How to Price Landscaping Jobs the Right Way

1. Understand the scope of work

To determine the most accurate pricing for your landscaping services, you’ll need to know exactly what the job entails.

Start by scheduling a site assessment with your client and consider these questions:

• What is the job location? The more remote the job site, the more you’ll have to charge to cover fuel costs.
• How big is the yard? Measure the yard, so you know how much materials you need to order.
• Is there any existing property damage, safety hazards, or accessibility issues? Do a thorough walkaround and take photos of the property. You can save these photos to your client’s profile for future reference.
• Is there a time constraint? If the client absolutely needs the work done within a tight timeframe, you can charge more for the service.
• What services am I providing? Is it something standard like removing sod or more complex such as building a retaining wall? The more specialized the service, the more you will charge.
• Does my client have any special requests? You need to know ahead of time if your client wants something your usual supplier can’t provide. For example, a unique lighting fixture that costs more than the one you’d usually buy from Home Depot.
• What types of materials will I need for the job? The cost of materials will depend on your client’s stylistic preferences. For example, river rocks typically cost $15 – $35 per bag, while Mexican beach pebbles cost between $25 – $60 per bag.

Once you understand your full scope, you’ll have a much better understanding of what pricing should look like. 

Paul Jamison of the Green Industry Podcast saw his business transform after he started paying himself a set amount every month. It became clear he needed to charge his customers a lot more than he was.

2. Pick the right pricing strategy

The two most common pricing strategies for landscape jobs are: hourly rate and fixed rate.

Hourly rate

Using an hourly rate pricing method means you’ll charge your clients for the number of hours it takes to complete the service—plus the cost of materials and overhead. 

When to charge hourly: When you’re starting your business and still getting a sense of how long jobs take, and/or the full scope of work is not clear.

Pros:

• Hourly pricing gives you wiggle room, especially when jobs take longer than estimated.
• There’s less pressure to work faster because you’ll still be paid for your time.

Cons:

• You’re not rewarded for getting better and faster at your job.
• Hourly rates can lead to conflict if clients feel you’re working too slow.
• If the job takes longer than expected, clients may try to rush you through the job, or become upset when they see the final price.

Fixed-rate

A fixed rate, or flat rate pricing strategy means you’ll charge one flat fee for the entire landscaping project—including the cost of materials, overhead and labor.

When to charge a fixed fee: If the scope of work is clear and you can predict with a fair amount of certainty how long a job will take.

Pros:

• Clients feel in control of their budget.
• You can charge based on value which lets you set a higher price.
• As you create efficiencies in your business and develop your expertise, you won’t get penalized for becoming better at what you do.

Cons:

• Underestimating labor and materials is the biggest risk of fixed-price billing. If you underestimate costs, you’ll have to absorb them.

Ultimately it’s up to you to decide which pricing strategy works best for your business, but our experts agree that hourly works most of the time for their businesses. 

3. Estimate your labor costs

Calculate your labor cost for the landscape service by multiplying the number of hours needed to complete the job by your hourly labor rate. Here’s how:

1. Start by estimating the number of labor hours it will take to complete the job based on the scope of work. Then, multiply by the number of people you’ll have working on the job to get the labor hours.

For example, if you expect the job to 40 hours and will have six landscapers working, that’s 240 hours. 

Pro Tip: If you or your team is just starting out, use time tracking software to track exactly how long each crew member takes on each job. You can use the results as a benchmark for estimating future landscaping jobs.

2. Next, calculate your hourly labor cost. Factor in employee wages, plus extras for taxes, worker’s compensation, and other employee-related expenses.

3. Finally, multiply the labor hours by the hourly labor cost

The total labor cost for the job is: 240 x $16.47 = $3,952.80

4. Estimate your material costs

List all the materials you need for the job, figure out the quantities for each, and the total cost (including taxes). Then add all of your material costs together for the grand total. 

Common landscaping materials include:

• Compost
• Floodlights
• Cement
• Lawn turf
• Gravel
• Boulders
• Landscaping rock
• Timber
• Fertilizer
• Trees
• Plants
• Mulch

5. Calculate your overhead 

Your overhead includes all of the things you need to run your business, like advertising, phone bills, insurance, and landscaping software like Jobber.

Here’s how to calculate your overhead costs for a landscaping job:

1. Calculate your weekly overhead fees (let’s assume it’s $1,000).
2. Determine the number of weekly labor hours worked (for example, 100).
3. Divide weekly overhead cost into hours worked for an hourly overhead cost ($1,000/100=$10 ). This means that for every labor hour you need to charge $10 to cover that cost.
4. Multiply the hourly overhead cost by the number of man hours for the job ($10 x 240=$2400).

6. Total your costs

Add your labor, material, and overhead costs to get the total cost for the job:

• Labor: $3,952.80
• Material: $3,500.00
• Overhead: $2,400.00
• Total costs: $9,852.80

You can also use Jobber to track all your costs in one place. You’ll get a real-time view of your job’s profitability as you add and change costs for each job.

7. Add your markup

The final step is to determine your desired profit margin and add your markup to your total job cost.

• Your markup is the dollar amount you add to the cost of the job to get your final, profitable price. 
• Your profit margin is the percentage of revenue that you take home after applying your markup.

When pricing your landscaping jobs, aim for a 15% to 20% profit margin.

If your ideal profit margin is 20%, the cost of your job should make up 80% of the total price.

Here’s the formula you would use to calculate your markup:

Total price = cost ÷ (1 – profit margin)

For example, if your overhead, labor, and material costs add up to $9,852.80, to get a profit margin of 20% you’ll use the following formula:

Total price = $9,852.80 ÷ 0.80 = $12,316

8. Create a landscaping quote

A quote is a professional document that shows your client the cost and pricing breakdown of their landscaping project before they hire you.

Your landscaping quote should include:

• Your landscaping business name and logo
• Your business contact information, including email and phone number
• Your client’s name and contact details
• A breakdown of the landscaping services you’ll be providing, including materials and costs
• The total cost for the service, including taxes
• How long the quote is valid for
• Your terms and conditions (e.g., deposit amount or payment terms)

You can write out your quote by hand, fill in a landscaping estimate template, or use quoting software like Jobber. 

Quotes in Jobber are professionally designed and interactive. You can suggest optional products or services, and add images of each, directly on the quote.

Your customers can select the services they want and approve the updated total.