landscape software??

[lawnbridge]

Is there any good landscape software for cheap out there? Just can't fork over $500 right now.

[PaperCutter]

What do you want it to do?

[Daner]

I Use Realtime Landscaping pro...Its a good deal.

[grntmbfisher]

im gonna be picking up Realtime Landscaping Pro soon ive used the trials and really like it. plus it's only $99 with shipping. check out http://www.ideaspectrum.com .

[lawnbridge]

Thanks I will look it up

[SOUTHERNGREENSCAPES]

You need to get landscape pro with image editor. Granted it is $1,400, you will pay for it with in your first job or two. That is if you are building yourself enough profit. I will win every bid i go up against that has been hand drawn or drawn flat. I show the customer a picture of what it will look like, and they ask where to sign. literally.

[yamadooski]

Wow I try to keep it a secret that I have this LP in my area so I have atleast an edge on getting the job.
What is going to happen when every tom dick and harry has this program?
Guess what, no advantage and you will not be landing every job.

I saw them at our local tradeshow last weekend and I was ticked.

Honestly I think anyone in the landscape or lawn mowing biz are retarded to get on a forum such as this and spill all the secrets of the biz.

No wonder there are so many LCO's

What other business can you get on the web and find out everthing so the customer has a leading edge.

I never tell a customer what my hourly wage is or what my formula is for pricing landscape jobs. But everyone gets on here and brags about how much they make or how to bid a job and how much to charge.

Ya alot will say like its really gonna matter cause Im a 1000 miles away from Florida or anyother state. But dont you think there are alot of people on here that just read and never post a thing?

Why am so angry right now? Cause I have been doing this for 16 years and while my lawn biz is going down the tubes cause of the bad economy and every dick head starting a lawn biz. I thought i had the landscaping to fall back on. Well pretty soon not anymore cause everyone will have some sort of program. I even saw someone elses pictures and the customer wanted me to underbid the other guy just cause part of the work is already done. All I had to do was pick up the lousy plants and put them in. And its not even my design. I told him to go blow.
But I can start to see this happening more often in the future.

Flame suit is on Fire away.

[LB1234]

Flame suit is on Fire away.

Okay I'll bite.

So you can have the opinion that the landscape field was your fallback and that is okay. How about the landscapers that don't do lawn care and see you coming into "their" field. Isn't the pot calling the kettle black here?

[LB1234]

You need to get landscape pro with image editor. Granted it is $1,400, you will pay for it with in your first job or two. That is if you are building yourself enough profit. I will win every bid i go up against that has been hand drawn or drawn flat. I show the customer a picture of what it will look like, and they ask where to sign. literally.

I agree, you WILL get that money back within the first/second job. Its a great sales tool and its very easy to use and I haven't been able to take any of the training classes yet.

Even better, you can provide the customer with multiple looks and/or multiple budgets without spending that much more time in the office. You basically can hand the client a brochure of ideas and plans.

[PaperCutter]

I wouldn't sweat it. Owning a program doesn't make you a designer. Sharpen your skills, sell yourself well, and you aren't competing with everyone else.

[jwingfield2k]

AutoCAD...............

[lawnpro724]

Realtime landscape pro 3 is one of the best landscaping design programs out there. I just picked up another landscaping job this week $5,500.00 using Realtime landscaping Pro. I have seen other design programs out there for hundreds of dollars that aren't even close to what you get with Realtime. For $99 and free shipping there isn't anything that comes close to what you can do with this program for the money and customers love it.

[Humble Earth Mover]

Honestly I think anyone in the landscape or lawn mowing biz are retarded to get on a forum such as this and spill all the secrets of the biz.

No wonder there are so many LCO's



There is no trick, secret, formula, hidden truth or magic to winning and keeping customers. Nothing written in a forum will ever propel you into long term earnings. It does take grit, determination, the willingness to suffer, patience and a genuine love for nature and art to be successful in the landscape field. Anyone can get on a mower and drive in circles, not everyone can make a lawn look like a golf course. Anyone can drop plants in the ground, not everyone possesses the necessary vision to make those plants turn heads. Anyone can get customers, but only a rare few retain them year after year. I see all the LCO's, I see all the jobs they have the nerve to charge for, but I also hear people constantly tell me how they can't get anyone to call them back, or show up when they say, or deliver on their word. In this flooded industry, it's the small things like, honesty, integrity and attitude that will separate the wheat from the chaff. If you are angry and bitter at the world and the economy and mexicans and the gas prices and every other challenge in front of you, you will never rise to the level of professional. Stay positive, answer your phone with a smile, never share your pain with a customer, show gratitude for their business, live by your word. Those are the secrets to this business. The rest is just procedure.

[SOUTHERNGREENSCAPES]

There is no trick, secret, formula, hidden truth or magic to winning and keeping customers. Nothing written in a forum will ever propel you into long term earnings. It does take grit, determination, the willingness to suffer, patience and a genuine love for nature and art to be successful in the landscape field. Anyone can get on a mower and drive in circles, not everyone can make a lawn look like a golf course. Anyone can drop plants in the ground, not everyone possesses the necessary vision to make those plants turn heads. Anyone can get customers, but only a rare few retain them year after year. I see all the LCO's, I see all the jobs they have the nerve to charge for, but I also hear people constantly tell me how they can't get anyone to call them back, or show up when they say, or deliver on their word. In this flooded industry, it's the small things like, honesty, integrity and attitude that will separate the wheat from the chaff. If you are angry and bitter at the world and the economy and mexicans and the gas prices and every other challenge in front of you, you will never rise to the level of professional. Stay positive, answer your phone with a smile, never share your pain with a customer, show gratitude for their business, live by your word. Those are the secrets to this business. The rest is just procedure.


Very well said. Competition is business and you will never get away from that. It is not about spilling all your secrets, it is about helping someone realize the value of the obvious. That would be no different than me coming on here and telling about a great new shovel that cuts my dig time in half. I am going to go out of business b/c every "tom dick and harry" gets one, nope, but it may make me rise to a new level. There are tactics that i have learned over the years that make me succesful that i would not share with anyone, but come on guy, it is only a piece of software. Isn't that what this website is for, oh i forgot there are those of you who go around soaking up all these great trade secrets and never post any of your own. i guess that makes you the "Tom Lickin' Harry." LOL.

[SOUTHERNGREENSCAPES]

BTW: THAT LAST POST WAS DIRECTED AT yamadooski. i JUST LIKED WHAT HUMBLE EARTH MOVER HAD TO SAY.