At a glance
The challenge
Crew pay, the roster, the time clock, hiring and crew texts lived in separate sheets and tools. Every season meant hours of data entry and payroll review, and one wrong entry meant someone's pay was off.
What we built
One system for the whole crew operation: their pay program rebuilt exactly as they run it, an office console, a crew app where each Trooper sees their own earnings, a hiring pipeline, time off and crew texts.
The results
- A working demo of their own program in under 5 days
- Pay checked line by line against their sheets, and it matched to the cent
- Roster, time clock, bonuses, hiring and crew texts in one place
- Texts reach every crew member, Android or iPhone
A pay program that lived in a spreadsheet
Lawn Troopers started with one boy mowing lawns in 1998. Today it runs mowing, lawn treatment and gardening crews across Brampton, Mississauga, Oakville, Milton, Vaughan, Caledon and the towns around them. Everyone on the crew is a Trooper, and the company runs on a performance-pay program called Caliber.
Caliber was built in Google Sheets and Apps Script, refined over years, and understood by very few people. The roster was in one sheet, the time clock in another and hiring in a third. Crew messages went out from someone's phone as iMessages, so anyone on Android simply never got them.
“Every season we spent countless hours on data entry and payroll review. One wrong entry and someone's pay was off, which led to problems on payday and e-transfers after the fact.”
They had tried to move off the sheets before. Two attempts with other companies and platforms, and $30,000 spent, had not produced a system that worked the way Lawn Troopers pays and runs its crews.
What we built: their program, exactly as they run it
Fieldproxy started from the way Lawn Troopers already worked, not from a template. Aaron shared how Caliber runs today, and within days it was running in Fieldproxy on their real pay cycles. Then the rest of the crew operation moved in around it.
Caliber, rebuilt to the cent
Their own pay program, not a generic bonus feature. Every rate and setting stays in the office's hands, and changes apply from the day they are made.
The office console
Assign the day, enter production once per truck, see open shifts, review and lock each pay cycle, and keep the crew board and season calendar in one place.
My Caliber, on every Trooper's phone
Each crew member sees their own earnings for the pay cycle and the season, a day-by-day breakdown and the leaderboard. Only their own numbers, nobody else's.
Hiring and the workforce
A hiring pipeline, headcount against goal, training days and the uniform log, with hiring reports a question away instead of a spreadsheet away.
Time off that lands on the roster
Requests come in, get approved and land on the roster, and the Trooper drops off the day's list automatically.
Crew texts that reach everyone
Messages go out from the system to every crew member, Android or iPhone, which matters most when weather or a holiday moves the schedule.
“Our roster, time clock, daily bonuses, hiring and crew info all live in one place now, instead of a tangle of sheets only two people can fix.”
Checked line by line, and it matched
For a pay program, close is not good enough. At the review, Aaron took his busiest crews and compared Fieldproxy's numbers with his own workbook, line by line. They matched. His earlier build of Caliber had taken months; this one was standing in days.
AI now handles the data entry that used to eat the office's mornings. The day's completed work goes in once, and the system fills in what each truck produced.
“Our new Caliber App allows us to track more effectively and utilize AI for the data entry, saving time and money.”
What Lawn Troopers would tell another business
“We'd tried other companies and platforms, but Fieldproxy was the first that built around how we actually run, and customized the program to fit our needs, not the other way around.”
Aaron's advice to other landscaping and field service owners is the same point he made about Caliber: if the way you run is specific, find software that will be built around it, rather than changing how you pay and run your crews to fit someone else's product.
How it went
July 2026
First call with Aaron. Within days, their pay program was running in Fieldproxy on real pay cycles.
Late July 2026
Review call. Aaron checked the busiest crews line by line against his own workbook, and the numbers matched.
August 2026
Phase one built out: the office console, the crew app, hiring, time off and crew texts.
Fall 2026
Running alongside the old sheets through the end of the season, before the sheets are switched off.
“We were $30,000 into this project and Fieldproxy was our third attempt at creating our vision. They had a functional demo working in less than 5 days, and have been working to ensure our success from day one. Our questions get answers, our problems get fixed.”
