How to Estimate Landscaping Jobs? Steps to Profit Bidding

What Are the Factors to Consider When Pricing Landscaping Jobs?

In your landscape cost estimate task, you need to consider the following factors –

1. Project Scope

Pricing for landscape jobs greatly depends upon the project size and scope. A small project gets completed early with a low price estimate. On the other hand, large and complex projects are always expensive because they need more time to complete.

2. Equipment and Overhead

Landscaping jobs need equipment, and it contributes to the estimate of landscaping jobs. Overhead expenses like office rent, fuel charges, legal fees, etc are also contributing factors.

3. Material and Labor

What kind of materials are required during the project is also a kind of cost factor. Determine how much cost will be applicable to labor costs and material costs.

What Are the Pricing Models for a Landscaping Job?

There are three pricing models for the strategy on how to price landscaping jobs. Every pricing model has a unique concept so professionals must choose it wisely.

1. Hourly Pricing Model

This kind of pricing model applies to small-scale projects. Professionals need to be charged based on an hourly rate (total number of hours spent on the project). However, this kind of pricing does not apply to large and complex projects.

2. Flat Rate Pricing

Flat rate pricing model reflects offering a set price for the full project. It is not based on the number of hours worked. Instead a client needs to pay a fixed amount.

3. Value-Based Pricing

This covers the price that accurately reflects the value of the service provided. The complexity of the job is the biggest factor in this model. Value based pricing model is a top profitable pricing model but it needs to be handled well. Moreover, a customized approach is available for this kind of project.

How to Estimate Landscaping Jobs?

1. Create a Project Plan

The initial step in estimating landscape costs is developing a detailed project plan. You must ask your client about their budget in a transparent discussion. Further, you can decide whether to spend time on this project or not as per the budget.

You can visit the site and measure the area by yourself. Also, focus on the kind of material and labor costs you will need.

You need to cover the following questions before creating the perfect project plan.

• What landscaping style do clients need?
• What type of plants are required?
• What is soil quality?
• What is the current condition of the yard?
• Is it required to remove existing plants or anything else?

The details you provide will lead to an accurate estimate for your project. So before stepping ahead, have a clear picture.

2. Consider Overhead Costs

Overhead costs include your office rent, service advertisement, and promotion, internet bills, and more. Usually, business professionals ignore it and keep it under-rated. However, this is crucial for business owners to gain the perfect desired profit margin.

Overhead cost can be anything from the list below –

• Employee salary
• Equipment costs
• Acquiring permits and licenses
• Fuel and maintenance expenses
• Applicable Tax
• Business Insurance
• Business Advertisement
• Employee benefits
• Tools like gardening tools, lawn mower, and blower
• Business management software

To calculate the overhead cost, you first need to calculate the hourly overhead cost. Consider the number of billable hours per year and divide the yearly overhead cost by it.

Hourly Overhead Costs = Total Yearly Overhead Costs / Number of Billable Hours Per Year.

Here, the number of billable hours per year is the total number of employees x 52 weeks and their working hours in a week.

Considering the total yearly overhead cost to be $50,000 and the number of billable hours per year as 10,000. The hourly overhead cost will be as follows:

Hourly Overhead Costs = $50,000/10,000

= $5

Now we will take out the total overhead cost of an individual landscaping job.

Overhead Cost for the Job = Hourly Overhead Cost x Number of Hours to Complete the Job

Suppose the planting task takes 2 hours the overhead cost will be as follow –

$5 x 2 = $10

3. Material Costs Calculation

Before calculating material costs, have an open discussion with your client about what materials they will provide you. If they offer any material, don’t include it in your estimation. Further, add the material cost after a proper inspection of the site. This will give you a clear idea of how much material you will be using as per the area.

You must consider the cost of below materials

• Mulch
• Patio pavers
• Lawn seed
• Plant and trees
• Floodlights
• Hoses
• Boulders and gravel
• Rental equipment

The best way to calculate material cost is to itemize all the required materials once. Further, you can use the below formula –

Total Material Cost = Total Cost of Required Material x Sales Tax

4. Calculating Subcontractor Cost

Sometimes the project is large and few people are involved in the project. In this case, you can hire a subcontractor who could help you out. In this case, the subcontractor fee will be applied and you need to pay the same.

Professionals can share the project specifications with your subcontractors and ask them to quote a price. Always get a subcontractor quote before final pricing landscaping work. Consider this cost in your estimation.

5. Time and Labor Cost Calculator

How much time you will spend on the project will depend upon the project scope. If you have a fresh project, you have to start from scratch. Additionally, you need to take every detail of the project.

It’s quite easy to determine the hourly rate once you determine how much time you will spend on the project.

Initially, determine the total amount of money you earn every week and then divide the same by the number of hours you work.

Hourly Rate = Weekly Income / Number of Billable Hours per week

Mind it sure to conclude billable hours and you can neglect unbillable hours.

For instance, if you are making $1,000 for a total of 80 hours. Out of these 80 hours, 60 hours are billable and 20 hours are non-billable time (spent on traveling, driving, or other administrative tasks). The hourly rate will be –

Hourly Rate = $1,000/60
= $16.66
= $17 (Total rate after round figure)

6. Adding Markup

Markup is a difference between the actual cost and the cost you charge your customer. For calculating the markup percentage, you can use the below formula –

Markup Percentage = (Selling Price – Your Charging Cost)/Your Charging Cost x 100

15% to 20% is an ideal markup for residential landscaping jobs and 10% to 15% applies to commercial projects. Always add this markup at the top of the project. This will be helpful to gain profit. The maintenance charge is 10% to 12% for the residential and commercial projects.

7. Calculate the Total Price

The final step is calculating the total price of your job. You need to add up all the costs along with the markup and applicable sales tax (as per your state law).

Once you have all the data ready, calculate the total price in the form below –

Total Cost = Total Material Cost + Total Labor Cost + Overhead Cost + Subcontractor Cost x Markup%

What Is the Best Landscaping Estimates Software?

Manual estimation is highly prone to errors and negatively impacts your business. This is where the need of high-performing estimate software like Moon Invoice is needed.

By providing 66+ customized estimate templates, this software helps to streamline the estimate process for every business regardless of size and nature. A user can estimate within 60 seconds with a professional touch and accurate data. Users can opt for any kind of format – MS Excel, MS Word, Google Docs, Google Sheets and PDF.

Key Features of Moon Invoice

• Customizable templates
• Multi-currency feature (supports 100+ currencies)
• Easy to integrate with other software
• 20+ payment integrations
• Multilingual support for international trade
• Easy to convert an estimate into an invoice
• Duplicate estimates as an invoice, estimate, proforma invoice, or purchase order
• Check every action through the activity log
• Add a signature option
• Simple sharing of estimates through WhatsApp or Email
• Customized setting for printout

Moon Invoice put forward an end-to-end solution to manage the financial actions. Besides estimates, it is also useful for generating invoices, receipts, delivery challans, credit notes, and expense reports.

How to Create a Professional Landscaping Estimate?

Creating a professional landscaping estimate is the next step in this journey. Professionals must have a clear understanding of it. Before making your estimate, you must have the data ready for the following:

• Identifying the total labor cost
• Total cost of materials and resources used
• Add a profit margin

Once you have all the data ready, use a professional landscaping estimate template to figure out a stylish and impressive estimate with the following elements –

• Business name and contact details
• Customer’s name and contact details
• Add the estimate number, estimate date, and currency
• Details of landscaping services along with a detailed breakdown of the cost
• Including applicable tax
• Additional notes and terms as per the landscaping company policy

At the End

A correct estimate is always beneficial for the landscaping business. Professionals need to follow a careful strategy to figure out the satisfactory outlay of quotes.

We are ending our words on how to estimate landscaping jobs. Indeed, finding an estimation is quite challenging, but you can simplify it with us. Create a professional and tidy estimate that is close to your needs. Try Moon Invoice now!

Frequently Asked Questions