Champaign is home to about 88,000 people. The moderate cost of living means competitive pricing — and software savings hit different on tight margins.
Landscapers in Illinois need a Landscape Contractor License (varies significantly by state). Requirements vary — contact IDFPR + city-specific for current details.
Insurance: $500K-$1M general liability
Continuing Education: Pesticide applicator licenses require annual renewal/CEUs
Illinois has a 4.95% flat income tax. Flat 4.95% income tax. Chicago has additional taxes and licensing requirements. High property taxes statewide. Cook County has specific contractor requirements.
When evaluating software costs, factor in your effective tax rate. A $1,044/year software expense is partially deductible — but Nexa at $279 once is a one-time deduction that eliminates the recurring expense entirely.
Harsh winters drive heating and plumbing emergencies. Construction limited November-March in northern IL. Chicago wind and freeze-thaw cycles create ongoing repair demand.
Landscapers in Champaign should plan their cash flow around these patterns. Nexa's budget envelope system helps you set aside revenue during peak season to cover slow months — something Jobber can't do because it keeps taking your money $42/month regardless of how busy you are.
Whether you call it invoicing, a program for landscape projects, or a recurring billing system — most landscapers in Champaign stitch together Jobber, lmn, Housecall Pro, QuickBooks along with other platforms. That's $1,044/year in tool subscriptions. Within 5 years at today's prices, the total damage is $5,220.
Nexa means you own your business software. Your CRM, invoicing, calendar tool, landscape projects, time tracking, and financial tools — wrapped into one program. One click books a client. One click generates an invoice. No switching tabs. No duct-tape integrations. No integration tax. It's a buy once — cut costs from the first day. For landscapers in Champaign weighing the switch, the 30-day money-back guarantee covers the migration window — you can run Nexa in parallel with your existing subscriptions, verify the workflow handles your real client load, and only cancel the monthly tools once you are confident the data and processes have settled in.
From March to November I'm on a route. Mowing clients get the same day every week, and the route is planned so the trailer isn't crossing town twice. A typical stop is mow, trim along beds and fences, edge the driveway and walks, blow off the hardscape, and on to the next one in under forty minutes. The real money is in the extras I spot along the way: a bed that needs mulch, shrubs that need shaping, a drainage problem turning the lawn to mud. Spring is cleanups, aeration and seeding; fall is leaves, which can mean three visits to the same yard. Installs are separate jobs with a design, a material order and a crew for a few days: a paver patio, a planting bed, a retaining wall. Rain throws the whole week off, and I'm rescheduling a dozen customers by text. Equipment is the constant cost: mower blades sharpened every week, belts, trimmer line, and fuel for the truck and every machine. In winter I'm plowing snow if I can and planning next season's price increases before the renewal letters go out.
That is the work Nexa is built around: the job, the client, the hours and the invoice live in one place, so the paperwork side of the day doesn't need a second shift.
Every one of those was bought once and earns its keep for years. Nexa is priced the same way: $279 once, and it keeps working whether business is busy or slow.
Dated changes to the subscriptions a landscaper might rent. Each one links the announcement or report it comes from. Tap one for the numbers.
For renewals on or after February 1, 2026, Pro Plus and Mac Plus went from $999 to $1,149 a year for one user, and each extra seat from $200 to $230.
Source: SWK Technologies, Insightful Accountant (Dec 2, 2025)
From July 1, 2025: Simple Start $35 to $38, Essentials $65 to $75, Plus $99 to $115, Advanced $235 to $275 a month.
Source: Woodard Report (May 27, 2025)
Only changes we can link to a vendor announcement or a named publication are listed. Plans, add-ons and discounts vary, so check the vendor's current pricing page before you decide.
Biz Wiz creates a personalized business plan for landscapers in Champaign — licensing requirements, local competition, startup costs, pricing strategy, and a 90-day action plan. $19.99 once.
Champaign landscapers: own your business software.
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Open on Reddit →Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →Active community — tool picks, pricing, and day-to-day questions.
Open on Reddit →We build a landscaper's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a landscaper — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.