Landscaping Budget Template

Once the categories look right, enter your projected revenue and expenses for the current month. If you're starting mid-year, use last season's actuals from your accounting software as a starting point. Copy the monthly structure forward for remaining months and adjust for seasonality — boost your installation and maintenance revenue rows in spring and summer, scale back in the fall, and reflect snow removal in winter if that applies to your market. The Annual Summary and Dashboard update automatically as you work.

The cost categories that drive landscaping profitability are different from most service businesses. Labor is the largest variable cost, but it needs to be tracked separately from subcontractors — you own the risk on your crew's hours even when jobs run long, while subcontractor costs should be tied directly to the jobs that use them. Materials split into two very different buckets: plants and nursery materials, which are perishable and highly seasonal, and hardscape materials (pavers, gravel, stone, block), which are heavier and often purchased per-project. Gross margins on maintenance contracts typically run 40–55%, while installation projects — especially hardscaping — can vary significantly based on material costs and job complexity. Tracking these separately in your budget lets you see which service type is actually driving your profitability.