Landscaping Chart of Accounts: A Complete Template for Maintenance and Install Companies
Landscaping is two businesses wearing one logo. One is a route business: the same properties every week, crews on a schedule, revenue that repeats. The other is a project business: installs, hardscape, irrigation, each one estimated, deposited, built, and closed. They have different margins, different labor, different cash cycles, and in most landscapers' books they share a single Sales account and a single Labor account, which is why nobody can say whether the hardscape crew makes money.
This is a working chart of accounts for a landscaping company that does both, account by account, with the reason each one exists.
Free download: Landscaping chart of accounts template (CSV), the structure in this guide as 61 numbered accounts with types, subtypes, and a one-line note on why each exists. Imports into QuickBooks Online, Xero, and most accounting software. No email required.
Why the default template fails landscapers
Routes and projects are different businesses. Maintenance margin is about density and crew efficiency. Project margin is about estimating, materials, and subs. One revenue account and one labor account average them into a number that describes neither.
The money arrives out of step with the work. Seasons get prepaid. Projects take deposits. Snow contracts are paid ahead. Booked as revenue on receipt, April and October look like your best months and the months you actually did the work look thin.
Equipment is a hidden cost center. Mowers, skid steers, and mini excavators burn fuel by the hour and wear by the hour, and most charts bury both in "Vehicles," where they blend with truck miles. Your estimates are built on a cost per machine hour you cannot compute.
Income accounts
| Account | What belongs in it |
|---|---|
| Maintenance revenue, residential | Recurring mowing and bed maintenance for homeowners; your baseline |
| Maintenance revenue, commercial | HOA and commercial contracts, usually net 30 |
| Install revenue, softscape | Planting, sod, and bed installs |
| Install revenue, hardscape | Patios, walls, walkways; the highest ticket with its own cost profile |
| Irrigation revenue | Installs, repairs, spring start-up and fall blowout |
| Lawn treatment revenue | Fertilization, weed control, aeration programs |
| Enhancement revenue | Seasonal color, mulch refresh, and upgrades sold to maintenance customers |
| Snow and ice revenue | Plowing, salting, seasonal contracts |
| Other income | Rebates, referral fees, equipment sales |
Enhancement revenue deserves its own line because it is the highest-margin thing you sell and it is sold to customers you already have. If it is blended into maintenance, you cannot see how much your routes are worth beyond the mowing.
The accounts most landscapers are missing
| Account | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Customer deposits | Deposits on install and hardscape projects; not revenue until the work is done |
| Deferred revenue, prepaid maintenance | A season paid up front; earned per visit across the season |
| Deferred revenue, snow contracts | Seasonal snow paid ahead; earned over the season or per event |
| Retainage receivable | Held-back portion of larger contracts, not due until completion |
A deposit is a liability until the project is done, then released to its revenue. A prepaid season is a liability until each visit happens. If either is booked as income on receipt, a cancellation leaves revenue on the books for work you never did.
Cost of goods sold
| Account | Why it is separate |
|---|---|
| Plants and nursery stock | Trees, shrubs, perennials, sod |
| Hardscape materials | Pavers, stone, base, wall block |
| Mulch, soil, and aggregates | Bulk materials by the yard |
| Irrigation parts | Heads, pipe, valves, controllers |
| Fertilizer and chemicals | Lawn program products |
| Direct labor, maintenance crews | Burdened crew cost on recurring routes |
| Direct labor, install crews | Burdened crew cost on projects, kept apart so route margin and project margin are separate |
| Subcontractors | Tree work, excavation, specialty subs |
| Equipment rental | Machines rented for a specific project |
| Dump and disposal fees | Green waste and debris disposal per job |
| Plant warranty and replacement | Replacing plants that died under warranty; the quality signal on installs |
| Snow materials | Salt and de-icer |
The labor split is the single most valuable change on this page. Once maintenance labor and install labor are separate, maintenance margin and project margin exist as numbers, and the question "does hardscape make money" has an answer.
Operating expenses, and the equipment split
Standard, with one landscaping-specific idea: equipment fuel and equipment repairs get their own lines, apart from truck fuel and truck repairs. Trucks track miles; mowers and machines track hours. Equipment fuel plus equipment repairs divided by machine hours is your real cost per hour, and that number belongs in every estimate. Sales commissions sit apart from office salaries so cost per closed project is visible.
Setting it up without breaking your history
- Change at a period boundary, ideally the start of the season or the year.
- Rename before you create. If "Sales" becomes "Maintenance revenue, residential," renaming keeps the history.
- Merge rather than delete. Deleting an account with transactions either fails or orphans data.
- Map old to new in writing before you touch anything.
- Move the prepaid and deposit balances you are carrying as income into the liability accounts at the boundary. The restated prior year will look different, and truer.
What good looks like
- What is maintenance margin, residential and commercial, after crew labor and materials?
- What is hardscape margin per project, after materials, install labor, subs, and disposal?
- How much of the season is prepaid and not yet earned?
- What does each machine cost per hour, fuel and repairs included?
- What is our cost per closed project, commissions included?
If your books cannot answer those, the chart of accounts is the problem, not the bookkeeper. Once it can, the next step is costing each project so the numbers exist per job, not just per month.
The landscaping chart of accounts template (CSV) has all 61 accounts numbered and ready to import. For the other trades, see the HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and pest control versions.
*Written by Austin Semple, a former controller: three years in audit, seven running the books for small businesses, and the founder of Poof. Poof holds deposits and prepaid seasons as liabilities and releases them as the work is done, and closes the books within five business days or the next month is free. Start a 30-day trial, no card required.*
Frequently asked questions
What is a chart of accounts for a landscaping company?
It is the list of every account your books can post to: income, cost of goods sold, operating expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity. For a landscaper the structure decides whether you can see maintenance route margin apart from project margin, whether hardscape actually pays after materials and subs, and what your equipment really costs per hour.
Should maintenance crews and install crews be separate labor accounts?
Yes. Maintenance labor is a route cost that should be measured against recurring revenue; install labor is a project cost measured against the project. In one account, a busy install month makes your maintenance routes look unprofitable and a slow one hides an install that lost money.
How do I book a season paid up front?
As deferred revenue when the money arrives, earned per visit across the season. A customer who prepays $2,400 for a mowing season has given you a liability, not April income. Each completed visit earns its share. Snow contracts paid ahead work the same way, earned over the season or per event depending on the contract.
Why separate equipment fuel from truck fuel?
Because they track different things. Truck fuel follows miles; mower and machine fuel follows hours on the job. Together they are a single number that means nothing. Apart, equipment fuel plus equipment repairs divided by hours is your true cost per machine hour, which is what your estimates should be built on.
Can I import this template into QuickBooks or Xero?
Yes. The CSV has 61 numbered accounts with account types and subtypes in the columns QuickBooks Online and Xero expect. Import at a period boundary, rename existing accounts rather than creating duplicates, and map the old accounts to the new ones in writing before you touch anything.
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