Are you happy when you look outside? Or could your outdoor life use a boost?
Maybe you dream of a great new patio where you can host everything from dinner parties to book club or do Saturday morning yoga while the birds chirp.
Or an outdoor kitchen, complete with a pizza oven, so you can wow your friends with that new asparagus, potato and goat cheese pizza recipe.
Or maybe you're just tired of your scraggly junipers and lackluster lawn. It’s embarrassing, right? Time for a full-scale front yard makeover.
But how much does landscape design and installation cost?
Let's take a look at three common residential landscaping projects and their price ranges.
We'll show you what factors affect the cost of landscaping.
Then we can take those great ideas in your head and bring them to life in your yard.
Get those pizza toppings ready.
Landscape Design Project 1: Patio
Cost of a New Patio in Idaho Falls: Between $15,000 and $28,000 for a patio between 400 and 600 square feet.
What factors affect the cost of a patio?
Patio Materials Used
There’s a wide range of paver materials to choose from, and they vary in price.
While standard concrete pavers create a nice patio, higher-end options are available in a wide array of colors and design options, with greater detail: pavers that look like a mosaic of carefully sculpted stone, that mimic natural travertine or a cobblestone courtyard.
Higher-end patio materials have a higher price tag, adding to the cost of landscaping.
Complexity of Patio Design
The more intricate the patio design, the higher the cost of the patio. Choose a standard shape with a basic design to save money on your landscape installation costs.
But the landscape design options are limitless. There are architectural slabs, high-end insets and border options.
These design choices mean crews spend more time cutting the pavers. Your landscape installation costs go up because the cost of labor goes up.
Difficulty of Patio Construction
Do the landscape crews have to take down fences to install your patio? Tear up grass they need to replace with sod?
Is your yard sloped with elevation issues? Crews may have to excavate dirt, build a retaining wall or add steps to accommodate that.
This extra labor increases the cost of the patio and your landscape installation costs.
Unexpected Landscape Surprises
Oops! Turns out there’s an old septic tank under your old patio. Or a sewer line. Or sprinkler wire we need to re-route. Unexpected surprises will edge up the cost.
Landscape Project 2: Outdoor Kitchen
Cost of an Outdoor Kitchen in Idaho Falls: $20,000 to $70,000.
What factors affect the cost of an outdoor kitchen?
Everything from the size to granite choice to lighting to extra features.
Number of Kitchen Features
Opt for a simple outdoor kitchen with a standard 10-foot island with a granite counter, a grill with storage underneath, and average lighting to keep the costs down.
But the thing about outdoor kitchens is all the fun stuff you can add.
How about an outdoor fridge, a pizza oven and a kegerator to keep the beer flowing?
You’ll probably spend a lot of time out there, so you might add a fireplace, a pergola, some furniture, maybe a TV.
Suddenly, your landscape design and installation cost is creeping up.
Outdoor Kitchen Utilities
If you want running water out there, that will push up the cost of the outdoor kitchen. More electrical outlets? More expense.
Landscape Project 3: Landscaping Makeover
Cost for Landscaping Makeover of an Average One Quarter Acre Lot in Idaho Falls: $25,000 to $50,000.
What factors affect the cost of landscaping?
Amount Of Plant Material
If you have your heart set on an English-style garden, with beds brimming with perennials and an elegant boxwood hedge as far as the eye can see, you’ll need a lot of plants.
Opt for a more contemporary landscape design, with graceful ornamental grasses, easy on the trees and shrubs, and you’ll spend less on plants, reducing your landscape design and installation cost.
Mulch Choice
This can have a bigger impact on your landscape installation cost than you might think.
Simple gray river rock costs $20 to $30 a square yard.
Choose decorative colored rock and the price zooms up to $80 to $130 a square yard.
Bark mulch runs $60 to $75 a square yard, but here in Idaho it tends to blow around a lot, so replacing it often can actually end up costing you more than premium rock in the long run.
Lawn Seeding Options
There’s a big price difference here, too, that can affect the cost of landscaping.
Redo your lawn with standard grass seed and it will cost 4 to 6 cents per square foot.
Choose hydroseed for 12 to 16 cents per foot.
The priciest option is sod, at 55 to 85 cents a foot, depending on the size of the area and how efficiently crews can lay it. But you get instant emerald green grass — no waiting.
Necessary Landscape Labor
Do crews have to tear out a lot of old plant material and haul it away before they can install your new landscaping? Are there trees to remove that involve cutting, chipping and stump grinding?
Extra labor will increase your landscaping costs.
Next Up: The Cost of Landscaping Includes Skilled Maintenance
Once you have your new dream patio, your fresh new sod lawn, and your trees, shrubs and plants, make sure you take good care of them.
Budget for landscape maintenance costs.
Patios need resealing to protect pavers from fading, stains, the weather, and invaders like weeds and ants. Lawns need regular fertilizing, weed control and grub control.
One day you might realize your arborvitae is turning brown. Or you have a lawn fungus.
A complete lawn care program that includes six treatments starts at about $50 per visit for a 5,000 square foot lawn, with other services like plant health care an additional $99 or more per visit.
You want a landscaping service in Idaho Falls that not only designs and installs stunning and functional landscaping, but can deal with anything going on out there, from fertilizing to controlling bugs to providing efficient spring and fall landscape cleanups to keep things tidy.
Bring Your Landscaping Dreams To Life With Outback
We love helping homeowners make their landscaping dreams a reality.
But we know budgets are a reality, too. How much does landscape design and installation cost? We’ll work with you and your budget to design an affordable project you love.
Outback Landscape is a full-service maintenance, design, and landscape installation company serving Southeast Idaho and Wyoming.
We install beautiful, functional landscapes. But our work doesn’t stop there. We’ll stay with you for the long haul, taking care of your property through all four seasons.
Contact Outback Landscape at 208-656-3220, or fill out our contact form to schedule an on-site consultation. We’d love to hear from you.
