Updated October 2026
How This Landscaping Calculator Works
Every service line works out three things: materials, labor hours, and any disposal fee. The job total is all of those added up, plus your overhead/profit percentage:
Labor cost = labor hours × labor rate
Subtotal = materials + labor cost + disposal
Bid = subtotal × (1 + overhead/profit %)
Here's how each service calculates its materials and hours, so you can check any line against your own numbers:
| Service | Materials | Labor hours |
|---|---|---|
| Mulch | Cubic yards (rounded up) × price per yard | yards ÷ 2 |
| Sod | ft² × price per ft² | ft² ÷ 500 (× 1.25 with prep) |
| Mowing | None | lawn ft² ÷ mowing pace × visits |
| Planting | Plants × average cost | plants × hours each |
| Cleanup | Dump fee, listed separately | hours you enter |
| Edging | None | linear ft ÷ pace |
| Custom | Whatever you enter | hours you enter |
The mulch formula
Mulch is sold by the cubic yard, and beds are measured in square feet with depth in inches. The conversion is:
Cubic yards = (length × width × depth in inches ÷ 12) ÷ 27
A shortcut worth memorizing: one cubic yard covers about 324 ft² at 1 inch, 162 ft² at 2 inches, and 108 ft² at 3 inches. The calculator rounds materials up to whole yards, because that's how most suppliers sell it. Labor uses the exact yardage, since spreading 5.6 yards takes 5.6 yards' worth of time.
Choosing Your Settings
Labor rate
The default is $55/hr. Use your fully loaded cost for one labor hour: wages plus payroll taxes and workers' comp for an employee, or your own target pay grossed up for self-employment tax if you work solo. Every service multiplies its hours by this one rate. If a crew lead and a laborer cost you very different amounts, use the average rate for the crew you'll actually send.
Mowing pace
This is how many square feet of lawn one labor hour covers, counting trimming and blowing as well as mowing. The default is 5,000 ft²/hr. A wide-deck rider on an open lawn will cover much more, and a push mower on a cut-up yard with lots of beds will cover less. The way to get it right is to time a few of your own properties from unloading to loading back up and divide lawn area by hours.
Materials prices
The mulch, sod, and plant prices on each card are rough starting points. Bulk mulch varies a lot by region and by whether it's delivered, and sod prices depend on the variety and your grower. Replace them with what your supplier charged you last time. If you mark up materials, either enter your marked-up price or let the overhead/profit percentage cover it. Just make sure you don't do both by accident.
Service-specific settings
- Mulch depth: 2–3 inches is typical for refreshing beds. New beds or bare soil often need 3–4 inches.
- Sod ground prep: ticking this adds 25% to sod labor for clearing and leveling. Removing an existing lawn with a sod cutter, bringing in topsoil, or heavy grading are bigger jobs. Price them as a separate Custom line.
- Planting time: 0.25 hours (15 minutes) per plant is about right for small perennials in prepared soil. Shrubs from 3-gallon pots and up, trees, and hard or rocky soil can take 30 minutes to over an hour each.
- Cleanup: there's no formula, so enter the hours you expect plus your actual dump or green-waste fee.
Worked Example: Spring Bed Refresh
A typical residential spring job: re-mulch 600 ft² of beds at 3 inches with hardwood mulch, re-cut 180 feet of bed edge, plant 8 shrubs, and haul away winter debris. All settings are at their defaults ($55/hr, 20% overhead/profit).
| Service | Inputs | Materials | Hours | Line cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulch | 600 ft², 3 in, hardwood | 6 yd × $45 = $270 | 2.8 | $423 |
| Edging | 180 ft at 200 ft/hr | — | 0.9 | $50 |
| Planting | 8 shrubs, $35 ea, 0.5 hr ea | $280 | 4.0 | $500 |
| Cleanup | 3 hrs + $75 dump | $75 disposal | 3.0 | $240 |
| Subtotal | $1,212 | |||
| Overhead / profit (20%) | $242 | |||
| Bid | $1,455 | |||
The mulch math: 600 ft² × 3 in ÷ 12 = 150 ft³, and 150 ÷ 27 = 5.6 cubic yards. That means buying 6 yards and spending 2.8 hours spreading at 2 yards per hour.
Look at where the hours went: planting and cleanup are 7 of the 10.7 labor hours, but they're the two lines most often guessed instead of estimated. If you walk a property and quote a number in your head, those are the services that get underpriced. Even a rough line item for each one keeps them from disappearing into "the mulch job."
What This Calculator Doesn't Include
- Drive time and mobilization. Loading, travel, and unloading aren't counted anywhere. For a one-off job, add a Custom line for it. For a mowing route, build it into your mowing pace.
- Delivery fees. Bulk mulch and sod usually come with a delivery charge. Add it to the materials price or as a Custom line.
- Equipment. Sod cutters, tillers, and skid steers you rent cost money even if the job goes quickly. Put rental costs in a Custom line as materials.
- Weeding and bed prep before mulching. Spreading mulch over weeds doesn't last. If the beds need weeding, edging, or pre-emergent first, price that time separately.
- Irrigation, hardscape, and grading. These need their own estimates. Use Custom lines with your own material and labor numbers.
- Seasonal contracts. To price a mowing season, set Visits to the number of cuts. The calculator doesn't change the price for growth flushes or skipped weeks during drought.
Markup vs. Margin
The overhead/profit field is a markup added on top of your costs. Your margin, which is profit as a share of the final price, is always lower:
Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup)
20% markup → 16.7% margin
25% markup → 20% margin
43% markup → 30% margin
If you're aiming for a particular margin, convert it before entering it here. For more on what that number needs to cover, see how much to charge for landscaping.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much mulch do I need for a 10×20 bed?
At 3 inches deep, a 10×20 bed (200 ft²) needs 200 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 1.85 cubic yards, so order 2 yards. At 2 inches it's 1.2 yards. Add a mulch line above with your dimensions to see the cost.
Should I price landscaping jobs by the hour or by the job?
Most customers want a fixed price, and quoting by the job means you keep the benefit when your crew works efficiently. Estimating by hours and materials, as this calculator does, is how you arrive at a fixed price you can trust. Hourly billing is better for open-ended work where the scope is unclear, like overgrown cleanups.
How many square feet does a pallet of sod cover?
It depends on the farm. Pallets commonly hold around 400 to 500 ft², but sizes vary by grower and region. Ask your supplier for their pallet size and order a few percent extra for cuts along curves and edges.
How do I price a full mowing season?
Add a mowing line, enter the lawn size, and set Visits to the number of cuts you expect in a season. Many contractors then divide the total into equal monthly payments. Customers like the steady bill, and you get steady cash flow.
Should I charge a dump fee separately?
Yes, in most cases. Listing disposal on its own line makes it clear to the customer that you're passing along a real cost, not adding to your labor. The calculator shows disposal as a separate line whenever a cleanup service is included.
Is my estimate saved or sent anywhere?
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser and nothing you enter is sent to a server. Use Copy Estimate or Print / Save PDF to keep a copy.