EstimationPro AI EstimationPro AI

For Landscape Contractors

Landscaping Estimating Software: Match the Tool to How You Bid

Landscaping estimating software turns a site into a priced bid: site prep, soil, sod, plants, hardscape, irrigation, drainage, labor, equipment and markup. The options split by where measurements come from and how big your company is. PlanSwift traces plan sets, SiteRecon measures from aerial imagery, LMN and SynkedUP run estimating on your production rates for multi-crew companies, and Jobber quotes inside a scheduling platform. Below: the five types with prices from their own sites, a buyer checklist, what a landscape bid has to include, and a worked backyard bid.

Try 3 Estimates Free, No Card Free Landscaping Estimate Template →

By Brad, 20+ year remodeling contractor · Last updated: October 6, 2026

The 5 Types of Landscaping Estimating Software

Sort the options by how they get measurements before you compare features. Product details and prices below are from each company's own website as of October 2026.

Type How it gets quantities Built for Examples (from their sites) Published price
Plan takeoff Trace areas, lines and counts on digital plan sets, then apply assemblies for material, labor and waste Contractors bidding from landscape architect or engineered plans PlanSwift: measure "planting beds, turf, mulch, edging, irrigation runs," including irregular areas PlanSwift: $2,000 a year (Essential) or $3,000 a year (Core), per seat
Aerial property measuring Measures the property remotely from aerial imagery, with drawing tools, field mapping and done-for-you takeoffs Maintenance and commercial bids on sites you haven't walked yet SiteRecon: "Map, Measure, Estimate, Bid and Win in Minutes" SiteRecon: $250, $400 or $500 a month (Growth, Teams, Partner), 5% off yearly; each plan includes $200 in takeoff credits
Landscape business suites Estimates built from your price lists, production rates and overhead recovery, tied to job costing Landscape companies running several crews who want estimating, scheduling and job costing in one system LMN, SynkedUP and Aspire (details below) LMN: $297 or $648 a month. SynkedUP: $359 to $599 a month. Aspire: no price on its pricing page
Field service platforms Quotes from templates and past quotes; the platform also schedules, routes and invoices Maintenance and service crews who need scheduling and routing as much as quoting Jobber: quote templates, optional line items for add-ons like aeration or mulching (Grow and up), automatic quote follow-ups (Connect and up) Jobber: from $29 a month billed annually ($49 month to month) for one user
AI estimates from a site visit AI drafts priced line items from photos, a voice walkthrough, notes and your measurements Residential installs and design-build jobs bid from a walkthrough EstimationPro (details below). SynkedUP also says its app builds an estimate from a recorded walkthrough 3 estimates free, then $79 or $149 a month

The landscape business suites, side by side. LMN Starter is $297 a month and is aimed at "companies with less than 10 employees"; LMN Professional is $648 a month for companies with 10 or more; Enterprise is priced by sales, and every plan carries a one-time onboarding fee the pricing page doesn't put a number on. LMN's estimating page says it calculates labor burden and recovers overhead on every job. SynkedUP Standard is $399 a month ($359 billed annually) with 2 users, PRO is $599 a month ($539 annually) with 5 users, extra users are $20 a month, and monthly billing adds a one-time $1,000 activation fee. SynkedUP says that "If you are over $200k in revenue, you are already losing more in opportunity cost than the software costs you." Aspire serves landscaping and commercial cleaning companies and says pricing "varies based on company size, complexity, and what solution best fits your business," with no limit on users. SynkedUP's home page also says: "Record the walkthrough, and the app builds your estimate on your labor rate, your overhead, and your production rates."

Jobber includes quoting on every plan, but automatic quote follow-ups start on Connect, at $99 a month billed annually or $139 month to month. Its landscaping page says Jobber AI drafts quotes from your past quotes and templates.

Price tracks the type. A suite at $300 to $650 a month makes sense when it also runs your crews and job costing. A solo installer who bids five backyards a month is paying for a lot of system they won't use.

7 Questions to Ask Before You Pay for a Landscaping Estimating Tool

Run every option through these before a demo call. A tool that fails the first question is the wrong type, no matter how good the rest is.

  1. 1. Where do your measurements come from?

    Plan sets point to takeoff. Lots of properties you can't walk first point to aerial measuring. A measuring wheel and a homeowner's backyard point to neither. Pick the type before you compare features.

  2. 2. Install work, maintenance, or both?

    Maintenance lives on recurring pricing and crew routing. Installs live on accurate one-off bids. A tool that is great at one can be clumsy at the other.

  3. 3. Whose production rates and overhead?

    Every landscape bid rests on how fast your crew works and how much overhead each hour has to carry. Make sure you can enter your own numbers, not just accept the tool's.

  4. 4. Does it handle the units you buy in?

    Mulch and soil come by the cubic yard, base rock by the ton, sod by the square foot or pallet, plants by the each. The estimate has to convert your measurements into what you actually order.

  5. 5. Can you show options?

    Sod or seed, pavers or concrete, a 2-zone or 4-zone irrigation system. Good options help the customer say yes without you building three separate bids.

  6. 6. What happens after you send it?

    Follow-up, e-signature, deposits and payments. Some tools stop at the estimate; some carry the job through to getting paid.

  7. 7. What does it really cost?

    Add the monthly price, setup or onboarding fees, per-user charges and training time. SynkedUP charges a $1,000 activation fee on monthly billing, LMN lists a one-time onboarding fee without an amount, and Aspire shows no price, so get the full number in writing.

What a Landscape Install Estimate Has to Include

Whatever software you use, check the output against this list before it goes to the customer. Anything missing is either free work or a change-order argument later.

  • Removal and disposal: old sod, shrubs, stumps, concrete and the soil you dig out for a patio base. Haul-off and dump fees get their own line.
  • Grading and soil: rough and finish grade, topsoil or amendments by the cubic yard, and which way the water goes when you're done.
  • Lawn: sod or seed by the square foot, with the prep included or listed separately.
  • Plants: a plant list with species, container size, quantity and unit price, and your warranty terms on plant material.
  • Beds: fabric, edging by the linear foot, and mulch by the cubic yard at a stated depth.
  • Hardscape: square footage, paver or stone selection, base depth, compaction, edge restraint. Retaining walls by face area, with drainage behind them. Taller walls can need an engineer and a permit, so check your local code.
  • Irrigation and drainage: zones, heads, valves, controller, and any French drain or dry well by the linear foot.
  • Equipment and access: skid steer or mini excavator days, delivery fees, and whether a machine can get into the yard at all.
  • Locates and exclusions: 811 is the free before-you-dig service, and it asks you to contact it a few business days before digging. Say in writing how you handle buried rock, roots, old concrete or lines nobody marked.

Worked Example: Backyard Patio, Lawn and Beds

A homeowner wants a 12 x 16 ft paver patio off the back door, 1,200 sq ft of new sod, a 3-zone sprinkler system, a French drain along a wet fence line, and 300 sq ft of new planting beds with fabric, edging and mulch. Here is the bid at typical installed prices (labor and material for the complete task, at typical customer pricing). Plants are left out because the plant list isn't picked yet; they go on as an allowance or a change order.

Line item Qty Unit price Total
Paver patio, 12 x 16 ft: base prep, sand bed, concrete pavers and edge restraints 192 sq ft $16 $3,072
Sod: prep and grade, lay new sod 1,200 sq ft $1.65 $1,980
Irrigation: heads, valve, trenching, controller connection 3 zones $700 $2,100
French drain along the fence line: perforated pipe in gravel, daylight outlet 40 LF $30 $1,200
Landscape fabric under new beds 300 sq ft $0.60 $180
Shredded wood mulch, 3 in. deep, delivered and spread 3 cu yd $80 $240
Bed edging, metal or plastic 80 LF $4 $320
Total $9,092

Each unit price is the typical figure in our pricing reference, which puts a paver patio at $10 to $25 per sq ft, sod at $0.80 to $2.60 per sq ft, irrigation at $500 to $1,000 per zone, a French drain at $15 to $65 per linear foot, landscape fabric at $0.30 to $0.99 per sq ft, mulch delivered and spread at $50 to $130 per cubic yard and metal or plastic edging at $2 to $8 per linear foot.

Do the quantity math. Mulch at 3 inches over 300 sq ft is 300 x 0.25 ft = 75 cu ft, and 75 ÷ 27 = 2.78 cubic yards, so the bid carries 3. The patio base works the same way: at 4 inches of base, 192 sq ft x (4 ÷ 12) ft = 64 cu ft, or 2.37 cubic yards before compaction. Base rock compacts, so order more than the loose volume and get the cubic-yard-to-ton conversion from your supplier, since rock is usually sold by the ton. Use the base depth the paver manufacturer's install guide calls for on your soil. The mulch calculator and paver calculator do this math for you.

Check the big line against your real costs. The patio is the biggest line at $3,072. Say your 3-person crew needs two 8-hour days, base to final sweep (plug in your own production rate). That is 48 labor hours. At $22 an hour, the typical general laborer wage in our reference (range $15 to $35), that is $1,056 in wages before payroll taxes, insurance and equipment (the burdened labor rate calculator adds those to the hourly wage). Add your supplier's price on pavers, base, sand and edge restraint. If what is left can't carry your overhead and profit, raise the line before the bid goes out.

Markup is not margin. If a job costs you $7,000 and you mark it up 25%, you charge $8,750. Your margin is $1,750 ÷ $8,750 = 20%, not 25%. If you need a 25% margin, divide instead: $7,000 ÷ 0.75 = $9,333.33.

Prices vary by region. These are national ranges for 2026. Use your own labor rate and get local supplier quotes before you commit to a number. For more on writing up the bid itself, see how to write a landscaping estimate.

Where Landscape Bids Lose Money

Pricing the square footage, not the access

The same 192 sq ft patio is a different job when the only way into the backyard is a 36-inch gate and every yard of base goes in by wheelbarrow. Note access on the walkthrough and price the labor for it.

Mixing up yards, tons and bags

Measure in square feet, then convert to the unit you buy in. A bid that prices base rock by the cubic yard when your supplier sells it by the ton is off before you start.

No line for what's under the grass

I'm a remodeler, not a landscaper, but I've been burned the same way: I've underbid jobs where hidden scope blew up once we opened things up. In a yard it's rock, roots and buried concrete. Put an allowance or a clear exclusion in the bid for what you can't see on the walkthrough.

Sending the bid and never following up

A lot of jobs are won on the second or third follow-up, not the first estimate. Most contractors send a bid and never chase it, so the one who follows up stands out. I forget too when I'm busy on a job site, which is why I let software do it.

Where EstimationPro Fits (and Where It Doesn't)

I built EstimationPro because my own remodeling estimates took hours. Landscaping / Hardscaping is one of the trades you can pick when you start an estimate. You describe the job with photos, a voice walkthrough, notes and measurements (or a photo of your sketch), and AI builds a priced line-item estimate with rates adjusted for your region. You review and edit every line, set your markup, and send a branded PDF or a link the customer can approve. Good-Better-Best tiers fit a sod-or-seed, pavers-or-concrete conversation. Contractors save 2+ hours per estimate.

Estimates sent from EstimationPro get automatic follow-up: at 24 hours if unopened, 48 hours after opening with no response, and a final one at 7 days. Pro adds e-signatures, deposits, milestone payments and invoices.

What it does not do:

  • Measure properties from aerial images
  • Dedicated takeoff for tracing beds and turf on scaled landscape plans
  • Dispatch, crew routing or field-service management
  • Ordering materials

Pricing: 3 AI estimates free with no card. Then Starter at $79 a month (10 estimates) or Pro at $149 a month (25 estimates). No contract. 30-day guarantee: saves you time and beats your spreadsheet, or your money back.

See it work

Watch a real estimate get built. Start to send.

One job-site photo and a few sentences in. A priced, itemized, client-ready estimate out. Real app, real numbers.

Real screen recording. Photo in, estimate out.

  • ✓ It catches the scope a rushed bid forgets, the stuff that turns into a change order.
  • ✓ Priced for your market, not some national average.
  • ✓ Send it from the truck, before you leave the driveway.
Build 3 estimates free →

More Landscaping Estimating Resources

Landscaping Estimate Template

Site prep, softscape, hardscape and labor lines. Print or save as PDF.

Landscaping Cost Calculator

Rough out grading, sod, planting, mulch, hardscape and irrigation costs.

Sod Calculator

Square footage to pallets and pieces, plus cost.

Retaining Wall Calculator

Blocks, cap stones, gravel and base by wall length and height.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need takeoff or aerial measuring software?

It depends on where your measurements come from. If you bid from landscape architect plan sets, a takeoff tool like PlanSwift measures beds, turf, edging and irrigation runs on the digital plans. If you bid a lot of properties you haven't walked, especially commercial maintenance, an aerial tool like SiteRecon measures the site remotely. If most of your jobs start with a walk around a homeowner's yard with a measuring wheel, neither one earns its price.

Can one tool handle installs and maintenance contracts?

Some can, but the two are priced differently. Maintenance is a per-visit or seasonal price that repeats, and the hard part is scheduling and routing the crews. Installs and design-build work are priced job by job from a site visit. SynkedUP, for example, lists quoted, time-and-materials and per-visit pricing, and Jobber lists route optimization for recurring work. Decide which side of the business makes most of your money and check the tool handles that side well.

Where should my production rates come from?

Your own crews. How many square feet of pavers a 3-person crew sets in a day depends on the crew, the site and the access. LMN and SynkedUP both let you set your own production rates. Track actual hours by task for a season (sod laid, pavers set, yards of mulch spread) and adjust the rates until bids match reality.

Can a spreadsheet or template do the job instead?

At low volume, yes. Our landscaping estimate template covers the usual site prep, softscape, hardscape and labor lines. What a template does not do is send the bid, show you when the customer opened it, follow up or take a deposit. Weigh that against how many bids you send a month.

Does EstimationPro measure properties from aerial images or do plan takeoff?

No. It does not measure properties from aerial images, and it has no dedicated tool for tracing beds and turf on scaled landscape plans. It builds a priced estimate from what you capture on the site visit: photos, a voice walkthrough, typed notes and your measurements, including a photo of a hand sketch with dimensions on it.

Get Landscaping Estimating Tips

Bidding and estimating tips for landscape contractors.

We'll send helpful resources and occasional tips. Unsubscribe anytime.

Bid From the Walkthrough, Then Let the Follow-Up Run

Estimate, proposal, automatic follow-up, then deposits and invoices on Pro. Try it on your next backyard install.

Try 3 Estimates Free Try without an account See Pricing →
No card for your first 3 estimates Edit every line Cancel anytime

Sources

Save 2+ hours per estimate
Start Free