A tree care bookkeeper keeps a tree company's ledger, where pruning, removal, grinding and plant health care money all lands. They post each crew day's wages, machine time and dump fees to the right jobs, code fuel by machine, pay crane and rental bills, and match removal deposits to final invoices.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, landscaping and tree care companies · BLS, May 2025
The Bookkeeper will play a critical role in our company's financial department by maintaining accurate records of financial transactions, processing payments, and reconciling transactions. The financial integrity of our home services business rests on the shoulders of the Bookkeeper, enabling us to deliver superior services to our customers.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Maintain accurate financial records.
Process payments and reconcile transactions.
Prepare financial reports.
Assist in budget preparation and financial planning.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Record financial transactions and post debits (costs) and credits (income).
Produce financial reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing account information.
Perform routine calculations to produce analyses and reports.
Interact with customers to resolve billing and payment issues.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Financial Reporting Accuracy: >95%.
Transaction Processing Speed: <24 hours.
Customer Billing Inquiry Resolution: >90% within 24 hours.
Budget Adherence: <5% variance.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Associate's degree in accounting, finance, or a related field.
2+ years of bookkeeping or financial records maintenance experience.
Familiarity with accounting software.
Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience in the home services industry.
Certified Bookkeeper (CB) designation.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to sit for extended periods.
Regular use of standard office equipment such as computer, telephone, and printer.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
No travel or on-call duties expected.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly wage range: $20-$25.
Bonus based on financial performance of the company.
Benefits include Health, Dental, Vision, and 401k.
10. Company Culture and Overview
At [INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE], we believe in fostering a culture of growth and excellence. We are committed to delivering superior home services to our customers, and we understand that our success in doing so is directly tied to the growth and development of our team. We provide opportunities for professional development and encourage our team members to strive for excellence in all they do.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A tree company's costs arrive by the crew day and the machine hour. Some of its fuel, crane bills and deposits also follow rules most office bookkeepers haven't met.
A crew day is the unit of cost
A climber, two ground workers, a bucket truck and a chipper might finish three small prunes before lunch and a removal after it. The bookkeeper splits that day's wages, machine time and dump fees across every job it served, using the time stamps on the work orders. Only then does the job cost report show which jobs paid for their crew and which ones didn't.
Off-road fuel gets its own code
IRS Publication 510 counts fuel burned in business machines that aren't registered road vehicles, such as power saws, as off-highway use, and the federal tax on it can be claimed back. A towed chipper or a stump grinder runs on its own engine, so its fuel may qualify too; ask your CPA. When a bucket truck's road engine runs the boom, that fuel stays taxed. So the bookkeeper codes fuel card charges by machine and keeps the gallons, dates and sellers the IRS asks for. Source: IRS Publication 510: Excise taxes, off-highway business use (12/2025).
Crane bills get split for 1099s
When a crane company bills for the crane and its operator together, IRS instructions say to split the payment. The machine's share is rent, reported on Form 1099-MISC, and the operator's share goes on Form 1099-NEC. So before paying a crane or rental company for the first time, the bookkeeper gets its W-9 and asks for invoices that show machine time and operator time on separate lines. Source: IRS: Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC (machine rentals).
Removal deposits wait on approvals
A big removal often takes a deposit at signing, then waits weeks for a city permit, an HOA's yes or a crane date. The bookkeeper posts each deposit to that customer's job the way your CPA set it up, and keeps it off the income lines until the work is billed. If the town or the HOA says no, the refund comes out of that same record.
Machine hours tell two stories
Chippers, stump grinders and loaders log hours on a meter. The bookkeeper notes each machine's reading whenever its fuel and repair bills are posted, so the books show what an hour of grinder or loader time really costs. That figure feeds the price of stump work, and it gives the CFO real numbers when a lender asks about a replacement.
How much tree care bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for tree care bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for landscaping companies earned a median of $22.42 an hour ($46,640 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $50,670 median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in all industries. About 9,820 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for landscaping and tree care companies.
Paid hourly under the template, plus a bonus based on how the company does financially. A storm that doubles the invoices can push a week into overtime.
Landscaping and tree care companies
$46,640$46,640 median Middle half $40,700–$57,510 10th–90th $32,120–$67,180
All industries
$50,670$50,670 median Middle half $43,520–$61,470 10th–90th $36,000–$74,550
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Landscaping and tree care companies
$32,120
$40,700
$46,640
$57,510
$67,180
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
BLS doesn’t publish pay for tree care companies on their own. These figures cover landscaping services, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Job costing for crews that work several jobs in one day
Coding fuel card charges by truck and machine
Paying rental, dump site and parts dealer bills on their terms
Checking hourly crew payroll, storm overtime included
Closes the month with every truck and chipper loan tied to the lender's statement
Teach these on the job
Tree work terms on work orders: prune, removal, grind, plant health care
Your crane and equipment rental accounts
How deposits and prepaid plant health care are set up in your books
Sales tax codes by service, as your CFO or CPA sets them
Which work order fields in your tree care software feed the job cost report
Work orders and crew time usually flow in from a tree care program like Arborgold or SingleOps, while the ledger sits in QuickBooks or whatever accounting system you use. Add the fuel card portal, the payroll service and the lender statements for each truck and chipper.
Tree care bookkeeper interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Insurance checks
An insurance company pays for storm cleanup with a check made out to both the customer and our company. What do you do?
A strong answer: Tracks it as a receivable, arranges the customer's endorsement under company policy, deposits it and applies it to the invoice.
Behavioral · Resolving billing disputes
Tell me about a time a customer disputed a bill for work like cleanup, stump grinding or extra hours.
A strong answer: Pulled the signed estimate and crew notes, talked with the estimator, explained the charges plainly and offered a fair fix if we were wrong.
Pull a few months of your own corrections and late entries with the CFO before adopting any target, and keep storm months in a group of their own.
Financial Reporting Accuracy
Count the entries the CFO or outside CPA corrects each month. Spot-check a sample of crew-day splits and fuel codes, and log each fix by type so the same mistake doesn't return.
Transaction Processing Speed
Each month, sample crane bills, deposits and fuel card charges and count the days each sat before posting. Crane and rental companies often bill late, so start the clock when the bill arrives, not on its date.
Customer Billing Inquiry Resolution
Billing questions closed inside the template's window, logged by cause: a deposit not applied, a stump grind billed twice, a plant health care charge the customer didn't expect.
Budget Adherence
Each month, set what was spent beside what was planned, keeping fuel, rentals, repairs and dump fees as separate lines. Flag any line that jumps so the CFO can ask the operations manager what happened.
Career path
Office assistant or billing clerkPosts payments and answers billing calls from homeowners.
BookkeeperKeeps job costs, payables and deposits current for every crew.
ControllerRuns the close and reports results by yard as the company grows.
What does a tree care bookkeeper do in a normal week?
Monday starts with last week's work orders: crew hours, machine time and dump tickets get posted to each job. Midweek goes to bills from crane services, dealers and dump sites, plus fuel card charges coded by machine. Deposits from new removals get matched to their jobs. Thursday is payroll prep, matching each climber's and ground worker's hours to the work orders, and Friday ends with a short note to the owner on what was billed and collected.
How much does a tree care bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for landscaping companies earned a median of $22.42 an hour ($46,640 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $40,700 and $57,510 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Who claims the federal fuel tax credit, the bookkeeper or the CPA?
The CPA usually files it. IRS Publication 510 says the credit for off-highway business use can be taken as a credit on Form 4136 when the company files its yearly return, and larger amounts can be claimed during the year on Form 8849. Either way the claim rests on the bookkeeper's records: gallons bought and used, purchase dates, sellers' names and addresses, and how the fuel was used.
Does a tree care bookkeeper handle sales tax?
Usually they prepare it for the CFO or CPA to review. States treat tree services differently, and the CFO or CPA sets the tax code for each service. The bookkeeper's part is making sure pruning, removal, stump grinding and plant health care each show up as their own line on the invoice, so the right code applies, and filing the returns on time.
What happens to the books after a big storm?
Volume jumps. Dozens of small emergency jobs need invoices at once, and extra rentals, such as a second chipper or a loader, come with bills that have to land on the right jobs. Crews log long days, so matching hours to work orders takes longer. Keep storm work tagged in the books so the owner can see what the storm really earned once the last rental bill is in.
What paperwork should the yard send the bookkeeper each day?
Signed work orders with start and stop times for each job, machine meter readings, dump and wood yard tickets, receipts for any fuel or parts bought with cash, and the delivery and pickup slips for rented machines. A missing pickup slip is how a rental runs two extra days on the bill. Set one drop spot or one photo upload for all of it, and have crew leaders send it before they leave the yard.
