Comparison
EasyUse vs spreadsheets.
Most small landscaping firms start on spreadsheets: a rota, a quote calculator, a list of jobs. That is a perfectly good way to start. This page is about when it stops being one, and when it does not.
We make EasyUse, so we have an interest. EasyUse started because Green Palm Dundee Landscaping, a firm of about 7 staff that uses it daily, wanted to replace its landscaping operations, staff rota and quote-calculator spreadsheets. We have tried to be fair to spreadsheets, because for some firms they are the right answer.
- Where spreadsheets are stronger
- Where they start to break
- Task by task
- Signs it is time to move
- Keeping a spreadsheet working
- Questions
Where spreadsheets are stronger
- Cost. A spreadsheet is free or already paid for. EasyUse is £15 per month after the free pilot.
- Flexibility. You can lay it out any way you like and change it in a minute. Software has opinions about how a job or a quote works.
- Familiarity. Everyone already knows how to use one. New software takes a few weeks to bed in, for you and for the crew.
- No vendor risk. The file is yours and sits on your own computer or drive. EasyUse is early software from a small company, although your data is yours and we send you an export if you leave.
- Small scale. For one person, or one person and a helper, with a handful of regular customers, a spreadsheet and a paper diary often do the job.
Where they start to break
The trouble usually starts when a second or third person needs the same information at the same time, away from the desk.
- The crew cannot see the plan. A rota in a spreadsheet is a file someone has to send round. When it changes at 7am, half the crew has yesterday's version.
- Double-booking and holidays. A spreadsheet will happily let you put the same person on two jobs, or on a day they have booked off. Nothing flags it.
- Quote formulas break silently. One overwritten cell and every later quote is wrong, and you may not know. The totals are only as good as whoever last edited the file.
- Time is retyped. Hours arrive by text or on paper and get typed in later, with the errors that brings.
- Records live in different places. The customer, the quote, the job, the spray record and the invoice are in five files. Finding what happened on one site means opening all five.
- One person is the system. If the person who built and understands the spreadsheet is away, so is the system.
Task by task
| Task | In a spreadsheet | In EasyUse |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly rota | A grid you maintain by hand and send round. | A rota in the app that the crew see on their phones. Double-booking and staff holidays are flagged before you commit, with an override when you mean it. |
| Quotes | Formulas you wrote, in a file anyone can edit. | A calculator priced from a rate card you set, with totals worked out on the server in pounds so they match every time. |
| Crew clocking in | Texts, paper, or a shared sheet typed up later. | Clock in and out on the phone. If it was recorded offline the office sees that and approves it knowingly. |
| Maintenance rounds | A list of customers and a calendar you keep in step yourself. | Contracts with a visit schedule that puts the visits on the rota. |
| Spray records | A paper diary or a sheet; corrections overwrite the original. | Crew record each application on the phone. The office keeps a per-customer diary, corrections are added as new entries and never overwrite the original, and it prints. |
| Vehicle MOT and service | A reminder column you have to look at. | MOT, tax and service reminders with a lead time you choose. |
| Invoicing | Retype from the quote into your accounts. | QuickBooks Online: raise and send invoices from finished work after you review them. |
| Anything unusual | Add a column. | Only what is built. A customer portal, online payment collection, multi-company accounts and an app store app are not built. |
Details of each are on the features page.
Signs it is time to move
- You have sent the rota round and then had to send it again, more than once a week.
- Someone turned up at a job that had been moved, or did not turn up at all.
- You have found a quote that was wrong after it went out.
- You spend a part of every week retyping hours or jobs from one place to another.
- You could not tell a customer exactly what was done on their last visit without a search.
- You are worried about what happens if the person who built the spreadsheet is off sick.
Two or three of those is a good reason to try something. One is probably not.
If you stay on spreadsheets
- Keep one master copy in a shared drive, not copies sent by email.
- Lock the cells with formulas, and keep a plain-English note of what each does.
- Put the rates on one sheet and refer to them, so a price change is made once.
- Keep a dated backup every week.
- For spray records, keep a bound paper diary or a sheet that you only ever add rows to, and never overwrite, for at least as long as you are required to keep them. See weed-spraying records: what you must keep.
Questions
Can I move my spreadsheets across?
We will help you get your staff, customers and rates in. Tell us what you have when you apply. It is better to start with this season's customers and rates than to try to bring every old row.
Do I have to stop using my spreadsheet straight away?
No. In the free pilot you use EasyUse for real work with at least some of your crews, and you can run the old system alongside it while you decide. See how the pilot works.
What does it cost?
Free for 60 days, then £15 per month, for the whole business, with unlimited users and jobs. There is no card taken for the pilot and no lock-in.
Related: EasyUse vs Jobber, EasyUse vs Tradify, EasyUse vs ServiceM8, How to price landscaping jobs.
Try it on your own firm
Free for 60 days, then £15 a month.
Read what is built on the features page, click around the live demo (made-up data), or see how the free pilot works.