How to Use Lawn Care Business Expense Sheets

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Lawn care business expense spreadsheets are a quick and easy way to record either monthly or periodic expenses associated with running your day to day operations. However, you have to know what to put on your expense spreadsheets for them to be effective tools, and this is what we’ll outline below.

Why is this important? Tracking your lawn care business expenses is critical to understanding your financial health throughout the year.

Understanding Lawn Care Business Expenses Spreadsheets

You can use an expense sheet for several different types of lawn care projects. Fees, lodging, food, and transportation are three common expenses.

For example, you can set up an expense sheet to track gas and mileage if the employee uses his or her own vehicle, or office supplies your employees buy. This will give you an accurate report of your costs, and this is essential for budgeting and tax reporting.

If you have receipts for every expense you list in your report, it helps prevent mistakes like double claiming on taxes.

Ideally, you’ll want to collect your expense reports from your employees on a monthly or weekly basis to prevent budgeting errors and ensure you’re spending your money on the correct areas of your business. You can make your expense report as detailed and lengthy or as simple as you like.

You’ll usually have an itemized list of all of your expenses with a short description for each one. To make it easier, you can sort your expenses into categories like meals, gas, mileage, or training.

If you have a report specifically for each customer, it could include where your employee is going and the size of the property. You should also list and subtract any advance payments you make from your reimbursement amount.

A signature line is essential, and you’ll want to collect contact information for whoever requests a reimbursement. To keep accurate records, make sure every expense, advance payment, and reimbursement have clear dates.

Another use of expense sheets is to create a budget for your business. You can track your cash flow coming in and going out by week or month. This will give you a good idea of exactly where your money goes. This will also help you point out areas where you can cut costs and save your business money.

For example, maybe it’s more financially responsible to rent some equipment than buy it outright, or by the amount of repairs you can see that it’s time to update your current equipment. An expense report can help you see all of these features that you might not have previously considered.

What to Include in Your Lawn Care Business Expenses

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We’re going to outline popular categories and features to include in your lawn care business expenses spreadsheet. This way, you’ll be able to see exactly why it’s so important to have these sheets in your business. Each customer should have a sheet in your book to streamline the record-keeping process.

Lawn Care

Lawn care should have a category by itself. You should set up columns for the individual services, how many times a month, and the cost per service. Depending on how you choose to bill, you may total your expenses weekly or monthly. Under lawn care, you should have the following at the very minimum with a total row at the bottom:

  • Aeration – Aeration is usually only a once or twice yearly project. Yards with compact soil will need it twice, and yards with loose soil will need it only once.
  • Mowing – How often you mow the lawn depends on the particular client. Some clients may request weekly mowing, but bi-weekly or even monthly mowing isn’t unheard of.
  • Raking – Raking is a spring and fall project, so this means you can rake multiple times throughout the year, and the frequency depends on the yard.

Plant and Bed Care

The next section is plant and bed care, and you’ll set up this set of expenses just like you did the lawn care ones. There should be columns for the individual services, frequency per month, and a total cost column. Along the bottom below the services, you should have a total plant care cost row. This section includes:

  • Fertilizer – Fertilizing is another service you’ll perform once or twice a year. The frequency depends on the yard and the location.
  • Mulch – Ideally, you’ll have a mower that is capable of mulching your grass clippings. You’ll mulch as you mow, so the frequency depends on your client’s preferences.
  • Tilling by Machine – If your client wants a garden or an area of their yard tilled, this could be a one-time service.
  • Topsoil – For clients who have thin lawns, applying topsoil can help improve the soil’s nutrient content. This is another one-time job.
  • Watering – You can water lawns deeply two or three times a week, and this can save time between daily watering.
  • Weeding or Spraying – Treating for weeds or spraying the lawn can be an ongoing process.

Tree Care and Shrubs

If your company deals with tree care and shrubs, you should have a category for these services as well. You set it up just like the other two, but your categories will include something like the following:

  • Fertilizers – Routine maintenance and care will be an ongoing process, and you charge per visit.
  • Mulch – Plan to mulch shrubs and trees two or three times a year to keep them healthy.
  • Pruning – Pruning is another ongoing process, but you usually prune in the spring and fall months.
  • Protective Fencing – New trees and shrubs may require protective fencing to keep out animals.

Finally, you can have a box for garden plants and seed planting if your business extends to them. There should be space for vegetables, flowers, trees, and shrubs.

Now You Know How to Set Up Lawn Care Expense Sheets

It’s important to track lawn care business expenses, and we’ve given you several great examples on how to set up your expense sheet. Try them and see which one works best for your business.

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