How do landscaping companies calculate job costs?

1. Labor and labor burden

Estimate the person-hours the job needs — not crew-hours. A two-person crew working four hours is eight person-hours. Multiply by the hourly wage, then add labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation, insurance and paid time off. Burden commonly adds 15–30% on top of wages; use your own figure from payroll.

2. Materials and waste

Price materials at what you actually pay, including delivery. Add a waste allowance — mulch settles, plants fail, stone gets cut. A 5–10% allowance is common for many materials, but track your own jobs to set it.

3. Equipment, disposal and subcontractors

Include rentals, fuel for equipment, dump fees and any subcontracted work as fixed costs for the job. If you own equipment, a per-job equipment charge helps recover maintenance and replacement.

4. Travel, overhead and contingency

Travel and setup time is real labor. Overhead covers costs that aren't tied to one job — the shop, office software, insurance, vehicles, the owner's admin time — usually applied as a percentage of direct cost. A contingency covers uncertainty in larger or less predictable jobs.

• Direct cost = labor (with burden) + materials (with waste) + equipment/disposal + travel
• Total cost = direct cost + overhead + contingency

5. Price for the margin you need

Once you know total cost, set the price for a target gross margin: price = total cost ÷ (1 − margin). A job costing $2,000 priced for a 35% margin sells for about $3,077. Then compare what the job actually cost against the estimate so your next quote is better.

Doing this in YardPilot

YardPilot stores your wage, labor burden, overhead, contingency, travel and target margin once, plus labor minutes, materials, waste and fixed costs per service. Every estimate shows the cost build-up, margin and the price needed to hit your target, and job costing compares crew time and expenses against the estimate after the work is done.