Landscape estimating software
- Estimate total
- $6,528.50
- Labor
- $2,016
- Plants and materials, marked up
- $4,062.50
Every figure on this page is computed from the inputs you enter, by the method stated below it. HardscapeDesk publishes no market rates and no material densities: the tons per yard is your supplier's figure, and the defaults are a worked example to replace with your own.
Landscape estimating software has one job the general estimating tools get wrong: the quantities. A bed is priced by the cubic yard of what goes in it and the hours it takes a crew to put it there, not by a line called landscaping. The software has to turn a length, a width and a depth into yards, yards into tons at the supplier's figure, plants and materials into a marked-up line, and crew hours at a loaded rate into labor, and then keep the estimate against the customer for the callback. This guide is about what it has to carry, and the free landscaping estimate template on this site does the arithmetic with no account.
Try the free estimate template Free to use. No account, no card, no trial clock.
Quantities first, from the tape and the ticket
Area times depth into cubic yards, and yards into tons at the figure on your supplier's ticket, are the numbers the crew and the customer both check. Software that asks for a rock line in dollars has skipped the take-off, and the estimator does it on the tailgate anyway. The rock calculator on this site derives both and prices them at your cost and markup.
Crew hours at a loaded rate, not a wage
Labor is crew size times hours on site times the rate that covers wage, burden, the truck and the time between jobs. An estimate priced at the wage alone is the estimate that wins the job and loses money on it. The template asks for the loaded rate and shows crew hours on the job so the number is checkable against the schedule.
Plants and materials marked up, pass-throughs as lines, deposit last
Plants, soil, mulch, rock and hardscape materials go in at your cost and are marked up to cover the nursery run, the replacement of what dies and the pallet that arrives short; equipment rental and haul-off are their own lines; and the deposit to start comes last as a share of the total, because the customer needs to know what signing today costs.
Landscape estimating software: common questions
What should landscape estimating software include?
A take-off that turns dimensions into cubic yards and tons, plants and materials at cost with a markup, crew hours at a loaded rate, equipment and disposal as their own lines, the deposit, and the estimate saved against the customer and the job. Route scheduling and GPS are different products; they do not make the estimate more accurate.
Is there a free landscaping estimate tool?
The landscaping estimate template on this site is free and needs no account: enter the crew, the hours, your loaded rate, plants and materials at cost, your markup, equipment and disposal, and it prices the job with the deposit to start. Print it as it stands. HardscapeDesk Pro adds your company name and logo, a PDF with no watermark, and saving it against the customer.
How do I price a landscaping job?
Take off the quantities first, then price the crew at a loaded rate for the hours the quantities imply, mark up the plants and materials, add the pass-throughs, and ask for a deposit. The tools on this site do that arithmetic in that order; the rates are yours, and the crew hours on the job tell you whether the estimate matches the schedule.
HardscapeDesk Pro
Keeping what you make
The estimates are free forever. Pro turns them into your paperwork: your name and logo on it, no watermark, every estimate and maintenance contract filed against the customer and the job, your rates remembered, and a clean export when the accountant asks.
- Download as PDF
- No HardscapeDesk watermark
- Save every estimate and reopen it later
- Your logo and license on it
- Export every estimate in one go
- Visit reminders emailed to your maintenance customers
- Connect your own Stripe account and get paid online
- Connect your QuickBooks Online or Xero
$49per month, whole crew
Start HardscapeDesk Pro PricingRenews monthly at the price above until you cancel. We email you before any price change.
Will it do what you need for Landscape estimating software?
Tell us what your crew needs and we will tell you straight whether HardscapeDesk Pro does it today, whether it is coming, or whether you are better off with something else. A person reads these and replies.
Cite or embed this figure
On the worked example, a crew of three for 16 hours each at a $42 loaded rate is $2,016 of labor, $3,250 of plants and materials marked up 25% is $4,062.50, and with $450 of equipment and haul-off the estimate totals $6,528.50, with a 40% deposit to start of $2,611.40.
Landscaping estimate template (Estimate total): $6,528.50, HardscapeDesk, worked example.
Cite as: "Landscape estimating software, HardscapeDesk", updated 2026-09-05, https://hardscapedesk.com/landscape-estimating-software/.