People spend what they can afford on landscaping, but 10% to 15% of the value of the house is sometimes used to budget for landscaping improvements.

Did you already have a design you are working from, or did the contractor do the design and price it? Can you get a couple of other bids on the installation? Do the beds need to go all the way around the foundation? Why are you putting in beds on both sides of the driveway? Will those beds interfere with snow removal?

The price of shrubs depends on the shrub, some that are easy to propagate go for less than those that are tricky.

The number of question marks following your question seems to suggest that you think it is a rip off. But how can you compare prices or values? The value of a landscaped yard is relative, I don't detect anything other than, "I have a house, isn't a house supposed to be surrounded by trees and stuff" about your needs so you are not creating a natural habitat or a space to be in. Understand that I am not trying to be rude only to get you to be realistic about your aims and to prioritize. 20K sounds like a lot of money but if it would save the life of someone I love I would work night and day to pay it. On the other hand I can happily live without a micro wave oven.
If you want to buy time so that you can better understand what you want and are surrounded by a sea of brown at this moment put it all down to sod and buy a couple of sprinklers.

Thank you everyone. They are a "naturalistic" type of company, and they have just opened their own nursery. The lot is heavy wooded (the back is even a preservation area with a marsh), so I need some trees closer to the house, otherwise they are already there. Here are some of the perennials/srhubs/trees they will be using:
Armeria bloodstone
daylillies
Crabapple Firebird
Blue Spruce
Cherry Tree
Geramiun Karmina
Boxwood Green Mountain
Juniper Blue arrow
compact cranberry
spirea renaissance
rhododendron PJM
azalea rosey light
ligularia
hydrangea tardivia
astilbe vision
hydrangea anabelle
grass tufted hair
lilac tinkerbelle
russian sage
black eyed susan
sedum
echinace blue sky
and a few others...
They are not symetric placed at all, looks really good in the drawings and I am rather excited about it - the question was just a "gut" check and yes, it's all about what kind of heaven you want to come to in the end of the day. I am pretty sure that it will be worth every penny (it's just lots of them)

The reality is that a professionally designed and installed landscape can - and often does - cost much more than one would expect. I encountered this truth early on, long before I became active in the business. My ex and I decided to relandscape our new front yard, a relatively small area of about 1200sf. With only one exception - the removal of a large, sick tree - we would do all the work ourselves. I was already an accomplished gardener and he was reasonably handy. The short end of the long story is that the total came to about $4,000 and this was some 20 years ago and did not include any plant material other than sod (we had brought all manner of plants from our previous garden) or any labor other than our own sweat. It did include the cost of the tree removal (~$1500), about 4 yards of soil, material for a new fence, a modest amount of flagstone for a new walkway, the sod and some rented equipment.

So no, $20,000 is not out of line for a full yard landscape. In many cases, I would consider it a darn good deal.

The untold story is the amount of work that needs to be done before the plants can be planted. If the area is a lawn and they simply need to cut out the beds, plant the plants, and mulch it, it would be a lot less than if the y have to clear brush and stumps, regrade,....

Whatever it is, you are not going to get accurate evaluations of the price because labor and materials are very different from one place to another. It is a local question and needs a local answer. The price can't be generalized because the work is specific.

$20,000 worth of plants installed is a fairly normal amount of money that people spend on a house of 3,700 SF where I live. Then there is the site work, the fencing, the walkways and patios, the irrigation system, .... It may not be the same where you are.

I can't tell where you're located (are you zone 4 or 6?) but I'm in the upper midwest. $20K sounds about like what we would've paid last year if plant material would've been included in our landscaping plan; it would've been an additional $4K for the flagstone path if we'd gone with that.

We chose to do the planting ourselves this year; both to save a little money and to give me the joy of seeking out new plants for my new space. And we're not sure about the flagstone - we may just leave the walkways mulched. So we paid about $14K for irrigation, sod, four large (one is about 110' long and 20' deep) beds cut, edged and mulched, and a half-dozen 2-gallon shrubs.

Thank you so much everyone! I am actually in the Minneapolis area, and by the way, grading is including in the bit which will also include some contruction junk left behind by the builder (such as mortar, nails, etc). We are currently in the final stages of the plan and they should start installing in 2 weeks... if this constant rain goes away. They told me it would take 3 guys about 5 days. I will post the pics when it's done. Thank you once again for all your feedback! kandrade

Hey kandrade.
I'm in the minneapolis area as well.
I always interested in visiting new nurseries. Can you tell me their name and location? -jasper

jasper 60103

Here is the information:
The Mustard Seed
6055 Hwy 212 - Chaska, MN
Check their website, it's pretty good: www.themustardseedinc.com

Very nice people and I am getting great feedback from contractors about them.