Landscaping is usually priced per visit, per square foot, per cubic yard of material, per plant, or per hour. Whichever way you quote, check it against the real cost of the job.
Start with what one crew hour really costs
Before you quote any yard, know the full cost of one hour of crew time. That means wages, payroll taxes, insurance, workers' comp, and the wear on mowers, trimmers, trailers and trucks. Then add the drive. Time in the truck is paid time, even though the customer never sees it.
Once you know that hour, every other price is easy to test. A lawn that takes forty minutes with two people has a cost you can work out in a minute. If your price does not clear it by a good margin, the price is wrong.
Maintenance contracts versus one-off installs
These are two different kinds of work. Price them in two different ways.
Maintenance contracts
A contract is a promise to show up again and again. The price per visit has to cover the time on site, the drive between stops, and the visits that run long. Tight routes make money. One far-away lawn can eat the profit of three close ones.
- Build the visit price from real time on site plus travel, not from lot size alone.
- Charge more for the first visit when the yard is overgrown.
- Write down what is extra, such as leaf cleanup, storm debris and bed weeding.
- Review the price every season, because fuel and wages move.
One-off installs
Patios, planting beds, sod and retaining walls carry more risk. You pay for the materials, the delivery, the digging and the clean-up before you see a cent. Price an install as a fixed job with a clear scope, not as an hourly guess.
Material markup and waste
Materials are not free money, and they are not free risk either. You pick them up or arrange delivery, you carry the cost until the customer pays, and you answer for them if a plant dies or a stone cracks.
- Add a markup to every material line. It pays for the shopping trip, the handling and the risk.
- Add a waste allowance. Mulch settles, sod is cut to fit, and cuts on pavers end up in the bin.
- Count delivery fees and the time to unload as part of the material cost.
- Note when a plant is under warranty, and price the chance of a replacement.
If you only pass your cost through, a single bad delivery can wipe out the day.
Weather, season and the days you lose
Landscaping runs on weather. A rainy week does not cancel your costs. Wages, truck payments and insurance keep running while the crew sits idle.
Spread those lost days across the jobs you do complete. In a short season, each working day has to carry more of the year. Rain also makes the work slower, because wet lawns, mud and heavy soil take longer to handle. If a job can only be done in a narrow window, price the pressure that puts on your schedule.
Do not forget the shoulder seasons. Spring cleanup and fall leaf work often come all at once, and the queue grows fast. Raising the price in your busiest weeks is a fair way to protect the crew you already have.
Mistakes that quietly cost you money
- Pricing from the lot size only. A flat lawn and a steep one with fences and tight gates are not the same job.
- Ignoring drive time between stops. Loose routes turn a good price into a thin one.
- Passing materials through at cost. Waste, delivery and warranty replacements come out of your pocket.
- Leaving extras out of the contract. Free leaf cleanups and one-off trims become a habit.
- Forgetting equipment wear. Blades, fuel, trimmer line and repairs are a real cost per hour.
- Never raising old contract prices. A price that worked three years ago may lose money now.
When to say no or raise the price
Not every yard is worth the visit. Raise the price, or walk away, when you see these signs.
- The property is far from your route and you cannot add neighbours.
- The customer wants a weekly visit at a price that only works if everything goes right.
- The access is poor, with narrow gates, steep slopes or no place to park the trailer.
- The scope keeps growing before you have even started.
- The customer wants a fixed price on a job with unknown ground, such as old roots or buried rubble.
For unknowns, quote the known work as a fixed price and add a clear change-order rate for what you find. A polite no is cheaper than a job that loses money for a whole season.
How to sanity-check a per-unit price
Per-square-foot, per-yard and per-plant prices are quick to quote. They are also easy to get wrong. Test any unit price in three steps.
- Estimate the crew hours for the job, including the drive.
- Multiply by your full hourly cost, then add materials, fuel and disposal.
- Divide your unit price times the quantity into that cost. The gap is your margin.
If the margin is thin, the unit price is too low or the hours are too optimistic. Fix the unit price, not the margin. CrewBrain tracks the real cost of each job so you can see which jobs earn their price.
A worked example: a one-day garden refresh with mulch and edging
| Item | How it is worked out | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | 3 people × 4.5 hours (including drive time) × $27 per hour | $364 |
| Materials | Supplies used on the job | $120 |
| Vehicle and fuel | Truck time and fuel for this job | $60 |
| Job costs | $544 | |
| Price at a 50% margin | $544 ÷ 0.50 | $1,089 |
| Left after job costs | $1,089 − $544 | $544 |
Where the price goes in this example
Every dollar of the price, split into the costs it covers and what is left over.
- Labor $364 (33%)
- Materials $120 (11%)
- Vehicle and fuel $60 (6%)
- Left after job costs $545 (50%)
The whole bar is the price the customer pays: $1,089. Illustrative numbers, built from the table above.
The hourly cost per person is the full cost of an hour, with taxes, insurance and equipment wear, not just the wage. The drive counts as paid crew time, and the materials line includes mulch plus a waste allowance. These numbers are an illustrative example of the method. They are not a price list, and not a promise of what your jobs will earn.
Try it with your own numbers
Job costs means crew time (with drive time), materials, vehicle and fuel. Hourly cost per person is the full cost of an hour, including payroll taxes and insurance, not just the wage. This is a simple calculator, not a quote.
Keep going
- How much to charge for lawn mowing so every cut pays
- How much to charge per acre to mow, from half an acre to five acres
- CrewBrain for landscaping companies: how the software handles quoting, scheduling and crew time for this trade.
- How to price a service job: the five-step method behind every page in this series.
- Job price calculator: the same calculator as above, on its own page.
- Price increase calculator: see how many customers you can lose before a raise stops paying.
- How to price painting jobs
- How to price roofing jobs
- How to price junk removal jobs
- What is a good profit margin for a service business?
- How to estimate labor hours for a job
- How to quote a job professionally
- All pricing guides by trade
Questions owners ask
How do I price a lawn mowing contract?
Work out the time on site plus the drive for each visit, multiply by your full crew-hour cost, then add fuel and a margin. Check that the stop fits a tight route before you commit.
Should I charge by the hour or by the job for landscaping?
Use a fixed price for jobs with a clear scope, and hourly for open-ended or unknown work. Either way, build the number from your real crew-hour cost.
How much should I mark up landscaping materials?
Add a markup that covers the shopping trip, handling, waste and the risk of replacements. Work backward from what a bad delivery or failed plant would cost you.
How do I price landscaping jobs that depend on the weather?
Spread the cost of lost days across the jobs you finish, and price the pressure of a short season. Add a clear note on how rain delays are handled.