What a landscaping quote is for
A quote is a firm price. Once your customer accepts it, that is the number — so it needs an expiration date, a defined scope, and clear terms on what falls outside it.
For landscapers selling to homeowners, HOAs, and commercial properties, the quote is usually the only thing the customer compares side by side against two competitors. It is doing sales work whether you designed it to or not.
The unit that trips this trade up: Landscaping mixes one-time installation with recurring maintenance — putting both on one document without separating them is the classic mistake.
What every landscaping quote must have
- An expiration date, so the price does not follow you around forever
- A scope specific enough that both of you can tell what is excluded
- Deposit and payment terms stated before the work is scheduled
- A named change-order process for anything discovered after approval
- Your license or registration number where the trade requires it
What landscapers bill for
These are the lines that show up on most landscaping quotes, with the unit each is normally priced in. Ranges are illustrative planning figures, not market data — your own costs, region, and margin decide the real number.
| Line item | Unit | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Design and plan | each | $250–$2,500 |
| Sod installation, supplied and laid | sq ft | $1–$4 |
| Irrigation zone — install | zone | $450–$1,400 |
| Planting — shrubs and trees | each | $45–$650 |
| Hardscape — pavers or flagstone | sq ft | $14–$42 |
| Mulch and soil amendment | cu yd | $55–$140 |
| Grading and soil prep | sq ft | $1–$4 |
| Maintenance — recurring visit | visit | $65–$400 |
Typical deposit convention: 40–50% for materials and plants at scheduling.
Landscaping quote example
A realistic job, priced line by line, with the arithmetic shown the way a customer sees it:
| Description | Qty | Unit price | Line total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design plan and plant schedule | 1 | $450.00 | $450.00 |
| Demolition, haul-away and grading — 1,200 sq ft | 1,200 | $1.65 | $1,980.00 |
| Drought-tolerant sod, supplied and laid | 900 | $2.35 | $2,115.00 |
| Irrigation — 3 zones with smart controller | 3 | $780.00 | $2,340.00 |
| Shrubs and specimen plantings | 18 | $85.00 | $1,530.00 |
| Mulch — 6 cu yd installed | 6 | $95.00 | $570.00 |
| Subtotal | $8,985.00 | ||
| Tax (7.75%) | $696.34 | ||
| Total | $9,681.34 | ||
Notice that every assumption is a line rather than a conversation. That is the whole difference between a quote that holds up and one that gets renegotiated in a driveway.
Three mistakes that cost landscapers money
Blending install and maintenance
A customer who approves a $14,000 install and then sees monthly maintenance on the same document feels bait-and-switched. Send the install as one quote and maintenance as its own recurring agreement.
No plant establishment terms
Plants die. State the replacement window and what voids it — almost always the customer's watering. Without this line, every dead shrub for a year is your problem.
Guessing at soil conditions
Rock, clay, and buried debris turn a grading number into fiction. Name what happens if the soil is not what the bid assumed.
How to send a landscaping quote in about a minute
A template is only half the job — the quote still has to reach the customer in a form they can act on. With SendQuoteNow you add the customer, add your line items, and hit send. Your customer gets a branded PDF plus a link where they approve or decline with one click, and you get an email the moment they do.
- Your branding, not ours — your logo, business name, contact details, and terms on every document.
- From your phone — build and send the quote before you leave the customer's property.
- One-click approval — no login or account needed on your customer's side.
- Automatic math — subtotal, tax, and discounts calculated as you type.
- Quote → invoice — convert accepted work into an invoice without retyping it.