How Much Does Landscape Design Cost in Atlanta? A Homeowner's Guide

For homeowners who want to invest in their landscape and create something more inviting and cohesive, the first question that usually pops up is cost. How much does it cost to re-do your landscape, whether it be upgrading the backyard, boosting curb appeal to later sell, or to just plan a garden in one of your beds? This post will break down all of the costs you would need to consider to start your design project!

1. Hiring a Landscape Designer

Landscape Designers are professionals who take into account all of your property's conditions, such as sunlight, erosion, slope, utility locations, wind, hydrology, city constraints, soil quality, and more to create a plan for your specific property based on your budget, needs, and aesthetic preferences. They pull a map of your property and plot all of the plants and hardscaping suggested or requested to scale. If you would like a cohesive design for your property, hiring a landscape designer is strongly recommended.

Residential designers typically price their plans in tiers as a one-time payment instead of working hourly, so here's a breakdown in price ranges to expect, including hardscaping:

• One yard plan (front or back yard): ~$500-$1,000

• Full property plan (front and back yard): $700-3,000

• Consultations (no plan, just recommendations): $100-$250

You can check out my pricing page to get a feel for what I would charge!

2. Site preparation

Whether or not you hire a designer, you need to prepare your site for any work being done. That could involve grading, leveling, removing invasive weeds or brush, removing existing structures, taking down trees, and soil restoration. Here are some average prices in the Atlanta area:

• Tree removal: $800–$10,000 (depends on how many trees, stump grinding will add more)

• Brush removal: $150–$800 for a small residential job; $800–$3,000+/acre for larger clearing

• Grading: $1–$2/sq ft, or roughly $1,500–$5,000 for an average residential lot

• Soil restoration: Roughly $500–$700 per truckload of topsoil; compost/amendment adds more

Because most areas in and around Atlanta have hard clay soil, the price can be higher just because of how difficult clay can be to work with.

3. Hardscaping, irrigation, and lighting

Hardscaping is one of the more expensive elements of landscape design that add character and outdoor "rooms" for you to enjoy. Hardscaping can tie all of your outdoor rooms together and add visual interest, whether it's a retaining wall containing flower beds, a winding walkway through a native prairie garden, or a cozy fire pit to enjoy during chilly nights. You'll want to do this step after site prep and before you install any plants.

Estimated hardscaping costs:

• Patios: $14–$35/sq ft installed

• Pools (in-ground): $50,000–$100,000+ average; $50–$150/sq ft base

• Walkways: $13–$27/sq ft (pavers); $6–$12/sq ft (gravel)

• Deck: $16–$60/sq ft depending on material

• Retaining walls: $15–$60/sq face ft depending on material

• Irrigation: $1,800–$5,200, most around $2,449 average

• Outdoor lighting: $2,000–$10,000, averaging around $3,500

• Fencing: $1,000-$10,000 (depending on material and length)

4. Plants

Plants can vary in price depending on what gallon size plant you order and how big you would like them. If you will be staying in your home for 5 years, then you can save money by purchasing smaller plant sizes, such as quart or 1 gallon sizes. It will take 2-3 years for these plants to reach their mature size.

On the flip side, if you are only going to be in your home for 1-2 years, then investing in larger plants would be best so that plants are close to mature size when you're planning on selling.

Here is the typical ranges per budget:

• Budget Refresh: $600–$1,200
  10–15 shrubs/perennials, 1 gal–3 gal sizes, no trees

• Full Renovation: $1,500–$3,000
  25–30 shrubs/perennials (mostly 3 gal), 1–2 small trees

• Premium Overhaul: $4,000–$8,000+
  Larger quantities, bigger container sizes (7 gal+), mature specimen trees, designed layering

5. Softscaping

With all of your hardscaping already completed, you can move on to the next step of installing softscaping, such as plants, mulch, and sod. This is my favorite part, since it pulls all of the landscape together to create a beautiful environment!

• Sod installation: $1–$3/sq ft, up to $6 with heavy prep

• Plant installation: $25–$85 per shrub installed; $3–$15/sq ft for planted beds

• Mulch: $50–$150/cu yd installed

• Pine straw: $3–$8/bale

6. Ongoing maintenance

You can either maintain your own yard for free, or you can hire a landscaper to take care of the basics like blowing leaves, mowing, edging, weeding, etc. I pay my landscapers $125/mo (that's with them coming 2x a month), but some may be more or less. Make sure you find a landscaper that respects your plants and can differentiate from weeds and ornamentals.

Adding it all up

With all of these costs, you can expect to pay around ~$18,000–$85,000 (excluding the pool here, since it's such a big cost!).

Here's a breakdown of estimated cost for different budget types (still excluding that pool):

• Budget refresh: ~$7,500–$14,500

• Full renovation: ~$18,000–$40,000

• Premium overhaul: ~$45,000–$85,000

When you upgrade your landscaping and maintain it, it can increase your home value from 5-12% according to a Virginia Tech Extension study. Neglected yards lower sale price by 5% to 15% compared to well-maintained properties.

It changes buyer perception before they ever walk inside. Real-estate research consistently shows that buyers form an opinion during the first drive-by, before they even see the interior. A home that fails that first impression often never gets a showing.

Here is a further breakdown of ROI:

• Basic lawn care (mowing, edging, fertilizing): Up to 217% ROI at resale

• General landscape maintenance (mulching, pruning): Around 104% ROI

• Tree care: 87% ROI, and homes with trees sell faster

• Paver patios / outdoor kitchens: 95–100% ROI

• Landscape upgrade: 100% ROI

• Outdoor living space: 89% ROI

A general rule when it comes to landscaping is you would want your budget to be 5-10% of the home value spread across homeownership (so don't invest this much if you're going to sell the house a month later!). A $500,000 home would have a budget of around $25,000-$50,000. The best scenario is investing early and over time, living in the house for 5 or so years to enjoy the improvements, and then sell when you're ready.

But keep in mind, sometimes you don't need to worry about ROI if it will bring you years of enjoyment and quality of life improvements! I do things to my landscape all the time where I'm not even thinking about the ROI (like the greenhouse I just bought that I've been wanting for YEARS), I'm doing it because it's something I'll enjoy later. So if you've always wanted that greenhouse, edible garden, she-or-he-shed, do it! ❤️

If you're interested in a landscape designer to help plan your next garden, book a free 15-minute consultation with me so we can discuss your goals, budget, and style!