A lawn and landscape company · About $18M revenue; 30 crews across 4 branches
A Novare engagement. The client's name is withheld.
Are we on plan this week, and if not, where?
The answer Two branches were running labor about three points over plan. The cockpit showed it in week 2, not at month-end.
- $240Ka year of labor kept to plan
- Week 2not five weeks later
- 1 pageevery Monday
A Novare engagement. The client's name is withheld.
The question
Leadership met every Monday, but the numbers they had were five weeks old. By the time the month closed, a bad month was already over. Each branch kept its own spreadsheet, and none of them matched.
- Budget lived in one file. Actuals lived in the books. Jobs lived in the scheduling system.
- Each branch manager reported a different version of labor cost.
- Problems showed up at month-end, too late to fix.
What we looked at
We put budget and actuals side by side, by branch and by week, using the same definitions everywhere.
- Revenue was on budget. Labor was not.
- Two branches were about three points over plan on labor, from overtime and rework.
- Nobody had seen it, because nobody was looking at weekly labor by branch.
Labels are generic to keep the client anonymous.
What we built
One set of definitions
What counts as revenue, labor and a completed job, agreed once and used everywhere.
Weekly budget vs. actual
Pulled from the books, payroll and scheduling, and checked against the books before anyone sees it.
A one-page cockpit
Five numbers, every branch, and a short list of what needs attention.
A Monday routine
Fifteen minutes. Each red item gets an owner and a date.
- Branch BOvertime up; crews short a member+3.2 pts
- Branch DRework on new installs+2.9 pts
- Cash on hand13-week low is week 9Watch
The answer and the money
Both branches fixed crew sizing and rework within six weeks and got labor back to plan. On about $8M of revenue in those branches, three points is about $240K a year.
| Before | After | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| When a labor overrun showed up | Month-end, with numbers five weeks old | Week 2 | Five weeks sooner |
| Labor vs. plan (2 branches) | About three points over plan | Back to plan within six weeks | About three points |
| Annual value | — | About $240K a year of labor kept to plan | ≈$240K a year |
Labels are generic to keep the client anonymous.
The Monday meeting now starts with the same page for everyone, and it is never more than a week old.
The work behind this story
Systems involved: The budget file, the books, payroll and the scheduling system.
A Novare engagement. The client's name is withheld. Results vary by business. One company's results are not a forecast for another.
Running into a version of this?
Tell us what you’re seeing. We’ll tell you how we’d find the answer and what it would take.