How to quote materials accurately and avoid underbidding as a landscaping contractor?

Question

Hey everyone, I’m a small landscaping contractor just starting out to use the jobber and the interface and one of the challenges.
Me and my team are having is consistent quoting. Often times we find ourselves going back to clients because we underbid materials and I’m not pleased about it.
What is the best way in jobber that you guys find to help quote out jobs?
Do you just have a baseline markup on all your materials or do you go different each job?&nbsp;

jbryant · Answer

Usually on a job with materials I will do 2.5x mark up on materials, plus labor.

Here's an example for 5 yards of mulch:

Mulch:

$150 x 2.5 = 375

Labor:

Labor rate x 2.5 hours (assumed 2 yards and hour)

Then I add a delivery fee if i have it delivered. Usually don't mark this up, just pass it to the customer.

If you're not already tracking things I would start. At least track billable hours and revenue to get an idea of break even then add whatever percentage profit margin you want and that'll give you your labor rate.

rbusby · Answer

I've been using Google Gemini and Claude to help me estimate material cost. I will essentially voice to text into Gemini "This is our project, this is all the work that needs to be done, this is how long I think it will take. Please create an estimate at total hours x $100 + material costx25%. Obviously you can change this to match what you need, but it's been great for me so far.&nbsp;

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How to quote materials accurately and avoid underbidding as a landscaping contractor?

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