The problem
A mowing route built by hand, in the order customers signed up, zigzags across town. If each of 2 crews loses 45 minutes a day to extra driving, 5 days a week, that is about 32 crew hours a month (2 × 0.75 × 5 × 4.3). With 2 people per crew at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 an hour, that's about $1,290£970€1,154A$1,862C$1,823 a month in wages, before fuel.
What the AI does
LawnPro's Grow plan adds optimized routes: its AI reorders each crew's stops for the day to cut driving, with turn-by-turn directions, mileage tracking and drag-and-drop changes when a customer needs a different time. Weekly and biweekly lawns sit in the schedule as recurring work, so each day's route is built from them and then put in order. The crew lead follows the route on a phone, and the office moves stops by hand for gate codes or time windows.
A worked example
A lawn care company in Columbus, Ohio, runs 2 two-person mowing crews and about 180 weekly and biweekly residential lawns from April to October. The owner moves the customer list into LawnPro Grow ($99£74€89A$143C$140 a month billed annually, up to 7 users) and lets it order each day's stops.
Before
Routes built by hand, with about 45 minutes a day of extra driving per crew
After
Routes reordered automatically, with extra driving down to about 15 minutes a day per crew
What it's worth
About $860£647€769A$1,242C$1,216 a month in crew time during the mowing season, against $99£74€89A$143C$140 to $129£97€115A$186C$182 for LawnPro Grow. That is 30 minutes less driving per crew per day (2 crews × 0.5 hours × 5 days × 4.3 = 21.5 crew hours), with 2 people per crew at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 an hour. Fuel saved is extra and not counted.
How to set it up
- Import your customers with service address, frequency and price, and check each address pin on the map; a wrong pin sends a crew to the wrong street.
- Set each weekly and biweekly lawn as recurring work on its usual day, then let LawnPro put each crew's stops in order.
- Add notes for gate codes, dogs and time windows, and move those stops by hand after the route is built.
- Have crew leads follow the app's turn-by-turn directions for two weeks, then compare mileage with the old routes.
- Use the time saved to add lawns to existing routes rather than letting the day stretch; that's where the money shows up.
What goes wrong
- Optimized routes are on Grow and above. The pricing table lists routing only as an add-on on Startup, with no price shown.
- Grow covers up to 7 users. A third crew plus office staff can push you to Plus at $199£150€178A$287C$281 a month billed annually.
- The saving only becomes money if crews take on more lawns or clock out earlier. If they're paid for a fixed day, the time just moves.
- Rain days still need a person to push stops to the next day and tell customers; the route can't decide that.