Your chart of accounts decides what your books can tell you. Set it up right and your profit and loss shows what each type of job earns before overhead. Get it wrong and the books add up but answer nothing.
We built a landscaping chart for QuickBooks Online, with 114 accounts ready to import. This guide walks through how it is organized, why each choice matters, and how to bring it into your file. The structure carries to plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, and other trades.
Download the landscaping chart of accounts (CSV)
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
Each answer is below.
Because a contractor’s profit lives in the jobs. A generic chart lumps every cost into expenses, so you cannot see what a job earned. A contractor’s chart separates the work, the cost of doing it, and the cost of running the company.
Example: A landscaper brings in $900,000. Crew labor, materials, fuel, and dumps cost $585,000. Gross profit is $315,000, or 35 percent. Office pay, rent, insurance, and software run $210,000, leaving $105,000 of net profit. With every cost typed as an expense, the same $105,000 shows up, but the 35 percent never does.
By range, so the number tells you what kind of account it is. Our template uses four digits with gaps of 5 and 10. New accounts slot in without renumbering the chart.
| Range | What goes there |
|---|---|
| 1000 to 1999 | Assets: bank accounts, receivables, prepaid items, vehicles and equipment |
| 2000 to 2999 | Liabilities: payables, credit cards, deposits, payroll taxes, loans |
| 3000 to 3999 | Equity: owner capital, draws, retained earnings |
| 4000 to 4999 | Income, one line per service |
| 5000 to 5999 | Cost of goods sold: labor, materials, equipment costs, disposal, permits |
| 6000 to 6999 | Overhead expenses |
| 7000s and 8000s | Other income and other expense |
QuickBooks Online hides account numbers until you switch them on. Go to Settings, then Account and settings, then the Advanced tab, then Edit in the Chart of accounts section. Turn on account numbers, and choose whether to show them on reports.
Example: A year in, the landscaper adds sod installs as its own service. The new income account goes in at 4035, between 4030 Landscape Installation and Design Build and 4040 Irrigation Installation. Nothing else moves.
Here is a sample from each group in our template. The full file has 114 accounts.
| Group | Example accounts from the template |
|---|---|
| Bank and current assets | 1010 Operating Checking; 1020 Payroll Checking; 1040 Tax Reserve; 1220 Prepaid Insurance |
| Fixed assets | 1410 Vehicles; 1420 Machinery and Equipment; 1430 Trailers; 1440 Tools and Small Equipment |
| Current liabilities | 2110 Credit Card – Primary; 2120 Credit Card – Fuel; 2210 Customer Deposits; 2220 Deferred Revenue, Maintenance Contracts; 2260 Sales Tax Payable; 2270 Retainage Payable |
| Long-term liabilities | 2510 Notes Payable, Vehicles; 2520 Notes Payable, Equipment |
| Equity | 3010 Owner Capital; 3030 Owner Draws and Distributions; 3900 Retained Earnings |
| Income | 4010 Maintenance, Residential; 4020 Maintenance, Commercial; 4030 Landscape Installation and Design Build; 4040 Irrigation, Installation; 4045 Irrigation, Service and Repair; 4050 Hardscape; 4090 Storm and Debris Cleanup |
| Cost of goods sold | 5010 Direct Labor, Field Wages; 5040 Subcontractors; 5100 Materials, Plants and Sod; 5110 Materials, Mulch Soil and Stone; 5200 Fuel, Field; 5230 Blades and Consumables; 5300 Dump and Disposal Fees |
| Overhead | 6050 Insurance, General Liability; 6120 Rent, Yard and Office; 6140 Salaries, Office and Admin; 6200 Vehicle, Administrative; 6900 Ask My Accountant |
| Other | 7020 Gain on Sale of Assets; 8010 Interest Expense; 8030 Penalties and Fines |
Example: A crew leader’s wages go to 5010. The office manager’s wages go to 6140. Both show up on the same payroll run, but only the crew’s pay counts against job profit.
Five accounts carry most of the errors we see. Each one exists to keep a single month honest.
Example: A homeowner pays an $18,000 deposit in May for a paver patio installed in July. The $18,000 sits in 2210 through June. When the patio is finished, it moves to 4050 Hardscape. May shows no false spike, and July shows the job’s real income.
Example: A property manager pays $6,000 in January for a year of commercial maintenance. The payment goes to 2220. Each month, $500 moves to 4020 Maintenance, Commercial. January stops looking like the best month of the year.
No. Job and crew detail belongs in QuickBooks Projects and Classes, not in the chart. A chart with an account per customer or per truck grows to hundreds of lines and stops being readable.
Use Projects for job-level profit and Classes for crews or divisions. Intuit offers class tracking on QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Check your subscription before you design around these features.
Example: A landscaper wants to know whether Crew A or Crew B makes more money. Instead of 5010 Field Wages, Crew A and 5010 Field Wages, Crew B, it keeps one 5010 account and tags each crew’s payroll with a class. The class report shows the answer.
Through the Import data tool. Intuit’s support pages lay out the steps below.
Delete rows you do not need before you import. A maintenance-only company does not need hardscape and irrigation install lines. Removing an unused account later is more work than never creating it.
Example: A two-crew mowing company deletes the install, irrigation, hardscape, and tree lines from the template before import. It keeps 4010 Maintenance, Residential, 4020 Maintenance, Commercial, and 4090 Storm and Debris Cleanup. The chart drops five income accounts: 4030, 4040, 4045, 4050, and 4060.
Example: A landscaper buys a $15,000 zero-turn mower and codes it to 5210 Equipment Repairs and Maintenance. The month shows a $15,000 loss on job costs that never happened. The mower belongs in 1420 Machinery and Equipment. Its tax deduction runs through depreciation, which may still allow the full cost this year. See our bonus depreciation guide.
Yes. The asset, liability, equity, and overhead ranges work for any trade. To convert it, replace the 4000 income lines and the 5100 material accounts.
Example: A plumber swaps 5100 Materials, Plants and Sod for fixtures and fittings, and adds service call income in the 4000s. An electrician uses wire, panels, and fixtures. A roofer uses shingles, underlayment, and metal.
We start from this template, then cut it down to the accounts your business will use. Every account left in the chart answers a question you would act on, like pricing, hiring, or buying equipment.
We work in QuickBooks Online, with Gusto for payroll and Ramp for cards. We connect your field software, such as Jobber, rather than replace it. See our landscaping accounting page and our bookkeeping service.
Plans start at $750 per month. One flat fee covers bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning on most plans. We set your fee after we see your books, in writing before work starts, with no onboarding fee.
Cost of goods sold is what it costs to do the jobs: crew wages, materials, field fuel, dump fees. Expenses are what it costs to run the company: rent, office pay, insurance, software. Keeping them apart gives you a gross profit line.
As few as answer your real questions. Our landscaping template has 114, on purpose, so setup means deleting rather than inventing. Most companies end up with far fewer.
Yes. Go to Settings, select Import data, then Chart of Accounts. Your file needs Account Name, Type, and Detail Type columns, with Number optional.
In a liability account, such as 2210 Customer Deposits. When the job is done, the deposit moves to the matching income account.
No. Use QuickBooks Projects for job profit and Classes for crews or divisions. The chart stays short and readable.
This guide and template are educational and are not tax or accounting advice for your situation. Your chart should fit your business. Talk to a tax professional before you change your books.
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
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