Well-designed, professional, and comprehensive invoices, like our free landscape invoice templates, are a great way to leave a lasting impression on your clients and help you get paid on time for your hard work. In this guide, learn the best way to create a lawn care invoice for your business and what to include in every standard invoice.
What Is the Best Way to Make a Lawn Care Invoice?
Whether you’re making an invoice for landscaping or lawn care, automatic invoicing software like Invoice Ninja is the way to go. Making invoices can be a time-consuming and detailed process, so we recommend automated software to help take the job off your busy shoulders. These softwares can help you quickly generate professional invoices, send them automatically to your clients, and even receive payments.
But if you’d rather try it yourself, we have some tips and tricks to get started.
What to Include In a Lawn Care Invoice
The best invoice is simple, direct, and concise. Once you’ve chosen a software to create your invoice on, such as Microsoft Word or Canva, be sure to include this information before sending it off to your client:
Contact Information and Labels
At the top of your invoice document, clearly label your business name and address, as well as the name and address of your client. You can take a look at our gardening services invoice templates for inspiration.
If you are invoicing and receiving payment online, you can replace the physical address with an email address. Always include your phone number in the event that a client has questions about the charges or items on the invoice. Check that the contact information is accurate. Any mistakes on your part can lead to payment holdups and result in a negative impression of your business.
An Invoice Number
An invoice number allows you to track and organize your billing invoices, especially if you’re sending multiple invoices to repeat customers. The type of number sequence you choose is up to you, so select a sequence that you and your team can easily understand. The most straightforward numbering system you can use is to start your first invoice with the numbers 1, 001, 00001, or something similar. Some invoices start at a random number or include letters, but this is ultimately up to personal preference.
An automated invoicing software comes in especially handy at this point. It can automatically create and track new invoice numbers for you, ensuring you never have duplicates.
Important Dates
Your invoice must include an invoice date and a due date. The invoice date is when the invoice was created, but it can also be when the work was completed or the invoice was sent. The due date is the date the payment is due, which depends on your business’ billing cycle policies.
The due date is entirely up to you as long as you are consistent with payment schedules and communicate your payment due dates to your customers. Let customers know in advance when they can expect to receive the invoice and when they will be expected to pay it. Setting a clear invoice due date will help you track late payments and determine when to charge late fees or send follow-up reminders.
The Cost of Lawn Care Supplies
Next, list the names and prices of all supplies, such as sod, fertilizer, and other similar items. List the item’s name, the unit price (cost of one), and the quantity (total number of items used). If you’re using automated software, create an Amount field, which will automatically fill in the total cost for each item.
Include specific details about the items used, for instance, the exact quantity (in grams or bags) and the brand name or stock keeping unit (SKU) code for the fertilizer used. This will help you track supplies used and will come in handy if the customer has any questions about the material or its price.
Labor Costs
This is perhaps the most important section in your lawn care invoice. Once you’ve listed the cost of supplies, include the total amount due for your labor costs. This may be in the form of flat fees, hourly labor fees, or a combination of both, depending on your business’ billing policy.
If you include flat fee services (such as regular lawn maintenance), list each item separately. Keep the description of each service unique and clear, so you can use the same description on each invoice to avoid confusion in the long run.
Notes and Additional Information
The notes section is the final part of your invoice. While this section is optional, it can be used for several purposes. You can summarize your services, remind customers of their future needs (for instance, encourage them to hire you for regular lawn maintenance), or include the payment methods available to them.
Invoice Away
This information should give you a starting spot when writing and managing invoices. If you’d prefer to take invoicing off your plate, or would like to increase efficiency when it comes to billing, check out our services at Invoice Ninja.
