How Much to Charge as a Landscaper

How Much To Charge As A Landscaper

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You’ve built up your new landscaping business and gotten your crew all hired up. Now the big question is, how much should you charge your customers? It is important to keep in mind that you need to set a reasonable price that customers will be willing to pay while keeping your business profitable. So just how much should you charge as a landscaper?

As a landscaper, you should charge between $50 and $100 per hour for a two-person crew. The more people a job takes, the more you charge per hour. In the U.S. a landscaping job on average costs consumers from about $1,000-$6,000.

There are a few factors that will affect how much you should charge each customer. These include the cost of materials, the number of workers needed for the job, the state where you are operating, cost vs profit margins, and what your competitors are charging.

Looking at Cost vs Profit

How Much to Charge as a Landscaper

Of course, the number one priority of running your own business is making sure you are making a profit. So, you’ll have to keep track of how much profit you are bringing in vs how much you are spending on materials, labor costs, etc. This will play a key role in determining how low you can afford to set your prices – so you can remain competitive and not charge prices too high for customers- but also make a profit off your jobs. 

Here is a list from forbes.com that includes the list of prices for many common items you may use in a landscaping job. The list also includes a variety of different common landscaping jobs and how much customers typically pay for them. When determining prices for your own company, you can cross-check with what consumers are paying nationwide to see how your business stacks up.

If you are relatively new to the business, finding someone who will provide you with your materials at a bulk price will be a huge help. A lot of suppliers make their living off of doing business with businesses, and a lot of times will offer better prices for them since they are buying larger quantities than an individual would. So, do your research and see if you can partner with a local supplier to get a good deal on materials! 

Determining the number of workers needed

Another factor that plays a huge role in determining how much you should charge is the number of workers that are needed to complete the job. Labor plays a huge cost in determining how much you charge your clients. Take into account how much the hourly wage for each employee is. Calculate this into how much you will need to charge your customer to make enough profit to pay all of your employees their wages and still make a profit. 

For example, if each of your workers makes $20.00 an hour, and you need three employees to take care of your client’s job, you will need to charge your client, at the very least, more than $60.00 per hour, just to pay your team members. This does not include covering the cost of materials needed for the job at hand. This is why the labor needed plays such a large role in determining the cost of a job.

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How much time do you need to complete the job?

Your time is valuable and you need to charge accordingly. Don’t agree to take on a job in a shorter time than you can reasonably complete it, and likewise, do not agree to do a job for less than what your time is worth. This will burnout you and your team, and will likely cause problems for the client as well if you can’t complete the job agreed on or it does not get done up to quality standards.

 For this question, there is no magic formula you can use to pop out a number, but as I said above, you need to take into account your workers’ hourly rate, and the cost of materials to determine what you can reasonably afford to quote your client, timewise just as well as pay wise. 

Scope out the competition

How Much to Charge as a Landscaper

Another huge tool you can add to your arsenal, scoping out your competitors. This may seem silly to you, but keep in mind, that your clients are not going to pay you $500 to do a job that all your competitors are charging between $250 and $300 to do. It just doesn’t make sense as a consumer.  I’m not encouraging you to steal their pricing model, but it helps to have an idea so you can set your prices competitively. 

Sometimes, the $1 rule contestants use on The Price is Right is the best tool to use. If your competitors are quoting $60 an hour for mowing the lawn, and you know that you can charge them $55 an hour for the same job, who do you think your clients are going to choose? Consumers always shop around, and you’d be surprised to find out how many shoppers value every last penny they spend.

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Where your business is located

The state you are living in will also play a role in how much you charge your clients. Some states just have a higher demand for landscapers and clients tend to pay higher price points for the jobs they need done. These factors may change from season to season depending on the demands of consumers, so keep your eye out and do your research. You need to be mindful of which states pay how much, as you don’t want to overcharge and lose out on business to your competitors with better prices, or undercharge and quote prices that you can’t afford to keep. 

How Brand Loyalty plays a role

The rest of the points in this article are all important things to keep in mind when setting your prices. But there is one thing that often trumps all these other factors. That is brand loyalty. If you own your own business, I guarantee you have wondered at one point or another how big wig companies can command such a large price for the same services you are offering. 

This is because they are an established and well-known brand name, and their clientele keeps going back to them time after time because they know without a doubt that they will get the job done on time and with great quality.

This is what you need to build up with your clients over time, and nothing accomplishes this like quality work and above and beyond customer service. Once you have an established clientele, you will never have to worry about your prices again. Because your loyal clients will come back to you and only you season after season.

Bringing it all together

How Much to Charge as a Landscaper

Keeping these tools in mind will help you determine what prices you set for your landscaping business. Like I said above there is no set number or magic formula that I can give you to churn out exact prices. Each business is unique, and many factors will affect exactly what prices you will be able to set. But using the information I gave you in this guide should give you all the necessary information you need to do your research and determine your prices. All the best!

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I check out my competitors’ prices?

Great question! My answer would be, that there is no such thing as too much information. Scrolling through the websites of neighboring landscapers once a week is not going to eat up too much of your time, but it will help you catch on to trends and flow right away. If you see that suddenly two local landscaping businesses have lowered their prices on lawn mowing, it may behoove you to follow suit. Likewise, if suddenly the cost of installing a fountain has gone up by a couple thousand, it may help for you to look into why this may be, so you don’t undercut yourself by offering too low a price. In a nutshell, it always helps to be proactive, vs reactive.  

Can I save on labor to cut back on costs?

You can, but this may not always be in your best interest in the long run. The job may not get done up to quality, because what was meant to be a four-man job, was done by two people. You may have a lot of employee turnover because they are constantly being overworked by taking on jobs that are meant for more workers. You may inadvertently take longer than the client expected because you used a smaller crew than you should have, thus creating an angry client who will not do business with you again. All of these things are not great for business, and although you will save on labor in the short run, the problems outweigh the benefits in the long run.

To learn more on how you can start your own landscaping business, check out my startup documents here.

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