Landscape Estimating Software
That Shows Your Real Job Cost
Most landscape estimating software helps you type up a quote. GreenMargins calculates what the job actually costs you first — burdened labor, travel time, fuel and trailer drag, materials markup, overhead, and disposal — then shows your real margin before you send the price.
Built for landscape crews under 50 people — not enterprise construction.
Real numbers from one customer who switched from spreadsheets to GreenMargins:
What GreenMargins Calculates
That Other Estimating Software Doesn't
Every line below maps to actual code in the calculator. Not a feature wishlist.
Burdened labor
Base wages plus WCB, EI, CPP, benefits, and PTO — applied automatically to crew time, travel time, and supplier stops. Most landscapers carry a 25-35% burden they aren't billing for.
Travel time and distance
Drive distance and time pulled from the job address — not entered manually. Fuel, vehicle wear, and trailer drag billed per kilometre on top.
Driver-only vs full-crew travel
When the truck heads out with one driver to a meet point, you don't pay 3 crew. GreenMargins charges driver-only on outbound and full-crew on return — the way work actually happens.
Overhead allocation
Annual overhead divided by annual billable hours equals your hourly overhead rate — applied to every estimate based on hours. Rent, insurance, software, marketing all stop disappearing into "general business expense".
Materials with supplier markup
Per-supplier costs and markup applied automatically. Stack rate by quantity, swap suppliers per job, and the materials line on the quote stays accurate to what your truck actually picks up.
Disposal and dump runs
Separate trips for disposal — dump fees, fuel for the run, paid crew time — are calculated as their own line. Spring cleanups stop quietly losing money.
Plus: supplier-visit labor, multi-visit route optimization for recurring services, and frequency variants for weekly/biweekly accounts.
From Job Address to Profit Margin in 4 Steps
Configure costs once
Onboarding walks you through wages, burden percentage, annual overhead, billable hours, vehicle costs, and supplier list. ~15 minutes, then you're done.
Build the estimate
Pick services, set quantities, enter the job address. Travel time, materials, labor and overhead populate automatically. Manual route override available if your crew takes a different path.
See full P&L before you send
Cost breakdown line by line. Gross profit and margin update live as you adjust the price. Know exactly what you're agreeing to before the customer sees a number.
Send PDF, track actuals
Branded PDF quote to the customer plus a webhook to your CRM if you want one. After the job, log actual hours and materials — GreenMargins shows variance vs. estimate so the next quote is sharper.
New: skip step 2 entirely and dictate the job instead.
Record a 60-second recap in the truck and AI fills the scope, hours, materials (at your catalog prices), and crew for you. Steps 3 and 4 stay exactly the same: full P&L before you send.
What a Real Sod Install
Looks Like in GreenMargins
2,500 sq ft sod install · 3-person crew · 28 km from yard · one supplier pickup · one disposal trip
| Cost line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Labor base (3 crew × 6.5 hrs × $24/hr) | $468.00 |
| Labor burden (32%) | $149.76 |
| Travel time (driver-only out, full crew return) | $94.40 |
| Travel distance (56 km × $0.62 fuel + wear + trailer) | $34.72 |
| Supplier visit labor (45 min sod pickup) | $54.00 |
| Materials — sod (250 rolls × $4.20 × 1.18 markup) | $1,239.00 |
| Materials — sand and starter fertilizer | $145.00 |
| Disposal trip (old turf, separate run) | $78.00 |
| Overhead allocation (19.5 hrs × $11/hr) | $214.50 |
| Total cost | $2,477.38 |
| Customer charge | $3,495.00 |
| Gross profit / margin | $1,017.62 · 29.1% |
Numbers shown are illustrative. Your actual quote uses your own wages, burden, vehicle costs, suppliers, and overhead.
GreenMargins vs. The Big Estimating Tools
On Center, PlanSwift, STACK and Manage360 are powerful tools — built for commercial construction estimators. Here's what changes when the buyer is a landscape crew.
| GreenMargins | On Center (Quick Bid) | PlanSwift | STACK | Manage360 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built specifically for landscape crews | Yes | No — construction GCs | No — trade contractors | No — construction first | Landscape-aware |
| Pricing visible on website | Yes — from $47/mo | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden | Hidden |
| Burdened labor included by default | Yes | Manual | Manual | Manual | Yes |
| Travel time auto-calculated from job address | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Driver-only vs full-crew travel modes | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Overhead allocated per estimate automatically | Yes | Manual | Manual | Manual | Yes |
| Real-time gross profit shown before send | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Actuals vs estimate variance after the job | Yes | Via add-on | No | Via add-on | Yes |
| Setup in under 30 minutes | Yes | No — sales onboarding | No | No | No — demo required |
| 14-day trial, no credit card | Yes | Trial — CC may apply | Trial — CC may apply | Demo only | Demo only |
Comparison based on each vendor's public marketing pages as of publish date. Reach out if anything is out of date and we'll correct it.
Do You Actually Need Landscape Takeoff Software?
For most landscape jobs — no. Here's the difference, and why landscape estimating software is usually what you're looking for.
Takeoff software
Tools like PlanSwift, On Center, and STACK exist to measure quantities off a blueprint — square footage of asphalt, linear feet of curb, cubic yards of concrete. They were built for commercial GCs who bid from architectural drawings.
They are powerful at measurement — and weak at the cost math that actually decides if your job is profitable.
Landscape estimating software
GreenMargins assumes you already know roughly how big the job is (you did the site walk). What you actually need is the burdened cost math: labor + burden + travel + materials + overhead + disposal — and live margin as you adjust the price.
For a 90% of residential and commercial maintenance landscape work, you don't need to digitize a blueprint. You need to know your real number.
Bottom line: if you bid landscape work — not commercial construction from architectural drawings — landscape estimating software is what you actually need, and that's what GreenMargins is built for.
Start your 14-day free trialOne Landscape Estimating Software
For Every Service You Sell
Pre-built service templates with the cost drivers that matter for each. Not a generic construction estimating tool retrofitted for landscaping — landscape estimating software, built from the ground up for the way landscape crews actually work.
Lawn care & mowing
Per-visit pricing, route density, drive time between stops, seasonal contracts.
Hardscape & pavers
Materials with markup, equipment time, dump runs, sub-base layers, multi-day labor.
Irrigation install & repair
Zone-based pricing, controller, valves, heads, trenching labor, supplier pickups.
Sod installation
Square footage, prep labor, sod cost per pallet, delivery, trim & haul-away.
Design-build projects
Multi-phase scopes, sub-trade allocation, change orders, deposit milestones.
Maintenance contracts
Annual scope, monthly billing, weather buffer, fertilizer applications.
Landscape lighting
Fixture cost & markup, transformer sizing, wiring labor, demo time.
Tree & shrub service
Crew + climber rates, equipment cost per hour, dump fees, traffic control.
Drainage & grading
Excavation hours, pipe + aggregate cost, machine rental, soil disposal.
Fertilization & weed control
Square footage, product cost per 1000 sq ft, mix time, application visits.
Spring & fall cleanups
Labor hours, debris haul-away weight, dump fees, equipment time.
Commercial landscaping
Multi-property bids, prevailing wage, certificates, monthly invoicing.
No credit card · setup in ~15 minutes
One Recovered Underbid
Pays for a Year
Start free for 14 days. No credit card required. Pick the plan that fits your business.
Every plan includes the full landscape estimating software calculator — burdened labor, travel, overhead, and live margin.
Recover $200-500 in hidden costs on one job. That pays for your entire year.
Starter
For solo operators
$566/year billed annually
- 1 user
- Unlimited quotes
- Full P&L calculator
- 1 crew, 1 vehicle
- 3 suppliers, 5 custom services
- Google Maps travel
- Materials library
- Prebuilt services
- PDF quote export
- Customer management
- Basic Profitability Insights
Perfect for solo operators.
Team
For crews & growing teams
$950/year billed annually
- Up to 5 users
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Unlimited crews & vehicles
- Unlimited suppliers & custom services
- Team member roles & permissions
- Supplier pickup routes
- Advanced disposal tracking
- Webhook integrations
- Priority email support
- Basic Profitability Insights
Best for teams of 3-5 people with multiple crews
Pro
For growing businesses
$1,910/year billed annually
- Unlimited users
- Everything in Team, plus:
- Closed Loop Profitability
Log actual costs, see real margins, get smarter every job
- Full Profitability Insights
- Crew efficiency tracking
- Material variance reports
- Actionable recommendations
- Full REST API access
- CRM/accounting integrations
- Priority support
Learn from every job • Compound your profits
All plans include:
The three costs most estimates miss
A 45-minute round trip with a 2-person crew is $80–$120 in burdened labor plus fuel and wear — on every single visit.
Payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and PTO add 30–50% on top of wages. Estimating from the pay-stub rate underprices every hour.
Dump fees, tipping time, and the drive to the transfer station rarely make it onto the quote — and always come out of margin.
Common Questions
What is landscape estimating software?
Landscape estimating software helps landscapers calculate the cost of a job and produce a quote for the customer. The good ones go further than printing a nice-looking quote — they calculate burdened labor, travel time, vehicle wear, materials markup, overhead, and disposal so you know your real profit before you send the price.
How is GreenMargins different from Jobber or Joist?
Jobber, Joist and most quoting apps help you type up a quote. GreenMargins calculates what the job actually costs you first — burdened labor, travel cost per km, overhead allocation, supplier visit time — then shows your real margin before you hit send. You can use both: a CRM for scheduling and GreenMargins for the cost math.
How does GreenMargins compare to On Center, PlanSwift, STACK, or Manage360?
Those tools are built for commercial construction estimators — heavy on takeoff, light on the operating costs that hurt landscape crews (drive time, trailer drag, dump runs, supplier stops). GreenMargins is built specifically for landscape crews under 50. Pricing is published on the website, setup takes about 15 minutes, and the trial requires no credit card.
How does GreenMargins calculate travel time?
Enter the job address and GreenMargins pulls drive distance and time automatically. You can set whether the outbound leg is driver-only or full crew, add trailer drag as a per-km cost on top of fuel and wear, and account for supplier-pickup detours. Manual route overrides are supported when the auto route doesn't match the way your crew actually drives. Try the travel time calculator for free first.
How does overhead get into a single estimate?
During onboarding you enter your annual overhead (rent, insurance, admin, software, marketing) and your annual billable hours. GreenMargins divides those to get an hourly overhead rate, then applies it to every estimate based on how many billable hours the job will take. Try the overhead calculator to see what your number is.
What about labor burden?
You set your burden percentage once during onboarding — WCB, EI, CPP, benefits, PTO, payroll taxes — and GreenMargins adds it on top of base wages everywhere labor is calculated, including travel time and supplier visits. Most landscapers carry a 25-35% burden they aren't billing for. The free labor burden calculator shows yours.
Can I see real margins before I send the quote?
Yes. As you build the estimate, gross profit and margin recalculate live. You can see the cost breakdown line by line — labor base, burden, travel, materials with markup, overhead, disposal — and watch margin move as you adjust the price.
How much does GreenMargins cost?
Plans start at $47/month for solo operators, $79/month for crews and growing teams (most popular), and $159/month for businesses that need full profitability insights. All plans are published on greenmargins.com/pricing — no quotes, no sales calls. Annual billing available with a discount.
Do I need a credit card to start?
No. The 14-day free trial does not require a credit card. After the trial, you choose a plan and add a payment method to keep your account active.
Know Your Real Job Cost
Before You Send the Quote
14-day free trial · No credit card · ~15 minutes to set up · Plans from $47/month