Landscaping quote template for the yard they want

What a landscaping estimate template should list

This landscaping quote template splits a yard job into the parts customers actually compare: stone and base, plants, irrigation, mulch and the crew hours to install them. Extras such as garden lighting sit outside the total until the customer ticks them. Start from the sample lines of a front yard makeover in the quote maker, or download the same layout as a Word, Excel or PDF file.

A landscaping quote should let the customer see where every dollar lands in the yard. List hard materials by area or volume, plants by count and container size, and labor by task. Then record the site conditions you found, so soil, slope, access and drainage do not turn into surprises once the digging starts.

1. Site plan and measurementsWrite down the areas you measured: path length and width, bed areas in ft² or m², and the lawn to be stripped. Attach a sketch so the customer and the crew read the same layout.
2. Hardscape by areaFlagstone, pavers or decomposed granite priced per m² or ft², with the base depth stated, for example 4 in of compacted crushed rock under a flagstone path.
3. Plant scheduleEach species or group with its container size and count, such as 1 gallon natives or 15 gallon trees. A 5 gallon shrub and a 1 gallon shrub of the same plant are very different prices.
4. Soil, mulch and amendmentsCompost, topsoil and mulch by the cubic yard or m³, with the spread depth, such as 3 in of shredded bark over the beds.
5. IrrigationDrip kit or new zones, emitters per plant, any backflow device your area requires, and the connection to an existing valve or timer. Say whether the controller is new or reused.
6. Demolition and gradingSod stripping, root and rock removal, and grading so water falls away from the house, with the volume of green waste you will haul off.
7. Labor by taskCrew hours for each stage instead of one lump, so a customer who drops a bed or shortens the path can see what comes off.
8. Plant guarantee termsIf you replace plants that fail in the first season, say for how long and what watering the customer must keep up for the promise to apply.
9. Deposit and valid until dateA deposit to order stone and nursery stock, and a short validity window, because plant availability and stone prices move with the season.

Sample landscaping quote: a front yard makeover

The sample is a front yard makeover for Fatima Ali by Greenstead Landscapes. Materials come first: 18 m² of flagstone with its base, 40 mixed native plants, a drip irrigation kit and 6 m³ of mulch. Labor follows as two lines of crew hours at $60, lawn removal and grading, then path laying and planting. Six garden lights sit as an optional extra outside the $5,840 subtotal, and a 20% deposit applies. All prices are illustrative, not market rates.

Edit the Greenstead Landscapes quote

7 lines are filled in, from flagstone and base to garden lighting, 6 lights. Put in your own landscaping rates, then download the PDF.

Open the landscaping sample

How to quote for landscaping jobs

Landscapers often combine methods on one job: materials by quantity with a markup, labor by crew hours or by area, and machines by the day. Price each stage on its own, so you can show the customer what a smaller scope would cost without rebuilding the whole quote.

1. Materials plus crew hoursTake off quantities, price stone, plants and mulch at cost plus your markup, then estimate crew hours per task. Suits design and build jobs with many small parts.
2. Installed rates per areaOne rate per ft² or m² that bundles material and labor for repeat work, such as sod laid or a gravel path. Fast once you have timed your own production on real jobs.
3. Lump sum per stageOne price for demolition, one for hardscape and one for planting. Customers can approve stages one at a time, but only quote this way after careful measuring.
4. Machines by the daySkid steer, mini excavator or sod cutter as day lines plus delivery. Keeping them separate makes a second day on hard clay easy to explain.

Stone, plants and soil are bought in and resold, so check the margin on each with the markup calculator. The guide to marking up materials covers delivery charges and waste allowances.

Worked example: pricing a flagstone path

Here is one path priced from the tape measure up. The supplier prices and the production rate are examples; swap in figures from your own yard and your own crew.

1. Measure the areaA path 30 ft long and 4 ft wide is 30 x 4 = 120 ft². Add 10% for cutting and breakage, so order stone for 132 ft².
2. Work out the baseA 4 in base is 120 x 0.333 = 40 ft³. Divide by 27 to get 1.48 yd³, then add 20% because the rock compacts: 1.48 x 1.2 = 1.78, so order 1.8 yd³.
3. Price the materialsAt example prices of $6.50 per ft² for flagstone and $55 per yd³ for base rock: 132 x 6.50 = $858 and 1.8 x 55 = $99, so $957 of materials at cost.
4. Estimate the laborDigging out, compacting and setting stone at 10 ft² per crew hour gives 120 / 10 = 12 crew hours. At $60 an hour that is $720.
5. Add markup and totalA 20% markup on $957 adds $191.40. The path line becomes $957 + $191.40 + $720 = $1,868.40 before tax.

Production rates fall on slopes, in rocky ground and when every load goes through a narrow side gate by wheelbarrow, so adjust the crew hours for the site rather than the area alone.

Landscaping inclusions and exclusions

Landscaping quote mistakes that cost margin

• Pricing stone by the pallet without converting it to the area it covers, then running short on the last day.
• Writing ‘plants as discussed’ instead of a schedule with species, container sizes and counts.
• Ignoring access: a narrow side gate means wheelbarrows instead of a skid steer, and the crew moves far less per hour.
• Promising to replace failed plants with no watering condition, then paying for plants lost to a timer that was switched off.
• Lumping hardscape and planting together, so a customer who cuts one part cannot see the new price.
• Leaving out green waste disposal, which on a lawn removal job can fill several trailer loads.