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aspiringdiyer

Landscaping Quote Help

last year

Hi all. I'm looking to get some quotes for some landscaping based on the link below.  Do you think this is something beneficial to send to the contractors to get a better quote?  Also, based on your industry experience, what would you say would be the ballpark estimate for a competitive quote?  Thanks all!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hDsNx5xLSNTt_nLC5xANOzw_GtYijUlb/view?usp=drivesdk

Comments (16)

  • last year

    Impossible to say what a ballpark is because it really varies based on where you live. It can also vary hugely depending on the company. Get at least three estimates and see how they compare.


    What did you give your landscape designer as your ballpark budget? Have you asked them what they would anticipate as cost?


    I would not send a contractor this entire package. Just give them the page with the layout and qualitities of each kind of plant and the amount of hardscape materials and mulch.

  • last year

    Thanks. Just curious, why do you suggest not sending them the individual item pages?

  • PRO
    last year
    last modified: last year

    The maturity and quality of the plantings, the climate, the site, all matter. The position of the house on the lot.

    Landscaping is a local endeavor, and I would meet with several in your OWN area, at your own home.

    If you think someone is going to bid and exercise any care or guarantee the bid and outcome? I would say probably NOT.

    Does the plan come with replacement if a fail on any portion, and in what time frame? There are too many unknowns to even compare bids. Get a landscape company to your site.

  • last year

    Landscaping is regional. I would want suggestions for hardscapes and softscapes made by other landscape architects once they see the location and lay of the land. I would want them to do a mock up of their suggestions. I would offer them a basic view from above with some basic suggestions of what you are thinking but let them have an in depth discussion with you to determine what is best for the area. Are the pages in your link YOUR drawings or are they owned by a designer? If you do not own those drawings they should not be sent to anyone.

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    Who created this plan you already have? Is that plan in your budget? Does it address your needs/wants/priorities? What does your yard currently look like and are you keeping anything you already have? (You can save money by utilizing plants you already have - moving them to other spots as needed.)

    An experienced landscaper may have good ideas for helping you reach your goals and priorities that are different from this plan... if I were you I would want to know those other ideas before moving forward.

    We hired a landscape designer last year and we talked to two different local ones who specialize in using mostly native species (that was a high priority for us). The knowledge and creativity of both were evident, but one felt like they were selling me on their vision and the one we hired was really helping to pull out my/our vision for the space and making that vision reality.

    If I were you I would talk with other landscapers in person on your property and communicate your needs/wants/priorities to them. Let them listen and give you a plan. Then decide which plan best meets your needs, priorities, and budget. (Which, by the way, I'm assuming your budget is quite hefty given the plan you've shared.) (Also, your plan shows quite large specimens... will they be planting ones that large? If not, be aware and ask to make sure they are planning for mature sized plants and not planning based on smaller sizes.)


    ETA: I second what Lorraine said about who own the plans- make sure you know that. It was important to us- we paid for the plans to be ours to do with as we wanted.

  • last year

    This is no different than building a house. Of course having a detailed plan is beneficial and should be sent to the landscaping companies that you want to bid on the project. This is the only way you will get bids that can be compared.

    Does the design include hardscape and landscape? If yes, I would ask for those to be separate bids.

    In our previous house we paid a landscape designer for plans. Had the plans bid out with hardscape and landscape separated. We hired a company to do the hardscape first. We had a lot of issues with them and decided not go give them the landscape side of the project. Several instances where they didn't follow the plan and would then charge us change orders to fix their mistakes. Found another company to do the landscape and even saved money!

  • last year

    Great thank you for the advice. The plans are owned my me since I paid an online design service to create them for me. Yeah I’ve reached out to some contractors. One mentioned that the cost to install a single paver is $650. Does anyone know if that seems reasonable?

  • PRO
    last year

    Nobody knows what is "reasonable" as every region of this country is different.

    You should do all your due diligence, locally, by comparing bid with skill sets and quality, and your budget.

    Not every answer to everything is online: )

  • PRO
    last year

    What landscape contractor charges by the paver? That sounds very strange, almost like he didn't want the job.

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    ANY plan that includes gravel areas and is not desert xeriscaping is a terrible plan. Online plans are usually not very good for local elevations, local soil conditions, and local plants. Most of the time, that just shows the locals that someone is clueless about gardening, and thinks it should be cheap and easy to do. Paying for poor plans outside your budget that do not suit the conditions just means they are going to either have to greatly adapt those plans, or start over fresh. Or run away from the whole thing. That is a run away, or bid high, because of all of the rework needed.

  • last year

    Those plant quantities seem huge. 13 Aspens??? A grove forming suckering tree with an 80 foot potential height? What are they thinking?

  • last year

    " ANY plan that includes gravel areas and is not desert xeriscaping is a terrible plan. "

    That is a extremely broad generalization that is really not supportable. As a longtime professional landscape designer, I can think of a wide range of situations where a gravel surface makes sense and is in fact the best surfacing option.

    IMO, the most valuable advice you have received here is to put the basic plans (no detailed specs included) out for bid to at least 3 different local landscape contracting companies.......and more is better! Eliminating the highest and the lowest bids should result in a middle grouping that should reflect the "reasonable" going rate for such services in your area.

    I'd also recommend you be open to options these contractors may offer, whether it be paving choices, plant selection and/or placement. While there can be some drawbacks to online or remote design services, they are not all bad and can be very helpful in areas were feet-on-the-ground designers are few and far between.

  • PRO
    last year

    What is your criteria for selecting the company to do the work? If you're shopping for the lowest price, shotgunning an online design packet to a bunch of companies is a decent approach.

  • PRO
    last year

    Not helping but anyone else irritated by the estimate pop up on the screen now every time you go to a dilemma.

  • last year
    last modified: last year

    The plans are owned my me since I paid an online design service to create them for me.

    Aha! Your plans, coupled with your other thread about wanting to dig up the yard in 3-5 years to install a swimming pool, seemed very off to me, and now learning that you used an online designer, I understand why. I would never use an online designer for this large and expensive of a landscape project. They might be great for "hey, make a layout for my perennial garden", but not for this scale of project.

    I would never pay to install a landscape plan where the designer did not visit my site, test my soil, determine on their own my sun and wind exposures, look at my neighboring yards, sight lines, and evaluate what was thriving elsewhere nearby.

    The plan looked pretty off to me and I think the designer is probably better at using slick software than they are at designing a landscape that will mature well with your house. This seems to me more like a plan that a developer installs with little care towards the longevity of the trees or future challenges.

    Contact a few landscape designers, do not show them these plans, and have them bid on design creation for your property. Give them a general price range of how much you can afford for the materials and install. (If you can find a designer who also oversees the install, that would be great too.) There is no use in having a design that cost more to install than what you are able to afford.

    Also, is the pool more so for kid splashing? It looks extremely small, the length of two lounge chairs.


    And, agreed. $650 to install a single paver is someone who does not want to do your job.