How much should you charge for landscaping?

Answer 1

This is a great question.

In my area, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the average residential landscaping budget is between $20,000 and $50,000. A large project is $100,000. Rarely a project may be $250,000 or more on a large estate. Before the economic downturn, by comparison, the average landscaping project used to be between $50,000 to $80,000.

Pricing Trends: The average home value is around $1,000,000 in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties. When compared with the drop in real estate prices, housing did not drop more than around 15% to 20%, whereas landscaping project budgets have dropped by more than half. Many people are now choosing not to do everything at once that they would like to have done in their landscaping projects, choosing instead to phase in landscaping improvements over time.

Does this mean that you must spend a certain amount more or less than your neighbors? I never encourage people to force themselves into a budget, but do their research to make balanced choices and informed decisions about what they want for the outdoors of their home.

• An average front yard remodel on an average single family 50ft x 100ft flat lot (no slopes or hillsides to contend with) with planting, lighting, automatic irrigation, a new driveway and walkways, maybe some pilasters with post lamps, etc. could be $25,000 to $40,000.
• An average backyard remodel on that same typical lot may run the same or slightly higher.
• A bare minimum front yard remodel on an average size lot, say 50ft x 100ft with planting, lighting, automatic irrigation and maybe a new walkway starts at $10,000.
• A bare minimum backyard remodel on average is slightly more at the basic starter budget of $15,000, if you perhaps add in a small patio, and maybe a shade structure such as a wood arbor.
• A pool can average $20,000 to $60,000 depending upon size and features.
• An outdoor kitchen can be around $25,000 to $50,000.

By contrast, in the neighboring Sacramento Delta area, prices are lower across the board and your dollar stretches further. However housing prices are much lower there, which is reflected accordingly in the local construction economy. I'm sure this difference in housing and construction costs adjusts widely across the country in various local economies reflective of differences housing, labor and materials costs, as well as the costs of doing business.

Again, the best thing is to do your homework on pricing in your local area first, before making a major investment in landscaping.

Answer 2

1222

Answer 3

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