Estimating and tendering guides
Practical, no-fluff guides on pricing, measuring and tendering commercial landscape work. Written by the estimators who price these packages every week.
Pricing commercial landscape work
How to build a price you can stand behind: rates, preliminaries, overhead, margin and contingency.
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How do you price the landscape maintenance or establishment period in a tender?
Read the maintenance specification for the period length, visit frequency, tasks, watering, plant replacement obligations and handover criteria.
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How do you add overhead and margin to a landscape tender?
Build the direct cost of the job first: measured work plus preliminaries. Add overhead recovery at a rate worked out from your own accounts, then a contingency sized to the risk...
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How do you quote softscape vs hardscape in a commercial landscape tender?
Quote softscape and hardscape as separate trade sections in the bill of quantities.
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What preliminaries go into a commercial landscape tender?
Preliminaries are the costs of running a commercial landscape job that do not belong to any single measured item: supervision, site establishment, mobilisation for each stage,...
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How to price a commercial landscape tender
Pricing a commercial landscape tender means measuring every item off the drawings in a quantity takeoff, applying current supply and labour rates to each one, then adding...
Quantity takeoffs and bills of quantities
Measuring scope off the drawings, structuring a BOQ, and the errors that cost the most.
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How do you measure paving, edging and retaining walls in a landscape takeoff?
Measure paving in square metres, one line item per paving type and pattern, with base layers as separate items. Measure edging by the linear metre for each type.
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How do you take off a landscape plant schedule?
Read the plant schedule to learn each code, species, pot size and density, then count individually placed plants on the planting plan and measure mass planted beds by area x the...
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What are the most common landscape takeoff mistakes?
The most common landscape takeoff mistakes are measuring at the wrong scale, pricing a superseded revision, missing the specification, and miscounting plants against the schedule.
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How do you calculate topsoil, mulch and turf quantities for a landscape job?
Measure the area of each bed or lawn from the drawings, then multiply area in square metres by the specified depth in metres to get volume in cubic metres.
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How do you do a landscape quantity takeoff from drawings?
You do a landscape quantity takeoff by collecting the full drawing set, checking scale and revision, then measuring every scope item by trade as an area, length, count or volume.
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What is a bill of quantities in landscaping?
A bill of quantities (BOQ) in landscaping is the itemised schedule of every element in a landscape scope, with a description, unit and measured quantity on each line.
Tendering and bidding
Reading a tender scope, putting a submission together, and improving your win rate.
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How can a landscape subcontractor win more tenders?
A landscape subcontractor wins more tenders by tracking win rate properly, bidding only the work it can win, building relationships with head contractor estimators, and submitting...
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How do you write clarifications and exclusions for a landscape tender?
Write each clarification or exclusion as one specific, numbered statement that names the item, references the drawing or specification clause it relates to, and says what you have...
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Where can I get help with commercial landscape tendering?
A landscape subcontractor can get help with commercial tendering from an in-house estimator, a freelance estimator, a general construction estimating firm, or a specialist...
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Where do you find landscape tenders in Sydney and NSW?
Landscape tenders in NSW and Sydney are found on buy.nsw for state work, on council websites and portals such as VendorPanel, TenderLink and Tenders.net for council work, on...
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Where do you find landscape tenders in Melbourne and Victoria?
Landscape tenders in Victoria and Melbourne come from five places: the Buying for Victoria Tenders Portal for state work including Parks Victoria, government registers and panels,...
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Where do you find landscape tenders in Australia?
Landscape tenders in Australia are found on EstimateOne, where builders invite subcontractors to price landscape packages; on tender aggregators such as Australian Tenders, illion...
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What documents do you need to price a commercial landscape tender?
To price a commercial landscape tender you need five things: the scope or specification, a current scaled drawing set, any bill of quantities or pricing schedule provided, the...
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In-house vs outsourced tender estimating: which is right for your landscape business?
Keep tender estimating in-house when you bid a high, steady volume and already have a skilled estimator with spare capacity.
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Is a commercial landscape tender worth bidding?
A commercial landscape tender is worth bidding when the scope is clear, the work fits your business, the competition is beatable, the contract and site risk are acceptable, and...
Scope, contracts and variations
Where scope gaps hide, what to check before signing, and how to price a variation so it gets paid.
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How do you notify a variation on a landscape subcontract?
To notify a variation on a landscape subcontract, read the variation clause for its notice format and time limit, get the direction in writing, then send a written notice that...
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How to price a variation on a commercial landscape contract
To price a variation on a landscape contract, first confirm the work is genuinely outside your original scope and claimable under the contract, then give written notice, take off...
Scope and contract review
Reading the conditions of contract, and the clauses worth arguing about before you sign.
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How do you read a landscape tender scope?
Read a landscape tender scope against every other document, not on its own. Start with the invitation and trade package description, list what is in and what is out, check...