Free Landscape Bid Checklist | Review Your Estimate Before Quoting

SIX-PASS ESTIMATE

Scope → Quantify → Time → Cost → Price → Check & Learn

Tick an item after verifying it against your records. A completed checklist is not proof the price is right; it is a review record showing which questions you considered.

0 of 19items reviewed

1 · Scope

Confirm the job you are promising before you price it.

The customer-facing work description identifies the actual installation, site area, finish and acceptance requirements.Exclusions and customer responsibilities are written down rather than assumed.Access, ground conditions, utilities, permits, approved designs and unresolved site risks have been checked or flagged for action.

2 · Quantify

Measure first; convert to purchasing quantities separately.

Area, length, volume, plant counts, loads and other takeoff quantities are recorded with units.Waste, coverage, compaction where relevant, pack sizes, minimum orders and purchase rounding have been considered.Supplier units and quotations match the quantities the company will actually purchase.

3 · Time

Estimate operations and productive labor-hours, not just calendar days.

Installation, preparation, loading, unloading, collection, cleanup and other operations have labor-hour allowances.Labor rates reflect the company’s chosen treatment of wage burden, paid hours and productive hours.Crew size, access limits and likely production bottlenecks are reflected in the time assumptions.

4 · Cost

Give real resources one deliberate home in the estimate.

Materials use current company-specific purchase costs, including applicable delivery and handling.Field labor is costed under the company’s documented labor method.Owned or rented machinery, truck/trailer resources and associated charges have been considered.Subcontractors, travel, mobilization, disposal, permit fees and other job-specific costs have been considered.

5 · Price

Make the model visible and avoid recovering any cost twice.

Overhead recovery is included using a defined method, with no material double counting.Known risks, assumptions, allowances and unresolved scope are treated explicitly instead of hidden inside one large percentage.The chosen markup or target margin is applied to the correct cost base; markup and margin are not confused.

6 · Check & Learn

Review the bid now and preserve evidence for the next one.

The client quote, exclusions, tax treatment, options and validity match the reviewed internal estimate.A final bid review has tested scope, quantities, time, costs, overhead, price and risks.The accepted estimate will be preserved and compared against actual costs and labor-hours after the job.

Start with scope. Tick only what you have checked.

This is a prompt for review, not an estimating formula.Prices, rates, labor-hours, approved designs, local rules, insurance and other inputs must come from your own company and qualified professionals where required. Do not treat a ticked checklist as engineering, legal, tax or accounting approval.

FREE NEXT STEPS

Work through the item you are unsure about

These free resources explain the estimating decisions behind the checklist.

Estimate from scope, not a guess

Follow the six-pass sequence for a landscape installation job.

Read the six-pass guides →

Markup and margin are different

Use the free calculator to check the arithmetic after defining your cost base.

Open markup and margin calculator →

Check estimated versus actual

Compare a sold estimate with completed-job evidence to improve future bids.

Read the job-cost review guide →

GO FURTHER WHEN YOU NEED TO

One method. Two separate products.

Choose the depth you need; the book and workbook are separate purchases.

BOOK · WARREN HOLTBY

Landscape Contractor Estimating & Pricing

Learn the six-pass method with sixteen complete worked landscape estimates and reusable field worksheets.

See the book and Amazon link

EXCEL SYSTEM · MERCER LANE PRESS

Landscape Estimating & Job Costing System

Build estimates, create a customer quote, freeze an awarded budget, record actual costs and review completed-job profit in the 27-sheet Excel desktop system.

See the Excel system and Etsy link

Microsoft Excel desktop required separately. Demo figures are fictional, not standard rates. See the product page for compatibility and capacity.