How do you price a landscaping job?

Add the crew time the job takes at your crew rate, the materials at your markup, and the delivery, disposal and equipment rental at cost. Your crew rate comes from a year of wages and overhead divided by the crew-hours you can bill in your season, plus your profit. The calculator above does each step with your numbers.

How much should a landscaper charge per hour?

Enough to cover your crew's wages, your trucks, trailers, equipment, insurance and overhead, and your profit, spread over the crew-hours you can actually bill in a season. That depends on your crew size, pay and season length, so the calculator works it out from yours instead of quoting someone else's rate.

How do I calculate how many cubic yards of mulch, soil or gravel I need?

Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in inches, divide by 12 to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. A 600 square foot bed at 3 inches is 600 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 5.56 cubic yards. Add a little for waste and settling. Some suppliers sell stone and gravel by the ton; ask yours for the conversion for that material.

How much should I charge to install mulch?

Price the yards at your material cost plus markup, the crew-hours to edge, weed, spread and clean up at your crew rate, and the delivery. Time your own crew on a few jobs to know the crew-hours per yard for your beds; access, slopes and wheelbarrow distance change it a lot.

What markup should I use on landscaping materials?

Enough to cover what materials really cost you beyond the invoice: picking up or receiving, storing, loading, the waste, and plants you replace under warranty. Many companies use a higher markup on small orders than on large ones. The calculator shows the margin your markup gives.

One crew on a job for one hour, however many people are on it. Pricing in crew-hours keeps the math simple when your crews are a fixed size; if crew size changes from job to job, price in person-hours instead.

How do I bid landscaping jobs?

Measure the job, work out the material quantities, estimate the crew-hours from jobs you have timed, and price it with your crew rate and markup. Offering two or three versions of the job lets the customer choose the scope, and each version should be one you would stand behind.

How often should I update my landscaping prices?

Before each season, and whenever your costs move: material prices, fuel, equipment payments, insurance, wages. Re-run your crew rate and reprice your common jobs from it.

Landscaping pricing

Landscaping pricing calculator: price a job from your crew rate and materials

Price landscaping work from your own costs, not from what another company charges. Work out what a billable crew-hour costs you across your season, wages, trucks, equipment and insurance included, and add your profit: that is your crew rate. Then price each job as crew-hours at that rate, plus materials at your markup, plus delivery, disposal and equipment at cost. The calculator below also works out the cubic yards of mulch, soil or gravel a job needs. The numbers in it are examples; replace them with yours. Pricing mowing? Use the lawn care pricing calculator.

1. The crew rate you need

Your overhead runs all year; most crews bill only in season. Count time on jobs as billable, not loading, the yard or rain days.

Crews People per crew Pay per person per hourwith payroll taxes $ Paid hours per crew per week Weeks in your season Share of paid hours you billon jobs and driving between them % Overhead per month, all yeartrucks, trailers, equipment, insurance, yard, your pay $ Profit you wantas a share of sales %

$156.86per crew-hour you need

$133.33break-even per crew-hour

2,268billable crew-hours a season

$355,765sales a year at that rate

$302,400 a year in wages and overhead over 2,268 billable crew-hours in a 36-week season. A crew-hour is one crew on a job for one hour.

2. Cubic yards for mulch, soil or gravel

Area × depth in inches ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = cubic yards.

Area sq ft Depth in Extra for waste and settling %

5.83cubic yards to order

5.56cubic yards, exact

150cubic feet

Multiply the yards to order by your supplier’s price per yard for the materials line below. Stone and gravel are often sold by the ton; ask your supplier for the conversion for that material. For bags, shapes and tons, use the topsoil calculator; for mulch beds and tree rings, the mulch calculator.

3. Price the job three ways

Crew-hours at your crew rate, materials at your markup, other job costs at cost. Shown here for refreshing 600 sq ft of beds; rename them for any job.

Your crew ratefilled in from step 1, rounded up $ Markup on materials= 33.3% margin on materials % Delivery, disposal, equipmentpassed through at cost $

Good

Crew-hours Materials $

$570

labor $314 · materials $195 · other $60

Better

Crew-hours Materials $

$905

labor $550 · materials $292 · other $60

Best

Crew-hours Materials $

$1,275

labor $785 · materials $428 · other $60

Round prices up to the nearest $5

How to price landscaping jobs, step by step

Count your billable crew-hours for the season. Time on jobs and driving between them, across the weeks you work. Leave out loading, the yard and rain days.
Add up a year of costs. Crew wages for the season, plus everything you pay all year: trucks, trailers, equipment, insurance, the yard, software, marketing and your own pay.
Divide, then add profit. Costs ÷ billable crew-hours is break-even. Divide again by (1 − your profit share) for your crew rate.
Measure and work out the materials. Cubic yards from area and depth, plus waste; plants, edging and fabric by count or length.
Estimate the crew-hours from jobs you have timed. Access, slopes and how far the wheelbarrow goes change them more than anything.
Price it and offer a choice. Crew-hours × rate + materials at markup + job costs, in two or three versions of the job.

Your prices come from your costs. Your customers hear from the landscapers around you.

MyIntelBrief watches the landscaping and lawn care companies near you — the services and specials they post, their new reviews, the crews they’re hiring, new companies starting up — and emails you a short brief on what changed. Type your company name and pick it from the dropdown for a free look at who you’re competing with. Here’s a sample brief for a lawn and landscape company.

Step 1 of 2to get 4 weeks free: your business name

Your company’s name

Step 2 of 2 where should we send your 4 free briefs? Just email today’s demo, no weekly briefs

Just looking? Leave the email off to see your demo, no commitment. Add it for the 4 free weeks.

Free, no card. We’ll email you this brief, then a fresh one each week for 4 weeks, before you commit to anything. Unsubscribe anytime.

Works with the AI assistant you already use.

How?

Paste or forward a brief to any AI assistant you use and ask, for example, “what are my top 3 moves this week?” No setup. Briefs about your own business also attach a small data file made for it. Details for developers

Frequently asked questions

How do you price a landscaping job?: Add the crew time the job takes at your crew rate, the materials at your markup, and the delivery, disposal and equipment rental at cost. Your crew rate comes from a year of wages and overhead divided by the crew-hours you can bill in your season, plus your profit. The calculator above does each step with your numbers.
How much should a landscaper charge per hour?: Enough to cover your crew's wages, your trucks, trailers, equipment, insurance and overhead, and your profit, spread over the crew-hours you can actually bill in a season. That depends on your crew size, pay and season length, so the calculator works it out from yours instead of quoting someone else's rate.
How do I calculate how many cubic yards of mulch, soil or gravel I need?: Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in inches, divide by 12 to get cubic feet, then divide by 27. A 600 square foot bed at 3 inches is 600 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 5.56 cubic yards. Add a little for waste and settling. Some suppliers sell stone and gravel by the ton; ask yours for the conversion for that material.
How much should I charge to install mulch?: Price the yards at your material cost plus markup, the crew-hours to edge, weed, spread and clean up at your crew rate, and the delivery. Time your own crew on a few jobs to know the crew-hours per yard for your beds; access, slopes and wheelbarrow distance change it a lot.
What markup should I use on landscaping materials?: Enough to cover what materials really cost you beyond the invoice: picking up or receiving, storing, loading, the waste, and plants you replace under warranty. Many companies use a higher markup on small orders than on large ones. The calculator shows the margin your markup gives.
What is a crew-hour?: One crew on a job for one hour, however many people are on it. Pricing in crew-hours keeps the math simple when your crews are a fixed size; if crew size changes from job to job, price in person-hours instead.
How do I bid landscaping jobs?: Measure the job, work out the material quantities, estimate the crew-hours from jobs you have timed, and price it with your crew rate and markup. Offering two or three versions of the job lets the customer choose the scope, and each version should be one you would stand behind.
How often should I update my landscaping prices?: Before each season, and whenever your costs move: material prices, fuel, equipment payments, insurance, wages. Re-run your crew rate and reprice your common jobs from it.

More pricing calculators for service businesses: lawn care, plumbing, HVAC, auto repair, cleaning, pest control, roofing and electrical. See how MyIntelBrief works for home services.