A professionally installed xeriscape costs $5–$20 per square foot in 2026 (Fixr, LawnStarter). Doing it yourself can bring the material cost for a simple gravel-and-plants design down to a dollar or two per square foot. That headline range is really a stack of separate line items, though, and knowing which ones you're paying for tells you where your yard will land. The table below breaks it down, with a DIY column and a pro column and the source for every figure.
Looking for total project budgets by yard size, payback math and the DIY-or-hire decision? That's in our main xeriscaping cost guide. This page is the detailed worksheet.
The line-item table (2026)
"Pro" means installed by a contractor. "DIY" means your materials and rentals, with your labor free. Where a source prices by the cubic yard, we converted to square feet using Fixr's rule that a cubic yard covers about 100 sq ft at 3 inches deep. Those conversions are marked "≈".
| Line item | DIY cost | Pro cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lawn removal: solarizing | ≈ $0.10/sq ft (plastic) | — | LawnStarter |
| Lawn removal: sheet mulching | Cost of cardboard + mulch | $0.70–$1.20/sq ft | LawnStarter |
| Lawn removal: sod cutting and haul | ~$100/day sod-cutter rental | $0.60–$1.20/sq ft | LawnStarter |
| Soil test | $15–$60 per test | — | LawnStarter |
| Soil amendments (typical yard) | $80–$175 total | — | LawnStarter |
| Regrading | — | $1,200–$2,400 per project | Fixr |
| Drip irrigation | Parts only (varies by kit) | $1.50–$3.50/sq ft (Fixr); $1.70–$4.80/sq ft (LawnStarter) | Fixr, LawnStarter |
| Decomposed granite (3 in.) | ≈ $0.30–$0.50/sq ft ($30–$50/cu yd) | Add delivery + labor | Fixr stones |
| Pea gravel / gravel mulch (3 in.) | ≈ $0.25–$0.67/sq ft ($25–$67/cu yd) | Landscape rock $1.24–$8.64/sq ft | LawnStarter, Fixr stones |
| River rock | $80–$280/ton | $2.75–$6/sq ft | Fixr stones |
| Stone delivery | $200–$400 per load | Included in quote | Fixr stones |
| Organic mulch (3 in.) | ≈ $0.50–$1.50/sq ft ($50–$150/cu yd) | $150–$400 typical job (~3 cu yd installed) | Fixr mulching |
| Groundcovers | $2–$45 per plant | Plus labor | LawnStarter |
| Perennials and succulents | $7–$80 per plant | Plus labor | Fixr |
| Shrubs | $6–$87 (Fixr); $12–$90 (LawnStarter) | Plus labor | Fixr, LawnStarter |
| Xeric trees (2–7 ft, unplanted) | $30–$180 each | $200–$550 per tree planted | LawnStarter, Fixr trees |
| Landscape boulders | $100–$200/ton | Plus equipment and setting | Fixr stones |
| Boulder retaining wall | — | $20–$50/sq ft of wall | Fixr stones |
| Flagstone patio or path | — | $16–$30/sq ft | Fixr patios (2022 data) |
| Gravel patio | — | $6–$14/sq ft | Fixr patios (2022 data) |
| Design: plan only | — | $300–$1,500 per plan | LawnStarter design |
| Design: full service | — | $2,200–$6,180 per project; $50–$150/hr | LawnStarter design |
| General labor | Your weekends | $50–$100/hr | Fixr |
| Comparison: artificial turf | $2–$6/sq ft (material) | $5–$12.50/sq ft (Fixr); $5.45–$20 (LawnStarter) | Fixr turf, LawnStarter |
Two caveats. First, these are national ranges. A contractor in St. George, Utah will usually beat a Bay Area crew, and the Washington County Water Conservancy District tells local homeowners to "expect to pay between $4-6 per square foot" for a contractor conversion (WCWCD). Second, Fixr's patio and turf pages are older (2022) than its xeriscape page, so treat those two rows as a floor.
How the line items add up to $5 or $20 per square foot
Divide the cost of each thing you install by the area it serves, then add those numbers together. Here's how two 1,000 sq ft front yards come out.
A $5-per-square-foot yard (pro-installed). The contractor cuts the sod (about $0.60–$1.20), runs drip across the planted half ($1.50–$3.50 on 500 sq ft, or about $0.75–$1.75 spread across the whole yard), lays DG and gravel with labor, and plants 1-gallon perennials and a few shrubs. There's no patio and no boulders. That lands near LawnStarter's description of the low end: "mulch, pea gravel pathways, affordable ground covers, and small plants."
A $20-per-square-foot yard. The same yard plus a 200 sq ft flagstone patio ($3,200–$6,000 on its own), a boulder wall, two specimen trees planted by the crew ($400–$1,100), and a full-service design ($2,200–$6,180). The hardscape, trees and design alone cost more than the entire $5 yard.
The per-square-foot price mostly measures how much of the area is stone versus plants. A planted bed with drip and mulch is one of the cheapest surfaces you can build. A mortar-set patio is one of the most expensive.
Where DIY saves the most
Fixr estimates labor at 60–75% of a professional xeriscape job, so the DIY savings come mostly from labor, not materials. Line by line:
- Lawn removal: big savings. Pros charge $0.60–$1.20/sq ft. Solarizing or sheet mulching costs a few cents. It's slow, not hard.
- Mulch and gravel spreading: big savings. Bulk material is cheap. The money in a pro quote is the wheelbarrow work. Use our gravel calculator so you order the right number of yards.
- Planting: big savings. Holes for 1-gallon plants are easy. Planting stays affordable until you get to trees.
- Drip irrigation: moderate savings. Converting existing zones is very DIY-friendly (how to convert sprinklers to drip). New valves, mainlines and backflow devices often need a licensed installer.
- Boulders and flagstone: small savings, real risk. Equipment rental, injury risk and the skill needed to set stone properly all work against DIY here.
Budget moves that don't show up in the table
- Buy small plants. Container size drives most of the spread within each plant price range. Drought-adapted perennials and grasses establish quickly from 1-gallon pots, and in our experience they catch up to larger nursery sizes within a couple of seasons.
- Let plants cover the ground. Every square foot of mature plant canopy is a square foot you don't need to cover with bought mulch or stone.
- Buy stone by the ton, locally. Local quarry rock costs less and looks more natural. Imported cobble costs more.
- Get the rebate approved before you start. Where programs exist, rebates are usually the single biggest line item in your favor. Las Vegas pays $5/sq ft through SNWA, and LADWP customers get $5/sq ft combined with Metropolitan, as of September 2026. See our lawn removal rebate directory.
From our installs: On clay-soil Front Range yards, the line item that most often gets under-budgeted is soil work. That doesn't mean adding amendments. It means excavating enough of the old lawn root zone, and fixing grades that pitched water toward the house. We'd rather clients spend there and buy smaller plants than the other way around.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average cost per square foot to xeriscape?
The national range is $5–$20 per square foot installed, according to both Fixr and LawnStarter. Simple designs with mulch, gravel paths and small plants cost around $5. Designs heavy on flagstone, boulders and large trees cost around $20.
How much does decomposed granite cost per square foot?
Decomposed granite costs about $30–$50 per cubic yard for material (Fixr). At 3 inches deep, a cubic yard covers about 100 sq ft, so the material works out to roughly $0.30–$0.50 per square foot before delivery, stabilizer, edging and labor. Pathway-grade DG with stabilizer, installed by a crew, costs several times that.
How much does it cost to remove grass per square foot?
Professional grass removal costs $0.60–$1.20 per square foot on average (LawnStarter, December 2025). Solarizing with plastic costs about $0.10 per square foot in materials. Renting a sod cutter runs about $100 a day.
Is artificial turf cheaper than xeriscaping per square foot?
Not usually. Installed turf costs $5–$12.50 per square foot according to Fixr, and $5.45–$20 according to LawnStarter. That's about the same as a low-to-mid xeriscape. Most turf-replacement rebates exclude artificial turf, and it gets hot in western sun.
Does the per-square-foot price include design?
Usually not. A plan-only drawing costs $300–$1,500 and full-service design costs $2,200–$6,180 per project (LawnStarter). Many design-build contractors fold the design into the installation price, so ask for it itemized.
