Self-care or company

[rebus2666]

Hey I was just wondering if most people take care of their lawns themselves or 'outsource' the labor to a company. I always have done the lawn care but recently have found myself busier and busier and am starting to get frustrated with office work and I think the quality of my lawn this past summer seemed to suffer. I'm thinking of doing this for next year. Have you had good experiences with paying other people for this? Is it worth it? What about the price range of it?

 

[sissy]

I have 3 acres and do it my self from the beginning over 8 years ago and have loved every minute of it .I guess if you could get a good company it would cost money and a neighbors kid would be cheaper .With some companies they offer full service like fertilizing and mulching and caring for flower beds .Best way to find that out is to ask neighbors and see what companies you see trucks parked around your neighborhood that are doing yard work .See what they are doing and if it will work for you .Get quotes because every company will not do everything .Some just mow yards .

 

[Jessi]

We take care of our own. We have paid a local high schooler to mow the lawn before....or paid the kids to pull weeds, etc. We've never hired a company to do any work, though. I think I would consider it if I needed to completely re-seed my l awn or something.

 

[AndroidGirl89]

I think it truly depends on what you want to have done. Do you just want it mowed? Do you want weeds pulled, fertilizer put down, etc.? If you just want it mowed and you simply don't have time to do it on your own- you could hire a neighborhood kid. Or- if you want a bunch of other stuff done- I would do what someone else suggested and look at what other people in your community are doing/who they are using.

 

[loopyloo]

We payed a company to come out and spray our lawn once. To be honest our lawn looked better then it had ever before. With that said I will never ever go through them again. We signed up for a one time spring spraying just to see what we thought of it. We got a phone call from a man who said that it would be cheaper to sign up for a whole year but I was very clear that we only wanted the one treatment. With in a week our grass was greener then our neighbors who do it on their own but are very good at it. We were considering a few other treatments but a month later we fertilized on our own, its much cheaper. The day after we fertilized they showed up while I was gone and treated again. Our lawn was slightly burned and we had a tree die right after. I cant say that they killed our tree but it was odd timing, it could have been bugs or anything.

They left a bill on my door to pay since I wasnt home to get payment from. I called them right up and they told me that I was signed up for monthly treatments. I explained my half of the story and they said that they would take care of it and a manager would call me when it was dealt with. A month later I get another bill with a late fee. I call again and they tell me that they will get the charge taken off and a manager will call me when it is dealt with. I call again in a week and nothing has been done but they tell me it is being processed. When the next months bill comes it is from a collection agency they hired since I didnt pay. I called and told them I was livid and that I wanted to talk to a manager now. There wasnt one of course. I called back daily for a while and finaly got a manager. His reply "What do you think you should have to pay? You recieved the service." I told him that I never asked for the service and I didnt feel like I should be charged for it. He told me that there was costs involved. I told him how I thought this was all very sneaky practice and that anyone could come out and do a service with out my permission but that does not mean I will pay for it.

Long story shortened. A few more calls and it went away. I didnt pay. They still call about twice a year to schedule my spring treatment for a prefered rate but I wont try it again. I cant get them to take my number out of their system. My grass looked great but it wasnt worth the hell they put me through after.

 

[Jessi]

Ugh, Loopy, that really sucks. I hate when businesses use sneaky tactics to get your money. Even if the service was good, I wouldn't want to return to them either after they put me through all of that. That's not the way to get repeat business. And it's certainly not the way to build a reputation that would encourage you to tell other people about their services in a positive way either.

 

[loopyloo]

It was bad enough for us that we wont use any service now. That is fine though. I find yard work to be theraputic and we could all use a little more therapy time. I know I could.

 

[Pat]

We have a neighbor who has a service cut the lawn, we have a steep slope in the front that makes it hard to cut. We pull our own weeds.

 

[dconklin]

I do most of the yard work here. Tho the weeds can be a bit much to pull sometimes, I do enjoy taking my time tending to the yard and my garden. I work at home in front of a computer screen so getting outside to take care of it is nice for me. I find it to be relaxing for the most part.

But on the other hand, yard work is not everybody's favorite chore. I can understand anybody wanting to hire somebody to do it. If we did hire somebody, we would probably hire a high school kid who is looking to earn some extra cash.

 

[claudine]

I always take care of my lawns myself, it's fun. I wouldn't hire anyone to do this because I'd be scared that he'll remove all of little weeds - it's not a joke, I think they look nice - or kill ants. I like when my lawns are very natural

 

[LindaKay]

Either my BF or I have cut the grass ourselves the last three years, but I hired the neighbor -- he's a senior in high school -- to cut our grass yesterday, which was the first time of the season. I paid him $30 and he cut the grass and weed-eated around the house too. I really only did it because we are in desperate need of a new lawn mower, but the weeds around the house looked so bad that I couldn't stand it anymore. I might hire him again because he did a really good job.

 

[bocefustt]

I would say it all depends on the size of the yard and what you are looking to have done. The company I work for is about the most inexpensive for our area for mowing and landscaping, but even I think we are a little pricey. We have several customers that only have us come out every other week, or when they can't get to it themselves. This is most likely the arrangement I would go with if I was looking to hire someone for lawn care.