A Small Team with Big Plans
With several team members covering a wide service area, the lawn care business thrives on tight coordination and operational efficiency. Evan Harmon plays a key operational role at Sommer Lawn, focusing on building the backend systems that support scheduling, routing, and data management.
That’s when Mapsly became a crucial part of their growth strategy. From intelligent routing to territory management and check-in tracking, the platform is now woven into the fabric of how Sommer Lawn delivers consistently great service its customers trust.
Before Mapsly: PDFs, and Patchwork
Before implementing Mapsly, Evan and the team experimented with a handful of field service tools:
- Yardbook: A lawn care CRM that did “a little bit of everything”—but not well enough to support a growing operation.
- Route IQ: An add-on tool to Zoho CRM, which was eventually dismissed due to its unreliable mobile app.
- PDF exports: For a while, the field crew navigated their day using manually exported PDFs with embedded map links.
“There was no easy way to plan a 20-stop route that didn’t take an hour,” Evan, Manager at Sommer Lawn.
Routing, Reimagined
Jobs change constantly—new clients come in, others cancel, and weather can shift plans overnight. That’s why the team prioritizes flexibility, building and adjusting routes each morning to reflect real-time conditions.
To bring more predictability to scheduling, Evan divided their service area into four zones. Each day is mapped to a quadrant: Mondays in the northwest, Tuesdays in the northeast, and so on.
The process is streamlined:
- Jobs are added to the CRM and synced to Mapsly.
- Evan filters by territory quadrant (northwest, northeast, etc.).
- Routes are generated and sent to the crew—no more last-minute scrambling or paper-based processes.
“We try to route the morning of. Mapsly lets us create routes and adapt quickly,” he says.
The crew no longer has to rely on memory or messy printouts. Instead, they get an optimized route with clean navigation and job details right on their phones.
Reliable Field Execution with Check-Ins & GPS Tracking
One of the most valuable Mapsly features for Evan is its check-in and tracking system.
When a crew member arrives on-site, they check in via the Mapsly app. Upon leaving, they check out—capturing precise time-on-site data.
Each team follows a standardized checklist during their visit, ensuring consistency and quality of service across properties. If there are any caveats (e.g., locked gates or customer requests), the team logs them in a notes field and that information immediately appears in Zoho CRM.
If Evan needs to check where his crew is during the day, GPS tracking in Mapsly makes it effortless. With just a glance, he can see real-time locations and confirm that everything is running on schedule.
This setup supports time-based billing, better customer service, and ongoing process improvements.
“When a customer inquires about a job, , we want to have the highest confidence possible that we did what we said we would do. If I can verify exact times we were at their property along with GPS verification and job notes, I can pass that confidence on to the customer and build a reputation for trust and reliability in our services, Evan shares.
Elevating Quality with Photos and Automated Communication
Building on this foundation, Evan is planning two key enhancements to further boost accountability and client communication.
The first is adding before-and-after photo capture at each job site. While currently optional, this visual documentation will serve as an extra layer of quality assurance—useful for internal reviews, client transparency, and even marketing. As Evan noted, it’s not a must-have for every visit, but it’s a valuable feature that reinforces professionalism and trust.
The second is automating post-visit SMS notifications. Since most of Sommer Lawn & Landscape’s clients prefer communication by text, Evan sees a big opportunity in streamlining this touchpoint. Instead of manually sending updates, the team plans to trigger automated messages through their CRM when a job is completed—saving time and giving customers instant confirmation that the work is done.
Together, these additions will enhance service visibility, minimize uncertainty, and allow the team to scale operations with consistent client experience.
Building a Data-Driven Foundation
Evan’s long-term vision is to operate the business based on robust analytics. While it’s still early, Mapsly is playing a foundational role in capturing and centralizing key data points.
“Eventually, we’ll connect operational data to sales data and run process improvement loops,” Evan explains. “But first, we need to gather the data. Mapsly helps us do that.”
Team Feedback: It Just Works
For the field team, reliability is everything—they don’t want to waste time dealing with bugs or hunting down job details. “Our crew needs to focus on making our customers’ lawns look amazing, not on recording data or dealing with a buggy app,” Evan explains, “so the app just needs to work and not be too complicated.” Mapsly, fits the bill. Routes are ready, job info is accessible, and the workflow stays smooth—so they can focus on doing the work, not troubleshooting tech.
Why Mapsly Stands Out
- Seamless CRM Integration: Works with existing deal pipelines and automations.
- User-Friendly for Field Teams: Even non-tech-savvy crew members find it intuitive.
- Responsive Support: Quick issue resolution compared to other tools.
“The best part of Mapsly is the support. You guys quickly jump in to fix things—that stands out. It’s not just a tool—it’s a partnership.”
Conclusion
Mapsly has become a core operational tool for Sommer Lawn & Landscape’s lawn care business, replacing disjointed systems with a unified geo-intelligence platform. By optimizing routing, automating job verification, and improving customer communication, the company is laying the foundation for scalable growth.
