New Home Landscaping Installation Costs
Landscaping for a new home tends to cost significantly more than improving an existing space. Starting from scratch, you can expect to pay around 10% of the property's value on landscaping. If you have a $300,000 home, you'll pay around $30,000 for landscaping, including hardscaping, softscaping, and water features.
With a new home, the outdoor space is barren and unfinished. You'll need to bring in lots of high-quality topsoil, lay walkways and patios, and install retaining walls, flower beds, water features, and more. A blank canvas is fantastic because it's easier to create the exact outdoor space you want, but it's also more expensive; you're starting the installation from nothing.
You’ll likely need help from several professionals, including local lawn seeding services and local gardeners. For a patio, you’ll need to hire a paving company. You'll need to find a local tree service to plant new trees, trim existing ones, or even knock one down.
Landscape Installation Labor Costs
Generally, landscapers charge $50 to $100 per hour for labor and the use of their tools and equipment. If you hire a landscape designer, you'll pay them $200 per hour for the initial design and planning work.
You'll pay extra for materials, ranging from $0.14 per square foot for new grass seed to $50 per square foot for a high-end patio and $125 per square foot to install a pool.
Landscaping Maintenance Costs
After the initial landscaping installation, you’ll need to take care of ongoing maintenance—or pay a professional to do it. This could mean hiring local lawn fertilization services and local lawn mowing teams or paying gardeners to take care of your flowers. Patios and pools require special maintenance each year.
Depending on the type of work, you could spend as little as $25 a week to $1,000 per tree in need of trimming. Lawn mowing costs range from $50 to $200, while lawn fertilization costs run between $75 and $400.
DIY vs. Hiring a Landscaper
Small landscaping jobs make excellent DIY projects. The weekend DIYer can accomplish things like planting trees and flowers. However, having a professional install a flower bed, regrade the land, and put in the shrubs means you’ll have a guarantee on the work and often the plants.
For anything more complex than planting a few shrubs or a tree, find a local backyard landscaper for quality work backed by a guarantee. Backyard landscaping costs can be high, but prices reflect the level of specialized labor and equipment required.