Pricing your work is perhaps the trickiest aspect of running a landscaping company. Too high, a few will walk away to scout elsewhere for a better deal. Too low? Fine, you could bust your behind for fucking peanuts and barely keep the lights on.
Since connecting hundreds of landscaping businesses through our network over the years, I’ve witnessed many talented tradies battle with this very problem.
The good news is that there’s a method to this madness, and once you have the hang of it, pricing can become much less of a headache.
Why Most Landscapers Get Pricing Wrong
I’ll let you in on a shocking secret – the main reason most landscape designers and landscapers fail is not because they’re no good at their job. They fail because they do not know how to price their services.
I’ve known guys who could turn a garden patch into something ripped from the pages of Better Homes and Garden but they’d be charging at less an hourly cost than what a kid gets flipping burgers. And then there are those who price themselves out of the market altogether before they begin.
The biggest mistake? Believing that being the cheapest will automatically make you more work. You might even get a few bargain hunters, but they’re not the type of clients you want to work with. Quality clients know that good work isn’t free.
Understanding Your True Costs
Before you even start thinking about profit margins, you should understand exactly what it costs to operate your business. I don’t mean just the obvious material things, like fuel and materials – there are lots of other hidden costs.
- Labour Costs: Add up all your wages as well as costs for workers comp, super contributions and sick and holiday leave.
- Equipment and Tool Expense: Depreciation per year added to maintenance. Allocate 10-15% of the value of equipment every year.
- Costs associated with the vehicle: Registration, insurance, fuel, maintenance and tires. Calculate actual cost per kilometre.
- Insurance & Licensing: You cannot get out of public liability and licences. Include renewal costs.
- Administrative expenses: Accounting, Phone, Payment chasing, Accountant Fees, Software Expenses Office Expenses.
The vast majority of landscapers have no idea what these hidden costs are, which is why most work for peanuts. Be ruthless about keeping track of every expense for a couple months — you might be surprised.
The Australian Landscaping Rate Reality Check
Here’s where things get interesting. Australian landscaping prices are all over the shop: it depends where you are and what you’re doing. A simple mow of the lawn in regional Queensland might only be $40-60, yet a similar service done in Sydney’s northern beaches might attract rates of $80-120 per job.
Average price ranges Based on data available through our network and the recommended industry rates by Fair Work Australia, average hourly rates charged for various services may generally fall within the following:
- Routine maintenance work: $35-$65 per hour
- Garden design and installation: $45-85 per hour
- Hardscaping, construction: $55-95 hourly
- Specialised services (irrigation, lighting): $65 to $110 an hour
But here’s the thing these are just beginnings. Your real rates should be based on the experience you have, your location and the value that you add.
Three Pricing Strategies That Actually Work
Right, let’s cut through the theory and talk about what actually works in the real world. Over the years, I’ve seen landscapers succeed with three main approaches. The trick is knowing when to use each one.
Hourly Rate Pricing
This is the simplest approach and works well for maintenance jobs or when project scope is unclear. Calculate your costs, add your desired profit margin, and there’s your hourly rate.
The downside? Clients often get nervous about open-ended hourly arrangements. They’re worried about bill shock, and fair enough too.
Fixed Project Pricing
This is where most successful landscapers make their real money. You quote a fixed price for the entire job, which gives clients certainty and allows you to benefit from working efficiently.
The key is accurate estimation. Measure twice, quote once. Factor in potential complications and always include a contingency buffer. Weather delays, unexpected underground utilities, difficult site access – these things happen more often than you’d like.
Value-Based Pricing
This is the holy grail of landscaping pricing, but it takes confidence to pull off. Instead of just covering your costs and adding markup, you price based on the value you’re creating for the client.
Think about it if you’re transforming someone’s backyard into their dream outdoor entertaining space, that’s worth more to them than just your labour and materials.
The challenge is communicating that value effectively. Understanding how landscape design elevates property value can help you articulate this worth to potential clients.
Regional Considerations for Australian Landscapers
Australia is such a big place with wildly varying conditions, and you have to price for that. What works for Melbourne’s temperate climate may not work at all in Darwin’stropical environment.
- Climate Impact: The wet season can shut down work for months in northern Australia, so price jobs to compensate for lost productivity. Southern gardeners have to put up with problems associated with frost damage and winter dormancy.
- Competition: Check out local rates, but don’t just mimic them. If everyone is underpricing, that can make it worthwhile to position yourself as the premium offering.
- Council Requirements: Stricter permits, tree removal rules or water restrictions in your area have their own costs and should be factored into pricing.
Don’t be caught in the paradigm of “one size fits all national pricing.” Your particular local factors — competition, weather, regulations — are unique compared with the next town over or landscape contractors in other states.
Calculating Your Landscape Design Pricing
Design work is different from hands-on landscaping, and it should be priced differently too. Many landscapers undervalue their design skills, treating them as a free add-on to get the construction work.
Big mistake.
Good design is skilled work that requires training, experience, and creativity. Whether you’re doing a simple garden layout or a complex outdoor entertainment area, your design time has value.
If you’re not sure about the advantages of using professional landscape designers, understanding these benefits can help you communicate your value to clients.
Consider offering design as a separate service with its own pricing structure:
Initial consultation: $150-350 (often credited against future work) Concept design: $500-1500 depending on complexity
Detailed construction plans: $1000-3500 for residential projects
Many successful landscapers find that separate design fees actually help them land more construction work. When clients have invested in your design, they’re much more likely to hire you for the build too.
Seasonal Pricing Strategies
Clever gardeners vary their fee seasonally. From Business Victoria’s seasonal business strategies guide, spring is decent demand but everyone wants their garden done before summer entertaining season starts. That’s when you can charge top dollar.
Winter may seem like a slow season, but it’s ideal for hardscaping installations and tree pruning and for planning out next year’s projects. Maybe you offer design services at a slight discount during down times to maintain a steady cash flow.
Summer brings its own opportunities. Irrigation installation, building shade structures and emergency tree work can all fetch good rates in summer.
Common Pricing Mistakes to Avoid
Here are the most common pitfalls that seasoned landscapers fall into:
- Underpricing the Competition: Slashing your prices to the bone is a losing strategy. Concentrate on selling value, not just price.
- Forgetting the Profit: Covering your costs is not the same thing as making a profit. Target at least 20-30% margin on jobs.
- Ignoring Travel Time: Price travel into your project or just stay in your local area.
- Quoting on the Fly: Issue formal quotations based on hard numbers; do not quote during consultations.
These blunders will nibble away at your profit and affect ability to Build a Long Term Business.
Building Confidence in Your Pricing
Here’s something they don’t tell you in trade school – half of pricing successfully is confidence. If you think your services aren’t worth what you are charging, you clients will feel the same.
Start by documenting your successes. Save photos of completed projects, gather client testimonials and keep notes on problems you’ve solved for people. This is your pricing justification in this portfolio.
Practice explaining your value. Why would someone hire you instead of your competition? Maybe you’re quicker, more consistent or you specialise in certain types of work. IF YOU’VE GUT FEELINGS about what would make a better world, BE ABLE TO EXPRESS THEM.
And what about advertising your services? So you should understand if Google AdWords could work for your landscaping company you can target customers who want a good job.
The Technology Factor
Today’s landscaping companies have tools that can help make pricing considerably more precise. From drone surveys to design software and project management apps, there are plenty of tools that can help you quote more accurately and manage jobs more effectively.
Our technology-minded professionals in the Landscapers Network tend to charge more than old-school competitors because they’re able to show a high degree of professionalism and accuracy.
Don’t let tech scare you away. Begin with something small — even a decent smartphone app for measurement and note-taking can seriously improve the accuracy of your quote.
Building Long-Term Pricing Success
And whether or not you get your pricing right is about more than individual jobs — it’s about developing a thriving business that can expand as time goes on. I speak to building relations with good clients (not necessarily lots, but QUALITY) that know quality work and pay accordingly. These customers often return and refer new business, which has a higher value than bargain hunters.
Monitor what you are quoting and compare to your job costs — make adjustments accordingly. Look at developing a specialisation in types of work which you can charge premium rates for – whether it’s native plant gardens, sustainable landscaping or up-market outdoor entertaining areas.
Remember, pricing is a skill just like all the other aspects of your business. Price confidently, do exceptional work and then clients will be happy to pay you what you’re worth.
If you are a good quality landscaping professional and want to work for customer’s who also value great service, reach out to us at Landscapers Network. We strive to connect great tradies with discerning homeowners who appreciate that quality landscaping is an investment.
