What Expectations Do You Have
For Your Lawn Care Service?

How you perceive your lawn care company may be completely dependent on your expectations. Make sure you discuss your expectations with any company you hire to do your lawn and landscape care. Here are a few things to think about.

First, remember the cost of you lawn care is based on time it takes and materials used to do the job. The less time and materials the company uses in doing the job, the less the cost is to you, the customer. The faster a job can be completed, the lower the price will be. Here are some things you should think about in regards to the price you will pay.

1.    If your expectation is that, you just do not want to care for your own lawn or landscape. You can expect standard lawn care pricing based on the size of your property.

a.    You will generally get weekly lawn mowing, blowing debris off hard surfaces such as driveway, walkway, patio, etc. and trimming around all objects.

b.    The thing to note here is that the mowing will generally be done with larger commercial types of mowers which may not cut the grass in the manner you are used to if you have always mowed it yourself with a 21” mower.

c.    The job will be done as quickly as possible. The job was “bid” to take an estimated amount of time to complete the job. The crew is going to do everything they can to get the job done in the time allotted. Do not have any expectations of getting more than what they agreed to do.

d.    Generally, this type of service meets the needs of a majority of customers. However, if you have been doing your own lawn care for years and are particular about how your lawn and landscape look, you may not be completely happy with this type of service. Here is why:

Your lawn is going to be mowed only once a week unless you have requested service on a more regular basis. During the heavy growing season, most lawns (especially irrigated lawns) need to be mowed every three to four days to keep them looking neat.

If you have been using a standard rotary mower on your lawn, it generally leaves a nice even cut and you probably walk at a pace that gives you a good even cut and a well manicured look. It may even have those nice 21” wide “stripes” that make it look well manicured. You are now going to have your lawn mowed with a 36” to 60” wide lawn mower with multiple blades. Although this type of commercial mower is efficient, I have never found one yet that will cut the grass as evenly or leave the grass looking as good as the small rotary type of mower commonly used by the homeowner. See Cutting Grass Simply put, when you mowed your own lawn with your own mower, your lawn probably looked better than it may look after being mowed with a commercial mower. That does not mean you cannot get that same high quality look, you just will not get it with a standard service package.

2.    If your expectations are that you want your lawn to look like it did when you carefully went out and did it yourself, your are going to have to let your service provider know what your expectations are. Many service providers may offer a premium care package that can be tailored to your own requirements. They may include such items as:

a.    Mowing more than once a week during high growth periods

b.    Mowing with smaller single blade mowers the will provide a higher quality of final cut

c.    Bagging of grass cuttings to insure a clean lawn after cutting

d.    Varying cutting patterns to give the lawn a cross cut look

e.    More frequent weed control, fertilization and bed care

3.    The cost of the materials used, especially for fertilization and weed control can vary greatly. If you want natural/green products (no chemical) used on your property, the costs will likely be higher than chemical based products. In addition, the results may not be a good. Natural or green products may do the job as well but they usually work slowly and in some cases are only partially effective. However, of course they are much friendlier to the environment and safer for people, pets and wildlife.

The thing to remember is when you contact a care provider, make sure you ask about the services and have them talk about what their standards of quality are. If you are concerned about how things will look, make sure you discuss your expectations with your service provider. Do not be afraid to have them explain their process and talk about how the lawn will look after service. You should not have any surprises. Below is a short list of questions about quality you may want to ask before you hire any service provider.

1.    How will my property look when you are done?           

a.    Will there be any grass clippings or clumps left on the lawn?

b.    Will the mowers leave wheel marks or tear up the turf?

c.    What happens when the grass gets to long during the rapid growth period?

d.    If I am not happy with the quality of service, what can I do?

e.    Are there options that will give me a better quality and leave my lawn looking better?

f.     What if I do not need the lawn cut because it has not grown much?

If you want professional service, expect professional knowledge and attitude from your service provider.

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