Should skip hire and machinery go on the invoice?

On their own lines, yes. A skip is a number the customer can look up and a digger is one they have never thought about. Burying either inside labour makes your day rate look extraordinary and hands them the wrong thing to question.

How do I invoice a garden that ran over because of the weather?

Invoice what you agreed and keep the weather out of the total, unless the quote priced standing time. Rain is the one thing neither of you controls, and a customer who feels charged for it tells people. What the quote should carry instead is a note that dates move in bad weather, so the delay is expected rather than something you are apologising for and billing for at once.

Do my invoice numbers have to be sequential?

They should be unique and consistent. 001, 002, 003 is the easy convention, and it's what makes 'invoice 032' unambiguous on the phone and at tax time. Don't reuse or duplicate numbers; gaps are fine.

When should I send the invoice?

The day the job finishes, from the van ideally. An invoice sent three weeks late quietly tells the customer that paying it late is fine too, and it's the single most fixable cause of slow payment.

Free landscaper invoice template

A free invoice template for landscapers, visible in full below, downloadable as a PDF, no signup asked. Materials are half a landscaping job and this bills them like it: sleepers, aggregate, turf, skip hire and machinery each on their own line, so the labour is not quietly carrying costs the customer never knew about.

Free PDF · fills in by hand or in any PDF app · no signup

Tired of retyping templates? SoloDesks builds and sends invoices from your phone on the free plan, in about 60 seconds per invoice.

INVOICE

Your Business Name

Phone · Email

Address

Invoice no.

Date

Due date

Description	Qty	Price
Site clearance & waste removal
Patio: excavation & sub-base
Patio: paving supplied & laid (18m²)
Turf: supplied & laid
Skip hire & disposal
Add your own lines…

Subtotal

VAT (if registered)

TOTAL

Payment details & terms

What a landscaper's invoice must include

Your business name and contact details (and logo, if you have one)
A unique invoice number, where sequential is fine, gaps are fine, duplicates are not
Invoice date and payment due date
The client's name and the job address
Itemised lines: each piece of work and each material, with its price
The total, and whether VAT (or your local sales tax) is included
How to pay: bank details or a payment link
Payment terms, because "due within 7 days" is a term; silence is a suggestion
Skip hire, disposal and machinery priced separately, so the labour isn't quietly carrying them

Tips from the trade

Materials are half a landscaping job: sleepers, aggregate, turf and skip hire each deserve their own line.
Put machinery and skip hire on the paperwork. Customers don't know a digger costs money until you show them.
Invoice the disposal separately from the work. A skip is a number the customer can check, and burying it in labour only makes the labour look expensive.
Bill it while the garden still looks like the photo. Turf and planting are never more impressive than the week they go in.

Common questions

Should skip hire and machinery go on the invoice?: On their own lines, yes. A skip is a number the customer can look up and a digger is one they have never thought about. Burying either inside labour makes your day rate look extraordinary and hands them the wrong thing to question.
How do I invoice a garden that ran over because of the weather?: Invoice what you agreed and keep the weather out of the total, unless the quote priced standing time. Rain is the one thing neither of you controls, and a customer who feels charged for it tells people. What the quote should carry instead is a note that dates move in bad weather, so the delay is expected rather than something you are apologising for and billing for at once.
Do my invoice numbers have to be sequential?: They should be unique and consistent. 001, 002, 003 is the easy convention, and it's what makes 'invoice 032' unambiguous on the phone and at tax time. Don't reuse or duplicate numbers; gaps are fine.
When should I send the invoice?: The day the job finishes, from the van ideally. An invoice sent three weeks late quietly tells the customer that paying it late is fine too, and it's the single most fixable cause of slow payment.

Quoting the job before you bill it? Landscaper's quote template is the other half of the same paperwork, written for the same trade. Not a landscaper? The blank UK invoice template works for any trade, in Word, Excel, PDF or Google Docs.

The same invoice for other trades

Or never fill in a template again

SoloDesks builds the invoice on your phone, numbers it, sends it as a professional PDF and chases the reply, on the free plan, no card needed.

Start free