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How much to charge for landscaping: labor, clean-ups and installs
Landscaping jobs range from a two-hour bed clean-up to a full yard of new plants and mulch, and each needs a price the customer can say yes to. Here's how to set your hourly labor rate, price clean-ups and installs, what published guides and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show, and a worked example with labor and materials on separate lines.
Start with your hourly labor rate
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers at $18.82 an hour in May 2025, and for tree trimmers and pruners at $24.50. The lowest 10% of grounds maintenance workers earned less than $15.01 an hour and the highest 10% more than $28.10. Those are employees; BLS pay figures don't include the self-employed.
Published guides show what homeowners are charged. HomeAdvisor's landscaping cost guide, updated June 2026, says local landscaping pros charge about $50 to $100 an hour with equipment included. HomeGuide's yard cleanup guide, written February 2026, gives the same $50 to $100 an hour. Your rate has to cover the truck, trailer, tools, insurance, dump fees and unpaid quoting time; work it out from your costs as in how to price a job.
Pricing clean-ups
Clean-ups are mostly labor and disposal, so price them by the hour or as a flat price built from the hours you expect. Seasonal work comes with a minimum because the drive and setup are the same for a small yard.
| Published range | |
|---|---|
| Spring clean-up | $125 to $300 |
| Fall clean-up | $150 to $400 |
| Overgrown yard | $400 to $800, or $50 to $100 an hour |
| Leaf removal | $100 to $300 |
| Shrub trimming | $5 to $20 a bush |
| Old mulch removal | $50 to $100 a cubic yard |
| Minimum service fee | $100 to $125 a visit |
HomeGuide, yard cleanup cost guide, written February 4, 2026. What homeowners are charged, not a recommendation.
Installs: labor and materials on separate lines
On planting, mulch and sod, the materials are a real part of the bill, so list them at cost plus your markup and keep the labor separate. HomeAdvisor (2026) says labor makes up 40% to 65% of a landscaping project's cost and lists mulch installation at $30 to $120 a cubic yard. HomeGuide's landscaping installation guide (February 2026) lists mulch at $35 to $70 a cubic yard installed, shrub planting at $25 to $85 a shrub and sod at $1 to $2 a square foot.
Before you pick a markup, see markup vs margin, so you know what it leaves you.
A worked example: a spring clean-up with new mulch
Example numbers, not a quote: $65 an hour, a 20% markup on materials and a $125 minimum. The job is a spring clean-up you expect to take 3 hours, then 4 cubic yards of mulch at $38 a yard from your supplier, 2 hours to spread, and a $30 dump fee for the debris.
Dividing the mulch lines by the yards gives you a per-yard price you can save and reuse.
- Clean-up labor: 3 hours × $65 = $195
- Spreading mulch: 2 hours × $65 = $130
- Mulch: 4 cubic yards × $38 = $152, × 1.20 = $182.40
- Dump fee: $30
- Total: $195 + $130 + $182.40 + $30 = $537.40
- Mulch installed: ($130 + $182.40) ÷ 4 = $78.10 a cubic yard
- A bed tidy-up alone, 1.5 hours: 1.5 × $65 = $97.50, under the $125 minimum, so $125
Maintenance plans, mowing and the season
Many landscapers carry regular customers through the season with mowing, edging and trimming, and sell clean-ups and installs on top. HomeGuide's lawn care prices guide (February 2026) puts full-service lawn care at $100 to $400 a month for a 1/8- to 1/4-acre lawn. Price the regular part per visit, as in how much to charge for lawn mowing, and quote each project separately.
Some work needs a license. HomeGuide advises homeowners to check that anyone spraying fertilizer, weed killer or pesticide holds a commercial applicator license. Check your state's rules on that, on irrigation and hardscape work, and on sales tax for materials and labor.
Putting the price on paper
In Workeey you set your rates once: hourly, travel, call-out, first hour, evenings and weekends, parts markup and a deposit percent. Save the jobs you price often, a spring clean-up, a cubic yard of mulch installed or a shrub planted, as lines with a name and a price. A quick estimate prices from those, and you share it from your phone as a quote PDF with the deposit percent printed on it. The customer says yes to you directly.
When the work is done, one tap turns the estimate into the invoice, emailed with a pay link for card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or US bank transfer through your own Stripe account; a small processing fee applies. The free plan includes 23 quick estimates a month and unlimited invoicing; Pro is $5 a month and Premium $19 (pricing). Start from the landscaping estimate template, or see Workeey for landscapers.
More for landscapers: pages and free templates
- Landscaping software — visits, routes and invoices in one app
- Invoicing for landscapers — plants, materials and the install on one bill
- How to start a lawn care business — a step-by-step guide to going out on your own
- Best apps for a lawn care business — the apps for this trade compared
- Landscaping invoice template — free, with a filled-in sample
- Landscaping estimate template — a free quote sample
- Landscaping receipt template — a free paid-in-full sample
- Landscaping and lawn care price list template — free, with sample prices
- Landscaping and lawn care work order template — free, with a filled-in sample
- Free invoice template — every field a trade invoice needs
- Free estimate template — copy it, price it, send it
- Free receipt template — a paid-in-full receipt to copy
- Work order template — the job written down before you bill it
- Late payment reminder templates — texts, emails and a letter to copy and send
- All free templates and tools
How much should a landscaper charge per hour?
HomeAdvisor (June 2026) and HomeGuide (February 2026) both put landscaping labor at about $50 to $100 an hour. Set yours from your own costs and billable hours, then compare.
How much should I charge for a spring clean-up?
HomeGuide (February 2026) lists $125 to $300 for a spring clean-up and $150 to $400 for a fall one. Price it from the hours you expect plus disposal.
How do I price mulch installation?
List the mulch at cost plus your markup and the spreading as labor, then divide by the yards to get a per-yard price. HomeAdvisor (2026) lists $30 to $120 a cubic yard installed.
Should landscapers have a minimum charge?
Yes. HomeGuide (2026) lists minimum service fees of $100 to $125 a visit, so a small job still pays for the drive and setup.
How do I price landscaping by the job instead of by the hour?
Estimate the hours × your rate, add materials at cost plus markup and any dump fees, and quote the total. Save repeat jobs as lines so the next quote is quick.