Landscaper Hourly Rate Calculator

Landscaping overhead is equipment-heavy: the truck and trailer, fuel for both plus every engine on the trailer, and mowers, trimmers and blowers that wear out every few seasons. Insurance and a pesticide license add to it. Then the season ends and the overhead does not - which is why the rate has to be computed on the weeks you actually work, not on a full year.

Billable share is better than most trades because routes are dense: 60% is realistic for a crew that runs tight routes, lower for design-build work with quoting and hauling. Customers compare your price to the lowest-priced mow-and-blow crew on the street, whose owner is usually paying themselves nothing. That is not a rate to match.

Worked example for the owner's hour: $30,000 of overhead, a $65,000 salary target with 20% burden, 48 weeks at 50 hours with 60% billable. That is 1,440 billable hours and a true cost of $75.00 an hour; with 15% margin, $88.24, rounded up to $90. Helper wages go in as a job cost on each bid, not in this rate - see the markup article below.

Overhead	$30,000
Salary target + 20% burden	$78,000
Billable hours (48 wk x 50 h x 60%)	1,440
True hourly cost	$75.00
With 15% margin	$88.24
Shop rate (rounded up to $5)	$90

Your trade

1. Overhead - what it costs to exist for a year, before any job

Yearly amounts. Rough is fine; you can tune it later in the spreadsheet.

Truck and trailer payments

Fuel, maintenance, tires

Insurance (liability + vehicle)

Phone, internet

Equipment replacement (mowers, trimmers, blowers)

Software, accounting, bank fees

Licenses, pesticide applicator, permits

Website, marketing, uniforms

Office, admin, everything else

2. You - what you should be paid

Salary you want to pay yourself (per year)

Burden on that salary (self-employment tax, health, retirement) %

3. Time - hours you can actually bill

Weeks worked per year

Hours worked per week (all of them)

Share of those hours you can bill %

Profit margin you want on top %

Questions landscapers ask

Do I put my helper's wages in the overhead?

No - a helper's wage is a direct job cost. Price each job as owner hours at your rate plus helper hours at wage times burden, plus materials with markup. This calculator gives you the owner's hour.

How do I price a season of weekly mowing from this rate?

Time a typical visit including unload and load, multiply by the rate, add a share of the drive between stops, round up. Then multiply by visits per season and offer it as one number.

Is there a landscaping bid calculator?

It is on the build list. Run the calculator, leave your email and tell us your trade - demand decides what gets built next.

Next step

The landscaper price book is on the build list. Run the calculator, leave your email above and tell us your trade - the trade with the most requests gets built first.

Read: Landscaping bid markup: the overhead math for a two-person crew

Other trades: Electrician, HVAC, Plumber, Handyman, Pressure Washing, Mobile Detailing. Or use the generic rate finder.