Bigger landscape companies tend to charge based on the project size by giving an onsite estimate that includes a flat fee bid. This bid typically covers everything including labor, materials and other expenses. There is usually a small fee for this visit but that charge is waived if you decide to hire that specific landscaping company. On the other hand, smaller landscape companies charge by the hour and don’t usually offer an onsite consultation. They may request pictures or a video instead, and then discuss what they see with the customer during a phone call. This gives the landscape contractor the information they need to determine a fair hourly wage for your specific yard work.

You can expect to spend at least $250 for your most basic yard tasks such as gardening help. Skilled landscape labor like patio installation can cost up to ten times that amount so you’d be looking at a $25,000 bill. Other landscape services will fall somewhere within this range. Planting bushes can cost around $1,000 for labor and materials. An average size retaining wall will run you between $8,000 and $12,000. As a general rule, the lower the skill the cheaper the cost, and the higher the skill the more expensive the cost. In order to get the best deal, you should try to find a smaller company for the little projects and a bigger company for the large projects. To learn more, read my blog How Much do Landscapers Cost? Complete Guide with 2024 Data.

For smaller projects that involve unskilled labor, consider hiring younger individuals like students from high school or college. This will save you money since their prices will often be much cheaper. Examples of low-skill yard work include pulling weeds, raking leaves and mowing lawns. You should avoid using this shopping strategy for bigger more complicated projects such as retaining walls, patio installs and water features. Why? Because you don’t want to run the risk of a botched project. It’s not worth saving a couple bucks if that means you’ll need to redo the whole job because it wasn’t done professionally. In fact, that’ll cost you even more than if you would’ve just gone with the more expensive estimate in the first place.

Landscape companies charge based on an hourly rate or a flat fee. There are pros and cons for each of these pricing structures; neither one is inherently better than the other. The pay-as-you-go aspect of hourly labor ensures that the time worked corresponds with the cost paid. This promotes fairness so long as the landscapers have integrity and don’t “milk the clock.” The benefit of a flat fee is that you know exactly what the cost will be prior to hiring the landscape service, which will help you budget for your project. However, the downside is that the customer is usually required to make a 25% deposit. Plus, hidden fees may arise once the landscaping project gets underway since it’s impossible for the landscaper to account for unknown variables on the front end.

Not all landscape companies collect a deposit up front but many of them do. The ones that don’t are usually a one-man show or a very small business. If there is a pre-existing relationship between the business and the customer, this may also be a good reason to waive the deposit. The rationale for collecting a down payment boils down to one major thing: mutual commitment. You can trust the landscaper to show up and perform the yard work as promised. The landscaper can trust the customer to follow through with the handshake agreement and not cancel the service request. Deposits are generally around 10% to 20% of the total landscape project cost and they are almost always non-refundable.

Most landscaping companies will have a minimum fee, which can range from $250 to $500. This number will vary based on factors such as: how busy they are, how many staff are available, how far away the job is, how complex the project is, the size of the job, etc. Minimum charges are often scorned by prospective customers since they feel it’s unfair to decline a job on the basis of its size. However, it’s standard practice for home service businesses to filter through small tasks that aren’t worth the time spent. The fact of the matter is that landscape companies don’t have infinite resources and unlimited bandwidth. So they need some type of strategic criteria that will allow them to sift through yard jobs that have lower profit margins and demand higher resources.

Negotiating a better price from the landscape company without any concrete rationale is probably not your best option. That tends to backfire for a variety of reasons. Here are two more winsome options for you to consider that have better odds for reducing the cost. Offer to purchase the materials and get them delivered yourself. This strategy is particularly helpful for landscape installation jobs like plants, mulch, rock or sod. Alternatively, you could offer to handle the disposal of the yard waste yourself. You can repurpose the excess soil by making a berm or haul the brush pile to the local landfill in your truck/trailer. Both of these options will actually make life easier for the landscaper which will incline them to accept your proposal and lower the overall price for your yard work.

First and foremost, it needs to be stated that tips are optional not obligatory. Tips should not be given out willy nilly; they should be earned by hard work. The customer reserves the right to withhold a tip if they have good reason to believe that the work was subpar. Valid reasons for refusing to tip are as follows: workers show up late, check their phone often, take too many breaks, pull out your plants, damage your current landscaping, cut corners, use profane language, etc. That said, if the yard work performed exceeds expectations, then a 10% to 20% tip is a reasonable amount. In this regard, the landscape industry is similar to the restaurant industry. Working outside through rainy weather or scorching heat warrant a higher than average tip.

If you don’t feel comfortable doing yard work yourself, then you should hire a landscaping company to do it for you. Don’t just hire the cheapest company because there may be a reason why their prices are so low. During your conversation with the landscape consultant, make sure to ask good questions so you have adequate knowledge to make an informed decision. You should try to get a ballpark estimate on the total cost for your yard work. In order to get a quote, you’ll likely need to provide information about where you live and what you need done as well as your budget. Beyond the aforementioned, here are 12 Questions to Ask Before Hiring Landscapers. His Workmanship connects residential homeowners with affordable landscapers. Click here to get a free online estimate.