Bookkeeping and financials for a tree service company
Tree work is equipment heavy and insurance heavy, which makes the books harder than a trade that runs out of a van. A chipper payment, a bucket truck or crane, saws and rope replaced constantly, fuel, and workers compensation rates among the highest of any occupation class. A month can feel busy and still lose money.
So we close the month properly and break it down where it is useful. Revenue by job type, which is usually how an owner discovers that stump grinding is filling days without paying for them. Labor and equipment costs against crew days, the only capacity number that really matters. Marketing spend split by channel so that conversation has real figures in it.
The storm cash cycle deserves its own attention. Four enormous weeks followed by a dead month wrecks planning when you are reading the bank balance instead of the books. Owners who watch a rolling three month average stop making January decisions in a panic.