University of Georgia

Landscape professionals have to be good at what they do. But to
secure clients and get the best profit they can from their work,
they really have to be good at job bidding.

Estimating cost is a critical part of the process. And that’s
tough, especially for beginners, who have no experience to base
their estimates on.

To make that job much easier and faster, the University of
Georgia has released two software packages, Hort Scape and Hort Management.

Hort Scape is brand new. Hort Management has been out since the
1980s but has been revised, updated and converted to Excel, so
it’s new, too.

Both programs are menu-driven, user-friendly software developed
by UGA horticulture and agricultural economics faculty members
as teaching tools for students and landscape pros. Each has a
series of worksheets for estimating overhead, labor and
equipment costs, as well as bid estimators and line-item
contract proposals for presenting to clients.

Hort Scape streamlines the bidding process for landscape
installation. Hort Management is more for estimating landscape
management costs.

Both programs include extensive documentation and practice
tutorials. They’re easily modified, too, to fit local costs and
time and task data supplied by the user.

The programs take the guesswork out of bidding and help managers
feel more comfortable in competitive bid situations, knowing
they’ve accounted for all the costs while building in a
profit.

The software packages cost $100 each or $175 for both. Shipping
costs are included. To learn more about the software or get an
order form, check online at www.hort.uga.edu/extension/programs/hortmanage.html.