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Pricing landscaping by the square foot sounds simple until you try to do it. A customer asks "how much per square foot for new sod?" and you want to give a clean number, but the real answer depends on soil prep, access, grade, and whether their yard looks like a parking lot or a golf course underneath.
That said, square-foot pricing is how most landscaping gets quoted for installation work. Here's a breakdown of where the numbers actually land in 2026, with enough detail to build real estimates.
The big table: per-square-foot rates by service
| Service | Material cost/sq ft | Installed price/sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Sod installation (Bermuda, fescue) | $0.25-$0.50 | $0.90-$1.80 |
| Sod installation (Zoysia, St. Augustine) | $0.40-$0.75 | $1.20-$2.40 |
| Hydroseeding | $0.05-$0.12 | $0.08-$0.25 |
| Mulch (2-3" depth) | $0.15-$0.35 | $0.50-$1.00 |
| River rock / gravel (2" depth) | $0.50-$1.20 | $1.00-$2.50 |
| Concrete pavers | $2.00-$5.00 | $8.00-$16.00 |
| Natural stone pavers | $4.00-$10.00 | $14.00-$28.00 |
| Artificial turf | $2.00-$5.00 | $6.00-$14.00 |
| Planting bed installation | $0.50-$1.50 | $2.00-$5.00 |
| Grading / leveling | - | $0.50-$2.00 |
| French drain | $1.50-$3.00 | $10.00-$25.00 (per linear ft) |
| Retaining wall (per face sq ft) | $5.00-$15.00 | $20.00-$50.00 |
These are national averages. Your local market might be 20-30% above or below these numbers, so check the contractor rate lookup for your area.
Why the ranges are so wide
Take sod installation. The material cost difference between Bermuda and Zoysia is real, but what really drives the price is everything else:
Site prep. If the existing lawn is dead grass on decent soil, you're looking at light raking and maybe a thin layer of topsoil. If it's compacted clay with 3 inches of thatch, you need to rototill, amend the soil, and grade. That can double your labor on a sod job.
Access. Can a pallet of sod get dropped in the front yard, or are you wheelbarrowing everything through a side gate and up a hill? One crew I know adds $0.15/sq ft for every 100 feet of carry distance from the drop point.
Quantity. A 500 sq ft patch job costs more per foot than a 5,000 sq ft full yard because your mobilization costs (drive time, equipment setup, delivery fees) get spread thinner on bigger jobs. I price anything under 1,000 sq ft at the top of my range for this reason.
How to build a per-square-foot quote
Start with your actual material cost per square foot. Not the retail price, your wholesale cost. Then layer in your numbers:
- Material cost per sq ft (from your supplier)
- Material markup: 40-60% (higher on commodity items like mulch, lower on expensive stone)
- Labor: estimate total crew hours, divide by total square footage
- Equipment: rental costs or amortized ownership divided by sq ft
- Overhead allocation: your monthly overhead / monthly billable sq ft installed
- Profit margin: 15-25% on top
Plug your numbers into the landscaping pricing calculator to check whether your per-foot rate actually covers everything.
Hardscape vs. softscape: different math
Softscape work (sod, mulch, planting) is material-heavy and labor-light. You're moving bulk material quickly. A two-person crew can lay 3,000-5,000 sq ft of sod in a day.
Hardscape (pavers, retaining walls, patios) flips that ratio. The materials cost more, but labor is the real expense. A crew of two might install 150-250 sq ft of pavers per day, depending on the pattern and base prep required. That's why pavers are $8-$16/sq ft installed while sod is $1-$2. The labor intensity per square foot is dramatically different.
Price them separately. Don't try to blend softscape and hardscape into one per-square-foot number. It confuses customers and it hides your margins from you.
Regional adjustments
| Region | Adjustment from national average |
|---|---|
| Southeast (FL, GA, AL, SC) | -10% to -15% |
| Midwest (OH, IN, IL, MO) | -5% to -10% |
| Mountain West (CO, UT, AZ) | +5% to +10% |
| Pacific Northwest (OR, WA) | +10% to +15% |
| Northeast (NY, NJ, CT, MA) | +15% to +25% |
| California | +20% to +35% |
These reflect both labor rate differences and material costs. Sod is cheaper in the Southeast because it's grown locally. In the Northeast, it's trucked in from further away and the growing season is shorter, which limits supply.
Minimum job sizes
Per-square-foot pricing breaks down on small jobs. If someone wants 200 sq ft of mulch, your per-foot material cost might be $0.30, but after drive time, setup, and cleanup, you're losing money at $0.75/sq ft.
Set minimums. Most landscaping companies I know use these:
- Sod: 500 sq ft minimum, or a flat rate of $450-$600 for smaller areas
- Mulch: 300 sq ft minimum (roughly 2-3 cubic yards), or flat rate of $250-$350
- Pavers: 100 sq ft minimum, or flat rate of $1,200-$1,800
- Planting beds: $300-$500 minimum regardless of size
Having a minimum printed on your estimate template saves the awkward conversation. It's not personal, it's just the economics of loading a trailer and driving to a job site.
The mistake that costs landscapers the most money
Underestimating waste. Sod has 5-10% waste on rectangular areas and up to 15% on curved beds. Pavers have 5-10% waste on straight layouts and 10-15% on diagonal or herringbone patterns. Mulch compresses, so 3 inches of loose mulch settles to about 2 inches.
Build waste into your square-foot calculation, not as a separate line item. If your sod costs you $0.35/sq ft and you're estimating 10% waste, your actual material cost is $0.385/sq ft. Small difference on 100 sq ft. On a 5,000 sq ft job, that's $175 in material you'd eat if you didn't account for it.
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