Do garden landscapers usually provide cost breakdowns?

[SaturdayBiscuits]

I've had a quote from a landscaper to do the garden. I had a separate garden designer do the designs and she's specified the materials.

Landscaper has given me a total quote but I've asked for a breakdown - so I can see the cost of labour then the cost of the gravel, cost of the decking, cost of the paving stones etc.

He's confused by my request and not sure how to move forwards so I've said I'll google the cost of materials myself.

He said that of his total quote, materials are around 60% of the cost, so 40% labour. But on my googling so far, the materials are no way going to come to 60% of his total cost (though there is a possibility I've made mistakes).

I assume he's trying to cover up how expensive his labour costs are by pretending that all the materials are more expensive than they are.

Is it normal for landscapers to list out costs for material or am I being unusually demanding asking for this?

@C4tastrophe building in a buffet and getting profit can be included in the labour costs. I like a breakdown of costs so I can see where I can make small changes to bring the price down eg we opted to move our play area in the garden to a different part of the garden as where the designer had placed it meant that the levelling of the ground there inflated the costs. We have now decided to leave the uneven ground and put planting there instead. That’s saved me £3k in itself. Without the breakdown, I wouldn’t have known this.
We also decided to use bricks instead of blocks and cladding for a retaining wall as it worked out far cheaper as I sourced bricks at a lower price.
It’s best to ask upfront if the quote will be broken down to avoid wasting everyone’s time.

Fair comment.

I've had another landscaper over and look forward to receiving his quote.

I'm happy to pay the going rate, I know that people need to make a profit and there are lots of hidden costs.

Landscaper 1 made a few mistakes that cost him my business.

• In-person he told me I'd be given a spreadsheet with all the costs, but later acted baffled when I asked for a cost breakdown
• He told me the designer had specified high-end materials but that we could swap things out, like using dulux copies instead of farrow and ball, but later acted baffled when I asked for material costs so I could understand which materials were the farrow and ball ones
• He told me the material costs made up 60% of the quote but when I googled them I could see they were 24% of the quote. If he'd just said they were 24% of the costs, and not said all the stuff above re spreadsheets and swapping things out, I'd have just accepted his quote!
• When I asked for a labour-only quote, saying I'd get materials myself, he told me it'd be impossible, pointing out how I wouldn't be able to manage the deliveries, store the materials etc (probably fair tbh on the storage front, but all sounded like an excuse not to give me a labour only quote).
• When he came for his site visit he was quite 'salesy' estimating a cost that was £5k more than his eventual quote and then saying 'I can see what I can do to bring that down' saying he'd change some materials - but when I asked which materials he'd changed, he said everything was per the plan from the designer. Confusing.

It's a shame, as he comes highly recommended by the garden designer and I suspect would do an amazing job.

If landscaper 2 quotes me more ££ than landscaper 1, I will probably go with landscaper 2 because of all the above.

When I had my garden landscaped, the quote was broken down by labour and materials, which was very helpful. Labour was £££, but at least I'd been told that upfront, so could make my own decision on going forward with them.

You weren't being unreasonable at all in asking for a breakdown, my guess is that your landscaper had added on a very healthy profit margin.