Estimates built in spreadsheets that take two hours each and can't be updated quickly when the customer asks for a change -- losing jobs to faster competitors who quote on the same day?
No way to know which types of job are profitable after the fact -- every job quoted to a markup that doesn't account for actual crew time and material costs?
Landscaping Estimating Software
Custom estimating and quoting software for landscaping companies that need to quote faster, track material and labour costs accurately, and know which jobs are worth winning.
Spreadsheet estimates take hours and can't be updated quickly. Custom estimating software cuts quote time, produces professional proposals on the same day, and tells you whether the job made money after completion.
On-site measurement and photo capture via mobile
Material and labour cost database
Professional proposal generation with e-sign
Estimate to job conversion and profitability tracking
Custom landscaping estimating software covers on-site area measurement and photo capture via mobile, a material and labour cost database, professional proposal generation with e-sign, and estimate-to-job conversion with profitability tracking. It eliminates spreadsheet-based quoting and gives managers visibility into which job types are actually profitable. RaftLabs delivers in 12-14 weeks at a fixed cost.
100+Products shipped
·24+Industries served
·FixedCost delivery
·12-14Week delivery cycles
Estimates that close faster and tell you what actually made money
A landscaping estimate has more moving parts than most trades. Material quantities depend on site measurements. Labour time depends on ground conditions and access. Supplier costs change seasonally. A spreadsheet can hold all of that -- but it takes an experienced estimator two hours to build one, it can't be updated quickly when the scope changes, and it tells you nothing about whether similar past jobs were profitable.
Custom estimating software compresses that process. Measurements and photos taken on site feed the quantity calculations directly. Material and labour rates are stored centrally and updated when costs change. A professional proposal is generated in minutes.
After the job is complete, the estimate is compared to actual costs. Over time you see which job types carry margin and which don't -- and you quote accordingly.
What we build
Site measurement and takeoff
Mobile app for site dimension and area capture -- measured directly on site, not estimated from a map. Photo markup to annotate measurements on site photos. Measurement-based material quantity calculation -- area entered, quantities generated automatically from pre-set coverage rates per material type. Multiple zones per site for jobs with distinct planting, paving, and lawn areas. Site notes and ground condition flags that carry through to the labour time estimate. Measurements and photos stored against the estimate record.
Material cost database
Plant, stone, aggregate, irrigation, timber, and sundry item cost database with current supplier pricing. Bulk pricing tiers for high-volume materials -- quantity breaks applied automatically when order size is entered. Material waste factors per item type -- overage calculated automatically, not added as a manual guess. Cost update workflow for when supplier prices change -- update once, all estimates using that material reflect the new cost. Material categories filterable by supplier, type, and last-updated date.
Labour calculation
Crew size and time estimation by task type -- planting, paving, irrigation, turf, and clearance each carry their own time-per-unit rate. Equipment costs added per task based on machinery required. Subcontractor rates stored separately for work not done by your own crew. Overhead allocation applied as a configurable percentage on top of direct costs. Labour and overhead total shown separately from material costs so the estimator can see where the quote sits before applying the margin.
Proposal generation
Professional branded PDF proposal generated from the estimate data -- scope description, materials list, timeline, and pricing. Line-item or lump-sum presentation selectable per customer. Optional good-better-best tier presentation for jobs with scope alternatives. Proposal delivered to the customer by email with e-sign capture. Proposal revision workflow for scope changes -- version history stored so previous versions are accessible. Proposal accepted status updates automatically when the customer signs.
Estimate approval and conversion
Approved estimate converts to a job in the scheduling system with all details -- measurements, materials, labour requirements, and customer notes -- carried through automatically. Change order workflow for scope changes after approval -- original estimate preserved, addendum created and sent for sign-off. Estimate vs. actual cost comparison recorded on job completion -- crew time, materials used, and equipment hours captured in the job management system and matched against the estimate. Variance flagged for review when actual costs exceed the estimate by more than a set threshold.
Win rate reporting
Quote volume and total quoted value by period. Win rate by job type -- which services close at the highest rate. Win rate by customer segment -- residential vs. commercial, new enquiry vs. returning customer. Average quote-to-job conversion time. Reasons for lost quotes -- recorded at the time of loss and reported in aggregate. Profitability by job type -- estimated vs. actual margin compared across all completed jobs in the period. Output available as a dashboard view and exportable to CSV.
Frequently asked questions
Generic quoting tools handle line items and totals. Landscaping estimating requires site measurement-to-quantity conversion, material waste factors, task-specific labour time rates, seasonal pricing, and a cost database that covers plants, stone, aggregate, irrigation, and timber -- not just a list of services with a price. A generic tool can be adapted to do some of this with manual workarounds, but the result is still slower than a system built for the way a landscaping estimate is actually constructed. The difference is most visible on large or complex jobs where the measurement and quantity work takes the most time.
The database has a cost update workflow built in. When a supplier price changes, the estimator or buyer updates the item cost once in the system. All estimates created after that date use the new cost. Existing approved estimates are not retroactively changed -- they retain the costs at the time of sign-off. Estimates in progress are flagged if a material cost has been updated since the estimate was started, so the estimator can review before sending. The workflow can also accept bulk price list imports from suppliers in CSV format to reduce manual update effort.
Yes. Phased projects are structured as a single customer and site record with multiple estimate stages -- each phase has its own scope, measurements, materials, and labour estimate, and can be sent and signed individually. The phases roll up to a total project view so the customer and your business can see the full scope commitment. Change orders within a phase are managed separately from the phase estimate. When a phase is approved and converted to a job, only that phase's details are sent to the scheduling system -- the remaining phases stay in estimate status until approved.
A landscaping estimating platform with mobile site measurement, a material and labour cost database, proposal generation, and profitability reporting typically takes 12-14 weeks from project start to production. If it's built alongside a job management system, the two are scoped and delivered together -- the estimate-to-job conversion is part of the build. Timeline depends on the volume of existing rate data to migrate and the complexity of your proposal format. All projects are priced at fixed cost before development starts.
