How to Create a Lawn Care Invoice

If you operate a lawn care business, getting paid promptly should be a top goal. Therefore, it’s worth knowing how to make the most of your lawn care invoices.

Read on to learn what to include on your invoices. You can also get information you can use today about online payments to increase customer satisfaction.

The Importance of a Professional Lawn Care Invoice

Creating a professional invoice for your lawn care services is vital for several reasons. First, it helps ensure timely payments from your customers. Without that, you might need to dip into your savings to pay overhead. No business wants to do that.

Also, a professional invoice projects confidence and reliability to your customers. Even if you’re a one-person operation, you look organized and businesslike with the right type of invoice.

Third, as you’ll read below, a professional invoicing method helps with accounting and tax returns. In the long run, this will save you time—and it might save you money, too.

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Gather the Necessary Client and Job Information

Before creating an invoice for lawn services, you need to collect certain basic information. This includes:

Client’s name and address
Date of services rendered
Specifics of the job

When some lawn care providers start out, they have a jumble of papers in their truck. But “John in red house next to school” won’t cut it for a professional invoice. You need the client’s full name and address.

What if you’re not providing the lawn care yourself, and it’s being done by staff? You need to know precisely what services they gave so you can charge accordingly, as described below.

Itemize Lawn Care Services Provided

Lawn care can entail quite a bit more than just mowing. In addition to cutting grass, you may offer:

Trimming and edging
Fertilizing
Aerating
Sod laying
Light garden maintenance
Watering
Irrigation installation
Leaf removal
Weed control
Seeding and overseeding
Mulching
Dethatching
Pest control

Each one of these items should be listed on your invoice if they are included in your service. Ideally, you want to price them separately, even if you offer a package deal.

For instance, in autumn, you might run a promotion giving a discount on aerating and leaf removal. In spring, you could combine seeding and fertilizing.

Looking for income in a cold climate when lawn care shuts down for a few months? Consider adding snow and ice removal to your service menu.

Include Materials and Equipment Costs (if Applicable)

Your lawn care services will no doubt include the use of some materials and equipment. You can probably roll the cost of gasoline and your mowers into your mowing fee. But what about renting sod-laying equipment or spreaders?

If you don’t use those tools all the time, it may be more cost-efficient to rent them rather than buy them. So, the one-time expense needs to be passed on to the customer in their invoice.

Besides equipment, other costs you may incur that should be included on the bill are:

Fertilizers
Seed
Mulch
Soil
Plantings
Edging
Irrigation elements
Drainage conduits

Anything you leave permanently in the customer’s yard should be billed. You might do some light landscaping, such as laying down slate for a pathway. Those flagstones should also be invoiced.

Always be transparent about the pricing so clients know what they’re paying for. In some cases, you will have already provided an estimate. In that instance, ensure your invoice stays true to your initial quote.

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Outline Lawn Care Labor Costs

How do you charge your clients for labor? Do you bill by the hour, or do you give them a flat rate based on their yard size or lawn care needs?

Just as you are transparent about materials, you must be clear about labor charges on every invoice. Clients can get upset if they don’t know what they’re being billed for. And you don’t want your payment delayed by having to explain mystery items on the invoice.

You should have your labor charges worked out with the client before starting the job so there are no surprises. Be sure to indicate if your hourly charge is multiplied by the number of employees if you have several staff members performing services.

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Add Applicable Taxes and Fees

Don’t forget to add any taxes or fees to your invoice. Your state government can help you determine what you need to charge on top of your time and materials.

Mark taxes clearly on the invoice. You will likely have two separate types of taxes if, for instance, you purchased materials but also performed labor.

Are there any other fees to be included? Does the client have a previous unpaid balance carried forward? Is there a late fee involved?

What about other types of charges? Do you charge for cancellations or last-minute rescheduling? How about waiting for a client to start work? You could run late if you’re sitting in your truck until the client gets home from errands to let you in the gate, for example.

Set Clear Payment Terms

Your payment terms must be specified on the invoice so clients know when to pay. Lawn care providers set this up in many different ways based on their unique business models. For instance, you may bill your clients at the end of every month for services rendered. This is efficient if you do approximately the same tasks every week.

Or you might use a monthly retainer method. This involves collecting payment upfront for the coming month. The advantage here is you don’t risk getting paid late or not getting paid at all. No retainer, no services.

Some lawn care professionals bill after each service, significantly if their work varies from week to week. How do you set the due date if you bill after services are rendered?

It should be based on something that works for the client and your business cash flow. Examples include:

Payment at the time of service
Payment due on receipt of invoice
Payment due within 7, 14, or 30 days

As mentioned earlier, your invoice should indicate any previous unpaid balances being added, as well as late fees. Your late fee policy should be clearly stated on the invoice to avoid any confusion.

Don’t forget to add your accepted payment methods, such as:

Cash
Check
Zelle
Paypal
Venmo
Cash App
Google Wallet
Apple Pay
Credit/debit card

Bank/ACH transfer

It’s best to offer multiple payment methods to appeal to a wider range of customer preferences. You can read more about online payments below.

Include Your Company Branding

Your invoice is part of your company’s image and marketing. Therefore, you can make it work for you beyond simply collecting payment.

Some items to include on the invoice include:

Your company name
Your contact information
Your business logo
Any slogans you use

The idea is to have your invoice reflect your one-of-a-kind business. At the same time, it should look professional and polished. If you feel stuck here, a marketing professional or graphic designer can help you.

Provide Options for Digital Payments

These days, digital payments have become the norm. In fact, in 2023, digital payments surpassed traditional methods as the most-used payment type.

Digital payments in the US reached over $2 trillion in transaction volume last year. So, it’s essential to get on board as a small business.

Ensure you include digital payment information on your invoices and your website. Some options include:

A payment portal on the website
A clickable link in online invoices
A QR code in both print and online invoices
Links to payment options on printed invoices

You could also create your own app down the road, where customers could make payments directly.

Whichever methods you choose, offering some online payment options is vital. It will increase your chances of getting paid faster. And it will keep customers who prefer online transactions happy.

Also, the more online transactions you do, the easier to take care of your accounting later. There’s no need to enter the information into spreadsheets and tax returns manually. Instead, you can import it all online.

Keep a Record of the Invoice for Future Reference

Whether you use online invoices, print invoices, or—a likely scenario—a combination of the two, you need to keep them as records. They will be necessary for accounting and tax preparation in particular.

Here are a few tips for organizing and storing invoices:

Anything stored online should be backed up to the cloud for safekeeping.
Old hard copies of invoices and related paper documents can be scanned for online storage.
Until you scan paperwork, keep it in one safe location and use a system to organize it (by date, alphabet, service type, etc.).
Select accounting software that you can integrate with other business management software.
Better yet, choose a platform like Briostack where everything is efficiently in one place.

First Steps to Creating Your Own Lawn Care Invoice

Hopefully, you’ll feel ready to tackle professional invoices for lawn care after reading the steps above. Here are a few final tips to help you get started:

Be sure to follow laws for protecting client personal and financial data. Otherwise, you could find your business on the wrong end of a lawsuit.
Be aware that some clients may still want to pay the old-fashioned way, even if you offer online options. And many states have laws against purely cashless businesses. So be ready to take some cash or check payments now and then.
Do your employees collect payments at the time of service? If so, train them in how to use all your payment methods. And teach them how to create a professional invoice, whether sent digitally or filled out on the spot.
Always thank your clients for their business on your invoices. An occasional personal message is a nice touch, too. It’s another way to use your invoices as a subtle marketing tool.