How to Estimate Landscaping Jobs?

Landscaping can be an excellent and rewarding business. After all, you get to completely transform an environment and help people get the garden of their dreams. But there are also challenging parts to it, like pricing your services. You probably already know that a landscaping estimate is not that easy to calculate.

If you don't add things up correctly, you may end up losing money with some jobs and barely covering your costs with others. It happens to many landscape contractors, according to statistics. But there are ways to make sure your business thrives, and you get compensated for your efforts and creativity.

All you need is a good landscaping estimate template and to follow the guidelines we will present below. We will go over everything from the usual landscaping rates to the most efficient way to create a landscaping cost estimator.

How to Estimate a Landscaping Job?

Your client has probably asked around about the average landscaper hourly rate when planning their project. But you need to consider many aspects when deciding how to bid on a landscaping job to make sure you get a profit in the end. To offer a fair and realistic landscaping estimate, here are the steps you need to take.

First, you need to have a detailed conversation with your client, to understand precisely what they want. You need to ask all the necessary questions and note down every detail. It's best to have this conversation on-site, so you can do all the measurements and see how much hardscaping will be involved.

Once your client tells you what style and elements they have in mind, you must consider other factors, like, the quality of the soil, the types of suitable plants, and if you need to add stone pathways. Your final landscaping prices per hour will also depend on how far the property is and how much reshaping it will need, depending on what the yard looks initially.

The next step in estimating your landscaping hourly rate is to calculate overhead costs. That's an essential part, and if you don't include everything, you risk not charging enough for your services. You need to know precisely the total costs, from vans and equipment maintenance to cell phones and insurance. In general, overhead costs are about 20% of the sales.

Landscaping rates also depend on the cost of materials, which is why it's essential to make correct measurements and evaluate the yard from the beginning. Once you have all the specifications, make sure to show them to your subcontractors, so they can calculate their price.

Labor costs are essential, regardless if you do the work yourself or have employees. Moreover, make sure to add your markup. All these elements will go into your landscaping estimate template, so you can determine the correct price for the project.

How Much Do Landscapers Charge?

The cost depends on many aspects, and the fact that every project is different complicates things. You need to adapt to the client's wishes and the particularities of the land. So, everything from materials to how many workers and the time frame will affect the final price.

Landscape maintenance cost per hour varies for all the reasons mentioned above. As for your workers, their hourly wage depends on your business' location. The national average is $13.73, but in practice, it can vary from $9.21 to $19.74.

If you consider each project's different requirements, it becomes clear that you need an accurate landscaping cost estimator to get to the correct price.

What Is the Average Landscaping Price?

Landscaping is not a standard business due to the many variables to be taken into consideration. While the equipment may generally be the same, it involves a lot of creativity, and you need to adjust your technique to the particularities of each yard.

Still, to get an idea of the average landscaper’s hourly rate, statistics can help. Overall, the price range for both new projects and maintenance is between $45 and $75 per hour.

If you want to look at landscaping rates from a different angle, you can calculate the cost per square foot. It is usually between $5 and $35 per square foot. But if the project includes designer landscaping or a lot of hardscaping, it will be reflected in the final cost.

Conclusion

Contractor jobs are usually tricky to estimate, and landscaping is no exception. You need to keep many aspects in mind when you calculate the costs of making your client's wishes a reality.

To provide an accurate offer, you need an excellent landscaping estimate template. Later you will also need a landscaping invoice template, which you can find on the WeInvoice website, along with other great templates and invoice generators, to support your business every step of the way.