Hardly any question divides landscaping companies as reliably as this one: do prices belong on your own website? One camp says guide figures filter the enquiries and free the diary from hopeless site visits. The other says every garden is different and a figure on the website will only be used against the company at the first meeting. Both are right about what they observe, yet both draw the same wrong conclusion — that there are only two options: everything or nothing. This article describes the third path that holds up in practice: ranges per service, the three or four drivers that move those ranges, and one worked example that shows how a range turns into an amount. Plus the legal side, stated soberly, and a guide to building and maintaining such a pricing page so that it is not out of date a year later.
Key takeaways
- A website without any price information does not filter, it merely defers: the company only learns the budget at the site visit, and by then the travel time has already been spent. The effort does not disappear, it moves further back.
- A fixed end price for garden work rarely fits, because access, subsoil and what is already on the plot make every property different. Anyone who states one anyway ends up negotiating against their own figure at the first meeting.
- The workable middle path is a range per service, plus the three or four drivers that move it up or down. The range provides orientation, the drivers explain why it is a range rather than a price.
- One worked example carries further than any price list: it shows on a concrete project how the range becomes an amount, and makes the costing understandable without disclosing it.
- German price indication rules require total prices including VAT whenever prices are stated to consumers; non-binding guide figures remain possible but should be clearly marked as such and reviewed case by case.
Why the Question Is Harder in Landscaping
In many trades a service can be captured cleanly in a single figure. A service interval, a tyre change, a chimney inspection: scope and effort are known in advance. In landscaping it is different, and not slightly but fundamentally. The same patio with the same slabs costs something entirely different on grown sandy ground with a drivable approach than on cohesive clay behind a terraced house, where every wheelbarrow has to pass through a basement corridor. The price does not arise from the material but from the conditions.
That is exactly why many companies dodge the question on their website. The worry behind it is understandable: whoever names a figure will be measured against it — even when the specific case has little to do with the standard case. The enquirer remembers the lower limit and forgets the qualifier. Anyone who has had to explain at a site visit why the guide figure on the website turned into a considerably higher quote does not enjoy repeating the experience.
The counter-calculation is rarely made. Stating nothing does not prevent the misunderstanding, it only shifts it to a more expensive point. The person imagining a patio for 3,000 euros will still call, still arrange a meeting, and will only get the reality check after somebody has driven out, measured up and spent an hour advising. The effort is incurred, just without any prospect of a job. In peak season these are precisely the appointments that are missing elsewhere.
The real question is a different one
The Case for Guide Figures
The strongest argument is pre-sorting. Someone who finds an order of magnitude decides for themselves whether to enquire. That removes two groups which otherwise cost time: those whose budget is a multiple below what the work requires, and those who are actually looking for something else — a caretaker service instead of a new garden, an hour of hedge trimming instead of an annual maintenance contract. This self-sorting happens without any input from the company, around the clock.
The second argument is that it prepares the conversation. Someone who calls with an order of magnitude in mind asks different questions. Instead of „What does something like that cost?“ it becomes „We have around 60 square metres, are we closer to the simple or the demanding variant?“ The conversation therefore starts where it would otherwise arrive after twenty minutes. If the enquiry form also asks for location, trade and rough area, the case can be assessed before the first drive out.
The third argument is often underestimated: a price statement reads to many enquirers as a sign of confidence. Someone who knows their costing can talk about it. Someone who avoids every figure invites the suspicion that the price is made up on the spot. That is unfair to companies who are simply being careful — but it is the perception one is dealing with, particularly among private customers who rarely buy construction work.
- Enquirers with an unsuitable budget get in touch less often, without anyone having to turn them down.
- Enquiries arrive with more concrete details, because the order of magnitude is already in mind.
- The first phone call starts with the project rather than with the price question.
- The website answers the most common question at night and at weekends too.
- People searching specifically for costs find a page instead of just a contact form.
- Internally, publishing forces the company to put its own costing in order.
The Objections and What Survives Them
The most common objection is that every garden is different. That is true and still not an argument against every statement, only against a fixed end price. Even under very varied conditions there is a lower limit below which a service cannot seriously be offered, and a band in which the majority of jobs sit. Both pieces of information are solid without pre-empting any individual case.
The second objection is that competitors will see the prices. That is correct but weighs less than it feels. Anyone working in the same district knows the orders of magnitude anyway — from tenders, from lost quotes, from conversations with suppliers. What competitors do not see is the costing behind it: hourly rates, purchasing terms, contribution margins. A range reveals none of that. It only reveals which segment a company works in — and that is information worth setting deliberately rather than leaving to chance.
The third objection is the most serious: whoever names a figure gets pinned to it. No clever wording helps against that, only a sound construction. A range with a clear upper and lower limit, the drivers that move things within the range, and the explicit statement that the binding quote follows the site visit. Built that way, there is not less room at the meeting but more — because the conversation is about an already explained system rather than a figure out of nowhere.
| Point | No figures | Fixed end price | Range with drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-sorting | Only happens at the site visit | Sorts sharply, often too sharply | Sorts by order of magnitude |
| Fit | Not applicable | Fits few properties | Fits the majority of cases |
| Room at the meeting | Full, but without a reference point | Limited, renegotiation looms | Explainable through the drivers |
| Effect on enquirers | Reads as closed off | Reads concrete but risky | Reads as organised and honest |
| Visibility in search | No page on the cost question | Page exists but is exposed | Page exists and holds up |
| Maintenance effort | None | High, every change counts | Manageable, twice a year |
The Middle Path: Ranges per Service
A usable pricing page does not consist of a table with twenty rows but of a few well chosen ranges. Three to five services are enough in most companies (project experience): the trade that carries the turnover, plus two to four frequent neighbouring services. A company focused on surfaces shows paving, patios and pathways; a company focused on maintenance shows annual garden care contracts, hedge trimming and new lawns. Everything else is left to the enquiry.
The reference unit has to suit the service and be understandable to a layperson. For surface work that is the square metre, for hedges the running metre, for maintenance contracts the month or the visit, for tree work the assignment. What matters is that the reference unit is the actual cost driver. Quoting a cistern per unit when excavation depth and access decide the outcome builds the argument into the page from the start.
The range itself should be wide enough to stay honest and narrow enough to help. A ratio of roughly one to one and a half up to one to two between the lower and upper value is workable in practice (project experience). Wider than that and it helps nobody; narrower and it fails to cover real conditions. If a service cannot be captured in a sensible range, split it — for example paving work into standard surfacing and natural stone, because those are two different worlds.
Show few services
Three to five positions that carry the turnover. A long list reads like a catalogue and invites comparison of individual rows instead of an assessment of the project as a whole.
A fitting reference unit
Square metres for surfaces, running metres for hedges and fences, visit or month for maintenance contracts. The reference unit must be the actual cost driver.
Range instead of point
A lower and an upper value with a ratio of roughly one to one and a half up to one to two. Wider helps nobody, narrower fails to reflect the conditions on the ground.
What is included
Every range needs a sentence on what is covered and what is not. Disposal, drainage and edge restraints are the most common misunderstandings.
What moves the range
Three to four drivers per service are enough. Naming ten creates the impression that the price is arbitrary and renders the whole statement worthless.
Clarify how binding it is
One sentence makes clear that the figures are guide values and the binding quote follows the site visit. That sentence belongs on the same page, not in the small print.
Explain the Cost Drivers Instead of Hiding Them
The range on its own creates a new question: why would I be at the top or the bottom? Leave that open and it gets asked on the phone. Answer it on the page and a figure turns into a system people can follow. And that is the point at which a range with an explanation becomes something other than a price statement: it conveys what the work depends on, and that is information which helps the later customer too.
In landscaping it is usually the same four drivers. First, accessibility: can a vehicle reach the area, or does every cubic metre have to pass through a garden gate? Second, the subsoil: sandy grown ground behaves entirely differently from cohesive clay, which demands a deeper base layer and more excavation. Third, what is already there: existing surfaces, root systems, old foundations and service lines cost time before the actual work begins. Fourth, the execution: material, laying pattern, edge detailing and falls move the effort considerably.
These drivers belong in plain language, not in trade terms. „If no vehicle can reach the area and the material has to be carried across the yard, transport alone adds roughly one working day on 40 square metres“ is understandable. „Impeded material transport subject to surcharge“ is not. Anyone who manages to describe each driver in one sentence with a concrete consequence has already done half the consultation before anybody calls.
- Accessibility: approach for vehicle and skip, or transport by hand over a longer distance.
- Subsoil: grown sand against cohesive clay, which decides base layer thickness and excavation volume.
- Existing situation: old surfacing, foundations, roots and service lines that must be removed or worked around.
- Disposal: volume and type of spoil decide skips, journeys and landfill charges.
- Execution: material, format, laying pattern and edge restraint move both time and material input.
- Levels: falls, steps and retaining walls turn a surface into a small structure.
- Timing: very short-notice work in peak season can rarely be scheduled at the standard rate.
The Worked Example That Carries the Range
Range and drivers stay abstract as long as they merely sit next to each other. The connecting piece is a single worked example. It takes a realistic project, states the starting situation, applies the drivers and arrives at an amount. In doing so the company shows not its costing but its reasoning — and it is the reasoning that often decides whether an enquirer picks up the phone.
What matters is that the figures in the example come from your own costing and are marked as an example calculation. They are not a market statement and not an offer. The following outline shows the structure; the values in it are placeholders that every company replaces with its own.
Service Patio, concrete slabs, 40 m²
Base range own costing, lower to upper value per m²
Base figure base range x 40 m² = starting band
Driver access narrow yard entrance, transport by wheelbarrow
effect: roughly one additional working day
Driver subsoil cohesive clay instead of grown sand
effect: deeper base layer, more excavation and gravel,
additional disposal journeys
Driver existing old slab surface has to be lifted first
effect: demolition and disposal before work starts
Result upper end of the base range
Not included drainage, lighting, natural stone edge restraint,
planting and lawn connectionSuch an example works in both directions. Someone with a similar starting situation recognises it and can place their own project. Someone with a much simpler situation sees that they sit closer to the lower edge — and calls rather than being put off by the upper value. That second effect is precisely why the example should show the demanding rather than the simple variant.
The figures on this page are guide values from our own costing. What your project actually costs depends above all on the approach, the subsoil and what is already on the plot. After a site visit you receive a written quote with fixed items. The site visit itself is free of charge for you.
Price Indication Rules: The Sober Frame
As soon as a company states prices to consumers, the German price indication rules apply. Their basic idea is simple: stated prices must be total prices, that is including VAT and all other price components. For companies serving mainly private customers this means that net figures on the website without a clear note are problematic. Anyone addressing both private and commercial customers should make clear which figure applies to which group.
Non-binding guide figures are not ruled out by this. What matters is that they are clearly recognisable as such and do not create the impression of an end price that later does not apply. A range marked as a range, the stated drivers alongside it and an explicit note about the individual quote after measuring up usually serve that purpose. It becomes critical when a single amount sits prominently and the qualifier appears only in the small print.
Two further points come up frequently. First, if prices are given per unit, the unit should be unambiguous — a square metre of finished surface is not the same as a square metre of paving material. Second, notes on travel, disposal or small-quantity surcharges belong visibly alongside if they arise regularly. This article gives an overview and does not replace legal advice; the concrete wording should be reviewed case by case, particularly where private and commercial customers are addressed on the same page.
Common pitfalls
Building the Pricing Page
A pricing page has a predictable order. At the top, two sentences on how the company calculates and that the following values are guide figures. Below that the ranges per service, each with one line on what is included. Then the cost drivers with their concrete consequence. Then the worked example. At the end, what happens next: site visit, measuring up, written quote, and which of those is free of charge.
This page should be linked from the service pages, not only from the main menu. Someone interested in patios wants to see the order of magnitude in the same move. Conversely, the pricing page needs a route back to the services and to the enquiry form, so that orientation can turn into an enquiry. How that fits into the structure of a landscaping website depends on the mix of trades — but the order above holds in most companies.
A word on setting an example: anyone who publishes guide figures themselves should be able to expect the same from their service providers. We handle it the same way and state our orders of magnitude openly — a website for a landscaping company starts at 1,490 euros net, more extensive builds at 2,900 euros net, care and hosting at 39 euros net per month. The breakdown sits on the pricing page, with the same qualifications that apply to garden work: the scope decides.
Sort the costing
Before any figure goes on the website, the company's own costing is put in order. Which services are carried out regularly, where did the actual bands of recent jobs sit, which items were repeatedly underestimated. Without this step you publish a feeling.
Select the services
Three to five services that carry the turnover and are frequently asked for. Niche services stay out; they create maintenance effort and help few people. For each service, the fitting reference unit is decided.
Word ranges and drivers
For each service a lower and an upper value, plus one sentence on scope and three to four drivers with a concrete consequence. Every wording is read back by somebody who does not work in the company.
Work the example through
Calculate one realistic project completely and mark it as an example calculation. Choose the demanding variant, so that simpler cases become recognisable as cheaper.
Clarify status and VAT
Note on guide figures, statement on VAT, description of the next steps. Where customers are mainly private, have the gross figures reviewed. These points belong visibly on the page.
Set a maintenance date
Two fixed dates a year on which the values are checked against recent quotes: once before the season, once after material prices move (project experience). Without a date the page goes stale unnoticed.
What Changes in the Company Afterwards
The first change concerns the number of enquiries. It usually drops slightly, and that is the intended effect. More interesting is the second change: the share of site visits that turn into jobs shifts, because the meetings come about with better matched expectations (project experience). Anyone counting both over a season — enquiries, site visits, jobs — sees within a few months whether the guide figures sit right.
The third change happens in the conversation. The price question still comes, but it comes differently. Instead of „What does that cost?“ it becomes „Where do we sit in your range?“ — and that can be answered without detour, because both sides have the same system in front of them. Companies regularly report that the measuring-up conversation gets shorter and that arguments about individual items occur less often later on (project experience).
Anyone finding that their own ranges come out wider than expected does not have a website problem but a costing topic. That too is a result: publishing forces a clarity that is often missing internally. Which order makes sense for your company and which services lend themselves to a range is quickest to settle in a direct conversation.
The range does not replace the quote