Is Obra for mowing routes and maintenance contracts?

No. Obra is for landscape projects with a budget: installs, renovations, irrigation systems, outdoor living spaces. Route businesses need a scheduling and invoicing tool.

Can I budget the plants as an allowance?

Yes. Put the allowance on its own line, log the nursery invoices against it, and record any overage as a change order. The job's page shows exactly where the allowance stands.

How do I track rentals and dump fees per job?

Each rental and dump ticket goes to the job as an expense with its own cost code. Over a season you'll know how much of your margin is going to equipment you don't own.

My crew works in Spanish. Can they still send receipts?

Yes. They send a photo by WhatsApp in Spanish or English and never see the job's finances. You confirm it to the right job. Everything exports in English for your accountant.

Obra for Landscape contractors

Landscaping job costing, from grading to the last plant in the ground

Track each landscape install as one job: plants, sod, irrigation, lighting, rentals and crew labor. Know what every yard made you.

Start free See the sample budget

A landscape install is a lot of small purchases spread across a couple of weeks: three nursery runs, sod on a Tuesday, irrigation parts from two suppliers, a trencher rental, mulch by the yard, dump fees. The plan was priced as one number. By the end, nobody is sure whether that number held.

Obra puts every one of those purchases on the job the day it happens, so you can see the plant allowance, the rentals, and the labor against the budget while the crew is still on site.

Plants as an allowance

Price the plant material as an allowance line. When the client changes their mind at the nursery, the new selection gets logged against the allowance and the overage becomes a change order with your markup on it. The allowance overage guide shows the wording that keeps the client happy and the margin intact.

Rentals and rock

Rentals are the cost landscapers forget. A skid steer for three days, a trencher for one, a plate compactor for the patio. Give rentals their own cost code and you'll see how much of each job goes to machines you don't own. When the trencher hits rock, the bigger machine and the extra days are a change order, written before the rental counter. The change order guide keeps it short.

Receipts from the crew

Your foreman is at the nursery, the irrigation supplier, and the gas station in one morning. They take a photo of each receipt and send it by WhatsApp, in Spanish or English. Obra reads it, drafts the expense, and you confirm it to the right job. The bilingual crew guide shows the routine.

What each yard made you

When the last plant is in and the last invoice is paid, the job's page shows the contract, the total cost and the margin. Over a season, you'll see whether irrigation jobs or full installs are the ones worth chasing. The cost code guide helps you set up the codes so the comparison works.

What Obra isn't for a landscaper

Not route scheduling, not recurring billing, not a design tool. Obra is the money on landscape projects, in English and Spanish, from receipts your crew already sends, exported clean to the accountant.

Sample budget

Backyard install: sod, irrigation, planting beds and lighting, Westlake Remodel

Line item	Budget
Plants, trees and shrubs (allowance)	$4,800
Sod and soil prep	$3,200
Irrigation materials	$2,100
Landscape lighting	$1,600
Mulch, edging, drainage	$1,100
Equipment rentals (skid steer, trencher)	$900
Crew labor, prep, install and cleanup	$6,400
Direct cost budget	$20,100
Contract value	$27,500
Gross margin budgeted	$7,400

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

01 Plants, trees and shrubs
02 Sod, seed and soil
03 Irrigation
04 Lighting and low voltage
05 Drainage and grading
06 Mulch, edging and rock
07 Hardscape and paving
08 Equipment rentals
09 Crew labor, prep and grading
10 Crew labor, planting and install
11 Dump fees and hauling

The change orders that eat the margin

The plants the client swapped at the nursery: The plan had a $4,800 plant allowance. The client walks the nursery and comes back with mature trees and $7,100 of plants. The difference is a change order, written before the delivery truck is booked.
Rock under the trench line: The trencher hits rock two feet down across the whole irrigation run. A bigger machine and two more days of labor were never in the bid. Price it the same afternoon and get the signature before you rent.
The drainage problem under the sod: Grading reveals the yard drains toward the house. A French drain and regrade are a real fix and a real change order, not a favor you fold into the sod price.

Questions people ask

Is Obra for mowing routes and maintenance contracts?: No. Obra is for landscape projects with a budget: installs, renovations, irrigation systems, outdoor living spaces. Route businesses need a scheduling and invoicing tool.
Can I budget the plants as an allowance?: Yes. Put the allowance on its own line, log the nursery invoices against it, and record any overage as a change order. The job's page shows exactly where the allowance stands.
How do I track rentals and dump fees per job?: Each rental and dump ticket goes to the job as an expense with its own cost code. Over a season you'll know how much of your margin is going to equipment you don't own.
My crew works in Spanish. Can they still send receipts?: Yes. They send a photo by WhatsApp in Spanish or English and never see the job's finances. You confirm it to the right job. Everything exports in English for your accountant.

Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.