Landscaper: Significant discrepancy between proposal and final costs

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

I'm wondering if it's a common experience for a landscaping project's actual costs to go well beyond the proposal's estimated costs. A $12k estimated job became a $14k job.

From start to finish, the project was messy with poor communication from the landscaper. I should have walked away in the beginning stages even before we had a design.

That said, what was supposed to be a one-day project became a three-day project. On day two I emailed to ask if this was going to run over more, and he did not respond to my question.

The labor costs nearly doubled ($2500 est., $4500 actual). He was well aware of our difficult soil conditions beforehand. Planting was done on spring days with temperatures typical to our northeastern US region, but the crew was visibly exhausted at the end of each day.

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

Cost overruns are not uncommon with any construction project, including landscaping. Even the most experienced contractor cannot predict every issue they may encounter that could increase costs. That's why they call it an estimate!! 😁

$2000 is not a big discrepancy. It is only a 16% increase and 15-20% is a common contingency figure so well within that range. Large and more experienced landscape contracting companies may build a contingency factor into their estimates so it comes as less of a surprise (if acknowledged at all) but smaller outfits may overlook it with their inexperience or eagerness to secure the job.

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Comments (7)

Jonky Jonkerson
4 years ago
12k vs 14k is not that big if a difference
All types of unforeseen costs can be discovered in the process of re-doing your yard.
Lisa thanked Jonky Jonkerson
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Lisa
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you! I appreciate the feedback.
kandrewspa
4 years ago
The only way to avoid these types of overruns is to get a fixed price bid. What you had was an estimate. As gardengal said, there was really not a big difference between the estimate and the cost at completion. It sounds like the workers worked hard. Are you happy with the end result?

Sometimes (OK, a lot of the time) contractors do a good job but aren't good communicators or estimators. Business skills and communication skills aren't the same as the skill they need to do the job. You undoubtedly would have paid even more to get someone who was a good communicator as well because that company would be larger and more successful.
Lisa thanked kandrewspa
Lisa
Original Author
4 years ago
The crew did an excellent job. It's very obvious the difference between professional planting and DIY on my end :) Unfortunately, 12 shrubs were substituted despite my initial reluctance (the subcontracted horticulturist convinced me by saying, "I want the crew have something to do."). There were a handful of subcontractors involved and the owner didn't show up until the last day. I put my foot down to get clarity on what was happening and said we couldn't go another day. Interestingly, the pace picked up a bit ;-)

I should add, he added an irrigation proposal after the fact that came in lower on actual cost. He also estimated too much mulch so we saved $1,000 there. This could have easily ended up 4k over budget had we not lucked out on those two costs.

I've learned quite a bit coming out of this. Adding fixed bid to my list of better ways to approach this in future. As a first-time homeowner, I've got a lot to learn.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
4 years ago
"Adding fixed bid to my list of better ways to approach this in future."

Good luck with that :-) IME, this is a very uncommon approach to any landscaping project....unless very, very small. I have not worked with any skilled contractors that follow that pricing method.
Lisa thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
Sigrid
4 years ago
Yeah, my guess is if you do fixed price, the landscaper will add a cushion for contingencies. As in, your $12K job would have been quoted at $15K.