Your commercial property’s landscape is important. A well-groomed property featuring pristinely pruned shrubs, freshly mulched beds with colorful flowers, and a thriving lawn are all essential to your property’s curb appeal and overall value. Of course, great landscaping is about more than just keeping your property looking nice. You also know that landscaping can increase safety and reduce hazards.
Having a messy property is more than just an eyesore, it’s a potential accident waiting to happen.
While you understand that there’s an expense associated with maintaining this value and improving safety, you might be wondering exactly how much does commercial landscaping cost in Dallas, TX? And, more specifically, how are those costs derived?
If you’re soliciting bids from several different landscaping companies, you might notice there’s some variation in what you can expect to pay. You’d like to better understand what goes into pricing this type of work.
Frankly, we commend you for your drive to be a wise consumer. As a whole, it makes our industry better to have educated consumers who strive to understand commercial landscaping costs. That’s why we’re opening up about what goes into our pricing. We know this information is imperative if you’re going to truly understand the value you’re getting for your investment.
How Much Does Commercial Landscaping Cost in Dallas, TX?
Before we get into more specifics about how cost is determined, we want to answer your question as simply as we can. Of course, there are many factors that will impact the exact cost for landscaping for your property (such as its size and your expectations), but we can at least give you some idea of what you can expect to pay.
Our last 18 months of new job sales in the Dallas-Fort Worth area came out at $57,806.37 (how’s that for transparency?). So, we feel comfortable saying that the average annual Yellowstone commercial landscape maintenance contract in Dallas-Fort Worth is about $58,000 per year.
That’s an average and we certainly have clients who spend a lot less than that, and many who spend much more. If you’re looking for a range that encompasses our Dallas-Fort Worth properties more broadly, commercial landscaping in Dallas, TX can cost you anywhere from $20,000 to $2 million per year.
What is Factored into Commercial Landscaping Cost in Dallas, TX?
Now, let’s talk about what goes into those costs because that’s ultimately where the value comes from. While we can’t speak for every commercial landscaping company in Dallas, TX, we can tell you transparently about our own expenses. We’re going to break it down as openly as we can because we believe you deserve to understand what you’re paying for.
Labor Costs (50 percent)
At Yellowstone Landscape, approximately 50 percent of our cost is labor. That means that for every dollar we bring in, 50 cents goes back to the employees.
Again, we can’t say if that’s what other companies are doing. Oftentimes, that “50 cents on the dollar” figure might be more than other companies invest in their people. In many of the markets that we serve, including Dallas, TX, our starting pay rate is almost twice the minimum wage. This idea that we are paying $9 or $10 an hour cash for employees to run a mower simply isn’t true. If someone is highly qualified, then they may be making twice the minimum wage to start. If they do a good job, they can count on raises on an ongoing annual basis.
Why do we invest this much into labor?
We believe in paying our people really well because it directly translates to how well they perform on your property. Sure, we could go out and find someone to complete the work cheaper, and that’s what a lot of companies do. But we’re not looking to be like every other company.
One of our biggest differentiators from our competition has been that we’re recruiting and hiring people who often have a lot of experience or who, at the very least, exhibit the high-quality work ethic and other strong characteristics that we look for. If they need training, we’re investing in that training (which is another expense).
In other words, we’re not willing to hire just anyone who is willing to do the work. But all of that equates to paying our people more. Naturally, the more qualified someone is, the more they’re paid. We want to hire well-qualified people who will give our customers the best experience—and to be honest, that isn’t cheap. But our customers tell us they’d rather pay a little more and know they have the best people working the job.
Vehicles, Equipment, & Fuel (15 percent)
Of course, the vehicles, equipment, and fuel that we need to operate our business are another large expense. It’s fair to say that it equates to around 15 percent of our overall costs. We have well-maintained and clean trucks that we must operate safely. We also have top-of-the-line equipment that helps us to perform commercial landscaping in an effective way that delivers the best results.
On top of all that, we also have back-up equipment so that if a mower or another piece of equipment goes down, we won’t have to stop working. We’ll still get the job done for you.
The Remainder? Management, Support, Reinvesting, & Some Profit
At this point we are already up to 65 cents on every dollar just in looking at our labor and our equipment/vehicle costs. The remaining 35 cents per dollar (or 35 percent) is a blend of the support and management that help make our company great, some money that we reinvest back into our company, and we try to put some profit back in the bank, too.
It’s so important to understand that if you want a company that provides a top-notch customer experience, then you can’t choose a bare-bones operation that cuts corners and doesn’t have support staff. Yes, their price may be lower, but there’s a reason why.
Our support and management staff are a big part of what makes us great. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work happening that you might not think about. There are people who are handling Human Resources to help ensure that we’re recruiting the best talent out there and that we’re taking care of them in a great way so that we can retain them for the long-haul.
There are also people who are handling accounting—who are making sure that invoices are accurate, are handling payroll for our employees, and are taking care of our finances.
We also have account managers who have 2- or 4-year horticultural (and other equivalent) degrees. These are the people who will be your main point of contact and we know how important it is that they can answer all of your questions. We’re not hiring just anyone to be a Yellowstone Landscape account manager. We’re hiring individuals who have specifically been trained in this field. But that, again, comes at a price. If you want the best experience, you need a well-trained and highly experienced account manager to be your point person.
Finally, we’re also looking at ways that we can re-invest in our company.
We’re always looking at new technology and finding ways that we can be better at what we do. We never want to become stagnant. If there’s a way that we can be better for our customers, then we want to evolve. That’s why we’re also looking at the ways that we can invest in improvements that make us better at what we do.
Understanding Your Specific Commercial Landscaping Cost in Dallas, TX
Now that you have a better understanding of what goes into our costs (and what we keep in mind as we price our jobs), there are some other things that you should know will impact your price.
The Current Condition of the Property
No two commercial properties are alike and you really can’t just compare the cost of one to another. For one, you’ve got to consider the current condition of your property.
Are we trying to transform something that’s really gone downhill? Or, are we just maintaining the status quo?
The former is going to cost a lot more than the latter.
If your property has already been well-maintained and you’ve been happy with the results, that’s going to be a lot less costly than if we’re taking over a job where you’ve been incredibly unhappy and you need someone to come in and make a lot of improvements.
Your Expectation Level Matters, Too
Going further with that first point, your expectation level will drive the cost to some degree as well. How much work do we have to put in to get the results that match your expectation level? If you want it to look like Disney but it looks like the 7/11 right now, then there’s going to be a long road.
Keep in mind this can mean more upfront cost and a decrease over time.
If we have to send out an army because nothing has been worked on for a month or more, it may also cost more upfront. But once we reach that level you’re trying to achieve, it will be mostly just maintaining it going forward.
Stuff Happens
Finally, in thinking about commercial landscaping costs, we have to be frank that stuff happens. Plants die. Trees get struck by lightning. Things happen that are outside of the contract. For that reason, your landscaping budget should ultimately contain more than what your annual contract value is. While you may hope that you don’t need to spend more, you also know that things can go wrong and unexpected expenses can occur. It helps to have that money set aside in your budget, if it does.
Choosing Commercial Landscaping that Gives you the Most Value for your Investment
Hopefully this has provided some valuable insight that will help you better understand how pricing is determined for commercial landscaping. We completely understand that as a property manager, owner, HOA board leader, or other professional responsible for overseeing commercial landscaping, you want (and deserve) to have a better grasp on what you’re investing in so that you know you’re making wise choices.
We also know that you will be met with plenty of companies who are not as willing to be transparent as to how they price their jobs (or what goes into their costs). But companies that cut corners or who cannot explain why they charge what they do should raise red flags as it could translate into poor service or results on your end.
At the end of the day, you deserve to get the most value out of your investment. By making a smart and researched decision, you can understand where your money is going and how it directly turns into premium value in return.
Are you ready to feel confident in your commercial landscaping investment? Request a consultation today. We’ll meet to learn more about your property and its challenges and come up with a comprehensive plan to take care of all of the details for you.
