Lawn service prices

[jollystomper]

Weve got just over and acre but I still mow it myself. It is faily level without too many trees so I can do it with a riding mower in about 90 minutes. I do some of it with a push mower when I want a good physical workout. When it grows the fastest I'll mow a third every day, which makes it manageable.

 

[ChrisC]

This thread reminds me of an old story told by the late Flip Wilson:
Seems he was out in the front yard, mowing and doing other yard work, when someone came by and asked him what he charged. Without missing a beat he replied "I get to sleep with the lady inside."

I heard this line attributed to Justice Thurgood Marshall (from someone who actually lived in his Fairfax Virginia neighborhood), but evidently that might not be true. snopes.com: Mistaken for Servant

 

[aja8888]

I dumped the landscaper when DS weighed enough to activate the John Deere. The landscaper priced himself out of the job when he started mowing twice a week. Yup, every 6 days and if it rained: first opportunity + your regularly scheduled day.

Every dry August I would fume ... twice a month would be fine ... he'ld bill me for 6.

We dumped the service we were with for over a decade when they billed us for 5 visits in December 2013 after I explicitly told them not to cut at all due to the cool weather and no grass growth. When I called about the bill, they said it was an error? What? Goodbye....So they lost a long term customer.

 

[youbet]

$25 per mow in suburban Chicago. We have a large population of ethnic folks who seem to like being in this business, so competition is keen. Includes mow, edge trimming and clean up.

The boss is usually with them and, since he speaks English and communication becomes possible, I can usually go out with a few fives in my pocket and get them to do small chores that DW has been nagging about.

We've had these guys for four years and we're very happy with them. A plus is that you can call them off any week which keeps costs way down during the slow growing season in the heart of summer.

Never would have considered having anyone else cut our grass until we got the camper and now leave for weeks at a time. It's nice coming home to a mowed and trimmed yard instead of a jungle.

 

[SJ1_]

I've always done my own yard work at my DW's insistence. I too, look pretty grubby when I'm in the process. I had a young female yuppie type pull over in a fancy BMW and asked me what I charged for lawn service. I told her I was sleeping with the lady at this house. She drove off pretty quickly. Thought I still had it...guess not.

that's funny
I always do our lawn and when the rentals are vacant I cut them too.
Use to have 2 lake lots that I cut. Once took 1.5 hour other about 1 hour.
Current I am cutting our regular house and our lake house.

 

[veremchuka]

Yikes, I never paid anyone to do lawn or snow work and judging from some of the prices I'd be paying well over $100 per mowing, COL here is very high. In April-June that's about every 5th day sometimes 4th, in July and August I can get away with every 8-10 days depending upon rain. I don't fertilize the lawn, I can trim branches. Snow cleanup depends upon the amount of snow but it can take 60 minutes or 6 hours depending upon how much and the drifting. I often have 1/2 the snow blown off the roof on the deck, deck steps and to the woodshed and that's all hand shoveled.

 

[Walt34]

I just do it all myself. It would gall me to spend the money on something so simple that I really don't mind that much. Well, except when it's really hot. Then I just do it early AM or late PM in the hour before dark.

I'd rather spend the money on camera gear or take DW out to dinner.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

10 things lawn services won’t tell you
The grass may be greener, but at what price?
10 things lawn services won’t tell you - 10 things - MarketWatch

 

[rodi]

We've mostly zero-scaped since lawns aren't practical in San Diego with out limited water. But we have a small patch. We also have sons age 11 and 13, and an old-school push reel mower. We pay them $5 to mow and edge on an as needed basis.

We're slowly shrinking the lawn - putting in raised veggie patches this year should shrink our small lawn by 25%.

 

[JakeBrake]

The only time I've ever paid someone to cut my grass was in the Spring of 2011 when I broke my ankle and was laid up for several weeks. I mow a total of about three acres. The front yard is about an acre. My neighbor did the first cutting of the front yard with his new John Deere ZTR. I think he wanted to show it off. I repaid him with a new 5 gallon gas can full of gas. After that I hired someone to cut the front yard twice at two week intervals. He charged $50 per cutting. Since I recovered I've been doing the cutting myself.

 

[splitwdw]

10 things lawn services won’t tell you
The grass may be greener, but at what price?
10 things lawn services won’t tell you - 10 things - MarketWatch

This article is dead on. People think they are hiring someone with training or certification in lawn/tree/shrub/landscaping design. What they are hiring, most of the time, is a guy with a lawn mower.
They use to offer classes on lawn care, pruning, fertilizing, pest control at our local agriculture department for lawn mowing services. No one showed up.
I always love the Spring when the mower guys keep piling on the mulch. They usually only need to refresh the mulch each year but they add inches. Or they pile up the teepees of mulch around trees and people think that's normal. If you pay Home Owners Association fees you're being charged for mulch each year that's not needed.

 

[Idnar7]

Pay a service $35 per time for mowing and snow plowing. At first the owner was new and a one man operation and did a great job. Now he has grown and the service has suffered with additional staff. He has to come out and re-do what the others didn't do (we send pictures). We were one of his original customers, but we may look elsewhere next season.

 

[tryan]

Have to have a service mow the lake house ... since it rents out. A 2 man crew mow and trim for $45 every 2 weeks. Takes them 25 minutes. He has over a 100 customers so mowing every week is non-starter (and he'll tell you that).

 

[RetireAge50]

Hmmm, if I pay someone $50 every couple weeks for a 40 year retirement that will be about $50,000. Should I delay retirement a little longer to save for this unbudgeted expense? Haha

 

[rbmrtn]

I have about an acre. I'm DIY, it's good exercise ( push mower ). I just finished tuning up the leaf blower, fuel lines, carburetor rebuild. I like doing those sort of things. It's not like I have a j*b to go to. My mom pays for hers ( but she is 92 ) If I make it that long I'll being paying then ( or be in a room at the retirement home )

 

[ChiliPepr]

My SO does all the yard work. We were living in the city and she wanted to move to the suburbs, I told her the only way I would do yard work was if I was going to hot-top it and paint it green. For some reason she really likes it. Although, I do do most of the snow blowing.

 

[phil1ben]

I think a lot depends on cost of living in your particular area.

Eastern PA we pay $90.00/cut done weekly on 3.6 acres.

Fertilizer/pre-emergent crabgrass/chemical treatment runs $420.00/per treatment.

I get 3 or 4 quotes every two years to keep everyone honest.