For landscaping + lawn care operators.
Landscaping bookkeeping that closes clean through every season.
Equipment payments split into Interest and Long-Term Debt principal — Balance Sheet shows what's actually owed. 1099 contractors track year-to-date so January's 1099-NEC filing is one report. Seasonal P&L shows whether the six good months covered the twelve months of bills.
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Off-season survival math
December through February the revenue is near zero. The equipment financing, the truck payment, and the GL insurance keep auto-debiting. PlainBooks shows the runway — the week your bank balance dips into the red — before it happens.
Spring cash-crunch warning
March hires, fertilizer pre-orders, equipment tune-ups all hit before the first invoice clears. PlainBooks lines the spending up against the first weekly mowing deposits so you see whether the crunch closes on time.
Real per-job costs
Fuel from Shell, fertilizer from SiteOne, the Stihl trimmer financed at the dealer, the Husqvarna mower payment. PlainBooks tallies it by category every month — the actual cost of one mowing route, not the rounded number.
Where the books get messy
April through October you do $20,000–$40,000 a month. November you finish final cleanups and winterize the irrigation. December through February revenue is near zero. The truck note, the Stihl trimmer financing, the John Deere mower payment, the general liability, the workers comp, the Jobber subscription — all keep auto-debiting. The crew was 1099 contractors all summer; come tax time you owe a 1099-NEC for each one who crossed $600.
The seasonal swing means the books have to be tight all year — because the December P&L still has to be honest, and the year-end 1099s have to be filed by January 31.
What PlainBooks does
PlainBooks gives you the books — chart of accounts shaped for a landscaping operator, the journal where each customer invoice, fuel charge, supply run, equipment payment, and crew 1099 payment writes a balanced entry, and a period close that locks each month.
Equipment payments split between Interest Expense and Long-Term Debt principal so the Balance Sheet shows what you actually owe — not just what hit the bank. Section 179 depreciation accelerates the asset against the P&L when your tax pro sets it.
1099-NEC contractors track in the Vendor list. Each payment to an unincorporated subcontractor accumulates in their year-to-date total. The 1099 summary report at year-end shows every vendor over the $600 threshold with the totals ready for filing.
When the year closes
Close December and PlainBooks generates the closing entries. The annual PDF package — Trial Balance, P&L by season (April–October vs November–March), Balance Sheet (with equipment loans broken out by note), GL detail, AR aging, AP aging, 1099 summary — comes out in one file. The 1099-NEC filings due January 31 are one report away.
PlainBooks does not schedule routes, send invoices, or run payroll. Jobber, LMN, Service Autopilot, Gusto handle those. If a customer pays in mid-January for the November cleanup, reopen December with an audit-preserving reversal, post the receipt, re-close.
Bills you can't afford to forget
PlainBooks puts each one on the same calendar as your real bank balance, so you see the collision before it happens.
- Truck + trailer paymentsMonthly, year-round$500–$1,100
- Equipment financingMonthly, year-round$200–$800
- FuelWeekly, in season$400–$1,200/mo peak
- Materials (SiteOne, fertilizer, mulch)Per job, Mar–Oct$700–$2,300/mo peak
- General liability + workers compMonthly$300–$850
- Seasonal payrollWeekly, Mar–Nov$2,000–$6,000/week peak
The dead-month equation
Take the truck note, the equipment payments, the GL + auto insurance, and the phone/software. That is roughly $1,200–$2,500 leaving your account every month — including the three months you make almost nothing. The question is not whether you can afford the equipment. It is whether you saved enough by October to cover January.
What PlainBooks doesn't do
Honest about scope. If you need any of these, you need different software.
- Schedule routes or send job invoices — Jobber, LMN, Service Autopilot
- Run payroll for your crew — Gusto, ADP, or paper checks
- Track time on a job — that lives in your route software
- Tell you what to bid. Pricing is yours to figure out — PlainBooks just shows the costs honestly.
Ready to see your cash position?
$15/month or $150/year (two months free). 14-day free trial. No card required.
Start your free trialCommon questions
- Does PlainBooks work for landscaping / lawn care?
- Yes. PlainBooks is general-ledger bookkeeping software — workspaces, chart of accounts, journal entries, period close, bank reconciliation, the full report set (Trial Balance, P&L, Balance Sheet, GL detail, AR aging, AP aging, 1099 summary). The landscaping / lawn care-specific copy on this page describes the accounts and bills that matter most in this vertical.
- What does it cost?
- $15/month or $150/year when signups open. One price, all features, no tiers. Signups aren't open yet — leave your email on the home page and we'll send one note when launch happens.
- Do I need to connect a bank account?
- No. PlainBooks does not ingest bank feeds. You post journal entries directly (and for trucking workspaces, trips and state-mileage entries write the underlying entries automatically). If you want bank-fed cash visibility, that's a different category of tool.
- What about cash-flow forecasting?
- On the roadmap, not in the current build. PlainBooks today shows what your books say — current balances, what's open in AR and AP, what's posted, what's pending close. We don't promise features that aren't built.