How to Price Landscaping Jobs

How to price landscaping jobs: build the number from the job itself. Measure the area, cost the dig-out and muck-away, the materials with wastage, the plant hire and the crew days, then add access, weather and profit. Give the customer one fixed price. Use a price per m² and your day rate as checks on that number, not as the number.

Per m², day rate or fixed price?

Three ways to put a figure on a job. Only one belongs on the quote.

Price per m². Quick, and customers get it. But a square metre on an open front garden and a square metre behind a terrace with no side access are two different jobs. A flat rate hides that, and you eat the difference.

Day rate. Honest for you, scary for the customer, because they can’t see where it ends. On a build, every wet day becomes an argument.

Fixed price. The customer gets one number. You carry the risk, so you price the risk in.

So build a fixed price from the parts below, then divide by the area. If the £ per m² looks miles off, something’s missing or doubled.

How to build the price

1. Measure properly

Length times width, then depth, because you’re pricing volume as much as area. Note levels, falls, drains and anything coming out. Take photos. You’ll forget the manhole cover by Tuesday.

2. Dig-out and muck-away

Area times dig depth gives the volume in the ground. Loose soil bulks up, so size the skip or grab lorry with extra on top.

If you take the waste away in your own van, you need to be registered as a waste carrier. The free lower tier only covers waste you produce yourself that isn’t construction or demolition waste, and dug-out soil and rubble from a patio is construction waste, so check gov.uk for the tier and fee that applies to you. Keep a waste transfer note for every load.

3. Materials, with wastage

Sub-base, sharp sand, cement, slabs or blocks, pointing, membrane, edging. Add wastage on anything you cut. Then add your markup, because you’re buying it, collecting it and carrying the risk if it’s wrong. The material markup and margin calculator shows the difference, and the materials video covers it properly.

4. Plant hire

Mini digger, whacker plate, cut-off saw, plus delivery and collection. Price the days you’ll actually have it.

5. Crew days

How many people, how many days. Multiply by what each person really costs you, not what you pay them. The true labour cost calculator and the tradesperson day rate calculator get you that figure.

6. Access, weather, payment terms

No side access means every barrow of muck and every slab goes through the house. Price it as extra time, or use the site labour uplift calculator.

Add a weather allowance on labour for outdoor work. You will lose days.

Then set payment terms. Ask for a deposit that covers the materials you’re ordering in, and on bigger jobs agree stage payments against visible milestones, dig-out and sub-base done, then slabs down.

Worked example: a 20 m² patio

Illustrative figures to show the arithmetic, not market rates. Use your own supplier prices and day rate.

A 5 m × 4 m porcelain patio. Two-person crew, four days.

Materials: Working slabs 22 m² (20 m² + 10% wastage) at £35 = £770; Type 1 £225; sand £120; cement £90; pointing £100; sundries £60, Cost £1,365

Materials markup: Working 15% of £1,365, Cost £205

Plant: Working mini digger 1 day £150; whacker plate £60, Cost £210

Muck-away: Working 20 m² × 0.2 m deep = 4 m³ in the ground, more once loose; one 8-yard skip, Cost £300

Labour: Working 2 people × 4 days × £220 per person-day, Cost £1,760

Weather allowance: Working 10% of labour, Cost £176

Fixed price: £4,016

Now the check: £4,016 ÷ 20 m² = about £201 per m².

Same patio, mid-terrace, no side access. One extra day for two people barrowing through the house: +£440. The price becomes £4,456, and the m² figure jumps to about £223.

That’s £22 a metre the flat-rate landscaper just gave away. Same slabs, same patio. The only difference is the hallway.

Maintenance is priced differently

Build work gets a fixed price. Maintenance is recurring, so price it per visit or per hour with travel built in, and review it each season. Never quote a build off your maintenance hourly rate.

Common mistakes

Pricing the dig and forgetting the disposal. It’s heavier and bulkier than you think.

No wastage on cut materials. Every cut slab is money on the floor.

Using a £ per m² rate off the internet. Someone else’s rate carries someone else’s access, crew and overheads.

No weather allowance. Fixed price plus two wet days is your profit gone.

Starting without a deposit. You shouldn’t be funding the customer’s slabs.

Do this in FieldHive

Run the parts through the trade job pricing calculator to see what the job’s really worth, then build the quote with the free quote and estimate builder. In FieldHive that quote becomes the job, then the invoice, without retyping it. Download FieldHive.

Aid, not advice

This guide sets out a pricing method, not financial or legal advice. The worked example is illustrative only. Check current waste carrier requirements on gov.uk.

Waste carrier registration checked on gov.uk, September 2026.