The honest answer is that it depends, but that answer is not very useful when you are trying to plan a serious project. Here is a clearer picture of what landscape design-build projects actually run in Homestead and South Dade in 2026, what moves the number up or down, and why two seemingly similar projects can land at very different prices.
Before anything else, a distinction that changes the whole conversation. Recurring lawn maintenance, mowing, fertilizing, weed control, runs a few hundred dollars a month and is priced completely differently. This guide covers landscape design and build: the one-time investment in a finished outdoor space that stays finished. Those are different businesses with different cost structures, and mixing them up is one of the most common reasons people get estimates that do not compare to each other.
Where projects start
At Greene and Stone Outdoor, projects start at $7,000. That floor reflects the reality of doing designed, built work properly: engineering a base that holds, choosing materials suited to the climate, and coordinating licensed trades in the right sequence. Below that number, corners get cut in ways that show up within a year or two.
A single designed feature, a travertine pool deck, a paver patio, a compact outdoor kitchen, or a water feature, generally starts around $7,000 and rises with size, material grade, and site conditions. A full outdoor living build, where hardscape, planting, lighting, and a kitchen or water feature are designed and constructed together as one project, typically begins around $25,000. Whole-property estate work is priced individually after a site visit because the scope varies too much for a meaningful range.
These are starting points, not fixed packages. The same patio can land at very different numbers depending on the four factors below.
What actually drives the price
Scope is the obvious driver. More square footage, more elements, and more complexity all add cost. But scope alone does not explain why two patios of similar size can differ by 40 percent.
Materials account for a large part of that gap. Imported travertine sits well above domestic concrete pavers in material cost. Large, mature trees cost significantly more than smaller stock. Stainless outdoor kitchen appliances built for the elements cost more than residential-grade equipment. None of these are unnecessary luxuries in South Florida. Travertine stays cooler underfoot in the summer heat. Properly rated kitchen equipment survives the humidity and salt air. The material choice is also often the climate choice.
Site conditions are the quiet driver that most estimates understate. A sloped lot requires grading. A high water table, which describes much of South Dade, affects how water features and deep installations are engineered. Poor existing drainage has to be corrected before hardscape goes in, or the surface will fail. Clay or sandy soil affects what planting can establish without extraordinary irrigation. None of this shows up on a bid written from the street. It only shows up at a site visit.
Access affects labor more than most homeowners expect. A backyard reachable only through a narrow side gate, or a property where equipment cannot approach the work area, takes significantly more manual labor to build. That cost is real and unavoidable on constrained sites.
Why the base matters more than the surface
On any hardscape project, a significant share of the budget goes into work you will never see once construction is done: excavation, aggregate base, compaction, and drainage. This is also the work that determines whether the surface lasts or fails.
Budget installers offer lower numbers primarily by compressing or skipping base work. The surface may look identical on day one. Within a year or two, you will see joints opening, corners sinking, and surfaces shifting. The re-installation cost almost always exceeds the savings from the original discount. Paying for proper base preparation is paying for the part that makes every other dollar in the project worth it.
How design-build pricing differs from separate bids
If you have collected bids from separate contractors, you may have noticed they are not quoting the same project. A patio contractor prices a patio. An irrigation company prices irrigation. Neither prices for how those systems interact, who coordinates the sequence, or what happens when one trade’s work conflicts with another’s.
A design-build project is priced as one scope with one accountable team. The plan covers grading, drainage, hardscape, planting, irrigation, and lighting together, so nothing is sequenced wrong and nothing has to be torn out to make room for what comes next. The upfront price is higher than a single-trade bid. The total cost of the finished space, accounting for coordination, rework, and the gaps that open between separate scopes, is usually lower.
How to get an accurate number
No honest estimate can be given without seeing the property. Grade, drainage, access, soil, and existing conditions all affect the price in ways that cannot be assessed from a description or a satellite image. A flat web price would either be padded to cover every difficult scenario or would underquote hard sites and surprise you mid-build.
The right starting point is a free site visit. You walk the property, talk through how you want to use the space, and get a realistic budget conversation before any design work begins. From there, you receive an itemized proposal covering the full scope, so every line has a reason and nothing is buried in a contingency.
You can read more about how our pricing works or see the full range of design-build services we offer. If you are weighing a specific scope, the hardscape installation and outdoor living spaces pages go into detail on what each involves and what drives its cost.