Why the landscaping job pricing calculator matters
Landscaping margin is decided by drive time and site difficulty, so a price built from crew hours holds up much better than a price per lot. This page turns that decision into a handful of inputs you can defend in a budget review: volume, unit cost, rate of adoption, and time. The output is a planning baseline, not a promise — it tells you whether the idea deserves a vendor quote, a pilot, or a pass.
- • Biggest swing factor: crew productivity per hour on that specific site
- • Second-order factor: the difficulty allowance for slopes, beds and obstacles
- • Often ignored: your true crew charge-out rate including burden
What actually changes the answer
crew productivity per hour on that specific site moves this number first, then the difficulty allowance for slopes, beds and obstacles. Run a conservative case and an upside case before you commit. If the maths only works in the upside case, treat it as a time-boxed test with a kill date rather than a line in next year's plan.
What to do with the result
Price the first visit with the full difficulty allowance, then time the job and reprice the contract from the actual hours.
Related guides
Long-form playbooks on the same topic, written by the RevenueLab editorial team.
FAQ
What does the landscaping job pricing calculator work out?
It applies Area = length × width; Adjusted = area × (1 + waste%); Units = ceil(adjusted ÷ coverage per unit); Cost = units × unit price to the values you enter for property length (ft), property width (ft), square feet a crew covers per hour, crew charge-out rate per hour ($), allowance for slope, obstacles and trimming. Landscaping margin is decided by drive time and site difficulty, so a price built from crew hours holds up much better than a price per lot.
How accurate is this landscaping job pricing calculator?
An hours-based quote. Disposal fees, materials and travel between properties are separate line items. Replace the defaults with your own invoice, usage export, payroll data, statement, or vendor quote before making a commitment — the maths is exact, so the answer is only as good as the inputs you feed it.
Which input should I stress-test first?
crew productivity per hour on that specific site. Re-run with a pessimistic value for it; if the decision flips, that assumption is the thing you need real data on before signing anything. After that, check the difficulty allowance for slopes, beds and obstacles and your true crew charge-out rate including burden.
Which scenario should I start from?
Start with the preset closest to your situation — tight estimate, standard job, complex layout — then edit the sliders. Presets are realistic starting points, not benchmarks to match, and every change updates the result instantly.
What should I do after running the numbers?
Price the first visit with the full difficulty allowance, then time the job and reprice the contract from the actual hours. A useful planning benchmark to compare against: A two-person crew typically covers 3,000–6,000 sq ft an hour on maintenance work, far less on installs.
Can I share or save this calculation?
Yes. Your inputs are written into the page URL, so copying the link shares the exact scenario you are looking at — the person who opens it sees the same numbers. You can also export the inputs and results to CSV or PDF from the result card and keep it with the rest of your workings.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last editorial review
Reviewed on a rolling quarterly cycle. Dated reviews are published on the methodology record for each calculator.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.