26/09/2026
A £4000 landscaping job doesn’t mean £4000 in your pocket.
It’s something I wish I’d understood when I first started out.
The customer sees you arrive, carry out the work, clean up and leave.
What they don’t see is everything that goes into getting that job done.
The time spent travelling to site, Fuel! Loading and unloading materials. Collecting slabs, blocks, sand, cement and other materials before getting to site. Tool maintenance. Blade replacements. Repairs. Van costs. Waste disposal.
Then there’s all the work that happens before you even pick up a tool.
Site visits. Measuring up. Working out quantities. Pricing materials. Putting quotes together. Ordering materials. Planning the job. Travelling to suppliers. Dealing with enquiries, scheduling, invoicing and payments.
And let’s not forget the equipment.
The mixer, breaker, compactor, saw, grinder, laser, trailer and van all cost money to buy, maintain, repair and eventually replace.
That’s why you can’t price a patio, driveway, wall or landscaping job based purely on the hours you’re physically working on site.
Your price has to cover the whole business, not just the labour.
Materials need paying for. Overheads need covering. Your time needs paying for.
And once everything is paid, there still needs to be a healthy profit left over.
Because if there’s no profit left at the end, you haven’t built a business! You’ve just built yourself a job that comes with all the risk.
Price for the business you want to build, not just the job you want to win.
