As a landscaping business owner it is important to keep track of costs, and to continually assess and evaluate whether some of these costs can be cut. It could be easy to overlook or forget about some costs, especially if you spend most of your time in the field or focused on other operational matters.
Workers Compensation
The first tip I have is to review your workers compensation policy. I work with many landscaping businesses, and I recommend many of them to look into this. There are different ways to limit this cost, but I would recommend to review the employee classifications first. This is a simple part of the workers compensation policy, but I see many times that it is overlooked or done incorrectly. Each type of business will have a different overall rate, and each type of employee will have differences in the cost associated with their classification. Administrative employees have less risk than landscaping field employees. Make sure your employees are classified correctly!
General Liability Insurance
When you started your business you shopped around for general liability insurance, and chose the insurer with the best policy. I recommend to obtain quotes from multiple insurers and then compare the proposals in detail. You should not always choose the cheapest policy, be sure to consider all aspects of the policy to make sure it doesn’t leave you vulnerable to costly claims. My biggest piece of advice would be to consider adjusting coverage as your business grows in size. The policy and insurer you chose when you started your business may not be the best option when your business has added employees and grew in size.
Reoccurring Software and Computer Expenses
You may have used software for operations, marketing, etc that you now don’t use. You may have opted into free trials that have now converted to the paid subscription. Be sure to evaluate these software’s and your bank statement to make sure that you are not being charged for these subscriptions.
Limit Overtime
Before we think about limiting overtime, its important to first think about what the cause of the overtime is. You may not have enough workers to complete a job within the time allocated, or you may have underestimated the hours needed to complete the job, etc. A method to limit overtime would be to implement incentives and bonus’s to employees that complete jobs under the budgeted/expected hours.
Route Density and Efficient Routes
Save fuel and labor costs by improving route density and clustering as many of your same-service customers as possible in the smallest geographical area. Using GPS vehicle tracking allows a company to know where its vehicles are at all times, which helps to locate the most efficient routes, avoiding traffic congestion and accident sites, and ensuring vehicles aren’t being used for unauthorized trips.
Keeping track of, and cutting down on costs can help to increase cash flow. Try implementing these changes in your landscaping business!