Landscaping software for projects and maintenance rounds

What a landscaping business actually needs from software

The landscaping day is a logistics puzzle: get the right crew to the right properties in the right order, with the right gear and materials, and capture what was done so it gets invoiced. Maintenance rounds live or die on scheduling — a missed weekly mow is a lost client. Construction projects live or die on the quote — under-price the turf, plants, aggregate and labour and the margin's gone. And through all of it, the admin has to be quick enough to do from the ute between properties, not something that waits for a desk.

Shape the app to your business

A solo mowing operator needs scheduling, quick quotes and invoicing. A design-and-construct landscaper needs materials, quoting with real margin, crew scheduling, timesheets and a client portal. My Apprentice lets you switch whole features on and off from settings, so the app matches your business:

• Scheduling and recurring shifts for maintenance rounds
• Materials and inventory, with stock tracked as a ledger
• Supplier invoices read and reconciled by AI
• Timesheets with clock in/out and payroll export
• The client portal, messaging and evidence photos

Every feature is available to every business; nothing is locked to a higher plan. Run it lean for maintenance rounds, or switch on the lot for project work.

Quoting projects: materials and margin

Landscaping construction quotes are materials-heavy — plants, turf, soil, aggregate, pavers, timber, plus labour and plant hire. My Apprentice builds quotes from your line items and materials list with the margin visible as you go, so a big project is priced to profit, not hope. The client gets a professional quote and a portal link to approve it; acceptance turns it into a job in one click, and the sent quote is stored as an immutable record so there's no argument later about what was included. For staged projects, the job stays live so variations — "can you also do the retaining wall?" — are captured rather than forgotten.

• Quotes built from your own line items and materials list — plants, turf, soil, aggregate, pavers, timber, labour and plant hire
• The catalogue cost behind every line visible as you build, so the project is priced to profit
• Client approves from a portal link; acceptance turns the quote into a job in one click
• The sent quote is stored as an immutable record of what was included
• Staged jobs stay live, so variations are captured rather than forgotten

Scheduling crews and maintenance rounds

This is the heart of a landscaping operation. My Apprentice lets you assign shifts to crews, set up recurring shifts for weekly maintenance rounds so a whole run is created in one go, and keep unassigned and upcoming work visible so a property is never missed. Crew members see only their assigned jobs and shifts, so their run for the day is clear.

• Recurring shifts that generate a whole weekly round across a date range in one go
• Unassigned and upcoming work visible, so a property is never missed
• Crews see only their own jobs and shifts — the day's run, nothing else
• Project work and maintenance rounds share the one schedule

Honest note: there's no live GPS map of vehicles — My Apprentice gets the right crew to the right properties with the right details, but doesn't track vans on a map.

Materials and stock

For businesses carrying materials — mulch, plants, irrigation parts — My Apprentice keeps a materials library, tracks stock as a ledger, and writes materials used back to stock on job completion, so what went onto a project comes off stock and onto the invoice. When the nursery or landscape-supplies account arrives, built-in AI supplier-invoice scanning reads it, matches lines to your suppliers and materials, flags uncertainties, and updates stock or costs the job. It's included at every seat and saves the monthly reconciliation slog. No purchase orders or supplier-catalogue feeds — for most landscapers the library plus AI scanning is enough.

Documentation and customer communication

Landscaping is a visual trade — before-and-after photos are half the sell and half the sign-off. My Apprentice attaches photos and notes to each job and shift, building a record you can share with the client through the no-login client portal, where they can also approve quotes, view invoices, message you and — once you've connected Stripe — pay by card. For maintenance clients, a portal that shows the round was done and lets them pay is a genuine service upgrade and gets you paid faster. There's a full audit trail behind it all, with immutable quote and invoice snapshots.

• Photos and notes attached to every job and shift
• Before-and-after evidence shared with the client, no login required
• Quotes approved, invoices viewed, messages sent and card payments taken in the one place
• Full audit trail with immutable quote and invoice snapshots

Timesheets and getting paid

Crew hours across rounds and projects flow into weekly timesheets via clock in/out, ready for approval and payroll export. Invoices come straight off the job — materials, labour, plant hire and variations already attached — so billing is send-and-track. Card payment through the portal and Xero push (with paid/outstanding sync) finish the job.

Where My Apprentice fits a landscaping business — and where it doesn't

It fits:

• the solo mowing or garden-maintenance operator who wants easy scheduling, quick quotes and fast invoicing;
• the design-and-construct landscaper (up to around 25 staff) who needs quoting with margin, crew scheduling, materials and a client portal in one configurable app; and
• any landscaping business that wants to run the crew and the admin from a phone.

It's less of a fit if you run large commercial landscaping contracts needing progress billing and formal procurement, or if MYOB is a dealbreaker. My Apprentice's sweet spot is the residential and light-commercial landscaping business that wants one adaptable, mobile-first system.

A real-world example

A landscaping business runs weekly maintenance rounds for a dozen properties plus the occasional build. The rounds are set up as recurring shifts, each crew seeing its run for the day on a phone, ticking off properties and snapping photos as they go. A maintenance client asks for a new garden bed and irrigation; the owner quotes it from the materials list with margin visible, the client approves it through the portal, and it becomes a scheduled job. Plants and irrigation parts are tracked against it; when the nursery account lands, AI scanning reconciles the materials. The build's completed, before-and-after photos attached, the invoice goes out from the job, and the client pays by card through the portal. Crew hours flowed to payroll. The office work happened between properties, not after dark.

Pricing for landscaping businesses

My Apprentice is per seat in Australian dollars, dropping as you grow: $39 per seat per month for a sole trader, dropping to $27 per seat for larger teams, with 20% off annual billing. Your first 2 months are free, there's no setup fee and no lock-in contract. Every feature is included — switch on what you use — so a solo operator and a crew-based business get the same toolbox at a price that falls per head as you hire. See the full pricing page for the current per-seat rates.

FAQ

→ Start a free trial and run your next maintenance round and project from the one app — see pricing for per-seat rates.