Example P&L for a Landscaping Business
What a statement-built P&L looks like for a two-crew landscaping company in full swing: maintenance and install revenue side by side, crew cost as the dial to watch, and the loan payment split honestly.
- This example shows a two-crew operation banking $23,709.50 in April, $34,684.00 in May, and $30,894.00 in June, the heart of the season.
- Two revenue patterns coexist: a maintenance plateau of recurring deposits, and lumpy install money on top. May's spike is one paid patio job.
- Crew pay runs $21,840.00 for the quarter, 24.5 percent of revenue and steady month to month, which is the operational dial a reader checks.
- The monthly finance payment is split honestly: $329.53 of interest in expenses, $1,506.47 of principal excluded below the statement.
- Net income before owner draws is $36,740.12, a 41.1 percent margin. That is an in-season number; the winter columns of a full year would pull the annual figure well below it.
- The numbers are fictional, but the format, the seasonality, and the judgment calls are exactly what a reconciled statement-based P&L delivers.
Below is a complete example profit and loss statement for a fictional two-crew landscaping company, Stonebrook Lawn & Landscape LLC, covering April through June 2026, the strongest stretch of a northern season. Every line is the kind that actually appears on a landscaper's statements: recurring maintenance deposits, a lumpy install payment, weekly Zelle to the crew, nursery and stone-yard runs, and an equipment finance payment that needs splitting. Every total on the page is computed from the lines, so the document foots.
Use it two ways. If you are building your own P&L, this is the target format: maintenance and install revenue visible as separate lines, materials and crew split out, and the loan payment divided between interest (an expense) and principal (excluded). If a lender just asked for financials for equipment or a truck, the reading notes explain what these three columns prove and what only a trailing twelve months can.
| INCOME | April | May | June | Total |
| Maintenance deposits | $16,425.00 | $20,834.00 | $21,468.00 | $58,727.00 |
| Installs & cleanups | $7,284.50 | $13,850.00 | $9,426.00 | $30,560.50 |
| Total income | $23,709.50 | $34,684.00 | $30,894.00 | $89,287.50 |
| EXPENSES | April | May | June | Total |
| Materials & plants (COGS) | $5,123.86 | $8,612.40 | $6,049.15 | $19,785.41 |
| Crew (contractor pay) | $5,880.00 | $8,120.00 | $7,840.00 | $21,840.00 |
| Fuel | $1,123.84 | $1,469.20 | $1,583.66 | $4,176.70 |
| Equipment & repairs | $2,346.17 | $964.12 | $713.85 | $4,024.14 |
| Insurance | $475.00 | $475.00 | $475.00 | $1,425.00 |
| Dump & disposal fees | $364.50 | $289.70 | $312.40 | $966.60 |
| Equipment loan interest | $112.00 | $109.85 | $107.68 | $329.53 |
| Total expenses | $15,425.37 | $20,040.27 | $17,081.74 | $52,547.38 |
| NET PROFIT | $8,284.13 | $14,643.73 | $13,812.26 | $36,740.12 |
- Owner draws $19,500.00: Money the owner took for personal use is not a business expense; it sits below the P&L so profit is not understated.
- Equipment loan principal $1,506.47: Principal is repayment of debt, not a cost of doing business. The lender's statement itemizes the split, so interest stays in expenses and principal stays here.
- Transfer to savings $4,500.00: Setting season money aside for winter changes nothing about profit; a transfer between the company's own accounts is not an expense.
Line notes
- Maintenance deposits: Recurring same-amount checks, Zelle, and HOA ACH. The plateau that runs spring cleanup through leaf season.
- Installs & cleanups: Lumpy larger deposits: spring cleanups in April, a patio install paid in May. Same revenue, different pattern.
- Materials & plants (COGS): Nurseries, stone yard, irrigation parts. April includes the mulch pre-buy. Big box-store runs get a confirming question (materials or equipment).
- Crew (contractor pay): Weekly Zelle to three crew members, in season. Recurring personal-name payments are crew labor, not draws; one answer covers the series.
- Equipment & repairs: April carries spring mower service before the first cut. Big purchases get flagged for the preparer to consider capitalizing.
- Equipment loan interest: Only the interest slice of the monthly finance payment is an expense. The principal sits below the statement.
Two revenue patterns, one company
Maintenance deposits climb from $16,425.00 in April to $21,468.00 in June as the mowing schedule fills: the plateau. Install and cleanup money is lumpier, $7,284.50 of April cleanups, then $13,850.00 in May when the patio job paid, then $9,426.00 in June. Both are revenue; they just categorize from different patterns, recurring same-amount deposits versus one-off large ones.
The cost lines tell you which months were install months without any job-costing system: May's $8,612.40 of materials against April's $5,123.86 marks where the stone and plants went. Comparing heavy-materials months to the same months' deposits gives a rough read on install pricing, and many owners discover from exactly this layout that maintenance quietly funds the company.
The dial a reader watches: crew cost
Crew pay is $5,880.00 in April, $8,120.00 in May, and $7,840.00 in June, which works out to 24.8, 23.4, and 25.4 percent of each month's revenue: steady. That stability is what a reader checks, because crew share creeping up over several months means jobs are running long or pricing has not kept up with wages. For the quarter, crew is 24.5 percent and materials 22.2 percent of the $89,287.50 banked, leaving net income of $36,740.12 before owner draws, a 41.1 percent margin.
Say the seasonal caveat out loud: 41.1 percent is what the heart of the season looks like. A February column for this same company would show near-zero revenue against insurance, the loan, and shop costs. The trailing-12 view, not a strong quarter, is where a seasonal business's real annual profit lives, and lenders who work with landscapers ask for exactly that view.
The loan payment, split honestly
The mower fleet carries a monthly finance payment of about $612. Only the interest slice is a cost of doing business: $329.53 across the quarter sits in expenses, while $1,506.47 of principal sits below the statement as debt repayment. A P&L that expenses the whole payment understates profit; one that drops the payment entirely overstates it. The lender's statement itemizes the split, so neither happens here.
The same discipline applies to the $19,500.00 of owner draws and the $4,500.00 moved to savings for winter: below the statement, visible, and out of expenses. A reader can then see both things that matter at once, that the company earned $36,740.12 and that the owner lives on it.
Use this format yourself
The free landscaping business P&L template is this exact layout as a spreadsheet with the categories pre-loaded. For the full walk-through of categories, judgment calls, and what lenders ask a landscaping business for, read the landscaping business P&L guide. And to see a statement-built report with working charts and reconciliation detail, the full sample report is a complete delivered order for a different fictional business.
Common questions
Yes. The free landscaping template below is this exact format as a spreadsheet with the categories pre-loaded. Or upload your statements and RapidPnL builds the reconciled version for you in minutes.
In season, before owner pay, yes. Winter months run negative for most non-plowing operations, so the annual margin lands well below a summer quarter's. That is why lenders ask for a trailing twelve months rather than the three best columns.
The pattern and the payee settle it: recurring in-season payments to other people's names are crew labor, while transfers to the owner's own account are draws. It is one flagged question, answered once, applied to the whole series.
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Written by a licensed CPA. This guide is general information, not tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice, and does not create a professional relationship. Lender requirements and bank websites change; confirm specifics with your lender and financial institution.