Gardeners and garden maintenance

Magpie keeps your round of gardens and shows each one when its cut is due. It quotes your clearances and bills your regulars every month.

The round, the quotes, the bills and the mower's services are in your own Magpie account. Someone who works the season with you can join you in a team.

Konto erstellen
Fernhill Garden Care's round as a List: this week's gardens in Guelph, each a repeating To-do such as mow and edge at 14 Woolwich Street, with a hedge cut and a clearance later in the week.

This combination of seven Magpie areas fits a gardener.

To-dos
To-dos keeps the round, with each garden coming back every week or every two weeks.
Contacts
Contacts keeps each garden's access notes, and a follow-up for the autumn work.
Forms
Forms takes a quote request with photos of the hedge or the overgrown corner.
Proposals
Proposals quotes a clearance with the green waste taken away, signed online.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills your regulars every month of the season, and one-off jobs by card.
Asset Tracker
Asset Tracker keeps the mower, the strimmer and the trailer, with every service.
Expenses
Expenses keeps the receipts for fuel, tip fees and strimmer line.

Each garden on the round comes back on its day, weekly or fortnightly.

To-dos keeps the round as a List, with each garden a To-do that repeats. You type it as you would say it: 14 Woolwich Street, mow and edge, every Tuesday. A fortnightly garden repeats every two weeks.

Today lists the gardens due, and you drag them into the order you drive. Ticking off a cut schedules the next one. A garden missed for rain says Overdue and stays on Today. Its next cut keeps its usual day.

You pin the gate code, the dog and where the clippings go to each garden.

Contacts keeps each customer with their address and phone number. A pinned note keeps the access notes at the top of their page. The page lists every proposal and invoice too.

A follow-up has a date and a reason, such as an autumn leaf clear. Follow-ups lists every open one as Overdue, Today or Upcoming. A tag such as Fortnightly filters the list.

Fernhill Garden Care's follow-ups: offering an autumn leaf clear, quoting a beech hedge, asking about winter cuts and booking the spring scarify, each with its customer and date.

A quote request arrives with photos of the garden and the work wanted.

Forms builds your quote request: the address, the work and how often. Boxes cover lawn cutting, hedge cutting, a clearance and a leaf clear. A File question takes photos of the garden. A yes or no asks whether the green waste goes.

Each request is emailed to you, and the responses are kept in one list. A regular cut goes on the round, and a clearance gets a quote.

Fernhill Garden Care's quote request form in the builder: the address, the work wanted, how often, the size of the lawn, whether the yard waste should be taken away, photos of the garden and how to get into the back.

A clearance is quoted with the waste taken away, and the customer signs online.

Proposals sets out a clearance or a hedge cut as packages, each with its price. One package leaves the cuttings bagged; the other takes them away by the trailer load. The customer chooses and signs on the page.

An optional line can offer a fortnightly cut for the season, billed monthly. When the customer adds it and signs, Magpie will start the monthly invoices. You see when the proposal is opened.

A clearance proposal from Fernhill Garden Care for Colin Weatherby, with the cover, the list of contents, the recommended package that takes the yard waste away by the trailer load, and the total in a bar at the foot of the screen.

Magpie bills your regulars every month of the season, and each hedge cut by card.

Invoicing bills a regular on a recurring invoice, with the same lines every month. A schedule can stop after a set number, such as eight from April to November. Pause holds the invoices over winter until you resume.

A hedge cut or a clearance is an ordinary invoice. Its tip fee comes from your receipts. Card payments go to your own Stripe account, with no Magpie fee. Cash or a transfer is recorded by hand.

Fernhill Garden Care's invoice for Desmond Achebe: the beech hedge cut back, two trailer loads of yard waste taken away and the tip fee from a receipt, each with HST.

Each machine has its own page, with every service and repair recorded.

Asset Tracker keeps the mower, the strimmer, the hedge trimmer and the trailer. Each has its serial number and condition. A machine's receipt, manual and warranty are kept on its page.

Start maintenance records a machine in for its service, with the day it is due back. End maintenance notes what was done, and the history lists every service. A To-do that repeats every year reminds you before spring.

You photograph each receipt for fuel, tip fees and two-stroke at the till.

Expenses keeps each receipt, photographed on your phone. Categories such as Fuel, Tip fees and Mower parts total what the month cost. Receipt Inbox holds a receipt until you add its details.

Plants or compost bought for one customer can be marked reimbursable, with their name. The cost goes on their next invoice as a line. Each expense is added to the books.

Fernhill Garden Care's expenses: fuel for the van and the mower, a tip fee for a customer's clearance, the mower's spring service, trimmer line and oil, and plants bought for a customer, each with its category and amount.

Five more areas cover the calendar, your hours, the van's code and the books.

Calendar
Calendar shows each day's gardens beside the one-off jobs, by day or by month.
Time Tracking
Time Tracking runs a timer from a To-do, so you know what a hedge took.
QR Codes
QR Codes makes a code for the van's back doors that opens your quote request. It can point somewhere else later.
Social Media
Social Media schedules before-and-after photos of a clearance, cropped for Instagram around the point you choose.
Accounting
Accounting adds each invoice, payment and expense to the books, with your receipts beside them.

An overgrown garden goes from a clearance quote to a place on the fortnightly round.

Each step uses what the step before it recorded.

  1. The request

    The customer sends photos of the overgrown garden on your Form.

  2. The quote

    You send a proposal: two days' clearance, three trailer loads and an optional fortnightly cut.

  3. Signed

    They add the fortnightly cut and sign. Magpie starts the monthly invoices for the season.

  4. The clearance

    A timer records the days, and the tip receipt is marked for this customer.

  5. The bill

    The invoice adds the tip fee from your receipts. It is paid by card from its link.

  6. The round

    You add the garden to the round, every two weeks, and pin the side gate's code.

Setting up takes four steps.

  1. Add your gardens

    You add each customer with their address, and pin the access notes. Help: Keep a contact list.

  2. Start the round

    You make a List for the round, and add each garden as a repeating To-do. Help: Use To-dos.

  3. Bill your regulars

    You make each regular's invoice recurring every month, for the season. Help: Recurring invoices.

  4. Connect Stripe

    You connect your Stripe account, so customers can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

Plans

A gardener working alone fits Pro, for your own work in Personal. The free plan includes 5 invoices a month, 5 proposals and 100 contacts; Pro has no limit.

Someone who works the season with you can join a team. A free team has up to 3 members. Magpie adds no fee to invoices. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each card payment.

Other trades that work in customers' gardens and homes have pages of their own.

Cleaning companies

A cleaning company puts cleaners on a rota at each client's site, with a checklist.

Questions gardeners ask

Can I keep my whole round in it, weekly and fortnightly gardens together?

Yes. The round is a List. Each garden is a To-do in it that repeats every week or every two weeks. Its title says the work, such as mow and edge. Each customer is also a contact, with their address and a pinned note for access.

How do I see which gardens are due today?

Today lists every To-do planned for today or earlier. Each garden appears on the day its cut is due. One from an earlier day says Overdue. Dashboard shows the start of the list too, and you can tick gardens off there.

Can I put the day's gardens in the order I drive them?

Yes. On Today you drag each garden into your own order, or use the buttons. The order is kept on every device you use.

What happens when rain stops me getting round?

A garden you did not reach says Overdue. It stays on Today until you tick it off. Its next cut keeps its usual day, a week or a fortnight on.

Can I move a garden to another day of the week?

Yes. You choose another repeat on the garden's To-do, such as every Thursday. The cuts after it follow the new repeat. One cut can also move to another day on its own page.

What happens to the round over the winter?

You can change a garden's repeat to every month for the winter, or to Never. Cuts already done are kept. In spring you set it back to every week or every two weeks. The monthly bills can be paused at the same time.

Where do I keep the gate code, the dog and where to tip the clippings?

In a note on the customer's contact, pinned at the top of their page. A tag such as Side gate groups the gardens that share one. The contacts search finds words in notes too, such as compost heap.

Can I bill my regulars the same amount every month?

Yes. Make recurring on a regular's invoice starts a schedule with the same lines. Magpie issues and emails the invoice every month, with a Pay online button. Reminders follow until it is paid. You can change the lines, pause it or end it.

Can the monthly bills stop at the end of the season?

Yes. A schedule can stop after a set number, such as eight from April to November. Pause stops the invoices until you resume them in spring. Months missed while paused are not invoiced.

Can a customer pay me by card after I have left?

Yes. Each invoice has a payment link. The invoice's page shows it, so you can send it another way, such as a text. The customer pays the balance by card on their phone. The payment is recorded on the invoice, and Magpie emails them a receipt.

What does Magpie take from a card payment?

Magpie adds no fee. Stripe's processing fee is taken from each payment. The rest goes to your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to your bank.

Can I record cash or a bank transfer?

Yes. Record payment on the invoice takes the amount, the date and the method, such as Cash. Reminders stop once the invoice is paid in full.

Can I add VAT or HST to my invoices?

Yes. Invoicing has named tax rates, such as HST or VAT, each with a percentage. Each line uses one of them or no tax. Magpie works out the tax you set up; registering and filing stay with you.

Will Magpie chase a customer who has not paid?

Yes. Payment reminders go out on the days you choose, before and after the due date. Each has the Pay online button and the balance still due. They stop when the invoice is paid in full. You can turn them off for one invoice.

Can customers send photos of the hedge before I price it?

Yes. Your quote request Form can take a photo or a PDF of up to 10 MB. Only the people who can see the Form's responses can open it. Each request is emailed to you, and the responses are kept in one list.

How do I quote a garden clearance with the green waste taken away?

You send a proposal with packages, such as clear and bag, or clear and take away. Each has its lines: the days' work and the trailer loads. Optional lines add a hedge cut. The customer chooses, signs on the page, and Magpie emails you both the signed PDF.

Can a clearance customer sign up for regular cuts on the same quote?

Yes. An optional line can be a fortnightly cut billed monthly. When the customer adds it and signs, Magpie starts a recurring invoice for it. You can set how many invoices it sends, one for each month of the season.

Can I take a deposit before a big clearance?

Yes. The proposal's payment schedule can start with a deposit, invoiced when the customer accepts. They pay it by card into your own Stripe account. The rest is invoiced when the job is done.

Can I put the tip fee or plants I bought on the customer's bill?

Yes. You mark the expense as reimbursable and choose the customer. Add unbilled expenses then puts it on their next invoice as a line. It is marked billed when the invoice is issued.

Can I keep receipts for fuel and strimmer line without paper?

Yes. You photograph each receipt on your phone, up to 10 MB each. A receipt can wait in Receipt Inbox until you add its details. Totals export as CSV, with the receipts as a ZIP file.

Can I keep a record of the mower's and strimmer's services?

Yes. Asset Tracker keeps each machine with its serial number and condition. Start maintenance records it in for a service, with the date it is expected back. End maintenance notes what was done, and the machine's history lists every service. Its receipt and warranty are kept on its page.

Can I be reminded when the mower is due its service?

Yes. A To-do that repeats every year, such as Service the mower, comes back each spring. A reminder emails you on its day, or a day before its Deadline. Ticking it off schedules next year's.

Can I remind myself to offer autumn and spring work?

Yes. A follow-up on a customer has a date and a reason, such as a leaf clear. Follow-ups lists every open one as Overdue, Today or Upcoming. Each is a To-do, with the usual reminders.

Can I see the round and the one-off jobs on one calendar?

Yes. Calendar shows each garden's To-do on the day it is due. A clearance or a site visit is an event. Agenda, Day and Month show the same entries. Your Google Calendar events can be shown beside them.

Can I time a hedge cut to price the next one?

Yes. Start timer on the job's To-do starts a Time Tracking timer with its title. It keeps going if you close the browser. You can also add time afterwards, such as 3h 30m.

Can I take someone on for the summer?

Yes. You make a team and invite them. Each garden's To-do can then be assigned to one of you. They see their gardens on their own Today, and Team To-dos shows you everything. A free team has up to 3 members.

Can I post before-and-after photos of a clearance?

Yes. Social Media schedules posts to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn at the time you choose. For Instagram, Magpie reminds you and opens the post filled in. Each photo is cropped to Instagram's shapes around a point you set.

Can I put a QR code on the van?

Yes. A dynamic QR code opens any address, such as your quote request Form. You can point it somewhere else after the sign is made. Its page counts the scans. The code downloads as SVG, PNG or PDF.

Does it do my books?

Yes. Accounting adds each invoice, payment and expense to the books, linked to its record. You import your bank statement as a CSV file and match each line. Profit and Loss and the Sales tax report run for any period. Check the rules where you file.

Put this season's gardens on your round.

Create a Magpie account and add your first garden.

Create account