Most landscape business owners don’t actually know what their equipment costs them each year — and it’s not because they’re careless. It’s because the information you’d need is scattered everywhere.
Your accountant might have a capital asset list.
Your insurance policy might have replacement values.
Your yard might have machines you forgot you still owned.
And none of those sources ever line up.
The result? You’re left guessing what your equipment really costs — and if you’re guessing your equipment costs, you’re guessing your profit.
Why You Can’t Rely on Your Accountant or Insurance List
Most small to medium landscape companies assume that their accountant or insurance provider has an accurate list of their assets. Unfortunately, that’s rarely true.
Your capital asset schedule might show what you bought, but not what you’ve since sold or retired.
Your insurance documents might list replacement values, but not actual usage or what the equipment’s doing day to day.
Your loan or purchase agreements might show what something costs, but not what it’s worth now.
And the yard itself might hold the most up-to-date info — but it’s not exactly searchable.
Sometimes these records exist nowhere. Sometimes they exist everywhere.
But there’s no single source of truth.
Why This Matters
Without one clear list, you can’t build a proper operating budget.
And without a proper operating budget, you can’t:
- Set fair and profitable equipment charge-out rates
- Accurately calculate your job costs
- Plan for future equipment replacement
- Know how much your fleet is truly costing you to run
If you don’t know what your equipment costs to own and operate, you can’t price your work with confidence.
Here’s a simple example:
A skid steer costs $75,000 new.
You’ll use it for 5 years, about 800 hours per year.
$75,000 ÷ (5 years × 800 hours) = $18.75/hour ownership cost
Add fuel, maintenance, and wear — and the real cost could be $35–$50/hour.
If you’re charging clients $25/hour for that machine, you’re quietly losing money every day.
The Simple Way to Fix It: Create a Single Source of Truth
You don’t need expensive fleet software.
You don’t need your accountant to overhaul their system.
You need one clear, easy-to-update list of all the equipment you own.
That’s your single source of truth.
Start with a simple spreadsheet.
List every machine, truck, trailer, or tool that has wheels, tracks, or an engine.
For each one, record:
- Equipment name and type
- Purchase price and year
- Estimated replacement cost
- How much longer you plan to keep it
- Whether it’s used for landscaping, snow, or both
- Notes like serial number or major repairs
That’s it.
Once it’s in one place, you’ve already done what most companies never do: you’ve taken control of your fleet data.
(Need help getting started? Download the free Forge Legacy Equipment Tracker Template — it’s the same format I use when helping clients build their budgets.)
Where to Find the Information (Even If It’s Scattered)
Start by checking these spots:
- Your accountant or bookkeeper: Ask for your capital asset schedule.
- Your insurance provider: Get the current policy list and replacement values.
- Your purchase or loan agreements: These show the original costs and purchase dates.
- Your service mechanic or dealer: They often have serial numbers, models, and years in their maintenance records.
- Your yard: Do a physical walk-around to confirm what’s actually there.
Pro Tip: Take photos or tag each piece of equipment during your walk-through. You’ll thank yourself later when reviewing or updating the list.
When Missing Equipment Data Costs You Real Money
Here’s something that just happened with one of my clients:
When we compared their equipment and vehicle list against what their insurance provider had on file, we found several pieces of equipment they no longer owned — but were still paying premiums on.
That meant they’d been overpaying for insurance every single month, sometimes for years.
And that’s not just an accounting oversight — that’s lost profit.
When your equipment data is scattered across emails, insurance files, and half-filled spreadsheets, these mistakes slip quietly through the cracks.
Creating a single, accurate list isn’t just about budgeting — it’s about plugging leaks in your business that drain cash without you noticing.
Why Fleet Software Usually Fails for Small Contractors
Fleet management software sounds great — in theory.
In practice, most contractors abandon it within months.
Why? Because:
- It’s overbuilt for what they need.
- It requires manual entry and upkeep.
- It doesn’t connect easily with estimating tools like LMN or QuickBooks.
A spreadsheet that’s used consistently beats software that nobody touches.
Start simple.
Get accurate.
Then automate later if you really need to.
Connecting It to Your Operating Budget
Once you’ve built your equipment list, you can calculate your annual equipment ownership cost.
That’s what feeds into your operating budget — the document that determines whether your company’s actually profitable or not.
Here’s the general process:
- Add up each piece of equipment’s yearly ownership cost (purchase ÷ lifespan).
- Add annual repairs, fuel, maintenance, and insurance.
- The total becomes your equipment cost — but where it goes depends on your pricing model.
Now, here’s an important distinction most people miss:
Not every business should recover equipment costs through overhead.
For some companies — especially project-based contractors — equipment is better treated as a cost of goods sold (COGS) rather than overhead. For others, particularly service-based divisions with consistent utilization, recovering it through overhead makes more sense.
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
Every company must evaluate this on a divisional basis to align with how they deliver work and recover costs in their estimating system.
That’s precisely the kind of analysis the Forge Legacy Equipment Tracker Template is built to help you think through — and if you want to take it further, we can help you set it up correctly within your operating budget.
The Role of Estimating Software (and Why Unit Pricing Isn’t the Answer)
Once you have your equipment costs calculated, the next step is to ensure your estimating system accurately reflects them.
We highly recommend that landscape contractors use professional estimating software built for this industry — systems that use operating budgets to determine hourly and equipment rates when creating estimates.
There are plenty of software tools out there, but be careful:
Some programs focus only on unit pricing — where you set a flat price per square foot, per tonne, or per unit of work.
That might feel easier, but in reality, it’s a lazy shortcut that often hides inefficiency and underpricing.
Unit pricing only works for very specific service lines where there’s minimal delivery variability — for example, recurring maintenance with identical site conditions.
For project-based work, unit pricing breaks down fast.
If you want accurate estimating and predictable profit, you need to use software that ties your rates directly back to your operating budget.
How to Keep It Updated
Your equipment list only works if it stays up to date.
Here’s how to make that easy:
- Assign one person to own it (office admin, estimator, or bookkeeper).
- Update it every time you buy, sell, or retire equipment.
- Review it once a year before budget season.
Once it’s built, maintaining it takes just minutes —and it saves you thousands.
The Payoff: Clarity and Control
When you have a single source of truth for your equipment:
- You stop guessing your rates.
- You stop relying on your accountant to tell you what you own.
- You can budget confidently and price your jobs accurately.
- You finally have a foundation for predictable profit.
And that’s what a professional, sustainable landscape company is built on.
Final Thoughts (and a Simple Next Step)
If you don’t have your equipment data organized yet, don’t worry. Most contractors don’t.
But if you’re ready to stop guessing and start running your business on data, this is where we begin.
👉 Download the free Forge Legacy Equipment Tracker Template
or
📞 Book a Profit Diagnostic Call, and I’ll help you build your equipment cost model step by step.