Job Description
Job Description
About the role:
We are a busy, well-established landscaping and garden-services business serving residential clients in the Washington, D.C. area. The owner currently runs nearly every part of the operation personally — taking calls, pricing jobs, ordering materials, dispatching crews, and handling the paperwork. This role exists to take the day-to-day administrative load off the owner so the business can keep up with demand.
You will be the operational backbone behind the scenes: keeping the books accurate, payroll recorded, materials priced, and the schedule organized. This is a high-trust role that grows over time — you will start by owning the routine, time-sensitive paperwork, and as that runs smoothly you will take on scheduling and client-facing coordination. Reliability and attention to detail matter more than landscaping experience.
Key responsibilities:
Bookkeeping & payroll support: Record daily labor hours each workday from the crews' clock-in/out records, and record it accurately. Track crew payments and reconcile them at day's end (the role this position replaces). Prepare and send invoices to clients and record payments in the accounting system (currently FreshBooks). Enter and categorize expenses — materials, fuel, supplier bills — so the owner has a clear, current picture of costs and margins. Follow up on unpaid invoices and flag overdue accounts for the owner.
Materials & supplier coordination: Gather plant, mulch, and material prices from nurseries and suppliers (typically 2–3 vendors) and compile them for the owner's review. Place and track orders and deliveries once the owner has approved the vendor and the purchase. Maintain a simple, current price list so estimates can be put together quickly. Scheduling & coordination (phased in over time) Own the booking calendar — turning client inquiries into scheduled jobs and ending the back-and-forth email scheduling. Acknowledge client inquiries promptly, confirm appointments, and keep clients informed of timing. Coordinate the schedule around weather and crew availability, escalating conflicts to the owner. Keep an organized client and recurring-maintenance database. Estimate & reporting support (as trust is established) Prepare draft estimates by assembling labor and material inputs into the owner's template for the owner to review, finalize, and price. Produce simple weekly reports — jobs completed, hours logged, outstanding invoices — so the owner can see the business at a glance.
What this role is not: To set clear expectations: pricing decisions, final approval of estimates, key client relationships, vendor selection, and on-site crew direction remain with the owner. This role supplies the information and does the legwork behind those decisions; it does not make them. The aim is to free the owner's time, not to replace the owner's judgment. What we're looking for
Required:
Fluent English and decent Spanish, written and spoken (the crew and some clients are Spanish-speaking). 1–3 years of bookkeeping or administrative experience — comfortable with invoices, expenses, and basic reconciliation. Confident with accounting/invoicing software (FreshBooks, QuickBooks, or similar) and spreadsheets. Strong accuracy with numbers and a habit of double-checking your own work. Organized and dependable: this role handles money and time records daily, so consistency is essential. Stable internet, a reliable computer, and a quiet space to work during U.S. Eastern business hours.
Nice to have:
Experience with field-service or scheduling tools (e.g., Jobber) or landscaping/home-services businesses. A clear communicator who can follow up with clients professionally and warmly. How the role grows This is a deliberately phased role. We expect to hand over responsibilities in stages as trust is built, not all at once: Weeks 1–4: Payroll recording, labor reconciliation, invoicing, expense entry, and gathering supplier prices. Months 2–3: Owning the booking calendar and first-line client communication once the routine work is running cleanly. Months 4+: Drafting estimates from the owner's template and producing weekly reports. Compensation is reviewed as the scope expands. The right person can become the indispensable operational hub of a growing business. Prepared as a hiring template — adjust compensation, hours, and tool names before posting.