How Much Does Landscaping Cost? Types, Prices & Benefits

If you have a yard that has become overgrown and burdensome or if you come home every evening and find yourself frowning at the state of your home’s curb appeal, you might want to consider landscaping. Professional landscaping can turn a worn-out yard into an outdoor paradise. Landscaping can have a lot of benefits and it is very flexible. However, it can also come with a large price tag. How much does landscaping cost?

Landscaping can greatly vary in price. The biggest factor in determining a price is the scope of the landscaping job. Doing one corner of your yard will cost a lot less than redoing the entire property. Prices for professional landscaping jobs can ring anywhere from $500 to $5000. The final price will be determined by a host of factors that will have to be evaluated by the professionals doing the work.

Benefits Of Professional Landscaping

Professional landscaping has a host of benefits that can help justify the costs. Landscapers can plan out yards and gardens that are cohesive and synergistic. Plants can be specially chosen for specific purposes such as color, volume, pest control, hardiness, and cohesion. For example, professional landscapers can help plan a garden that attracts pollinators that will produce better blooms for nearby plants. This type of knowledge can help craft healthier gardens that last longer. Landscapers can also help design spaces that are more low-maintenance than the previous setup to help homeowners save time and money on their plants.

Professional landscaping can also add value to a home. Some people opt to get landscaping done when they are trying to sell their home because professional landscaping can add to a home’s curb appeal and overall sticker price. Even if you are not planning on selling your home, an outdoor facelift can still add peace of mind and equity to a property.

However, all of those benefits come with a hefty price tag. The exact amount that you can expect to pay will vary greatly depending on the size and scope of the project.

Landscaping Cost Guide

There are multiple ways to purchase landscaping jobs. You can hire an hourly crew to help spruce up your yard before the summer or you can book a professional design consultant to redo your entire property’s landscaping. Landscaping costs will be entirely dependent on the size and scope of the job. The bigger the job, the more money it will cost.

Price per Square Foot vs Hourly vs Full Installation

Some bids will be priced per square foot. You can hire a landscaper to come and redo all of your garden beds for a flat rate per square foot. If you want to redo 200 square feet of the garden at $5 per square foot the job will cost $1000.

Hourly workers can be brought in to mow, trim, edge, replant and fertilize a lawn. A day’s work can run anywhere from $400 to $800 depending on the crew.

Large professional jobs can also be booked where you pay a single price for a full redo. Large jobs often come with a designer, a planner, and a manager. These large packages are often all-inclusive and can run anywhere from $1500 for a small job to $30,000 for the largest jobs.

Type of Landscaping

Another thing to consider is what type of landscaping is being done. Some things cost a lot more in landscaping than others. Trees, sod, and earthmoving are some of the most expensive types of landscaping. Some trees can cost as much as $500 each. Hardscaping is also quite expensive compared to softscaping. All of these things will factor into the final price in addition to the size and scope of the bid.

General gardening and lawn work falls on the cheaper end of the spectrum. If you are finding yourself staring at high bids for landscaping there is a good chance you have included some pricey work that you might not have foreseen ahead of time.

Landscaping Costs

Additional Costs

Irrigation

Spending thousands of dollars on landscaping can quickly become a waste if you do not maintain proper irrigation for your new plants. Landscaping can require a lot of water and not being prepared can leave your garden high and dry. Some landscaping projects will recommend certain types of irrigation systems for the best results.

Installing a new irrigation system can cost anywhere from $200 to $1500, depending on the scope of the project. Some landscapers might include an optional irrigation package that can be installed at the same time, but many bids will not account for additional irrigation costs.

Even if you do not want to install professional irrigation for your landscaping you might see an increase in water usage which can lead to increased water bills. You do not want to let your expensive landscaping dry out, so keeping it watered is going to be important and it can lead to an increased monthly water cost.

Tree Care

Any landscaping that adds trees will require regular tree care going forward. Healthy trees will need to be trimmed yearly. Tree trimming can cost anywhere from $100 to $1000, depending on the size, height, and variety.

On the off chance that something goes wrong with trees near your home, you will need to account for tree removal or tree saving costs. Tree removal can be very expensive. If your landscaping adds trees near your home that could potentially harm your house someday, you might also need to pay to have the tree topped or removed.

Weed Control

Another thing to consider when putting in beautiful new landscaping is weed control. Eye-catching landscaping can be easily derailed by the presence of unsightly weeds. Keeping weeds out of your new investment can be a costly job. You might find yourself having to invest more in pest control, mulch, and weed killers than you did previously.

Mulch can be bought for as little as $5 a bag. Weed killers can also be purchased at relatively low prices. The final costs will depend on the size of your landscaping project and the aggressiveness of your local weeds. Large projects might require hundreds of dollars of weed mitigation efforts over the course of a year.

Replanting

Not all plants are perennials. In fact, many plants are annuals. That means that they live for a year before dropping seeds and dying. If you invest in a landscaping job that contains a lot of annual plants, you will find yourself having to replant large sections of your yard every spring. That can add up to a lot of money in the future. The way to mitigate this cost is to invest in a landscaping job that features a lot of perennial plants as opposed to annual plants. Perennial plants will come back year after year and will not require as much replanting as annual plants.

If you choose a landscaping plan with a lot of annuals, you will have to go to the store in the spring and rebuy those plants to refill your yard. If you do not want to replant your annuals, you will find your landscaping with gaps leftover from the previous year, which can devalue the money you already spent getting the landscaping done in the first place.

Time

The last thing to consider is time. While time does not come with a direct monetary cost it can put a strain on your resources. All of these additional costs, such as irrigation, replanting, and weed control, will take time to implement. A fully landscaped yard can take tens of hours of labor over the course of a season to keep it healthy and appealing.

For some people, time is money, and landscaping can cost a lot of extra time after the project is finished to maintain properly.

When Is The Best Time To Redo Your Landscaping?

Landscapers’ busiest season is spring. Most experts agree that the best time to redo your landscaping is in April and May. Late spring gives plants plenty of sunshine, warm weather, and rain to settle and get established. Landscaping done in spring gives your plants a full summer to grow and thrive before cooling off in the autumn.

Each landscaping project is different. There are some types of trees and plants that can be planted in the fall. The climate also plays a role. Southern areas with longer periods of warmth will have more flexible planting windows than areas in the north with shorter summers. Your individual landscape consultant will help you pick the best time to complete your job with the most optimal results.

Conclusion

Landscaping comes in many forms. Each project will be different and will command a completely different price. A hobbyist looking for help setting up a summer garden will pay a lot less than someone looking to redo their entire yard in order to help sell their home. Landscaping costs can vary from $1000 to $10,000, depending on the size and scope of the job. The long-term and short-term benefits of professional landscaping can be well worth it.

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