1-R Landscaping in Belvidere, N.J., is only in its first season using Yardbook, a landscaping business software, but it already has changed the way the two-man company operates.
“We started using it during the snow season mostly to accept credit cards,” owner Andrew Rudd says. “Now, we use it for all invoicing, we do routing off of it for mowing, we do all our schedules for jobs and we can even put routine maintenance reminders into the system.”
Previously, the company used Excel to create every invoice from scratch. Now, invoices are automatically formulated from customers’ profiles and emailed or printed in minutes. The service also gives the bootstrapped company a free web portal through which customers can sign up for service.
Yardbook is free other than the small cut it takes on credit card transactions, which are managed by Stripe, a third-party e-commerce service.
It’s been an indispensable tool for professionalizing the small company, Rudd says. While Yardbook saves the company time, the real benefit is in organization.
“It’s at least saved an hour to an hour and a half a week, if not more,” he says. “But more importantly, it allows me to keep track of what invoices are due and what’s past due.”
Photo: ©istock.com/gt29
