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As a landscaping business owner, you’re probably used to wearing every hat. One minute you’re checking on the crew, the next you’re ordering materials or talking with a client. At the end of the day, there’s paperwork waiting, equipment to maintain, and bids to review. It can feel like a never-ending cycle. In the middle of all this chaos, it’s easy to overlook one simple habit that can make or break your profit: tracking time accurately.

I hear it all the time from business owners: “Adam, I don’t have time to mess with time tracking. It’s another thing to chase my guys about.” I get it. But here’s the truth: if you aren’t tracking your crew’s time accurately, you’re operating blind. You might think you’re profitable, but by the time you find out you’re not, it’s too late to fix it. Time tracking isn’t just an admin task, it’s a tool to protect your margins and ensure every job is actually making you money.

 

Why Time Tracking for Contractors is Non-Negotiable

When you send a crew out, your biggest expense starts immediately: labor. You pay for every hour, whether they’re productive or not. Most business owners focus on net profit to gauge how things are going. While net profit is important, it’s a lagging indicator, meaning it only tells you how you did after the job is done and invoices are collected. By that point, you can’t fix the problem. Instead, you need leading indicators, real-time metrics that help you see if you’re on track before the job wraps up.

 

Estimated vs. Actual Hours: Your Most Important Metric

If there’s one leading indicator you should be laser-focused on, it’s estimated hours versus actual hours on each job. Let’s look at an example:

You estimate a job will take 100 hours. Your actual hours come in at 120. If your fully burdened labor cost is $100 per hour, that 20-hour overrun just cost you $2,000. That’s money right out of your profit. And the worst part? Most business owners don’t even realize they’ve gone over until they see their financials weeks or months later. By then, the damage is done.

Tracking these hours in real time gives you the power to adjust. You might move additional resources to get back on schedule, address efficiency issues on the crew, or even step in to clarify scope with the client. When you see a job slipping, you can do something about it before it hits your bank account.

 

Common Mistakes Contractors Make with Time Tracking

A lot of contractors think they’re “tracking time” because they collect paper timesheets or have crews text in their hours. But there’s a big difference between tracking hours for payroll and tracking hours for profitability. Here are a few common mistakes:

• Relying on handwritten notes or text messages, which often lead to missing or inaccurate data.

• Not breaking time down by job or task, which makes it impossible to analyze efficiency.

• Reviewing hours only when it’s time to run payroll, instead of monitoring daily or weekly.

• Not communicating to the team why time tracking matters, leading to poor buy-in and sloppy reporting.

These mistakes leave you guessing instead of knowing. Guessing is not a strategy for success.

 

How to Successfully Implement Time Tracking in Your Landscaping Business

Rolling out a new system can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a step-by-step approach I’ve seen work well for contractors:

1. Choose the right tool. There are many time tracking apps available that integrate with job costing and provide real-time data. Pick one that’s simple and easy for your crew to use.

2. Train your team. Explain why tracking time accurately is crucial. When your team understands that it protects jobs, ensures consistent work, and even supports future raises or bonuses, they’re more likely to buy in.

3. Set expectations. Make it clear that time must be tracked daily, not guessed at the end of the week. Hold everyone accountable from day one.

4. Review data regularly. Don’t wait until the end of the month. Check estimated vs. actual hours at least weekly. Look for trends and address overruns as soon as they appear.

5. Use the data to improve. Over time, you’ll build a database of actual hours for different types of work. Use this to improve future estimates, price jobs more accurately, and plan labor more efficiently.

When you follow these steps, time tracking stops being a burden and starts becoming one of your most valuable tools for profitability.

Pro Tip: Want a better way to track time and compare actual vs. estimated hours? LMN lets your crews clock in by job, right from the field so you can track time accurately, cut the paperwork, and stay profitable. Get started with LMN for free.

How Accurate Time Tracking Improves Profitability

Accurate time tracking isn’t just about staying organized. It directly impacts your bottom line in several ways:

• Increase profitability. By catching overruns early, you reduce wasted hours and protect your margins.

• Improve future job estimates. You’ll have real, historical data to base your bids on, reducing underpricing and improving win rates.

• Enhance team accountability. When crews know their hours are being tracked accurately, they’re more focused and efficient on-site.

• Make better decisions. Instead of relying on gut feelings, you’ll make choices backed by actual numbers — whether it’s adjusting labor, changing job schedules, or revising pricing.

 

A Real-World Example

A client I worked with last year thought they were hitting great profit margins. They were busy, crews were working full days, and jobs were rolling in. But once we started tracking estimated vs. actual hours, they realized they were consistently overrunning labor budgets. In one case, a hardscape project was estimated at 80 hours but came in at 110 (a 30-hour overrun that cost them $1000’s in lost profit). By catching these overruns early on other projects, they started making corrections on the fly: reallocating crews, improving prep work, and clarifying scope with clients. Within six months, they turned around their margins and added tens of thousands of dollars back to their bottom line. That’s the power of seeing what’s actually happening in real time.

 

FAQs:

What should I track besides labor hours?

While labor is the biggest expense, you can also track equipment hours, material usage, and subcontractor time. This gives you a complete picture of job costs and helps you control other areas that eat into profits.

How often should I review my time tracking data?

Ideally, you should review it weekly (at minimum) and daily if possible. This allows you to take corrective action immediately instead of after the job is complete.

How do I get my team on board?

Communication is key. Show them how time tracking protects jobs, creates stability, and can support performance-based rewards. Involve them in the process and make it easy to do.

Does time tracking really make that big of a difference?

Absolutely. Time tracking is one of the few tools that gives you real-time insight into your biggest expense. Without it, you’re hoping everything works out. With it, you’re actively managing your profitability every day.

 

Start Tracking Time Today — Your Bottom Line Depends On It

If you want to run a more profitable, sustainable landscaping business, tracking time accurately is not optional, it’s essential. Don’t wait until the end of the season or the end of a job to find out whether you made money. Start tracking estimated vs. actual hours today. Hold your team accountable, use the data to make smarter decisions, and protect your margins before they slip away. Your future self and your bottom line will thank you.

Need help setting up better time tracking for your team? At The Green Executive®, we help landscape business owners implement smart systems, including accurate time tracking through LMN, so you can stop guessing and start leading with confidence. Schedule a call with us and let’s get your business running more profitably.