Landscaping Fleet Saves $100K with Mobile Management Software

Maryland-based landscaping company Maple Hill Lawn & Garden saved more than $100,000 through the implementation of the Verizon Connect Reveal mobile resource management software platform in early 2019.

With Verizon Connect Reveal, the company has been able to significantly reduce unaccounted labor time and increase employee productivity, gaining increased visibility into and substantially improving its bottom line.

Maple Hill Lawn & Garden services the year-round landscaping needs of residential and commercial clients outside the Washington D.C. area but struggled to get an accurate view of its true labor costs.

By analyzing data from Verizon Connect Reveal, the company found unaccounted time between employee clock-out time and the last job of the day added up to between $100,000 and $140,000 per year.

“Our profit margins were a big mystery,” said Maple Hill Lawn & Garden co-owner and founder Robert White. “A lot of it was crossing our fingers and hoping that the bottom line panned out the way you wanted at the end of each day, month and ultimately year, but Verizon Connect Reveal has really transformed the way we manage our business.”

In addition to cost savings, the Verizon Connect Reveal platform has also helped Maple Hill Lawn & Garden drive business benefits, including:

• Increased revenue opportunities: While completing on-site jobs, Maple Hill Lawn & Garden’s crews were occasionally asked by clients to help with additional odd jobs, which often went unreported. With Verizon Connect Reveal, the company is able to track its crews’ time onsite and help identify when additional jobs were completed. 
• More accurate billing: Commercial jobs are often planned further in advance when compared to residential work, even when clients are away. With the Verizon Connect Reveal platform, Maple Hill Lawn & Garden was better able to show proof of service with time stamps and GPS location records for more accurate billing.
• Increased driver safety: With access to near real-time alerts for harsh driving events, Verizon Connect Reveal has helped Maple Hill Lawn & Garden better monitor the behavior and help to improve the safety of its drivers. In addition, the accuracy of Verizon Connect Reveal’s GPS tracking has also helped prevent drivers from parking in unsafe areas such as driveways –  which helps protect the company from liability from damaged property.

Maple Hill Lawn & Garden began using Verizon Connect Reveal in early 2019 as one of the three companies to win Lawn & Landscape Magazine’s Turnaround Tour, which works with landscape business consultants Harvest Group to help solve the most pressing business challenges of the selected companies. This annual contest is sponsored by Verizon Connect and other industry partners.

“Verizon Connect puts technology like IoT, advanced GPS tracking and cloud platforms in the hands of small businesses like Maple Hill Lawn & Garden,” said Kevin Aries, head of global product success at Verizon Connect. “Large enterprise customers have used these technologies for years, and now, they are helping organizations of all sizes drive positive business impact through improved cost, efficiency and safety.”

Maple Hill Lawn & Garden expects to see additional benefits when it starts using Reveal’s predictive maintenance feature. As the company transitions its summer equipment over for the winter, it plans to set up baseline vehicle health in the platform to help prevent future equipment breakdowns by tracking and scheduling maintenance reminders.