Signature Landscape

At a glance

With Aspire, Signature Landscape has:

• Discovered $1,000s in cost-savings
• Implemented a culture of transparency and accountability
• Supported growth to reach $4.8 million in annual revenue
• Refined the accuracy of its financial reporting

Aspirations

In 2015, Brett Gordon bought a $600,000 landscape business in Oklahoma City. He changed the name to Signature Landscape and, in the six years that followed, grew the company’s annual revenue to $4.8 million.

Today, Signature Landscape offers full-service commercial maintenance throughout the city, including irrigation, snow removal, ice mitigation, and installations. In peak season, the company employees 78 people, a number Gordon foresees increasing to 100 in 2020.

Making the switch

When Gordon started Signature Landscape, he had only one employee and was using a different business management platform to run the operation. “I heard about the Aspire platform from a company whose judgment I trust,” said Gordon. “At the time, my company was below the recommended revenue to get started with the system, but I knew we were going to grow quickly and need support soon.”

After seeing a demo in 2017, Gordon was quick to make the switch. “I could see that Aspire was more user-friendly than the other two software products I had previously used. It also seemed easier to implement across the team in a way that would allow everyone to participate rather than relying on a few system administrators.”

The results

Right off the bat, Gordon’s team aligned around shared goals by utilizing Aspire's metrics reporting. “Rather than one person keeping score, now everyone was able to monitor their own performance as well as the performance of the company. The visibility was key to getting buy-in on a shared goal,” explained Gordon. As the company grew exponentially, Gordon introduced a culture of score-keeping to every new hire, continuing to place a high priority on tracking success—and sharing goals—across all functions.

Along the way, Gordon discovered several opportunities for cost savings through the Aspire platform. By more accurately monitoring materials, tracking hours and assessing jobs completed, Signature Landscape was able to generate more precise estimates for its clients. In turn, this helped the company improve margins and refine budgetary forecasts.

In one instance, tracking overtime across all tickets revealed $15,000 a week in cost savings. “It’s easy to think about how many new trucks you could buy with the money you’re saving,” said Gordon.

One of the primary reasons Gordon originally wanted to switch platforms was that he was frustrated with the inaccuracy of financial reports.

“Our QuickBooks financials never matched what the platform was telling me with the old system. And when you’re relying on the platform to generate financial reports, that’s not very inspiring,” said Gordon. He says Aspire is noticeably more accurate in its reporting, which instills in him a sense of confidence, knowing he can make more informed decisions.

Finally, Gordon appreciates the platform’s ease of use. “Aspire runs noticeably faster than the competitors. The dashboard features are rich and the user experience is more fluid, with everything hyperlinked properly in one intuitive place.”

What's next

As Gordon enters his sixth full year with Signature, he says the future is bright. “Every year, things seem to go better than I thought they could, and I don’t see us slowing down any time soon.”

Gordon predicts the company will grow to $6 million in 2020 and up to $10—12 million in the next five years. Along the way, they intend to continue relying on support from Aspire Software.

“We wouldn’t be where we’re at without Aspire. We’d still be a good company, but the support they offer has allowed us to attain the next level of success.”