Charting Progress: Business Forms

Building a landscape company that can stand up in today’s competitive climate requires establishing a stable foundation and sturdy tiers within the operation - a solid infrastructure. A sound set of systems differentiates a business that runs without kinks from one that runs rampant.

However, details such as labor costs, property maintenance and employee assessments involve a few guidelines and some advanced planning. Creating a budget, alone, overwhelms some business owners.

The charts in this section of the Business Management Resource Guide offer a blueprint to alleviate some of this confusion. Paperwork can provide the checks and balances needed to ensure efficient operation, from balancing the books to consulting with customers. Adapt these models to your company framework, organize them to fit your structure or use them as a springboard for business brainstorming.

Either way, these tools will sharpen your business edge.

BUSINESS PLAN. Launching a successful business requires constructing a marketing plan that pinpoints goals, targets customers and identifies capital and financial needs. What kind of business do you want to run and who will use your services? A business plan helps owners define their company agenda and mold a strategy based on their mission statement. These Three Parts to the Business Plan outlined in ALCA’s Pricing for the Green Industry (see below), help form a business foundation from which contractors can begin to build and grow their companies.

HITTING THE BOOKS. Business owners want the year’s end to find them wading in a profit pool, but the bottom line won’t show growth unless the numbers in between balance. Devising an effective budget is crucial to a company’s success.

This chart from Pricing for the Green Industry (see below) outlines a five-step budgeting process that businesses can incorporate to cultivate a healthy revenue. By forecasting spending habits, figuring overhead costs and describing revenue goals, business owners can plan their financial moves.

THE PROPERTY PAST. Beyond budget bookkeeping lies a different, yet equally necessary, recording responsibility: job site maintenance. Observing, tracking and noting the condition of properties allows contractors to assess whether or not a job requires maintenance attention.

This Landscape Maintenance Analysis Short Form from RSMeans Landscape Estimating Methods (click here to view a PDF version: Landscape Maintenance Analysis Short Form) divides service components into sections: general inspection; roads, walks and parking lots; drainage and erosion controls; lawns; plant beds; trees and waste disposal. Contractors also can record the travel time and distance to the property and the quality of the project.

SIGN ON THE LINE. Contracts are an indispensible step in any business agreement. To ensure that contractors and customers understand job expectations, business owners should draw up a binding document for each account. Contracts serve as an insurance policy in a sense, protecting companies from job-related communication blunders. If the client is aware of the job’s requirements and fees in advance, there is little room for argument after completion.

This example contract (click here to view a PDF version: Contract Form) from Landscape Images Ltd., Jefferson, La., also includes terms and conditions, such as insurance, changes, scheduling and a warranty, so customers gain a clear understanding of the company’s policies.

KNOCKING AROUND NUMBERS. Before signing the contract, most customers request a job estimate to approximate project cost. Estimates also are a comparison shopping tool for clients who gather several estimates in search of the lowest bid. Whether your goal is to cost-cut competitors or earn fair compensation for a job, knowing how much time, equipment and material a project requires can save you from poor-planning woes. Durham Hill Nursery, Muskego, Wis., devised a Landscape Installation Estimate Sheet (click here to view a PDF version: Landscape Installation Estimate Sheet) that covers materials, labor, transportation and overhead.

CLIENT CHRONICLE. Customers can act as a success barometer for landscape companies. Satisfied clients result in high readings, showering a business with more accounts. Contractors will better serve their customers if they know a little about their clients’ history - more than vital statistics like name, address and phone number. Retaining forms that list the customers’ previous services not only provides technicians background before going on the job, but also indicates potential add-on services to suit the property.

This Customer Information Form (click here to view a PDF version: Customer Information Form) from N.D. Landscaping, Inc., Topsfield, Mass., includes a comprehensive list of construction and maintenance services.

GET IT ON PAPER. What proves to be a useful organizational system for one contractor might be useless for another. However, no matter a company's size or service niche, maintaining accurate records provides business background information that contractors can later use as a reference.

The author is Assistant Editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.