tracking
• Project management
• Quoting and estimating
• Photo and video documentation
• Marketing and lead generation

What is the best landscaping accounting software for my business? 

Having a clear sense of your numbers is fundamental to running a successful landscaping business. The right accounting software will help ensure you can afford to chase the goals in your business plan.

These are the go-to accounting solutions among landscapers: 

QuickBooks

While not industry-specific for landscapers, QuickBooks is a behemoth in the accounting scene, and for good reason: it’s an extremely powerful platform. (You may have noticed it’s popped up in other recommendations mentioned here.) 

You can learn more about the ins and outs of this robust tool in this episode of Contractor Evolution with expert – and senior leader at QuickBooks – Nate Flake. In the meantime, here are a few highlights of its functionality:

• Providing top-notch invoicing.
• Handling payroll, whether for employees, contractors or subs.
• Turning you into an expense tracker extraordinaire.
• Making tax time a breeze. To the extent taxes are ever breezy.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is also not a landscaping-specific platform, but it’s great for smaller companies that just want to get their books in order with minimal fuss. It also:

• Covers all the accounting bases you need, including real-time job costing, payroll, and expense tracking.
• Offers a user-friendly interface.
• Allows you to produce and manage invoicing professionally.

What is the best job costing software for my landscaping business?

Job costing software allows you to thoroughly track your project expenses, so you can produce more accurate estimates. 

These options will help you protect your gross profit margin – and save you a ton of headaches down the road.

LMN

Landscape Management Network (or LMN as it’s known) has been helping landscapers keep their project budgets under control for nearly twenty years. LMN is also:

• Designed specifically for landscapers

• Geared towards time efficiency
• Able to help track project costs in real time
• Easy to integrate with QuickBooks

Aspire

For large commercial landscaping companies, or those with plans to scale BIG, Aspire offers an end-to-end solution that:

• Has a focus on enterprise landscapers
• Can easily handle complex job costing
• Integrates your operations straight into QuickBooks

SynkedUP

SynkedUP has a streamlined mobile app for tracking costs, with useful features that include:

• Real time analytics
• Customized reporting on detailed project cost
• Team visibility to ease collaboration and quick decision-making

What are the best landscaping CRMs?

There’s no downplaying the importance of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform for tracking leads and winning jobs. Here are the favorites among elite landscapers at Breakthrough Academy: 

Jobber

Jobber has a keen understanding of the needs of trades businesses, with an appealing interface and the ability to help with:

• Collecting prospects
• Managing customer information
• Handling communication with potential and existing clients

Yardbook

For landscapers wanting a simpler, industry-specific solution, Yardbook has plenty to offer, such as:

• Affordable plans… including a free option
• Easy customer communication via email and text
• Area targeting to reach ideal prospects 

LawnPro

LawnPro is an operations platform built for landscaping businesses that has a CRM module that can help you keep track of customer details, and a client portal where customers can conduct multiple tasks online, including:

• Approve estimates
• View invoices
• Provide payment

Aspire

Aspire is mainly intended for use by larger or fast-scaling landscapers who need an enterprise-level CRM for complex projects, with the ability to:

• Track pipelines, from opportunities to job progress
• Produce advanced reports in real time
• Integrate customer oversight directly with estimates

‍

What is the best job scheduling, routing and time tracking software for my landscaping business?

You need to get your crews to sites expediently, and then ensure the time they spend there is recorded accurately. A spreadsheet ain’t gonna cut it. But here are some apps that will.

BusyBusy

If you need convincing that time tracking really CAN boost your team’s productivity, BusyBusy founder Isaac Barlow spells out the hows and whys in this episode of Contractor Evolution. Here’s what makes it a best-in-class time tracking app:

• Accuracy! We’re talking GPS, geofencing-level exactitude.
• Tight integration with your job costing.
• Attention to detail, including tracking equipment time.

Jobber

Jobber excels at scheduling and routing for landscapers – and makes the effort look good while it’s at it. Here’s what sets this app apart:

• Drag and drop functionality makes scheduling super user-friendly
• Realizing schedule changes are inevitable, they’ve made it easy to keep your calendar current
• Flexibility to handle recurring maintenance or one-off projects

SynkedUP

SynkedUP is one of the only apps on this list that ticks the box on scheduling, routing AND time tracking. Here’s what makes it a popular choice:

• It’s built by landscapers FOR landscapers
• It links scheduling to estimates and job costing
• It’s ideal for handling big jobs that span multiple days

DynaScape

Dynascape is a solution that’s likely to work best for landscapers that focus on design-build work. If that happens to describe your business, here’s what Dynascape offers:

• Scheduling capability via its Manage360 solution
• Time tracking of crews and gear via the mobile app

Service Autopilot

Service Autopilot is a good choice for larger landscaping companies, chock full of powerful automations to assist with managing complex projects or crews, as well as including the following features:

• Able to schedule a massive number of simultaneous jobs
• Can track time for even the largest crew sizes
• Optimize routes with a single click

LawnPro

LawnPro is a solid option for smaller landscapers who want:

• Basic but dependable dispatch functionality
• Scheduling, routing and time tracking solutions that don’t break the bank
• Clear oversight of your jobs calendar

Yardbook

For a free mobile app, Yardbook holds its own when it comes to keeping tabs on who’s doing what where. Here’s how:

• Individual or repeat job scheduling
• Impressive one-click optimization
• Track both crew time and equipment maintenance schedules

‍

What is the best project management software for my landscaping business?

The first question landscapers should ask themselves when considering project management solutions is:

Do I REALLY need a dedicated app?

While project management software will undoubtedly help your projects run more smoothly, for landscapers whose business relies on smaller jobs, a dedicated platform could be overkill for your team and budget.

You can go a long way by ensuring you have the bedrocks of proper PM practices in place. (If you’re in the mood to nerd out on project management, check out this episode of Contractor Evolution to gain more pro tips.)

Many of the apps mentioned in this article contain some degree of project management capability, so if you’re already using one of them, it’s worth exploring whether it will suffice. If you’d like a hand, Breakthrough Academy can provide expert input on your project management software situation.

If you decide it does make sense to supplement your PM system with a more robust tech tool, here are the ones we see landscapers use most:

Aspire

With its focus on enterprise-level landscapers, Aspire has everything you need for full-scale project management, from estimating, to work orders, to tracking, including:

• Real-time data that allows you to see project details with granularity
• The ability to generate customized reports to help keep the whole team aligned

LMN

For landscapers who don’t necessarily need all the bells and whistles of an enterprise-level platform, LMN offers simpler tiers that include many useful elements focused on:

• Eliminating budget bloat and helping your projects run as efficiently as possible
• Providing the ability to enhance operational visibility through integrations 

What is the best landscaping estimating software for my business? 

Given that your estimating process sets the stage for your relationship with a customer, it’s worth choosing your tool carefully.

Here are the best options for landscapers:

LMN

As a leader in the market, LMN has, unsurprisingly, taken estimating capability seriously, by:

• Providing features that are ideal for mid-sized landscapers
• Ensuring your overhead is directly accounted for in your estimates

Jobber

Jobber is a great fit for smaller, budget-conscious landscapers, with features such as:

• A user-friendly interface, especially with their mobile app (estimates on the go!)
• A workflow that allows you to produce quick and easy estimates for simple jobs

SynkedUP

For landscapers who value VERY accurate estimating, you can’t go wrong with SynkedUP. In addition, it offers:

• A landscape-specific focus
• The ability to track actuals against estimates in real time

Dynascape

With its design-centric approach, Dynascape is best for design-build landscapers who need:

• Estimating software integrated with design takeoffs
• CAD-quality precision

BuildFolio

In the realm of landscape estimating software, BuildFolio is well worth considering if you’re interested in:

• A no-fuss tool that incorporates multiple aspects to help manage your business
• Using AI to quickly generate estimates from photos

‍

What is the best photo and video software for my landscaping business?

Photo and video tech has become a necessity for the landscaping industry, in multiple ways. With apps that specialize in each use case, the key here is to pick the solution that best serves your specific needs.

CompanyCam

CompanyCam is best for capturing, organizing and sharing jobsite photos, specifically. It also allows you to:

• Markup photos with arrows or notes
• Share galleries or visual reports with customers
• Sync photos instantly across various devices

Liveswitch

Liveswitch is best for – as the name suggests – live video. With this tool, you can:

• Do remote site visits or inspections
• Collaborate with your crew in real time
• Record the video so it can be viewed again later, if needed

Jobber

Jobber allows you to attach photos easily, which is helpful for:

• Including images in quotes, jobs or invoices
• Capturing before and after photos

Raken

Raken lets you add time-stamps to photos and videos, which is really useful for:

• Commercial level landscapers involved in jobs with strict compliance requirements
• Landscapers who need to produce daily reports

iScape

iScape is a visualization tool, best for landscapers who need photos for creating:

• Design mockups
• Sales presentations

PRO Landscape

PRO Landscape is another visualization tool that uses photos for creating:

• CAD-level designs and renderings that include landscaping imagery
• Proposals or technical plans requiring high-end visuals of outdoor spaces

What is the best sales and marketing software for my landscaping business?

When it comes to sales and marketing, there are degrees of heat in terms of the firepower you might need behind your strategy. 🔥🔥🔥These options run the gamut:

Jobber

Jobber is great for small and mid-sized landscapers who want a one-stop platform able to support a range of marketing tasks, including:

• Automated follow-ups
• Email campaigns
• Requests for reviews or testimonials
• Lead management capture and tracking
• Two-way text messaging

SynkedUP

Think of SynkedUP as a sturdy support system for your sales process, able to amp up activities such as:

• Creating and tracking proposals and presentations
• Allowing clients to easily review complex bids via the client portal

Yardbook

Yardbook is ideal for smaller landscapers who just need the basics, possibly even for free. We’re talking straightforward stuff like:

• Email blasts
• Lead capture forms
• Automated reminders

Service Autopilot

Service Autopilot provides ADVANCED automations (aka serious marketing firepower). It’s best for growth-focused landscapers who are really reaching for the stars and need the ability to handle intricate marketing tactics, such as:

• Complex segmentation
• Custom triggers
• Drip campaigns
• Lead nurturing
• Abandoned quote follow-ups

‍

Landscaping Software Summary

We’ve covered A LOT and many of the apps mentioned include features for multiple areas of your business. The below table shows which apps have features that could possibly work for each area. 

But REMEMBER, just ‘cause a platform can do a ton of things doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best tool for your business. Putting together a tech stack takes some thought. If you want to chat more about your specific situation, a Breakthrough Academy coach would be happy to