Commercial facility services
Books and taxes for parking lot sweeping companies.
Overnight shopping center routes, a bid-won construction site cleanup, diesel for the sweeper truck, and dump fees at the transfer station. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
June came in at $10,700. The rebuilt broom head for truck 2 went in as an equipment repair, not a parts run.
- Shopping center route billingRecurring routes
- Construction site cleanup jobOne-time jobs
- Diesel, sweeper truck 1Fuel
- Transfer station dump feeDump and disposal
- Broom head rebuild kitEquipment repair
Why your books are different
Parking lot sweeping books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business runs overnight, on routes that repeat every week and bid jobs that show up once, in trucks that cost more than most equipment. When the books do not know that, you cannot tell which routes are worth keeping.
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1
Nightly routes and bid jobs blur together
A weekly shopping center route and a single construction site cleanup land in the same revenue line, so you cannot tell whether the steady routes or the occasional big bid job is really carrying the month.
What we doKeeps recurring route billing apart from one-time bid jobs, so you can see the dependable base under a busy week. -
2
A rebuilt sweeper is not a parts run
A regenerative air or mechanical sweeper truck can cost as much as a dump truck, and rebuilding the broom head or gutter brooms is a real equipment cost, not a routine supply purchase.
What we doFlags major sweeper purchases and rebuilds the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off. -
3
Dump and disposal fees get buried in fuel
Every load a sweeper picks up has to go somewhere, and transfer station or landfill fees add up fast but usually get lumped in with diesel receipts where nobody notices the trend.
What we doKeeps dump and disposal fees in their own line, so you can see that cost against how many lots you actually run. -
4
Route pricing does not account for real fuel cost
Diesel prices swing, and a route quoted a year ago at a flat monthly rate can quietly stop being worth running once fuel eats into what is left.
What we doTracks fuel against route income, so you can see when it is time to talk with a customer about the rate.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a parking lot sweeping company.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Recurring routesShopping centers, office parks, and property management accounts billed weekly or monthly.
- One-time jobsConstruction site cleanups and single-visit sweeps billed on their own.
- Porter and litter serviceDaytime lot walking and litter pickup billed alongside the sweep.
- Striping and line paintingAdd-on work billed separately from the sweep contract.
Money out
- FuelDiesel or gas for the sweeper fleet and support trucks.
- EquipmentSweeper trucks, broom heads, and hopper units.
- Equipment repairBroom rebuilds, gutter brooms, hydraulic parts, and hopper seals.
- Dump and disposalTransfer station and landfill fees for what the sweeper picks up.
- Driver wagesOvernight route drivers, kept apart so labor is visible against routes run.
- Bid and marketing costsProposal preparation for property management accounts.
- Insurance and licensingCommercial auto, general liability, and any local hauling permits.
What we watch for you
- Fuel cost per route
Diesel against routes run, so an old flat-rate contract does not quietly become a loss.
- Dump fee trend
What disposal is costing over time, so you know when a transfer station rate change hits margin.
- Recurring route share
Weekly route income against total income, so you know how much of the month is steady versus a one-time bid.
Ask Gus
Things parking lot sweeping owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
I logged it as equipment repair, not a parts run, so it does not read like a bad month of supply spending.
Dump fees ran high this month, that transfer station raised its rate. I kept it in disposal so you can see it against past months.
If you pay him $2,000 or more this year and he is not on payroll, he gets a 1099 by January 31. I keep that list running as the routes get covered.
The tax side
The tax side of a parking lot sweeping business.
Most of what goes wrong here is labels and timing. A sweeper rebuild filed as supplies, a fill-in driver paid like a contractor who works like an employee, and a set-aside nobody started until the return was due.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Sweeper trucks and equipmentSweeper trucks and broom equipment bought for the business can usually be written off the year you buy them. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sA fill-in driver paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list current all year.
- Employee or contractorA driver who runs your truck on your route and your schedule is usually an employee. Getting that wrong gets expensive, so Gus asks before it becomes a habit.
- The pass-through deductionA profitable sweeping route can usually claim up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income under the pass-through deduction, once the books are right all year.
Deductions parking lot sweeping companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Diesel and fuel taxes
- Broom and gutter brush replacement
- Hopper and hydraulic repairs
- Dump and disposal fees
- Uniforms with your logo
- Truck insurance
- Two-way radios and GPS
- Proposal software
- Tools that live on the truck
- Night lighting and safety flags
- Licenses and permits
- Card processing fees
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A parking lot sweeping year, kept every month.
Routes run every week no matter the season, while bid jobs come and go with the construction calendar. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Route year kickoff
The prior year's return is already underway, the fill-in driver's 1099 is on file, and next April's set-aside is being built one route at a time.
- April
Signed off
Your business return gets filed and signed this month, with no scramble, since the set-aside has been growing every month since January.
- July
Summer bid check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether new construction bids changed the number.
- October
Before winter routes
As lots need clearing before leaf and snow season, Gus looks at equipment worth buying and anything worth doing before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for parking lot sweeping companies. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions parking lot sweeping owners ask first.
Can Gus tell my regular routes apart from one-time cleanup jobs?
Yes. He keeps recurring route billing in its own category from one-time construction cleanups, so you can see which part of the business is the steady base.
My routes run overnight and get paid on different schedules. Does that matter?
No. Gus works off your bank statement whenever the deposit actually lands, and if a route payout looks odd he asks you once and remembers the answer after that.
Do I write off a sweeper truck all at once?
Often you can. A sweeper truck bought for the business can usually be written off in full the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading the deduction out is smarter. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
Dump fees keep changing. Can Gus track that?
Yes. Disposal fees get their own line, so you can see the trend and know when it is time to revisit a route's price.
My books are behind by a whole season. Is that a problem?
No. Send the statements you have, even a season's worth of routes. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and you will know where you stand within a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever