Free Landscaping Estimate Template (PDF Generator)

How to write a landscaping estimate

1. Add your business and license details

   Company details, logo and any irrigation license number your state requires on the proposal.

2. Enter the customer and the property

   Name, contact details and the job address.

3. Number and date it, and set the valid-until date

   The number is prefilled. Plant and sod availability changes with the season, so keep the window short.

4. Price materials by the cubic yard, hardscape by the square foot, plants by count

   Excavation as a lot with the depth, base stone by the yard with the compacted depth, pavers and sod by the square foot twice — supply, then install — and plants by variety, container size and count.

5. Add the irrigation scope, utility locates and site conditions

   Irrigation as a lot with the zone and head count and the license line; the 811 locate; access, grading and drainage assumptions in the notes.

6. Mark upgrades Optional and set the deposit

   Lighting, edging or extra beds ticked Optional so they print priced outside the total; a deposit that states what it covers; the watering condition on the plant warranty; exclusions in writing.

7. Download, send, and convert when accepted

   Text or email the PDF. When the customer signs, untick Optional on accepted add-ons and press Convert to invoice.

What to include on a landscaping estimate

What should a landscaping estimate include?

Quantities in the units you buy in, and conditions for the things you cannot control. That is the whole trade-specific list. Everything the customer can measure — yards of mulch, square feet of sod and pavers, count and size of plants — goes on a line in that unit. Everything you cannot promise — whether the sod takes, whether the grade drains, what is under the turf — goes in the notes as a condition with a price attached where possible.

The sample estimate is a backyard install and shows the pattern: excavation as a lot with the depth stated, base stone by the cubic yard with the compacted depth, pavers by the square foot twice (supply, then install), sod by the square foot twice (supply, then prep and install), an irrigation zone as a lot with the head count, the dump fee separate, and three add-ons marked optional so they show up priced but outside the total. The notes carry the deposit purpose, the watering condition, the 811 locate, the license line and the exclusions.

For seasonal maintenance the estimate is a different animal: a per-visit or per-month price, the visit count or frequency by month, what a visit includes, what is extra (aeration, fertilization program, storm cleanup), the start and end of the season, and the cancellation terms. Write those five things and you have a maintenance contract; skip one and you have a July argument.

How do you quote mulch, soil, plants and sod?

1. Bulk materials: measure the bed in square feet, decide the depth in inches, and convert — square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324 gives cubic yards (a yard is 27 cubic feet, and 324 is 27 × 12). At 3 inches, a yard covers about 108 square feet. Quote the yards and write the depth on the line.
2. Hardscape: pavers by the square foot for supply and again for install, because the customer may change the paver and keep the labor. Base by the cubic yard from the footprint and the compacted depth; edging by the linear foot.
3. Plants: by variety, container size and count. Container size drives the price more than variety, so 'hydrangea — 3-gal' and 'hydrangea — 7-gal' are different lines. If the customer has not chosen, quote a size and leave the variety as a visible blank.
4. Sod: by the square foot of lawn, plus prep. Pallet sizes vary by farm and grass type — commonly 400 to 500 square feet for slabs and mini rolls, and up to 700 for large rolls (Sod Solutions) — so never let the pallet be the unit. Add a note that the price is subject to farm availability.
5. Check the margin: materials with delivery, plants with the nursery's price for that size, labor with a crew-day rate. The markup and margin calculator shows what your material markup earns, and the estimate guide covers labor and overhead.

How do you write a seasonal maintenance contract versus a one-time install estimate?

An install estimate is a project: fixed scope, fixed quantities, a deposit, a completion, a final invoice with actuals. A seasonal contract is a subscription: a price per visit or per month, a frequency that changes with the season, and a list of what is in and what is out. The generator handles both — for a seasonal contract, make each line a service ('Mowing, edging, blowing — weekly Apr–Oct, 28 visits') with the per-visit rate and count, and use the notes for the season dates, extras and cancellation terms.

Two clauses matter on the seasonal side. First, what a skipped week means — weather skips are not credited, customer-requested skips are, or whatever your policy is, written down. Second, how the customer leaves: notice period, and whether a flat-monthly customer who cancels in July owes for the spring cleanup that the flat rate was spreading. Commercial property managers will also want net-30 terms on the contract; the terms post covers when to give them and when not to.

How much deposit should a landscaper take on an install?

Enough to cover the perishable and special-order part — sod, plants, pavers in a specific color — and within your state's limit. Landscaping installs are material-heavy and the material dies or cannot be returned, which is the honest reason for a larger deposit than a painter would take. But the cap is legal, not logical: Maryland, for example, prohibits a home-improvement contractor from accepting more than one-third of the contract price as a deposit and requires the contractor's MHIC license number, a description of the work and materials, and approximate start and completion dates in the contract (Maryland MHIC). Other states cap lower, or tie the deposit to permit deadlines, or do not cap at all; the contractor deposit guide lists the ones with hard limits. Confirm yours before you print 40%.

Say what the deposit is for on the estimate — the sample's notes read 'deposit covers the paver and sod orders and holds the install date' — because a deposit with a stated purpose is one the customer understands and one you can defend if the job cancels after the sod is cut. A customer who pushes back on a deposit that only covers the plants is telling you something; vet the customer before you quote covers what to do with that.

Do you need a license to quote irrigation, and which lines get taxed?

Irrigation is licensed separately from landscaping in a number of states, and the license can be a condition of quoting, not just installing. Texas is explicit: a person may not sell, design, install, maintain, alter, repair, service or inspect an irrigation system — or consult in those activities — without a TCEQ license (TCEQ), and written proposals and bids for irrigation work must carry the irrigator's name, license number, address and phone plus a TCEQ regulatory statement (30 TAC 344.71). If you subcontract the irrigation zone, the proposal should name the licensed irrigator. Elsewhere irrigation may sit under a plumbing, landscape-contractor or backflow license, or none — check before you quote a zone.

Tax is the other line-by-line question. In some states an install is a capital improvement and not taxed to the customer while maintenance is; in others the whole service is taxable. The estimate should mark which lines you expect to tax so the invoice is not the customer's first notice — the landscaping invoice page walks through the Texas and New York rules as examples. Landscapers who quote a lot of installs use TrustPro's landscaping CRM to send the estimate by text, take the deposit online and convert the signed estimate into the invoice with the same lines — $29/month, 14-day free trial, no credit card. This generator stays free either way.

FAQ

• Sod Solutions — Square feet per pallet of sod
• Maryland MHIC — Home improvement contract requirements
• TCEQ — Landscape irrigator license
• 30 Texas Administrative Code §344.71 — Landscape irrigation (Cornell LII)