How to quote a landscaping job

A landscaping quote wins when the customer can picture the finished yard from it: what goes in, how much of it, what size, and when.

Scope: the plan, the plant list and the site

Attach a sketch or plan with bed outlines and dimensions, and list every plant by species, container size and count. For hardscape, give the size, the material and the base depth. Say what happens to grading, drainage and irrigation, and name what’s excluded, such as repairing sprinkler lines you didn’t install, grinding large stumps or testing soil. Note equipment access and where deliveries will be dropped. If you warranty plants, state for how long and on what condition, such as watering as instructed.

Pricing by the unit

Item	Priced by	Show on the quote
Labor	Hour or job	Crew size and estimated hours
Mulch, soil, stone	Cubic yard	Depth and area covered
Sod	Square foot	Area, and the prep included
Plants and trees	Each, by size	Species and container size
Design	Flat fee	Whether it’s credited to the install
Delivery and disposal	Per load	What comes in and goes out

Convert area and depth to yards before you price. As an illustration, 3 inches of mulch over 324 square feet is 81 cubic feet (324 × 0.25 foot), or 3 cubic yards at 27 cubic feet to the yard.

Offer lighting, steel edging or larger plant sizes as optional add-ons outside the total, so the customer can pick without reopening the base price. Give the quote a valid-until date that nursery stock and prices can hold to, and say that any substitution of a plant needs the customer’s approval.

Before anyone digs: the one-call notice

Federal law bars anyone doing excavation or construction in a state that has adopted a one-call notification system from starting without first using that system to establish where underground facilities are in the work area, or from working in disregard of a pipeline operator’s markings (49 U.S.C. §60114). It sets no notice period; state law does. PHMSA’s safety campaign promotes calling 8-1-1, the nationwide toll-free number, before any excavation project (PHMSA). Two state examples:

• California: except in an emergency, mark out the area to be dug first, then notify the regional notification center at least two working days and not more than 14 calendar days before you begin, not counting the day of the notice. The ticket is valid for 28 days and must be renewed if work runs longer, and digging can’t start until every operator listed on the ticket has done its part (Gov. Code §4216.2).
• Florida: give the one-call system the location and construction limits of the dig, among other details, at least 2 full business days before any excavation that isn’t beneath the waters of the state; a notice sent outside business hours counts from the start of the next business day (Fla. Stat. §556.105).

Both states put the duty on the excavator, the one doing the digging. Each has an exemption for some property owners (Gov. Code §4216.8; Fla. Stat. §556.108), but neither exemption covers a landscaper the owner hires, so place the locate request yourself and build its lead time into the schedule.

Pesticides and herbicides: who may apply them

Federal certification covers restricted use pesticides only: EPA says those may be bought and applied only by a certified applicator or someone under that applicator’s direct supervision (EPA), and 40 CFR part 171 sets the federal standards for certifying their applicators (40 CFR 171). Many state pesticide agencies also require certification to use any pesticide commercially, and some states add rules of their own. For example:

• California: a maintenance gardener taking on pest control for hire, incidental to the gardening business, needs a pest control business license in the maintenance gardener category, which takes passing the certified commercial applicator exams in both laws and regulations and landscape maintenance; the category reaches only ornamental and turf plantings that are indoors, in commercial parks, or around structures (Food & Agric. Code §11704).
• Florida: a limited certification exists for individual commercial landscape maintenance personnel, letting the holder use herbicides on weeds in plant beds, driveways, sidewalks and patios, and pesticides labeled “caution” or with no signal word for integrated pest management on ornamental plants, with handheld equipment and backpack sprayers only. It never covers turf, power equipment, running a pest control business, or uncertified helpers applying under the holder’s supervision (Fla. Stat. §482.156).
• New York: before any commercial lawn application, meaning pesticide applied to ground, trees or shrubs on public or private outdoor property, with exclusions that include an owner’s own residential application, golf courses and turf farms (ECL §33-0101), the applicator must have a written contract with the owner or the owner’s agent giving the approximate dates, the number of applications and the total cost, and must supply the product list with brand and active-ingredient names, the relevant label warnings, and the company and certification details (ECL §33-1001). If you apply anything there, put those terms in the quote the customer signs.

Deposits within state limits

Ask for enough to order the plants and materials. The FTC’s advice to homeowners is not to pay the whole price up front, and it notes that some states cap what a contractor may request as a down payment (FTC). Landscaping is named in some states’ home improvement laws, which brings their deposit rules with it:

• California: landscaping is home improvement under B&P §7151 (B&P §7151), so on a home improvement contract for it the down payment can’t be more than 10 percent of the contract amount or $1,000, whichever is smaller, unless you furnish the bonds or joint control the section lists (B&P §7159.5).
• Maryland: home improvement includes landscaping on land next to a building used as a residence, though not for new homes or apartment buildings with four or more units (Bus. Reg. §8-101); no payment for it can be demanded or received until the contract is signed, and at or before signing the deposit tops out at one-third of the contract price (Bus. Reg. §8-617).
• Pennsylvania: the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act includes landscaping, with one carve-out: work by a landscaper certified by the Department of Agriculture under the Plant Pest Act isn’t home improvement, except where it involves, at a private residence, the construction, replacement, installation or improvement of things the Act lists, such as patios, driveways, concrete walkways, nondecorative fences and lighting systems, or the placement of retaining walls, fountains or drainage systems (73 P.S. §517.2). For work that is home improvement (priced above $500 at a private residence, excluding new homes and emergency work), no payment may be taken before the contract is signed, and a contract over $5,000 caps the deposit at one-third of the price or one-third plus the special-order materials the contract designates (73 P.S. §517.9). If your home improvements reached $5,000 in the previous tax year, you’re a contractor under the Act, and your registration number goes on contracts, estimates and proposals with owners (73 P.S. §517.6).

When the customer signs at home

A sale you make in person that the customer agrees to at home can fall under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule if it’s for $25 or more, whether or not they invited you, unless an exclusion fits (16 CFR 429). They get until midnight of the third business day to cancel, and you must tell them so, put the rule’s statement in 10-point bold by their signature, and leave a dated copy with your name and address plus a completed Notice of Cancellation in duplicate; after a valid cancellation, refund all payments within 10 business days. California separately gives the buyer of a home improvement under a home solicitation contract a right to cancel that runs to midnight of the third business day after a signed and dated copy is received, or the fifth business day for a senior citizen, with a different rule for service and repair contracts (Civ. Code §1689.6).

Three mistakes that lose the job or the margin

1. Rounding yards and pallets down. Material you under-quoted comes out of your margin on install day.
2. A plant warranty with no conditions. Promising replacements without a watering condition leaves you paying for a dry month you didn’t control.
3. No time for the locate. A start date that ignores the notice period slips, and a cut line can cost more than the job earned.