Who we work with
Bookkeeping for Landscapers
Landscaping is paid ahead on one side and behind on the other. Maintenance clients prepay the season; install clients pay a deposit and the balance at the end. Books that treat both as cash-in-the-month produce a spring that looks spectacular and an autumn that looks like failure.
Maintenance contracts are prepaid revenue
A season of mowing paid in April is a liability in April and revenue each week it is performed. Carrying it that way produces a monthly P&L that reflects the work done and, more usefully, a report of the recurring contract base, which is what a buyer or lender values the business on. Your bookkeeper releases prepaid contracts to revenue on the schedule the service is delivered.
Install jobs are projects
Hardscape, irrigation, planting and lighting installs are bid, deposited, built and closed out. They get job costing: labour, plant material, hardscape material, subs and equipment against the estimate, with the deposit released as the job is earned. The usual discovery is which install types carry the margin and which are sold too cheaply to win the maintenance contract behind them, which may be fine as long as it is a decision.
Seasonal crews and payroll
A crew that doubles in April and halves in November, seasonal workers, sometimes H-2B labour with its own paperwork, and overtime through the peak. Payroll is run in every state where your crews work, with hours posted to maintenance or to the install job so the two margins are real.
Equipment, trucks and fuel
Mowers, trailers, skid steers and trucks are a large share of the balance sheet and the expense line. Your bookkeeper keeps the fixed-asset list current for your tax preparer’s depreciation schedule, tracks loans so principal reduces the liability rather than disappearing into expense, and can post equipment time to install jobs at an internal rate so the bid can be checked.
Plant material and sales tax
Whether plants, mulch and hardscape sold with installation are taxable, and to whom, varies by state and sometimes by how the contract is written. Your bookkeeper raises it early because it affects coding; the rule itself is confirmed with your tax preparer or state department of revenue.
Say how many maintenance contracts you carry and how many install jobs run in a season. The reply quotes the setup for both sides of the business.
Landscapers: common questions
Snow removal in winter?
A separate department, often with its own prepaid contracts and per-event billing. The books show it as its own line of business.
Can the books show which install types are profitable?
Yes, by job type: hardscape, irrigation, planting, lighting. Job costing against the estimate does it.
What about the recurring contract base?
Reported monthly from the deferred revenue schedule: how many contracts, what annual value, how much is still to be delivered.
Seasonal or H-2B workers?
Standard payroll, with the state registrations and reporting handled. The visa paperwork itself is outside bookkeeping.
What your bookkeeper handles
- Construction Bookkeeping Services
- Contractor Bookkeeping for Trades and Service Companies
- Construction Payroll Services
- Job Costing and WIP Reports for Contractors
- Construction Bookkeeping Cleanup and Catch-Up
Also written for General Contractors, Plumbers, HVAC Companies, Electrical Contractors, Roofers, Painters, Remodelers, Pool Builders, Handyman Businesses and Concrete & Excavation.
Request a quote for your landscaping company
Tell us about the company and the state of the books. Your bookkeeper replies within one business day with a plain answer: what it would take, and what it would cost. Requests answered within one business day · Calls Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Eastern Or call (888) 720-4009 if you would rather talk it through first.