How to Bid a Landscaping Job (Step-by-Step for New Contractors)

Bidding well is a skill. New contractors think it's about being the cheapest. Experienced contractors know it's about being the most professional. The bidder with the cleanest proposal usually wins — even at a higher price.

Here's the full process, start to finish, the way profitable contractors actually do it.

Step 1: The site walk

Show up on time. Wear a clean shirt. Bring a tape measure, your phone, and a notebook. Spend the first 60 seconds listening — let the homeowner describe what they want before you start measuring.

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Photograph everything. Wide shots, close-ups of problem spots, the side of the house where the hose bib is, the access route from the street. Photos save you when you sit down at the kitchen table later and can't remember whether the back gate was 4 feet or 6 feet wide.

Step 2: Measure

Linear feet for edging, mulch beds, fencing. Square footage for sod, gravel, patios. Cubic yards for soil, mulch, gravel volume. A 50-foot tape measure or a wheel handles 90% of residential jobs. For larger properties, drop a pin in Google Earth and use the area tool.

Step 3: Estimate materials

Some rough takeoffs to know cold:

• Mulch: 1 cubic yard covers 100 sq ft at 3 inches deep.
• Sod: 1 pallet (Bermuda or fescue) covers about 450 sq ft.
• Topsoil: 1 cubic yard covers 100 sq ft at 3 inches deep.
• Pea gravel: 1 cubic yard covers 100 sq ft at 3 inches deep.
• Pavers (4x8 standard brick): 4.5 per sq ft.

Call your supplier for current prices. Add 10% for cuts, breakage, and the extra trip you'll forget about.

Step 4: Calculate labor

Rules of thumb for two-person crew:

• Sod install: 1 pallet per crew-hour (delivery, lay, water).
• Mulch install: 4–6 cubic yards per crew-hour with wheelbarrow.
• Edging install: 100 linear feet per crew-hour.
• Mowing: 1,000 sq ft per crew-minute with a 21" mower; 4,000 sq ft per crew-minute with a 60" zero-turn.
• Hand-pulled weeding: 50 sq ft per crew-hour in heavy growth.

Multiply hours by your true loaded labor rate (not what you pay the helper — what they actually cost you, including comp, taxes, and unbillable time).

Step 5: Add overhead

Overhead is everything that isn't materials or direct labor. Truck payment, insurance, fuel, equipment depreciation, your phone, your software, marketing, the office in your garage. Most landscape contractors run 15–25% overhead. If you don't know your number, use 20% as a starting point.

Step 6: Set your margin and present the bid

Minimum 15–20% net profit on top of everything above. If you go lower, you're not being competitive — you're funding the homeowner's project out of your savings.

Present the bid as a real proposal. Three tiers, branded, e-signable. Sent within 24 hours of the site walk — ideally before you leave the driveway. The contractor whose proposal arrives first wins disproportionately. Speed is its own competitive advantage.

Following up without being annoying

Day 3: 'Just checking in — any questions about the proposal?' Day 7: 'We have an opening the week of the 22nd if you wanted to lock in.' Day 14: phone call. After that, let it go. Following up more than three times turns you from interested into desperate.