Invoice Koi

Invoicing for tree surgeons

Almost nothing about a tree job is obvious to the person paying for it. They see one afternoon and a pile of logs. They do not see the access, the ropes, the second climber, the chipper, or the fact that green waste costs money to leave somewhere. An invoice that says one figure for all of it invites the question, and a quote that says one figure loses to a man with a saw in a pickup.

An illustration of a chainsaw bar, a climbing harness, a throwline bag, a pair of loppers and a coil of rigging rope, with a koi swimming among them.
01On the document

What tree surgeons
put on an invoice.

These go in your price book once, with your own prices against them. After that a line is one tap: the item, the description, the unit and the price fill themselves, and the totals resolve underneath.

LineUnit
Site visit and quotationeach
Team day rate, two arboristsdays
Climbing arboristhrs
Sectional fellingeach
Crown reduction or thinningeach
Stump grindingeach
Chipping and green waste disposalload
Plant hire, chipper or platformdays

Prices are yours. Invoice Koi ships a handful of round placeholder lines to start from and never fills your book with figures you did not set.

A job, grouped Subtotals per section
ACCESS
Site set-up and protection£120
Plant hire, chipper£140
Subtotal£260
WORKS
Sectional felling, one ash£780
Crown reduction, two limes£460
Subtotal£1,240
CLEAR
Chipping and green waste disposal£180
Stump grinding, 2 stumps£220
Subtotal£400
Total£1,900
Grouped line items are free, on all nine templates.
A photograph of a tree surgeon roped into the crown of a large tree, ground crew feeding brash to a chipper below.
Price book
Site visit and quotationeach
Team day rate, two arboristsdays
Climbing arboristhrs
One tap puts the line on the invoice.
This job, grouped
ACCESS£260
WORKS£1,240
CLEAR£400
Total£1,900
No signal needed. It is written here.
02Why tree surgeons use it

Three things that
save the evening.

Quoted properly, so the price survives the conversation

An estimate carries the access, the works and the clearing as separate lines. When it is accepted it converts to an invoice with the client, the lines, the tax and your terms carried across.

Access and disposal are not free, and the document says so

Group the stages under their own headings with their own subtotals, so the chipper and the tip run appear as work that was done rather than as padding on a felling price.

Hire and tip fees, off the receipt

Photograph the hire invoice and the weighbridge ticket and they are read into expenses with their tax. The reports then show what the week cost as well as what it earned.

03 · Questions

Asked by tree surgeons.

How do I quote a job that takes two days with a team?

Price it as a day rate line with the days as the quantity, or as stages with their own subtotals. Both are estimates that convert to an invoice once the work is agreed.

Can I show green waste disposal separately from the felling?

Yes. It is its own line, and it can sit under its own heading so a customer keeping the logs can see exactly what they are and are not paying for.

Can I take a deposit before booking a big job in?

Yes. Put the deposit on the document, and what remains is what is left to pay when the work is finished.

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