When it comes to landscaping businesses, most people think of hard work, industrial equipment and a company that relies on manual labor. In reality, the business has evolved into a multi-faceted industry complete with specializations ranging from basic yard care to upscale landscape design.
On the more elaborate side of design, you could see people embracing all the creativity and ingenuity you’d expect of an artist and an engineer for things like vertical gardens and sustainable urban green living.
As landscape designs become more complex in function, software providers are entering the landscaping industry to rise to the challenge of providing state-of-the-art tools that modernize the process from design planning and quoting all the way to billing. Many of the offerings are provided as a monthly service, making your cost for dedicated software a predictable expense, much like a utility. Depending on your needs, there’s a wide variety of business software meant for landscaping businesses including solutions like VizTerra, Pro Landscape, DynaSCAPE, Asset, and many more. Not familiar with these? Here is the breakdown.
Asset Landscape Design Software
A typical small landscaping business would use Excel for accounting, Microsoft Word for writing proposals, and a whiteboard for client scheduling – a hodgepodge of tools that may or may not integrate well. While most of them are still useful and handy, there’s a landscape business software called Asset that combines all the tools you need in one single and convenient package. Asset’s goal is to streamline your business process to make things fast and easy.
The integrated software solution supports all the departments of your trade: accounting, administration, sales, cost estimate, production, executive reporting. Through this software, you can consolidate all data from various clients and vendors, create staff schedules and process contractor payments, perform precise order management, and check the status of your lawn care business within the easily accessible executive dashboard.
- There is a free trial available to gauge the features of the program.
- Concurrent user licensing with compatibility with Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS platforms.
- Includes free in-person training, documentation, webinars, and online customer support.
VizTerra Landscape Design Software
Closing a deal to redesign a client’s landscape isn’t easy, especially if the client doesn’t have an accurate visualization of what the finished project will look like. This is where VizTerra software comes in handy. It is an all-in-one tool specifically made to visually render in 3D landscaping jobs, outdoor living hardscapes, and garden design projects. Equipped with more than 77,000 variations of plants and trees, VizTerra is fully interactive, allowing you to customize everything according to your needs.
Known for their easy-to-use application, VizTerra allows you to create fantastic landscape designs using three drawing tools and five editing features. Landscaping companies will appreciate the program’s ability to import sitemaps and AutoCAD files, view photos in 2D or 3D mode, simplify complicated dimensions, add unique sounds, automate construction specifications, and customize legends as well as symbols.
- A dedicated designing software with no accounting or management features.
- Affordable monthly subscription starting at $95 with a set-up fee of $95.
- Compatible with Windows desktop computers with a minimum processor of i7 or greater.
DynaSCAPE Landscape Design Software
If you’re looking for both a landscape business software and a landscape design solution, DynaSCAPE offers both types of services. Their designing application features a hand-drawn style technique with crisp and clean lines. Moreover, the software allows you to save time by reusing details and concepts without the need to redraw things out. The DynaSCAPE Design tool integrates well with the rest of the suite.
For business management, DynaSCAPE offers end-to-end software with a comprehensive list of capabilities such as organizing field reports, scheduling, automating pricelist, preparing invoices, client billing, and expense management. It comes as a SaaS (Software as a Service) with different tier-pricing options from full range solutions to handpicked products.
- The lowest entry is priced at under $600 for a one-time purchase with a $10 monthly fee.
- The complete full bundle software is under $3,000 with a $50 monthly subscription fee.
- DynaSCAPE supports Cloud and desktop computers running Windows platforms.
Pro Landscape Design Software
Presenting design ideas to clients doesn’t come easily, and most of the time you’d need to bring printed material along with your laptop just to explain concepts and details. Design rendering applications are often based on desktop computers, but with Pro Landscape you can do this even on a mobile app. Aside from the usual Windows and Mac compatibility, there is a Pro Landscape companion app available for iPad and Android tablets.
Pro Landscape is a dedicated design software for landscape service businesses. It is equipped with a powerful toolset for easy photo imaging, CAD designing, proposal creation, 3D rendering, lighting creation, and much more. For those who need supplementary features focused on accounting and business management, you might want to consider other programs that can handle the task efficiently like QuickBooks.
- The companion app is free upon purchase, but the contractor app comes with a subscription fee.
- Owners can request a live product demo by simply signing and submitting the demo form.
- Priced at $1,495 for one user with two PCs and a tablet, an option to transfer the license from one device to another is available.
- If that's over your budget, you may also choose to go with QuickBooks Online which is a cloud-based version of the software. This has a starting price of $7.50/month and integrates with several third-party apps that offer features like automated backups, payment integration, and more.
QuickBooks for accounting and invoicing
Although it’s not a tailored landscape business software, QuickBooks is the ultimate solution for all your accounting and billing needs. You can use it to manage your bills, integrate with popular online payment apps and analytics tools (e.g. QuickBooks BigQuery integration), track income and expenses, create and send invoices, be paid instantly with its built-in payment processing, manage payroll, track employee time with billing options, and much more.
QuickBooks helps organize your accounts day to day without the need of an expert. But for those not familiar with accounting terms and basics, it’s always recommended to have a professional set up your accounts first before using the program. One mistaken code or value in your estimates, inventory, or billing will disrupt your finances. Mastering the report feature of QuickBooks allows you to track the financial progress of your landscape business in real time.
- There is a free trial available for 30 days and a 50% discount for using the app for three months.
- Pricing for small businesses starts at $10 monthly and goes up to $30 for more advanced options.
- Add-ons are available such as enhanced payroll for $19 per month and $49 for full service.