# Landscaping Cost: What Materials and Labor Run (2026)

Canonical URL: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/landscaping-cost/
Plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/landscaping-cost/llms.txt
Publisher: SimplyWise, Inc. (https://www.simplywise.com)
Published: September 11, 2026
Updated: October 23, 2026
Category: Project Cost Guides
Summary: Landscaping cost by the unit you buy: published mulch, stone, and post prices with capture dates, plus the wage floor under every crew hour.

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## Landscaping Cost: What the Materials and the Labor Actually Run

Nobody sells a yard by the yard. A landscaping cost is a stack of unit prices, and each one is published somewhere with a date on it.

At a glance

1. A landscaping cost is never one number. It is mulch by the cubic yard, stone by the ton, posts by the each, crew time by the hour.
2. Bulk mulch ran 2.4 times higher per cubic yard at a Chicago area yard than at an Omaha yard in one week of August 2026.
3. Dense graded base ran $12.07 to $22.56 a ton on Wisconsin contracts, delivered and placed.
4. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers averaged $20.33 an hour in May 2025. That is what the work pays, not what a crew bills.
5. Landscaping employment swings about 34 percent from January to July, so when you book moves what you pay.
6. We publish no national average for a finished yard, because no source we accept publishes one.

## What a landscaping cost is actually made of

Every quote breaks into three things: material bought in a purchase unit, delivery of it, and hours of crew time. The per square foot figure the cost farms publish is an average of jobs nobody describes.

So this page prints the opposite: what we read, on a named seller or a public schedule, with the day we read it. Where the ends disagree, both ends print. The gap between them is the useful part.

## Landscaping cost by the unit you actually buy

Every figure below was verified live on September 11, 2026. A band is the two ends of what was published, and the last column says whose price it is. Fence prices sit here because fencing is landscape work.

| Material | Unit | Published band | What the band is |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bulk mulch | cubic yard | $24.99 to $60.00 | Two named yards, Nebraska and Illinois |
| Bagged mulch | 2 cu ft bag | $3.49 to $4.29 | Six shelf prices at one chain, read across 13 states |
| Bulk delivery | per load | $40 to $125 | One Illinois yard, the only dollar range published |
| Dense graded base | ton | $12.07 to $22.56 | Wisconsin contract items, delivered and placed |
| Treated pine picket, 6 ft | each | $2.08 to $2.19 | Two supply chains, same day |
| Treated 4×4 post, 8 ft | each | $10.79 to $11.48 | Same two chains, same day |
| Fast setting concrete, 50 lb | bag | $7.99 | One chain’s shelf price, the only one published |

The delivery range carries a warning label: one yard’s schedule, a data point rather than a market. The mulch bands drive our mulch calculator (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/mulch-calculator/), the stone band our gravel calculator (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/gravel-and-base-yardage-calculator/). Both do the arithmetic this page leaves alone.

## Why the same landscaping cost moves with the map

Take the mulch. An Omaha nursery and a yard outside Chicago both published bulk mulch prices in the same week, and the high end sat 2.4 times above the low. Neither is wrong.

It works the other way inside one chain. On a single 2 cubic foot bag of brown mulch, read across 43 store listings in one day, the shelf price held at $3.49 at every store. Bagged goods carry a chain price. Bulk material carries a local one.

So a national average hides the variable that decides the invoice, which is where the truck loads. Two calls to two local yards beat any published average.

## The labor line under every landscaping cost

The federal wage survey puts the mean hourly wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers at $20.33 in May 2025, across 952,640 jobs. The median sits at $18.82, so half the field earns under that.

Neither is a bill rate. Payroll taxes, insurance, the truck, and the mowers ride on the same hour, and our contractor pricing guide (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/landscaping-contractor-pricing-guide/) walks the loaded crew hour behind that math. The wage is a floor: a quote at or under it is not a bargain, it is a business that will not be there in spring.

Season moves it too. Employment in landscaping services ran 756,000 in January 2025 and 1,014,200 that July, about a 34 percent swing. Crews price hardest when the phone rings hardest, so the shoulder months are the one lever you control.

## Put a real number on the yard in front of you

Bands tell you what the market published, not what your beds measure. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized, branded estimate in about 6 seconds, a unit, quantity, and price on every line. Pricing is $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr, with a 7-day free trial.

## Price your own yard in four moves

1. Measure by class, not by yard Beds in square feet. Paths and pads in square feet plus a depth. Fence in lineal feet, then count posts.
2. Convert to the unit sellers price in A cubic yard of mulch covers 324 square feet an inch deep, per Clemson Cooperative Extension. Base stone converts at 1.85 tons per cubic yard on Wisconsin’s pay factor.
3. Get two local prices per unit Ask two yards for the same product, same unit, same day. Those answers are your band, and a wide gap is real rather than an error.
4. Add delivery and crew time last Delivery is a line item and often carries a minimum order. Crew hours sit above the wage floor, never at it.

## Keep reading

- Best Estimating App for Landscaping (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/best-estimating-app-landscaping/)
- Free Landscaping Estimate Template (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/landscaping-estimate-template/)
- Contractor Hourly Labor Rates by Trade (https://www.simplywise.com/blog/contractor-hourly-labor-rates-by-trade/)

## Sources

- Clemson Cooperative Extension, Mulch (https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/mulch/) (coverage at one inch; read 2026-08-28).
- Lanoha Nurseries, Omaha NE, bulk materials (https://lanohanurseries.com/bulk-materials/) and Odyssey Landscape Supply, Illinois, mulch pricing (https://odysseylandscapemulch.com/mulch-pricing) (mulch, delivery; read 2026-09-11).
- Sutherlands (https://www.sutherlands.com/) and McCoy’s Building Supply (https://www.mccoys.com/) listings (bagged mulch, picket, post, concrete; read 2026-09-11).
- Wisconsin DOT, Average Unit Price List (https://wisconsindot.gov/hccidocs/contracting-info/average-unit-price.pdf) and Standard Specification 305 (https://wisconsindot.gov/rdwy/stndspec/ss-03-05.pdf) (stone; read 2026-09-11).
- USGS, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, Crushed Stone (https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-stone-crushed.pdf) (national unit value; read 2026-08-28).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (https://www.bls.gov/oes/) (wages, employment) and BLS Current Employment Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/ces/) (the seasonal swing; both read 2026-08-27).
- SimplyWise Cost Estimator, App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simplywise-cost-estimator/id6670619664) (4.8; read 2026-08-27).

## Landscaping cost: common questions

**What does landscaping cost per square foot?**

No source we accept publishes a per square foot price for a finished yard, so we do not print one. Price by the unit instead: mulch by the yard, stone by the ton, posts by the each.

**How much is mulch by the cubic yard?**

It depends on the yard you call, by more than most people expect. The two yards we read in August 2026 were 2.4 times apart on bulk mulch. Our mulch calculator carries the band.

**Why does one crew quote double another?**

Usually sourcing, haul distance, and scope. Ask both quotes to name quantities in purchase units, then compare units.

**What do landscaping workers earn?**

The federal wage survey put the mean at $20.33 an hour in May 2025 and the median at $18.82. A billed crew hour adds taxes, insurance, and equipment.

**When is the cheapest time to book?**

Employment in landscaping services swings about 34 percent from January to July, which tells you when crews are stretched. Quiet months carry the least competition.

**Can SimplyWise price a landscaping job from a photo?**

Yes. SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a photo into an itemized, branded estimate in about 6 seconds. Free to try, at $29.99/mo or $239.99/yr.

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## About SimplyWise

SimplyWise, Inc. (New York, NY) builds mobile apps for contractors, tradespeople, and small business owners. The SimplyWise Cost Estimator turns a job site photo into an itemized estimate with labor and material costs in about 6 seconds, and the client signs the branded quote to approve it. It is rated 4.8 on the App Store. It is free to try with a 7-day free trial, then $29.99 per month or $239.99 per year (about $20 per month on the annual plan), and one subscription includes every app in the SimplyWise suite.

- Download: https://www.simplywise.com/download
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- Every SimplyWise page as plain text: https://www.simplywise.com/blog/llms.txt