Guide
Before and after landscaping videos: the before shot is the whole trick
Every landscaper takes the after photo. Far fewer take the before, because the before is filmed when the yard is still an embarrassment and the crew wants to dig. That missing ten seconds is the difference between a nice photo and the most convincing thing a landscaping company can post. This guide is the two-shot habit: where to stand, what to film in the middle, what to say over it, and what the edit costs.
- Clips per job the habit asks for
- 2
- How long each clip needs to be
- 10 sec
- The MP4 shape all three platforms want
- 9:16
- The finished 30 second video, batch plus export
- ~110 CR
Why before and after outsells everything else a landscaper can post
A stranger cannot evaluate your mowing pattern or your paver spacing. They can evaluate a transformation instantly, with no expertise, in the first two seconds.
That makes before and after the one format where an unknown company competes evenly with an established one. The proof is in the footage, not the follower count.
It also survives silence. Most feeds are scrolled on mute, and a yard changing shape reads without sound. Everything added on top, voice, captions, a price range, turns a watch into an inquiry, but the bones work on their own.
The two-shot habit: same spot, same height, ten seconds each
The before shot happens during the first walkaround, before a tool comes off the trailer. It takes one minute, and it is the minute most companies skip.
Match the after to it. Same corner of the yard, same height, same direction. A matched pair reads as one yard transformed; an unmatched pair reads as two different yards.
- Stand where the whole problem is visible: the dead lawn, the slope, the mud line
- Film vertical, ten seconds, still or at walking pace, phone at chest height
- Drop a map pin or photograph your feet, so the after is shot from the same spot
- Shoot the before ugly. Do not tidy it first. The mess is the value of the after
- Grab the pair on every job, even the boring ones. Habits survive, exceptions do not
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
What goes in the middle: the build is the story
A hard cut from before to after works. Before, build, after works better, because the middle is where the viewer sees the labor they would be paying for.
A time-lapse is the cheapest middle there is. A phone on a cheap tripod, framed once, left alone: a day of grading becomes eight seconds of machinery doing something satisfying.
If a time-lapse is too much ceremony, three ten-second clips do the job: the demo, the messy middle, the detail work. The skid steer, the string lines, the sod going down.
Drone footage is a bonus, not a requirement. One slow pass over the after lifts the ending, but a chest-height walkthrough carries the same information.
The spoken layer is what turns proof into quotes
Silent before and afters collect compliments. Spoken ones collect inquiries, because the voice answers the questions the footage raises: what did this cost, how long did it take, what was wrong underneath.
The script is four sentences, said once, not read. What the client wanted. What was actually there when you opened the ground. What it took. What a project like this runs.
Say the neighborhood if the client agrees. A transformation in a named suburb travels along that street in a way an anonymous one cannot.
Saying a price range filters out nobody worth keeping. The homeowner who cannot afford the range was never a client, and the one who can now knows you are not hiding the number.
The honest version: when raw posting is enough
If the video is just the two clips and a beat, post it straight from the phone. Instagram's own tools can jump-cut two clips and add a caption line, and that costs nothing but the minute it takes.
The edit becomes worth paying for when the voice enters. Cutting a talking take so the before lands on the words about the mud, the time-lapse on the words about the build, and the after on the reveal, with captions timed to speech, is the evening-eating part.
Cutroom does exactly that part. Upload the talking take, up to 3 minutes, and it comes back as a finished 9:16 video in about a minute, your clips placed on the words that describe them. Highlight a phrase to move any clip. Captions burn in, six styles.
A batch is 100 credits, export is 20 credits per finished minute, so the finished 30 second video is about 110 credits. The first 3 are free in your first 7 days, no card, with a Cutroom mark across the middle. Lite is $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, about 11 of these, nothing on the picture, cancel in one click.
Raw post versus spoken edit
Both are legitimate. The difference is what the video can answer.
| Straight from the phone | One take through Cutroom | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to make | A minute in the platform app | About a minute after upload |
| What it carries | Two clips and a caption line | Voice, captions, clips on your words |
| Cost | Nothing | ~110 credits; the first 3 free in 7 days |
| Best for | The quick proof post | The job story that earns quote requests |
Questions people ask
- What if I forgot the before shot?
- You cannot fake it, and a mismatched pair from a different job reads as exactly that. Post the build-to-after as the story instead, and make the before shot part of the first walkaround from the next job on.
- Do I need a drone for before and after videos?
- No. Matched chest-height clips carry the comparison fine. A drone pass is a strong ending for large properties, but the format's power is the match, not the altitude.
- How long should the finished video be?
- Twenty to forty seconds. Before, middle, after, four spoken sentences. Export costs 20 credits per finished minute, so tight is also cheaper, and attention on Reels and TikTok rewards the same discipline.
- Should I say the price in the video?
- A range, yes. It is the first question every viewer has, it filters out nobody you wanted, and it makes every other claim in the video more believable.
- Do I need the client's permission to post their yard?
- Ask, always, ideally in the contract. Most clients are proud of the result and agree. If they prefer privacy, frame tight on the work and leave out the address, the street name and the house front.
- What does the edit cost?
- Straight from the phone, nothing. Through Cutroom, about 110 credits for a finished 30 second video, the 100 credit batch plus the 20 credits per finished minute export, on Lite at $19.99 a month for 1,250 credits, cancel in one click.
Two ten-second clips per job, one minute of talking, and the ugliest yard you started with becomes the best ad you own. The habit costs a minute on site. The edit now costs about a minute more.