A hardscape CRM built for a sale that takes a month and a build that takes a week.
Between the first call and the final walkthrough a hardscape project passes through a design visit, a drawing with revisions, a proposal with options, weeks of waiting, a deposit, a locate request, deliveries, a build in phases, at least one change order and a warranty that runs for years. Field software built for same-day service calls has no place to put most of that.
The quote is two months old, the drawing changed twice, and the crew starts Monday
A hardscape proposal is not a number on a form. It is a drawing, a takeoff, a set of options and a price that depends on material quotes with their own expiration. By the time the homeowner signs, the drawing has been revised for a seat wall, the border has changed, and the supplier has changed the price of the paver. The CRM has to keep every version with what changed and why, know when a proposal has gone stale, and reprice on approval so the crew builds the version that was signed.
The estimate is only as good as the last job's logs. Hardscape pricing runs on production rates: how many crew hours your people need per phase for excavation, base, laying, cuts, wall courses and finish on a job of a given size and access. If the foreman logs hours by phase every day, every job sharpens the next estimate. If he does not, the price calculator is guessing with your margin.
Then there is the paper that follows the money. A design fee credited at signing. A deposit that holds a build slot. Milestones. A change order signed on day two when the customer decides the fire pit should be gas. Supplier invoices and the gas sub's bill against the project. And three years later, a call about a sunken corner that needs the install record: the product, the base depth, the joint sand, the sealer, the date and the crew.
What a hardscaping CRM has to track
Each record exists because a crew once built a version the customer had not signed.
Proposals with versions and an expiration
Every revision kept with the change and the reason, the options priced as good, better and best, an expiration tied to the material quotes behind it, and repricing on approval so a stale proposal cannot be accepted at an old number.
The design fee and the drawing on the record
The fee charged and credited at signing if that is your policy, every drawing version attached with the render files, and the approved version locked so the foreman cannot open the wrong one.
Crew hours by phase
Excavation, base, laying, cutting, each wall course and the finish pass logged daily against the estimate, so the owner sees the overrun while the crew is still there and the next proposal uses real production rates.
Change orders signed on the spot
The seat wall added on day two priced from the takeoff, signed on the customer's phone, added to the milestone schedule and the material order, before the block is on the truck.
Suppliers, subs and lead times
Material orders with lead times, pallet counts and delivery dates, the gas and electrical subs with their windows, and returns and shortages tracked against the project rather than remembered.
The install record behind the warranty
Product, color, pattern, base depth, edge restraint, joint sand, sealer, install dates and crew on every finished project, so the warranty call and the maintenance reminders both read from what was actually built.
How we build a hardscaping CRM
The pipeline and the foreman's app come first, because those are the two places a hardscape company loses money quietly.
A pipeline with the long middle
Stages named the way you work: inquiry, screened, visited, designing, proposed, following up, signed, pre-build, scheduled, building, punch list, closed. The board shows counts and dollars at each stage and how many days each proposal has been waiting.
Follow-up that runs on the proposal
Messages triggered by a proposal's age, paused when the estimator logs a reason and stopped when the project signs, with the photos of a similar build attached. Our quote follow-up guide explains the sequence.
A foreman's app
The approved drawing, the takeoff, today's phase, a photo of the locate marks, the delivery schedule, hours by phase and daily photos, plus the change order form, all on a phone that works in the backyard.
A build calendar with weather holds
Projects as multi-day blocks. A rain day pushes the block, dependent deliveries move with it, and the customer gets the new start date without anyone making a call.
Signatures and payments by phone
Design fee, deposit, milestones and change orders paid by card or bank from a link, with the total recalculated on the server at approval, so nothing edited in a browser changes the price.
Owner reporting
Estimate against actual hours by phase, margin by project type, proposal close rate by estimator, days from inquiry to signature, and the waiting list by month, on one screen.
What you own on day one.
Every account is opened in your company's name with you as the owner. If you ever leave, you change a password, not your business.
- Domain, hosting and the site files
- Phone numbers and call recordings
- The CRM and its database
- Email and text lists, with consent records
- Google Business Profile and every listing
- Analytics and Search Console
Custom CRM for hardscaping, answered.
Can it handle a design fee that gets credited later?
Yes. The fee is invoiced and paid at the design stage, and when the project signs it appears as a credit on the deposit invoice automatically, if that is your policy. If you do not credit it, it stays a fee.
How do change orders work in the middle of a build?
The foreman prices the change from the takeoff on the app, the customer signs it on their phone, the milestone schedule and the material order update, and the office sees it before the supplier does.
Does this replace our takeoff spreadsheet?
The takeoff fields live on the project and use your formulas, so the spreadsheet becomes a screen the estimator fills on site. Our hardscape pricing guide and the job price calculator show the arithmetic it runs.
Can our referral partners see the projects they sent?
Yes, through a limited view that shows status and the next date and nothing about pricing. A pool builder who can see that their client's patio is scheduled stops calling to ask.
Does it track the locate ticket and the permit?
Yes, as pre-build tasks that hold the project off the crew calendar until each is cleared. The hardscaping page describes those fields and the rules behind them.
Custom CRM for hardscaping. Owned by you.
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