1 · Scope
Define exactly what the customer is buying, what is excluded, and which unknown conditions still need treatment.
LANDSCAPE CONTRACTOR ESTIMATING
Landscape Contractor Estimating & Pricing Guides
Build a landscape estimate in a deliberate order: define the work, measure it, estimate the labor-hours, identify the costs, apply the company's pricing model, then check the result and learn from the finished job.
The Six-Pass Estimate
A selling price is easier to defend when the scope, quantities, time, costs, pricing method, and post-job evidence remain visible instead of being compressed into one rule-of-thumb number.
2 · Quantify
Measure the physical work and keep design, measured, purchase, and installed quantities distinct where they differ.
3 · Time
Break the job into operations and estimate labor-hours using company evidence and visible assumptions.
4 · Cost
Build labor, materials, equipment, subcontractor, delivery, disposal, travel, and other direct costs without letting real resources disappear.
5 · Price
Recover overhead and profit under a defined company model, with markup and margin labelled correctly.
6 · Check & Learn
Review the bid before it leaves, preserve the sold estimate, and compare it with actual results after the work.
FREE PRACTICAL GUIDES
Work on one part of the estimate at a time
These guides expand the parts of the estimating chain that most benefit from a defined process and clean company records.
LANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
The Six-Pass Landscape Estimate: Scope, Quantity, Time, Cost, Price, Learn
Do not begin with the final price. Move through six passes so every number has a visible job: Scope → Quantify → Time → Cost → Price → Check & Learn.
Read the guideLANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
Landscape Material Takeoff: Measured Quantity vs Purchase Quantity
A measured landscape quantity is not automatically the amount you will buy. Separate the four quantity stages and make every conversion and purchasing assumption visible.
Read the guideLANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
How to Estimate Landscape Labor Hours From Operations and Production Rates
Estimate the work before the calendar. Break the job into operations, express time in labor-hours, challenge the uncertain lines, and compare finished jobs with the assumptions you used.
Read the guideLANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
Landscape Equipment and Overhead: Recover Costs Without Double Counting
Owned equipment is not free, overhead needs a defined recovery method, and every real business cost should have one deliberate home — not zero homes and not two.
Read the guideLANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
Landscape Contractor Markup vs Margin: Use the Right Pricing Formula
Markup is measured against cost; margin is measured against selling price. The formula can be correct while the pricing model is wrong if the cost base is incomplete.
Read the guideLANDSCAPE ESTIMATING
Landscape Estimate vs Actual: Build Production Rates From Finished Jobs
The learning cycle does not end when the customer accepts the quote. Preserve the estimate, capture what actually happened, explain the variance, and update the estimating system only for a defined reason.
Read the guideTHE FULL BOOK
Landscape Contractor Estimating & Pricing
The book connects the method across scope, materials, labor, equipment, delivery and disposal, overhead, risk, pricing, a five-minute bid review, sixteen complete landscape estimating examples, estimate-versus-actual learning, production-rate libraries, assemblies, price books, and reusable field worksheets.
Worked figures are teaching inputs. Costs, wages, production rates, equipment rates, quantities, durations, markups, margins, and prices shown in worked examples are fictional and are not market-rate recommendations. Real estimates should use the company's own current information.