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hshoosier's avatar
hshoosier
Contributor 3
2 months ago

Pay for performance in Lawn Care and Landscaping - has anyone been successful?

I know this has been talked about many times, but I'm thinking about re-visiting this option.

How have you structured your pay for performance when you have crews that do totally different things? For example- we have some crews that just do lawn maintenance (bi-weekly grass cutting, weed eating, etc), and other crews that do 'projects' (french drains, hardscapes, etc). And some guys that float between the different crews.

My brain cannot conceive metrics that would be equitable for both groups. Would we have a different set of metrics for each type of crew? A different set for the grass cutting crew vs the projects crew?  What are some examples of metrics that you have successfully used? How did you measure or track them?

I think I'm just 'stuck' on how to even get started. I've looked at so many conversations on this that my brain is in overload.

Can someone give me a hand here? Can I just see your metrics?

Help. Please.

5 Replies

  • Daichi's avatar
    Daichi
    Contributor 4

    I'm in a similar situation. While I don't handle hardscape projects, I have two crews dedicated to regular lawn and garden maintenance, and one crew that focuses on softscape projects.

    I use a performance-based pay system built around budgeted hours.

    Whether it's a maintenance route or a project, I always quote jobs with an estimated time for completion.

    For maintenance, properties can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. I build out daily routes based on total budgeted hours. If a crew finishes their route ahead of schedule, they earn a bonus for the time saved.

    The same system applies to projects. For example, if a job is budgeted for two days and the crew completes it in 1.5, they still get paid for the full two days.

    It's not a perfect system and it depends heavily on accurate quoting to give the crews a fair shot at hitting their bonuses. But overall, it's been effective.

    I have a custom field for 'Budgeted Hours' on all of my jobs and I use this table to see how efficient my guys are at each job. 

     

    • Daichi's avatar
      Daichi
      Contributor 4

      Doesn't look like that photo is clear - here's what I track to help. 

       

      • RandleHandles's avatar
        RandleHandles
        Contributor 2

        We are in a similar situation right now and this is a great incentive model! Thank you!