How do you know whether a maintenance contract is profitable?

By comparing hours actually spent on the site against the annual fee, which assumes time is booked per site rather than per day. That is the only habit to change with the crews, and it takes seconds on mobile — arrival, departure, or picking the site from a short list. Everything else follows from it.

Can rounds be organised in the tool?

Yes, and that is where the gain is most tangible. A round groups nearby sites, accounts for the kit needed and the visits due in the period; what gets done posts back to the matching contract. It is not a shared calendar: it is planning that knows your visit commitments.

Can construction and maintenance live in one tool?

They must, since they compete for the same crews. A construction project is tracked as a job, with quote, hours and materials; a maintenance contract is tracked on fee and visits. Holding them together is what lets you know, before signing, whether capacity remains.

Has Zora equipped a landscaping business before?

No. The honest comparison is with the HVAC installer in the portfolio, whose tool handles periodic service contracts, scheduled jobs and capture done in the field without a network. Round logic and seasonality are specific to your trade: they are part of what there is to design, not part of what already exists.

Landscaping and grounds maintenance

Management software for landscaping and grounds maintenance

A landscaping business runs on two activities that pull against each other: construction projects that pay, and maintenance contracts that keep crews busy all year. The trade-offs are made week by week, almost always without numbers.

What your trade computes that others do not

A maintenance contract is an annual fee backed by a number of visits, and its profitability only reads at the end of the season. A site mown twelve times instead of eight because growth was strong is still billed the same: a contract losing money does not announce itself, you have to go and find it. Comparing time actually spent against the fee, site by site, is the only way to know which contracts to renegotiate before they roll over.

The operating unit is then neither the project nor the client, but the round. A crew leaves with a vehicle, equipment and a list of sites, and its output depends as much on travel as on work. Grouping geographically, accounting for the kit on board, knowing what was done at each site: that is where hours are won, and it is the point generic tools miss entirely because they think in appointments.

Finally, the season governs everything. Activity concentrates into a few months, construction and maintenance compete for the same crews, and bad weather shifts a whole week. A firm that knows in March how many maintenance hours are already committed for the year can decide which construction projects to accept; a firm that does not accepts everything and subcontracts in a panic at the worst moment.

What most firms work around by hand

The business is steered on the owner's experience, which works until the third crew.

Rounds are organised the previous evening, from memory.
Visits completed under a contract are counted after the fact, if at all.
Time spent per site is unknown; only the day's total is.
Construction projects and maintenance are mixed into the same revenue figure.
Equipment assigned to a crew is tracked on a board in the yard.
Contracts roll over without knowing which ones lose money.

What we have not done here yet

No engagement in the portfolio covers this sector. We would rather write that than let it be assumed. Here is the closest one by its management rules:

HVACJobs and field reports for an HVAC installerA single tool to track jobs, schedule interventions and produce field reports, replacing a general-purpose task manager pushed well past its purpose.Read the full case study

What this asks to be built

The building blocks involved, described in detail on their own pages.

Frequently asked questions

How do you know whether a maintenance contract is profitable?: By comparing hours actually spent on the site against the annual fee, which assumes time is booked per site rather than per day. That is the only habit to change with the crews, and it takes seconds on mobile — arrival, departure, or picking the site from a short list. Everything else follows from it.
Can rounds be organised in the tool?: Yes, and that is where the gain is most tangible. A round groups nearby sites, accounts for the kit needed and the visits due in the period; what gets done posts back to the matching contract. It is not a shared calendar: it is planning that knows your visit commitments.
Can construction and maintenance live in one tool?: They must, since they compete for the same crews. A construction project is tracked as a job, with quote, hours and materials; a maintenance contract is tracked on fee and visits. Holding them together is what lets you know, before signing, whether capacity remains.
Has Zora equipped a landscaping business before?: No. The honest comparison is with the HVAC installer in the portfolio, whose tool handles periodic service contracts, scheduled jobs and capture done in the field without a network. Round logic and seasonality are specific to your trade: they are part of what there is to design, not part of what already exists.

Let’s talk about your project

Describe what you are trying to build. We answer with an honest first read on feasibility and scope — even when the answer is that you do not need us.

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