What Should Your Landscaping Budget Be? 

Landscaping offers many standout benefits for owner-occupiers and investors alike. When done right, you can expect increased property value, environmental benefits such as enhanced biodiversity and cooler temperatures, and possibly improved physical and mental health from having a beautiful outdoor area to enjoy. 

Knowing these advantages, you may be eager to get stuck into planning your landscape and enjoying it in earnest. However, one thing can be holding you back: money. If you’re unsure what your landscaping budget should be, the factors in this guide can help you set a workable figure. 

Your Needs

Everyone’s landscaping needs are different. For example, a landscaping company local residents use may deliver lifestyle-changing, magazine-worthy gardens that cost tens of thousands of dollars and are worth every penny. Otherwise, you may spend a mere fraction of that with a company when you only need to reseed your postage-stamp lawn and add a few raised garden beds. 

Many homeowners undertaking significant landscaping projects allocate 5% to 15% of their home’s value to the project, sometimes planning it in multiple phases. Costs also typically average around $12 per square foot. This means that a small front-yard spruce-up may cost $1,500 to $5,000, while a sprawling backyard oasis can range from $15,000 to over $50,000. 

The Landscaping Company

Who you hire to landscape your property will undoubtedly affect the cost. Keep this in mind when setting your budget. However, it’s important to remember that you get what you pay for. Choosing the cheapest landscaper may affect the quality of your landscape upon completion. 

Take great care when choosing a landscaping company by shopping around, asking for quotes or estimates, reading reviews and testimonials, and asking people you trust for recommendations. 

Design Complexity

The more complex your landscape design is, the more it usually costs, whether you’ve enlisted the services of landscaping Santa Cruz experts or are going down the DIY route. Features like fire pits, outdoor kitchens, lighting, and water features are specialized elements that increase costs through both purchase prices and labor. If any of your outdoor features are custom and must be built rather than purchased, they will also increase your landscaping bill. 

Materials and Plants

The costs associated with materials and plants vary widely. For example, concrete costs less to install in a landscape than natural stone. Plants also have varying price points based on the labor and maintenance required for their care, availability, seasonality, and consumer demand. 

Consider this when planning your landscape. If you’re trying to adhere to a strict budget, opt for cost-effective materials such as gravel, mulch, concrete pavers, and garden edging border, and for perennial and groundcover plants such as white clover, bleeding hearts, and lavender.

Site Preparation

The amount of work your chosen landscaping company needs to complete before beginning your new landscape should be factored into your budget. The more site preparation required, the more you will likely need to spend. Soil quality, the terrain, existing vegetation, and even drainage can add several hours of labor to your project. 

If you’re on a tight budget, try to complete as much as possible yourself before your landscaper comes in and gets to work. Otherwise, sit back, relax, and let them prepare the site efficiently with their advanced equipment and tools. 

Ongoing Maintenance

Some people love spending all their spare time in their gardens, meticulously tending to their plants. Others prefer a ‘set and forget’ garden with ground-cover plants and hardscape elements that reduce weeding and require minimal care. The type of landscape you install determines its maintenance requirements and costs. 

If you enjoy pottering around in your garden, ongoing maintenance costs may not be an essential consideration. However, if you value your time and would typically outsource gardening, it’s worth keeping this in mind. 

Permits and Regulations

Not everyone realizes they need permits and must comply with strict regulations when performing specific landscaping tasks. However, just as you would receive permits for some renovation jobs, you must do the same for landscaping.

In many parts of the United States, structural additions, significant grading or drainage changes and upgrades, additional utilities, and environmental considerations such as retaining walls over set heights all require permits. There can be fees and extra costs to obtain these. 

Setting your landscaping budget requires you to be well-informed. Understanding your needs and the factors that drive landscaping costs can help you set a realistic budget for your upcoming project.