routing your lawns

[smarino21]

i was wondering how do you route your lawns?

do you use a software program?
do you just stick each one on a map ? any info would be great

[Mrs. H]

We've done both.

I like useing our lawn program...we have Groundkeeper Pro. But, I set it up by using a rough grid map I made of the town.

I have a white erase board, drew the grid, plotted the customers and color coded them for the days I wanted the crew to be in those areas.

Now, when a customer calls, I can look and say...David will be in your neighborhood on Wed, can I put you on the schedual for that. 99% time, they are fine with whatever I suggest.

I can print the day's schedual on the computer and hand it to the crew in the morning. They can keep track of the time of service and what they did at each job on that page.

[pinto n mwr]

Hand sorting or software program, I've used both. The software side is better but you will stille have to hand sort because it does not take into consideration which side of the street a house is on. Meaning if you are doing a spray route and have houses on both sides of the street the software will route them in order versus routing them going down the street then coming back. If that made any sense at all, 8" will do that though.

[smarino21]

ya thats all good but what about when you have multiple crews and over 200 accts or what not. Which way is better? Is there a program that you can type the info into and let it sort them around by there areaas?

[pinto n mwr]

ya thats all good but what about when you have multiple crews and over 200 accts or what not. Which way is better? Is there a program that you can type the info into and let it sort them around by there areaas?

might be an off thread question but....

fert or mowing, if it is fert I hope you don't have multiple crews for 200 accts...

But...

If you do have multiple crews then the software approach is the best route, a true lawncare software though because Excel or quickbooks alone will only get you so far, usually not that far.

[supercuts]

ya thats all good but what about when you have multiple crews and over 200 accts or what not. Which way is better? Is there a program that you can type the info into and let it sort them around by there areaas?

im only at 100 accounts and i do it by hand. 5 days in a week, so i broke my town into 5 sectors. customer calls, i know what day by their location in town. i stay local 95% of the time.

with 200 accounts im assuming you leave town a bit, if so, start by giving each town on the outer limits its own day, give one a monday the other the friday, then divide up the ones in the middle however you need to trying to make it efficent. id try to work from east(mon), central (wen),to west (friday) or N to S or clockwise etc so you can overlap efficiently for inclimate weather

[Mrs. H]

ya thats all good but what about when you have multiple crews and over 200 accts or what not. Which way is better? Is there a program that you can type the info into and let it sort them around by there areaas?

My softwhere lets me create as many routes as I want. Or, at least, I havn't reached a limit yet. So, I can create routes by the weekdays, or assign each crew a route each weekday, etc.

[Az Gardener]

I like to do it myself. Computers can't account for rush hour, bad roads, clients that can be serviced before 7:00 AM. and so on. If you have to enter all that info whats the point of having a computer do your schedule :dizzy:

[sandman23]

I use MS Outlook. It allows me to set appts to recur. I also can color code appts. so that I can designate routes, crews, type of service etc... It is inexpensive and fairly flexible.

[Chilehead]

I use a map only, and have 6 full days of mowing. Generally I will cluster clients that are close together for any given day. The order of my clients are such as so I only make right-hand turns in between stops. Sometimes I have to drive out to the furthest point and work my way back, and sometimes vice versa.

[gardenkeeper88]

Hand sorting or software program, I've used both. The software side is better but you will stille have to hand sort because it does not take into consideration which side of the street a house is on. Meaning if you are doing a spray route and have houses on both sides of the street the software will route them in order versus routing them going down the street then coming back. If that made any sense at all, 8" will do that though.

I use Qxpress. After I set my route if i have some on both sides I can easlily make small changes like same street different side and then save them in the new order.

[gardenkeeper88]

ya thats all good but what about when you have multiple crews and over 200 accts or what not. Which way is better? Is there a program that you can type the info into and let it sort them around by there areaas?

Once again Qxpress can sort by crews and areas with out any prob. That is right down its ally

[B & B Yardscape]

Mrs. H, what software are you using.

Right now I have a map of the town. I draw on it to mark all the accounts. Then draw a line between them to figure the route. I also put them in excel in the order I want to handle them.

I picked up an account that has multiple sites through out the city. I am also looking for a good routing software to handle this for different days and crews.

[LawnsRUsInc.]

To be honest with you i used a map and tried to enter it in row from 1, 2, 3 in my gopher software yea that dont work but i made the switch over winter to turfgold (by arborgold) it was a switch that i wish i made day 1 in business it maps our your route for you. The website for it is http://www.treemanagement.net/turfgold.html talk to donna over there tell her you want a demo or...... I bought it for 1 computer and then made the leap before the end of the week to buying it for 3 of my computers in the network.

Qxpress clip realgreen all worked fine but it was either not user friendly at all imagine training a new employee year after year on how to use the software. Or they were outdated, or their sales people wouldnt get back to me for a week (qxpress, lawnmonkey)

[Mrs. H]

Mrs. H, what software are you using.

Right now I have a map of the town. I draw on it to mark all the accounts. Then draw a line between them to figure the route. I also put them in excel in the order I want to handle them.

I picked up an account that has multiple sites through out the city. I am also looking for a good routing software to handle this for different days and crews.

Groundskeeper Pro v 5.2.1

We bought it in 2005 and we're sure there is a more updated version that we havn't looked into.

[JFGLN]

We use Qxpress for scheduling.

[atc]

LawnsRuS .. I have been using Turfgold for a couple of weeks and I am a bit frustrated to say the least. What version do you have, how many customers?

[sancho_man_orlando]

I use Microsoft Streets & Trips. Lets you plug in the addresses, time you start, mpg's of your vehicle, cost of gas, approximate amount of time you'll be at a stop...

You can optimize your route based on distance, preferred road types, etc.

It will tell you pretty close how much it will cost in gas, etc.

Very good stuff and worth the $30 it costs...

[Woody82986]

I route everything myself. Around here there is simply too much construction, traffic and slow spots during various times of the day to leave it up to anyone or anything else. Once I get m general route down, it's not hard to add new clients into the mix where they should go.