Ballpark Estimate: $100 to $200 per month for lawn maintenance; $400 to $600 per year for seasonal treatments
Everyone wants a lush green lawn, but if you don’t have what it takes to keep yours up to par on your own, you might want to hire a lawn maintenance company to handle the job.
The Need
Are your neighbors shooting you dirty looks because of the unkempt state of your lawn? Do you feel guilty when you skimp on that much-needed yard cleanup but don’t have the time, or the desire, to make it a priority right now? If this sounds familiar, you don’t have to resign yourself to being the neighborhood eyesore. You just need to find a reliable lawn care service company that’s able to handle the job.
A lawn service company will not only save you time and effort, but they will also be able to provide the commercial-grade equipment and expertise to help you achieve the results you seek.
Types of Services
The types of lawn care services you might need include seasonal fertilizing, herbicides and pesticides, disease control, liming, trimming, edging, cleaning, mulching, soil testing, lawn renovation or replacement and pest control.
Some lawn care companies specialize in the soil care and chemical treatment side of things, while other lawn maintenance professionals focus exclusively on providing the mowing, raking and trimming services. Therefore, you’ll want to define your needs and decide if you want to handle some of these tasks on your own and/or go with two separate companies, or if you prefer to find one or more lawn care companies that can handle both ends of the spectrum.
Shop Around
When exploring different lawn care companies, you’ll need to weigh a variety of factors, such as the experience, equipment quality and overall expertise the lawn care professional brings to your yard. Also be sure to ask for a detailed description of exactly what’s included in the lawn care service to ensure you know what you’re getting. This is important in order to effectively compare different lawn care companies.
For instance, if the standard lawn care maintenance package includes fertilization, you’ll need to ask lawn care service to define what this covers. Is weed, pest and disease control included as part of the standard lawn care package? If not, the price can go up a fair amount, so you’ll want to find this out up front. The best way to make sure you are getting all of the lawn care services you need at a fair cost is find out the facts and get your agreement in writing. Be sure to also ask about the quality and quantity of the materials that will be used on your lawn, since these factors will also impact the cost and the results.
You should also be clear before you hire a lawn care company about any special preferences you have, such as using fertilizers and other products that are organic and/or safe for children and pets, since not all companies will be able to meet these specific needs.
Will You Do Chores?
It would be nice if once you hire a lawn care company to handle all of the seasonal and weekly upkeep of your yard, you don’t have to think about doing anything else in your yard. However, weekly visits usually won’t be enough without you needing to get outside and break a sweat in between scheduled lawn care visits. Therefore, when selecting a lawn care company, you’ll need to define your expectations up front and determine how big a role you want to play in your yard’s maintenance. At the very minimum, you can expect that you’ll need to regularly water your lawn (or rely on an automated sprinkler system).
Rain or Shine
Even the best landscaper won’t be able to control the weather conditions and the impact they have on your lawn. However, an experienced lawn care professional should be able to take steps to overcome some of nature’s challenges. While you can’t expect a perfect job every time, you can expect that when things don’t work as planned, a reputable lawn care company will stand by its work and take the extra steps needed to help fix any problems that arise.
How to Find
Once you have an idea of what you want, you can ask your family and friends to recommend lawn care services. In addition, it’s always a good idea to check with your neighbors for referrals, since their lawn care maintenance professionals are already in your area, and they may be willing to give a reduced rate if they service multiple houses that are adjacent to each other. You can also look in your local newspaper for landscaper ads or do a search online for vendors who perform lawn care services in your area. There are some searchable directories online that can also connect you to local businesses, like AllAboutLawns and LawnCareDirectory. If you prefer to go with a larger chain instead of a local lawn care service, you can try Scotts Lawn Service, WeedManUSA, and TruGreen.
(Note that if you’re considering using a national lawn care maintenance chain, you’ll want to find out if the office is an independently-owned franchise or is owned by the main company and how this will affect the service you will get, since the standards can be different in each scenario.)
Cost for Lawn Care
The cost for lawn care services depends on a number of factors, including where you live, the size of your lawn and exactly what you want to have done.
- An average size lawn of a an 1/2 acre will start cost about $25 to $50 to mow and maintain it on a weekly basis, or will cost $100 to $200 if you pay by the month. The price will go up if the lot is larger or more complicated. Further, if your yard has a number of flowerbeds, trees, lawn furniture, toys, and children’s equipment, this can be more time-consuming to take care of and you may be charged accordingly. Some lawn care companies will also perform weeding and edging services, as well as other maintenance chores, as part of their standard price. Others will charge a separate fee, depending on the amount of time that’s involved.
- The cost for lawn care service/seasonal fertilizing and other chemical processes will depend on the size of your lawn. You can expect a cost of $400 to $700 a year for this lawn care service. (Organic and child/pet-friendly options may be a little higher.)
- Weeding your flowerbeds can cost between $30 and $60 a month, but the size and amount of work involved can also increase the price of this job.
- Seasonal yard cleanups (often needed in the spring and the fall) can cost from $200 to $500. You can expect spring cleanups to be on the lower end, while fall cleanups, including raking leaves and carting them away, can be much more time intensive and therefore will often cost more.
- Trimming and shaping your trees and hedges can be a big job, depending on how extensive your landscaping is. A typical size ranch house with landscaping on three sides can cost between $200 and $500 a year for trimming work.
Lawn care services such as regular yard maintenance cost between $100 and $200 a month and go on up, while lawn fertilization and other chemical treatments can be cost $400 to $700 a year.
A DIY Option
If you don’t want to invest in regular lawn care services but still want to have a well-manicured lawn, it can be worth it to have the right tools to get the job done.
For larger-sized properties, purchasing a lawn tractor or riding mower can be well worth the investment. Not only will it save you time, but it will help keep your sweating to a minimum. You can get a decent quality riding mower for a price between $1,000 and $2,000.
To help put this into perspective, if the cost for weekly landscaping services comes out to $200 a month and you’d be spending this for five months a year, within one to two years you’ll break even. Therefore, this can be a viable alternative to consider.
In addition, doing your own fertilizing will cost about $150 to $200 a year for the supplies, which is a considerable savings over having the lawn care job professionally done. (The price may vary depending on the quality you select and the size of your yard.)