Landscape Management, November 2014
E 750 Electric Wheelbarrow By PowerPusher Move more Move it faster www electric dumper com You Create and Maintain Healthy Green Living Spaces for Communities across America PLANET Helps Your Business Reach Greater Heights We need to stick together in taking our businesses and industry from good to great Join me in the journey from good to great by becoming a fellow member of PLANET today PLANET President Jim McCutcheon Landscape Industry Certified Manager HighGrove Partners LLC Austell Ga 2 Network with the industrys best 2 Access to world class education 2 Support for growing your business Join PLANET your national landscape and lawn care association Visit LandcareNetwork org or call 800 395 2522 today LandcareNetwork org 800 395 2522 LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET November 2014 38 One landscape professional skips out on of the shelf software programs to develop a program exclusively for his business Impatience got the best of Jay Murray president of TLC Landscaping in London Ontario when two years ago he made a sizeable investment into a customdesigned software program Murray hired a team of software developers to create a time keeping platform to manage the whereabouts of his 110 employees A 10 million company TLC focuses on maintenance and design build services Referred to as the app around the ofce the software manages production in addition to time keeping scheduling and routing Plus it has GPS capability providing accurate real time info on what the crews are up to We envisioned what we wanted and told these tech people Murray says The big advantage of building your own stuf is its exactly the way you want it to look Therein lies the biggest payof Murray adds When crew leaders compliment the software he says Thats music to my ears The development process wasnt cheap Murray dished out 75000 to build the software Now he describes the investment as folly because programs currently exist that deliver the same features as the app such as Landscape Management Network LMN he says We just needed it at the time Still the app isnt without flaws It doesnt integrate with TLCs accounting program Sage 50 and it could cost up to 250000 to add the feature Murray says Hes faced with the decision of whether or not to switch to another program entirely or make the investment into the custom program The trend is that most landscapers under invest in IT even were guilty of that he says but asks Am I out of my mind Regardless integrating TLCs production software with its accounting program is a must Murray says He estimates it would eliminate up to 50 hours of administration work per week Sarah Pfledderer ThE CATALyST Jay Murray president of TLC Landscaping created a custom software for his business PHOTO TLC LANDSCAPING
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