Quotes for landscapers, dictated from the garden
Speak to Quote works for landscapers and garden designers. Walk the plot and say what you'd do with it — the dig, the base, the paving, the waste — and get back an editable, priced quote with each stage as its own line, sent while the customer is still standing in the garden picturing it.
What a landscaping quote has to carry
Landscaping quotes fail underground. The dig that hits buried concrete, the skip that needed a permit, the "we thought the planter was included" — a quote that names its assumptions and its stages is the one that's still friendly in week three.
- What's assumed to be under the turf
You priced the dig assuming soil. Say so — and say that buried concrete, roots or services found on excavation are priced before work continues. It turns the commonest groundworks surprise from a standoff into a line item.
- Access and the waste
A skip on the drive is not a grab lorry on a permit, and a garden reached through the house is a slower, more protected job. The quote should say how the spoil leaves and what that costs.
- Materials, named
Porcelain, sandstone and concrete flags can be hundreds of pounds apart on the same patio. The named product — and who supplies it — is the scope; "paving" is not.
- Stages and payments
Multi-week jobs deserve staged payments with named triggers — deposit on acceptance, a stage when the base is down, balance on completion. Dates and triggers on the sheet, not in a text thread.
- Weather and the start date
Groundwork moves with the weather. A start window, stated as a window, manages the expectation a fixed date would break.
- Whether VAT is in the figure
Show VAT as its own line if you're registered; say there is none if you're not. Date the offer — materials prices move, and last month's porcelain price is not this month's.
A worked example
A rear garden — patio, planter and returf — said once, into a phone. The prices are illustrative — yours come from your own price book, or from what you say.
What you said
Rear garden on Elm Drive. Dig out for a twenty square metre patio off the kitchen, hundred mil of compacted sub-base, porcelain on top — the grey they chose. Sleeper planter along the back fence, three high. Level and returf the rest, call it forty square metres. All spoil and waste away, skip on the drive.
Quote · Greenway Landscapes · APL member
| Description | Qty | Unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
Excavate patio area and dispose 20 m² dug to depth; assumes soil, no buried concrete or services | 1 | £520.00 | £520.00 |
Sub-base and laying course 100mm compacted MOT type 1, screeded laying course | 1 | £430.00 | £430.00 |
Porcelain paving, 20 m² Customer's chosen grey porcelain, supplied by us | 1 | £1,480.00 | £1,480.00 |
Sleeper planter, rear fence Treated sleepers, three high, lined and filled | 1 | £390.00 | £390.00 |
Level and returf, 40 m² Topsoil as needed, rolled turf | 1 | £620.00 | £620.00 |
Skip and waste 8-yard skip on the drive; no permit needed | 1 | £280.00 | £280.00 |
This quotation is valid until 21 October 2026. Excavation assumes soil; buried concrete, roots or services are priced before work continues. Start within an agreed two-week window, weather permitting. Deposit on acceptance, stage payment when the sub-base is down, balance on completion.
Prices shown are illustrative, not a price list.
Every line is what you said, in the order you said it. Nothing on it was invented: a line whose price is not in your price book comes back at £0 for you to fill in, never with a made-up figure. Edit any line, take one off, add one, then send.
How Speak to Quote handles it
Set your trade to landscaper in Business details and the extraction is worded for it — the dig, the base and the paving land as separate stages, the metres stay on their lines, and "assumes soil" ends up on the sheet where it earns its keep.
Got a garden design? Quote from the drawing. On Pro, attach the designer's plan as a PDF and the AI takes the job off it — with your notes on top, or on its own.
"Shall we do the lighting while the trench is open?" is an optional extra. Add it as an optional line the customer can tick when they accept — priced on the sheet, outside the total until they choose it.
Your rates are yours. Put "Excavation per m²" and "Porcelain paving per m²" in the price book once and every dictated garden comes back priced at your rates. A date on the job keeps it visible in Upcoming jobs while the materials are on order.