Landscaping costs - in northern NJ

[Kow]

I am getting some landscaping done, leveling of the ground and tree planting mostly. As such they will need to bring a lot of dirt and soil which needs to be brought 100 feet by wheel barrow to the backyard. They will also need the machine for scraping the lawn and planting the trees, about 8 6-footers and a number of smaller shrubs

What is the typical price to plant a tree or for a full day with the equipment and a couple guys? What would you expect the dirt to cost per yard including spreading? I am in northern nj.

Thanks

[EagertoLearnMore]

The costs vary widely depending upon location. Ballpark about 1.5x cost of tree to plant it. So $100 tree, total cost $250 planted. Again, it depends upon location and what type of tree and who is doing the work. If you are buying from a wholesale nursery it should be cheaper than hiring a landscaper who will do design and charge more. Best bet is to decide what you want by looking around at nurseries, ask for advice, buy from them and get planted by them and ask for a one-year warranty.

[Mapmaker]

I don’t know if it’s really comparable, but I just had a landscaper put in 11 green giant thuja, 5 firs, 2 maples, 2 red buds, 5 viburnum (4 ft.) and 3 truckloads of mushroom soil that they mixed with the builder’s “top soil” in order to seed the lawn. (The seeded lawn with straw was paid by my builder.) The guys had machines to plant the fairly large trees. I think the thuja were the smallest at 7-8 feet, and they also mulched around my 2,000 sq. ft house. They were here for three days. My cost was a little over $15k and I got a two year warranty.

[Kow]

Thanks for the replies. My Job is quoted $125 per yard of soil including the spreading plus $1,500 for the day to day and a half which includes all the plantings and other clean up (10 plants valued at $1,000 off plants will be about the 1.5x the cost of the tree. Seems relatively in line, will include a small 25' rock retaining wall with stones already on premises.