Updated October 22, 2026
This landscaping pricing calculator builds an install bid from the pieces of the job and does the yard math for you: it turns bed area and depth into cubic yards of mulch and rock, rounds them to what the supplier sells, converts rock to tons, then adds plants, other materials, delivery, crew labor, equipment rental, disposal, overhead and profit. You get the bid, the yards and tons to order, the price per square foot of beds and the break-even.
Quick answer: Cubic yards = area (sq ft) × depth (in) ÷ 12 ÷ 27, rounded up to the nearest half yard. Bid = (mulch + rock + plants + other materials + delivery + labor + equipment + disposal) ÷ (1 − overhead % − profit %). Break-even = direct cost ÷ (1 − overhead %).
An estimate from the numbers you entered, not a market price. Put in your own costs for a number you can stand behind.
Home service businesses answer only about half their calls (Invoca, July 2026), and owners spend about 11 to 16 hours/week on admin. Pricing is the easy part; the money leaks out in the calls you can't take, the quotes nobody chases and the invoices that sit unpaid. Unmanually is a 24/7 AI Office Manager for landscapers that you run by voice from your phone:
Sources: Invoca, July 2026 (52% of home-service calls answered by a person, 60M+ calls); admin hours: Time etc / Censuswide 2023 and Amex SME Barometer 2026.
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cubic yards = area sq ft × depth in ÷ 12 ÷ 27, rounded up to the nearest half yardtons of rock = cubic yards × tons per cubic yarddirect cost = mulch + rock + plants + other materials + delivery + person-hours × labor cost + equipment + disposalbid price = direct cost ÷ (1 − overhead % − profit %)break-even = direct cost ÷ (1 − overhead %)
These are assumptions for illustration, not market figures. Swap in your own.
A front-yard refresh: 400 sq ft of beds with 3 inches of mulch at $40 a yard, 150 sq ft of river rock 3 inches deep at $70 a yard (1.4 tons a yard), 12 shrubs at $25, $150 of edging, fabric and soil, $75 delivery, 18 crew person-hours at $24, $150 mini skid steer rental, $60 dump fees, 15% overhead and 15% profit.
Mulch: 400 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 3.70 cubic yards, so order 4 yards = $160. Rock: 150 × 3 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 1.39 yards, order 1.5 yards (about 2.1 tons) = $105. Plants $300, other materials and delivery $225, labor $432, equipment and disposal $210. Direct cost is $1,432. Break-even with overhead covered is $1,432 ÷ 0.85 = $1,684.71, and the bid is $1,432 ÷ 0.70 = $2,045.71, about $3.72 per square foot of beds and rock and $113.65 per crew person-hour.
If the job really takes 40 person-hours and you want 20% profit, the bid becomes $3,015.38. Track hours on every install so the next bid starts from facts.
Mulch, soil, rock and gravel are sold by the cubic yard (or by the ton for stone). One cubic yard covers 324 square feet at 1 inch deep, so divide the area times the depth in inches by 324. Round up to what your supplier sells, and add a little when the beds are uneven or the old mulch is gone. Rock weight per yard depends on the stone, so ask the yard when they sell by the ton.
Install bids go wrong when small items are forgotten: edging, landscape fabric and staples, soil amendments, delivery fees, dump runs and the rental on the mini skid steer. List them on every bid, even when they are small. Labor is usually the biggest number; base it on person-hours from similar jobs, not on how long you hope it takes.
Trucks, trailers, insurance, the office and the hours you spend estimating jobs you don't win all need to be paid by the jobs you do win. Set overhead as a share of price, add profit the same way and divide your direct cost by what is left. Marking up only the materials often leaves labor-heavy jobs underpriced.
Spring is the rush for mulch, planting and cleanups; fall is good for planting many trees and shrubs and for hardscape before the ground freezes in cold regions. Book install work early, keep a waiting list in spring, and sell fall planting to the customers you could not fit in.
Many landscapers offer a plant replacement warranty for a season, sometimes only when they also water or maintain. If you do, build the expected replacements into the plant price and write the conditions on the bid.
Homeowners call landscapers in the spring rush and book whoever calls back with a time. Unmanually is an AI Office Manager that works 24/7 and that you run by voice: the AI Office Manager answers, asks the project, bed sizes, materials and timing, gives your price range, books the estimate visit or the job and texts the confirmation, then sends the invoice and chases it. See what Unmanually does for landscapers, or get a free website that calls every new lead back in about a minute.
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Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in inches and divide by 324. 400 sq ft at 3 inches is 1,200 ÷ 324 = 3.7 cubic yards, so order 4.
One cubic yard covers 324 sq ft at 1 inch, about 162 sq ft at 2 inches and 108 sq ft at 3 inches.
It depends on the stone. This calculator uses 1.4 tons per cubic yard as an assumption; ask your supplier for the weight of the product you buy and enter it.
Add up direct costs (materials, delivery, labor, equipment, disposal), then divide by one minus overhead and profit as shares of the price. The calculator shows each step and the break-even.
Practices vary. This calculator prices the whole job with overhead and profit as a share of the price instead of a markup on materials alone, so labor-heavy jobs are not underpriced.
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