Trade guide
Landscaping Business
One truck. A borrowed trailer. Four yards of mulch you already paid for on a card.
The numbers that matter
$55–$85 an hour. 20–40% on materials. $3,000–$9,000 to start.
Landscaping money is won at the estimate, not on the shovel. Price the material and the labor separately, then hand over one total.
The estimate is the job
You can dig a straighter trench than anyone in your county and still lose money on a patio.
The loss happens on a Tuesday night at the kitchen table when you look at a yard, feel the size of it, and write down a number that feels right.
Nobody adds up the parts. Everyone means to.
| Job | Time | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| Hand labor, cleanup, hourly | hourly | $55–$85/hr |
| Mulch installed | per yard | $85–$135 |
| Shrub trimming, 12 shrubs | 2–3 hr | $180–$340 |
| Sod installed | per sq ft | $1.40–$2.60 |
| Paver patio | per sq ft | $16–$28 |
| Retaining wall, block | per face ft | $32–$58 |
| Plant install, 3-gal shrub | 15–20 min | $45–$80 each |
| Spring or fall cleanup | 3–6 hr | $225–$650 |
| Drainage / French drain | per linear ft | $28–$65 |
The patio that paid $21 an hour — Chattanooga, TN
One crew quoted a 340-square-foot paver patio at $4,900 because the last one they did was about that size.
Pavers and base ran $2,180. Polymeric sand and edging, $265. Skid steer rental for two days, $620. Dump fees on the spoil, $140. Two men, five days, 78 hours.
$1,695 left for 78 hours of labor. That is $21.73 an hour for two grown men, and they still owns the wheelbarrow they wore out.
Priced from the parts — material at cost plus 30%, labor at $68 — the same patio quotes at $8,486. They would have won it or lost it honestly.
Charge for the pickup trip, not just the mulch
You drove to the yard, waited for the loader, hauled it, unloaded it, and ate the two bags that split.
Material markup is what pays you for that hour and a half.
Twenty percent is the floor. Forty is what you charge when the customer picked a plant one nursery in the state carries.
The $19/month that isn't landscaping — Boise, ID
One installer installs beds all summer and had nothing in February.
They now sells a $46/month bed maintenance plan to install customers: weeding, edging, one mulch refresh a year. 63 of them signed.
That's $2,898 arriving on the first of every month, including January, against about 9 hours of actual work a month in the cold season.
They sell it in one sentence at the end of every install: "I can keep this bed looking like it does today for $46 a month — want me to put you on the list?"
What you actually need before the first bid
- General liability insurance. You are moving rock, running a compactor and digging near utility lines.
- A call to 811 before every dig. Free, required, and the alternative is a cut gas line you pay for.
- Your state contractor license status. Many states require a license once a job crosses a dollar threshold — the threshold and the trade categories differ everywhere, so check your state contractor licensing board directly.
- A pesticide applicator license if you spray for pay. Handled by your state department of agriculture in most states.
- A written estimate with material and labor on separate lines. Use the free estimate template.
- A deposit rule you don't bend. Fifty percent before material is ordered.
- 25–30% of profit set aside for tax, including 15.3% self-employment tax.
The trap is the change order you never wrote down. The customer asks for "just a couple more plants" while you're on your knees in the bed, you say sure, and eleven of those add up to a day and a half you gave away. Say the sentence out loud instead: "Happy to — that's another $340, I'll add it to the invoice." Then text it to them before you dig.
The pricing math for both sides of the business sits in the what-to-charge guides, and the mowing side is in the lawn care hub.
Common questions
How much do landscapers charge per hour?
$55 to $85 an hour for solo and two-man labor. Crews running a skid steer or a hardscape build bill higher because the machine is on the clock. Hourly is for cleanups and hand work — installs get quoted as one job number.
How do you bid a landscaping job?
Material at supplier price plus your markup, labor hours at your rate, then disposal and delivery as their own lines. Add it up, then quote one total. Estimating the job as a feeling instead of a sum is what eats the margin.
Do you need a license to do landscaping?
Rules vary by state and city. Mulch, planting and mowing usually need only a local business license. Many states require a contractor license once a job passes a dollar threshold, and spraying for pay requires a state applicator license nearly everywhere. Confirm with your state contractor licensing board and department of agriculture.
What is a good markup on landscaping materials?
20% to 40% over supplier price. It isn't profit — it covers the pickup trip, the loading, the breakage and the money you fronted.
Is landscaping more profitable than lawn mowing?
Per job, easily. Per year, only if installs stay booked. Most operators who last run both and use the mowing route to feed install leads.
How much does it cost to start a landscaping business?
About $3,000 to $9,000 with a truck already in the driveway: used trailer, hand tools, mower and trimmer, insurance. Rent the skid steer by the day until a job buys one.
Pull up your last three estimates and add the parts back up.
How many of them were you paying the customer to work?
Ranges here are compiled public ranges for solo and small-crew residential landscaping as of August 2026 — a starting point, not a quote or survey result.