Most commercial landscapers understand the value of tracking estimated vs. actual labor hours. It’s one of the most common metrics used to measure profitability: did we do the job in the time we thought it would take?

But there’s a blind spot in the industry and many teams are skipping an important step. Instead of using the schedule as a tool for managing efficiency, they give crews the full estimate and call it a day. That might feel easier—but it hides critical insights.

Let’s break it down.

The Three Time Metrics That Tell the Truth

To get the full picture of how your team is performing, and where your processes might be breaking down, you need to look at three different time inputs. Each tells a different part of the story.

Estimated Hours: The number of hours in the contract. Sets the target.

Scheduled Hours: What you assigned to the crew this week based on how much time you think they actually need to complete the work scheduled today. This should be a thoughtful adjustment—not just a copy of the estimate.

Actual Hours: What actually happened in the field.

When scheduled hours = estimated hours by default, you’re skipping the step that gives managers control over daily execution. And when you don’t track all three together, you miss the context that drives smarter decisions.

Why Scheduled vs. Actual Matters

Scheduled vs. actual is your real-time coaching metric. It shows whether your crews are working efficiently against what they were asked to do this week. It’s how you:

• Identify crews who are finishing early (and could take on more work, or who need a quality audit) 
• Catch jobs that are taking longer than expected, signaling a possible issue 
• Diagnose poor routing, over-ambitious schedules, or field-level training gaps 
• Improve job sequencing and resource allocation 

When you only track estimated vs. actual, all those real-time signals disappear. You’re stuck reacting after the job is done. BomData customers often start to see patterns here within the first week of reviewing crew performance.

One branch manager put it this way: “We used to hand crews the estimate and hope for the best. Now, we coach against the schedule. Crews know what’s expected, and we fix problems before they become patterns.”

Why Estimated vs. Actual Still Matters

While scheduled vs. actual helps you manage in the moment, estimated vs. actual is your financial accountability scorecard.

• Are your bids realistic?
• Are you losing margin because of poor estimating or inefficient execution?
• Are your high-performing crews being handed bad jobs?

According to YourAspire.com, “Margin loss doesn’t begin at the end of the job. It starts the moment execution drifts from the estimate.”

As we learned from our conversations with the team at Level Green, shifting to a consistent review of both Estimated and Scheduled vs. Actual helped them solve problems earlier, coach more effectively, and prepare for renewals with confidence. (For more, check out our  Level Green Case Study)

You can’t fix your estimating process without looking at where you consistently miss. And you can’t do that without comparing actuals to the original estimate.

The BomData Philosophy

At BomData, we operate from three pillars:

• Labor is your biggest cost. Every percentage point saved fuels margin and growth.
• Crews do what they’re told. Field teams execute plans—they aren’t responsible for engineering efficiency.
• Managers are the drivers. The biggest gains come from better prep, routing, and scheduling—not working crews harder.

Tracking estimated, scheduled, and actual hours gives your team full visibility. It’s not just about measurement—it’s about management.

How to Start: Making the Shift from Estimates to Smarter Schedules

If you’re just handing crews the contract estimate, you’re not alone. But getting more intentional with scheduling doesn’t require an overhaul. Start here:

Step 1: Pick One Metric to Track Weekly
Start watching Scheduled vs. Actual Hours by crew. Use a simple leaderboard or report to surface trends, and include your execution team in the conversation.

Step 2: Spot the Gaps
Look for mismatches between scheduled hours and how much time crews are actually taking. If you estimated 15 but it took 25, ask why. Adjust scheduled hours when it makes sense to give crews something to aim for.

Step 3: Coach, Don’t Criticize
Bring data into weekly ops meetings. Ask: Did we give crews a clear target? Are we overscheduling just to be safe? 

Step 4: Use the Feedback Loop
At this point, if crews are missing estimates despite hitting their schedule, review your estimating approach. If they’re missing both, dig into prep and planning.
Over time, this gives you a clearer view into which jobs are improving—and which ones need a second look during renewal season. Some teams use this insight to bank margin, others to offer a win back to the customer. Either way, you’re in control.

Bottom Line:
You don’t need more spreadsheets. You need better visibility. By tracking all three time metrics together, you move from guesswork to guidance—and from reactivity to real control.