A beautiful garden holds a very special place in the UK’s hearts, heightened by the Covid pandemic when people appreciated even more the benefits of getting outside and closer to nature. The desire to make the best of your outside space, and the demands of busy working lives or issues of getting older and less agile, mean that businesses providing gardening and landscaping services are increasingly in demand.
There are a wide range of services which come under these headings, from regular maintenance like lawnmowing and hedge cutting, trimming, weeding and pest control, to more specialist work such as planning and constructing outdoor spaces, garden design, expert planting and irrigation.
However, the owner of a gardening business will still need to balance the books and take time out from creating the perfect herbaceous border to look at budgeting, cash flow and credit control.
We’ve come up with five tips to help with this:
1. Record all your purchases
You need a complete record of everything you spend money on for your business, such as plant hire (of the heavy machinery variety), plant purchase (of the flowering variety) and all operating expenses. This is important because you’ll need it for claiming allowable expenses – read on . . .
2. Claim all your allowable expenses
You can claim allowable expenses – costs essential for running your business – for some equipment such as spades and forks, secateurs and trowels, and you can also claim for replacing the tools if they wear out or you need to repair them if they break. Business insurance policies, for example for your tools or van, are also allowable expenses, as are work clothing and safety wear such as ear defenders for use with noisy machinery, or heavy duty gardening gloves. However, clothing which could double up as your out of work wardrobe won’t be covered. Larger equipment such as a tractor mower or digger would probably have to come under capital allowances, which cover investment in long-term assets.
3. Prioritise credit control
It’s never easy chasing payment, but if you let it slip it can have major consequences. Ensure your clients adhere to a payment time limit to keep your cash flow healthy.
4. Organise all your financial documents
You need to keep track of all documents related to your business, such as receipts, purchase orders, invoices and bank statements, and file them so everything is to hand for your self-assessment tax return or any queries from HMRC. This isn’t always easy when you’re dashing from one garden to the next, so have a look at the next point . . .
5. Invest in bookkeeping software
Automating your bookkeeping is a must these days and saves so much time; business owners who try it soon wonder how they managed without it. Packages such as Xero can computerise your invoicing and reporting, assist in preparing your tax return, instantly show you your cash flow position, allow expenses to be submitted from employees, collate payroll information and connect with your bank. The amount of time you save by using it means more available time to spend with clients.
Ensuring you’re ahead with all these things is quite a commitment, and you probably don’t feel at all like poring over your finances after a hard day’s hedge cutting or laying paving slabs. If this is the case, outsourcing your bookkeeping to an expert is an easy decision.
At AMR Bookkeeping Solutions we work with landscaping and gardening businesses ranging from large companies to sole traders, and we know all the issues involved. If you want to concentrate on making green spaces beautiful and not have to worry about liaising with HMRC or managing credit control, why not call our friendly and knowledgeable team for a chat? Contact us on 01892 559480 or check out our website.
