Garden Furniture and Structure Inventory

Who this is for

Everything outside that is not a plant or a tool. Furniture, sheds, greenhouses, fencing, gates, decking, paving and lighting, each with a quantity, a value you set and a condition — multiplied out and totalled for an insurer, a sale or a replacement plan.

Householders listing the outside of the property for contents cover, people handing a garden over on a sale or a tenancy, and anyone working out what the back garden would cost to replace after a storm.

What this helps you track

• Every structure and piece of furniture outside, with where it stands
• What it is made of, which decides how it weathers and what it needs
• How many of each and what you value one at, multiplied out
• The condition of each, recorded on the day you walked round
• When each was last treated, painted or serviced
• A total value for the whole garden, at your own figures

How to use it

1. Write the property, the date you walked round and the currency at the top.
2. Go round the garden and list what is there — a bench is a line, six matching chairs are one line with a quantity of six.
3. Pick the type from the list and write the material, since a softwood bench and a cast iron one age quite differently.
4. Put your own value against one of each item. Use replacement cost or what you paid, but be consistent and say which in the notes.
5. Record the condition as you find it and the date it was last treated or painted; the value column is worked out in the browser and the workbook.
6. Photograph anything valuable and keep the photographs with the sheet — an insurer will want both.
7. Walk round again each year and update the conditions and the values.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What value should I put against each item?

Whichever basis your insurer or your purpose calls for — what you would pay to replace it, or what you paid. The sheet multiplies and totals whatever you type and suggests no figure of its own.

Does this replace a home contents inventory?

No, it sits beside one. The contents inventory covers the inside of the house; this sheet covers the garden, which is the part most people forget until something blows over.

How is it different from the shed inventory?

The shed inventory is the contents of the shed — what is on the shelves and the hooks. This sheet lists the shed itself, along with the fences, the furniture and everything else that is fixed or heavy.

Should fencing go on it?

If you own it, yes — a run of fence panels is one of the costlier things in most gardens and one of the likeliest to be damaged. Write the number of panels as the quantity.

Can I use it for a rental or holiday let garden?

Yes. The condition column and the date give you a dated record of how the garden was handed over, which is what a deposit discussion usually turns on.