Landscape and building supplies yard operating system
Counter, phone and online orders by the cubic metre, delivery truck runs, trade accounts, yard bay stock, turf orders and supplier deliveries for a landscape supplies yard.
The problem
A landscape and building supplies yard sells soil, mulch, gravel, sand and concrete blend by the cubic metre, plus bagged products, pavers, blocks, turf and firewood, to homeowners, landscapers and builders. Orders come over the counter, by phone and through the website, often before sunrise. Deliveries are planned on a whiteboard, customers ring to ask where their truck is, nobody is sure how much is left in each bay until it runs out, turf has to be ordered from the farm the day before, and trade accounts are chased by hand at month end.
What we built
An illustrative operating system for a supplies yard, with views for the owner, yard manager, counter and phone sales, delivery drivers, loader operators and accounts.
- Orders from every channel: counter, phone and website orders on one board. A quantity calculator turns a customer's area and depth into cubic metres or bags. Each product can be sold online with a price or set to "request a quote".
- Quotes: larger landscaping and builder jobs quoted from the price list with delivery included, followed up automatically, accepted quotes turned into scheduled deliveries.
- Delivery runs: trucks by size, drops grouped by area and time window, delivery fees by zone, drop instructions and photos, customers sent an ETA text and a delivered photo. Drivers see their run on a phone.
- Yard and bays: estimated cubic metres left in every bulk bay, updated as loads go out, with reorder points. Loader tickets for each truck or trailer, and self-collect customers checked out at the gate.
- Turf orders: turf sold by the square metre and cut to order, with the farm order sent the afternoon before.
- Purchasing: bulk deliveries from quarries and suppliers into bays, bagged and paver stock, turf, firewood, all from suggested orders through approval, purchase order, delivery received and bill matched in the accounting system.
- Trade accounts: credit limits and terms, regular orders, monthly statements, overdue reminders drafted for approval.
- Staff: early-start rosters across six days, leave, timesheets to payroll, loader tickets and truck licences with expiry alerts, onboarding.
- Marketing and reviews: seasonal promotions, website enquiries, new Google reviews with drafted replies.
- Guardrails: nothing is sent to customers, charged or ordered without a person approving it.
The board at a glance
| New order | Confirmed | Loading | Out for delivery | Delivered | Invoiced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 m3 garden soil, Customer 512 | 2 m3 mulch, Trade 14 | 5 m3 road base, Truck 2 | 1 m3 river sand, Truck 1 | 40 m2 turf, Customer 498 | Pavers and cement, Trade 9 |
Connects to
Online store ("WooCommerce, Shopify or similar"), point of sale ("Tower Systems, Square, Lightspeed or MYOB"), accounting ("Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks"), SMS, Google Business reviews, rostering and payroll ("Deputy, Tanda or Employment Hero"), Microsoft 365. Exact connections are confirmed during discovery.
Outcome
Illustrative: designed from how landscape and building supplies yards operate, not built for a specific business.
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