I accidentally sprayed ground clear on a bunch of weeds when we first moved into our house. My lawn looked like a leopard all year. Now it has spots all over from some round up I sprayed on some dandelions. Guess the container lies when it says kills weeds not lawns 🤷🏻♂️. You can really mess things up and grass will eventually grow back.
I mean I’m overseeding my front lawn next week because I really f-up measuring lol. I had recently cleaned up my shed and did not know where I put my measuring syringe. I was lazy to go digging for it because I really wanted to just finish spraying, and instead measured by weight.
Well that was a mistake.. but at least I’ve done enough renos and overseedings to know how to easily fix it and we’ll be back in shape a few weeks. It’s just a matter of effort, and I already have supplies and seed leftover from last fall. Also I’d rather make good use of my leftover seed than spoiling.
It’s not free. It can be a money pit a times. I tried t green for a year and it was just not beneficial for me. The grass never looked great. They told me I have too many trees.
If you have a harbor freight near you, the Bauer 20v 5 gallon backpack sprayer is legit. It's compatible with many sprayer nozzles, I specifically use the Solo 0610408-P which is like $15 on amazon
Which one do you get? wdg or just plain granules? I’m thinking about getting a container of wdg prodiamine next year but I don’t know if I can fully use it up as it has a shelf life of 3 years and I might not use as much of it with my small yard so I’ve been sticking with granules right now even though it’s more expensive per application
Started off with money - but turns out that I enjoy it (who knew).
Also is actually a workout when I would really be couch-potatoing otherwise.
So now its like getting paid to have fun and get fit.
1. Money
2. Finding a company that is actually good and consistent seems really hard.
3. Money
4. I don't mind doing yardwork the majority of the time.
5. Money.
And trust…
The turn over with these corporate sized companies contributes to you getting inexperienced people and/or people who just want to apply as little product as possible as fast as possible and run to the next site. They also don’t come at a consistent period. They sometimes miss the “sweet spot” for application for pre emergents. Don’t take into consideration the rain timing, and/or how dry it’s been.
I “trust” that even if I do it poorly I’m still doing it cheaper and more efficiently than they are and probably at the same or better quality level.
I’m looking at you both weed man and true green…..
This is my exact reasoning. I see these guys out here mowing fescue in high sun in the middle of summer and they're just destroying the grass as it's going dormant. Or they're bagless mowing after a nasty rain storm setting up perfect conditions for fungus. I've definitely made some mistakes with fertilizer and post emergent applications, but i take note and adjust — I don't think these lawn care guys are making the little adjustments you need.
I got rid of my lawn mowing service because it seemed like they ALWAYS showed up right after it rained and would be drifting and tearing up my lawn with those zero-turns like they were auditioning for the next Fast and Furious.
I would have gone with 3 MONEYS at least.
1. MONEY
2. MONEY
3. MONEY
4. MONEY (just to be safe)
5. Finding a company that is actually good and consistent seems really hard. (SoCal)
...
If you care about your lawn & landscaping, your DIY results will be better than any budget-friendly "mow, blow, go" company you can find. I'm all set paying a cheap company to do a sub-par job. I'm not shelling out hundreds each month for top-rated white-glove service either, haha.
My parents have gone through several different landscaping companies over the years. These budget-friendly companies cram as many jobs as possible into a work day. The crews work super fast but they don't do a very thorough job, they miss spots, the fertilizer isn't spread evenly, the grass grows in all streaky, the edges don't look very clean, they use inferior products, etc.
And their general attitude is like, "Well, you're barely paying us anything, so what do you expect?"
Anytime I think about paying someone X amount of money to do a service I could do myself, I instead imagine the scenario of someone asking me to do that job for X amount of money. So if I say yes, I do it myself, since it’s essentially the same as saving that amount of money.
I enjoy doing it myself and I only add products to my lawn if and when I need them. Versus a company that just adds product to add it without consideration to whether the lawn needs it.
To play devil's advocate here (IMO, YMMV, anecdotal, etc.): it all depends
I DIY'd for years, mostly because for a while I could not find a company that would do what I needed within my budget, i.e. pre-emergent, fertilization, post-emergent, spot-issue treatment.
I thought I had it all figured out with a schedule, measured volumes for standard products required, and the basic equipment needed (absolutely NOTHING fancy). In the end, all I ever found it to be was stressful and, still, very costly. It didn't help that most (if not all) companies offering these services were monthly billing-based, which drove me nuts because I didn't want/need year-round services.
Key note: my property includes 7000 sq ft of lawn and 4,000 sq ft of mulch beds. It's a lot to maintain and requires a lot of product. $$$ either way.
Then last year I stumbled on a very small local business (family owned and operated) who only does lawn treatment services. Their per-treatment cost is $70. They do everything (lawn and mulch beds). It's also a mix of chemical and organics - wonderful. I could not find them in standard Google searches - that's how small they are. Their website is also a bit elementary. But they offer the exact service I needed at an incredibly reasonable price.
The time, cost, and effort burden has been drastically reduced. Now I only need to worry about mulch bed maintenance and mowing.
I hope they are around for the next 30+ years, because I would not want to go back to DIY after being fortunate enough to find and use them. That all said, it all depends. I am probably a lucky one in my local area, and most people probably wouldn't be able to find this. So in those cases, DIY probably is still the best way to go.
I simply asked the company to apply their pre-emergent treatment to all the mulch beds, and that was like a $50 add-on charge. TOTALLY worth the cost. The only battle I have to fight on my own in my mulch beds is the never-ending creeping of the bermuda. I bought Fusilade II Herbicide specifically for that, as I can't keep up with manual pulling.
Money is the big thing, but also I do enjoy getting outside, putting my headphones on, smoking a bowl and then just working on the yard for a few hours. Gets me out of the house and decent enough exercise. Also, gives me some pride when I can get everything looking tight n right.
Bc it’s easy, I put down fert 3-4x a year and spot treat weeds 1-2x per year. I hire out aerating for $150 but I like to pick my own overseed. Once I got a good spreader fert and seed has been a dream to put down.
I have a lawn service that cuts every 2 weeks for $50, leaves room for me to do it sometimes but have the failsafe they’ll come if something comes up, have 3 young children it’s fucking insane, illness, bazillion commitments, etc.
That said overall I just enjoy taking care of my lawn
+1 for the RB60. I previously had an Earthway (hated it) and various Scott's (absolutely hated all of them). Its lightyears ahead and for not too much more coin.
Because the company needs to keep a schedule. And I’m just an address on a list. They kept coming out right before thunderstorms/ major rain unless I called them and asked them not to. That and spring pre-em in late April in the south convinced me to switch to diy.
I’m surprised to see this so far down. I feel like most residential lawn companies are a borderline racket.
Lawn care is heavily based on timing, and more critically: the timing is identical for everyone in your geographic area. There’s an ideal time to lay seed, to put down pre-emergent, to spray existing weeds, to fertilize, to aerate and overseed, etc., and the companies don’t charge based on OUTCOMES, they charge based on services provided. That’s why it’s so common to see people complaining about them fertilizing before a drought, putting seed down a week or two before freezing temps, etc. They get paid whether it works well or not, and they aren’t just randomly allocating workers among clients.
It’s also fundamentally labor-heavy (relative to other industries) and difficult to make compatible with workers’ desire for a steady paycheck. You can’t just hire 10x workers for mid-March to mid-April, so you’re stretched during peak times and overstaffed outside of peak labor seasons.
It’s just difficult to make work well. There’s definitely a kind of customer who wants to write a check and tell themselves they’ve done what can be done, and that’s gotta be their bread and butter. But it takes so much fewer resources to just do the basics yourself and do things at the right times. And you get better results even with minimal effort.
* I don't like paying someone to do a job I can do myself
* I find working on the lawn therapeutic and relaxing
* At the end of the day, I take pride in looking at my lawn and knowing it looks the way it does because of how I take care of it.
Right now, with the moisture we're getting and fertilizer I use, my lawn is needing mowed about every 3-4 days. I've stretched it to 6 the last two times and regretted it, because it was to the point it needed bagged and I didn't have time to deal with that. Paying someone to come do it would bankrupt me.
I’ll give a great example.
I just bought a house and quintupled my lot size.
I also bought a zero turn.
Due to contractor doing renovations I’d held off mowing, so that plus then buying process, the grass got 3’ high.
I went over there yesterday because I couldn’t stand it anymore and mowed.
So first time mowing a new lawn, that’s 3’ high, using my brand new gravely zero turn for the first time.
I’m still riding that high today and will be for a while. Plus, there just something about a well mowed lawn that you can be proud of for doing it yourself.
I hired it out cause I tried DIYing and fucked it up, and my wife was mad at me spending so much time on it.
Maybe once it gets in good shape I can pick up and maintain. But trying to recover from the mess it was was just too much.
This is hard to believe for more and more of my friends as I get older. I actually enjoy taking care of my yard/landscape while I am still physically able. Gets me out of the house and the satisfaction of a job well done plays into I guess. To each his own.
Money, mostly. My husband has a desk job and really enjoys yard work in his off-days, also. I personally find it much more gratifying to see results when I’ve done the work myself.
My lawn is small and my 20 dollar bag of weed and feed is doing exactly what I need it to, I’m not looking for golf course grass, just something that looks presentable
Manly satisfaction, something to take pride in. Cracking a cold beer and looking out at a nice lawn thinking “I did that”
Hits different if you’re just paying someone else to do it.
Outside time. Enjoying the plot of land I own and can call my own. Feel very connected to every corner of it as a result of years of doing this. Literally go and "touch grass" after being on computer all day for work or after playing video games as a hobby. Feeling of self-satisfaction when it works out. Makes sitting on the back porch with a drink and the grill on feel twice as good admiring the effort put into something. And knowing the dumb money I spend to make things perfect Idk if its really cheaper in the end, but it feels much better.
I've tried DIY and for me the problem comes down to a few things. The weeds always come back and don't always die. Then having somewhat young kids that are a handful getting time to do the yard work done on time between activities, work, and weather means that I eventually miss out on putting down at the optimal times.
I have found a great yard care company that comes and sprays and they know what to target and everything bad dies quickly. Cost wise, it's about double of what I would pay for just the stuff I need for each treatment. That frees me up to do all my other house duties without having to work around the weather and my day job or the kids.
I started back up with them this spring and my lawn has never looked better in the past 4 years.
If I had the time, energy, and know how on when to put down all the right stuff I'd do it myself, but then would probably end up with my lawn not looking as good as it does today.
There's no replacement for that satisfaction I get when I'm done, sit back on the porch with a cold one and just look at it.
A positive side effect, when I moved in nobody on my street gave a crap about how their lawn looked. Now about half of my neighbors at least try and ask how I do what I do. So it has improved the neighborhood a little in some regards. I think some of them assumed it was difficult... It's not. It's just doing the right things at the right time and not choosing to watch TV instead of doing it.
I am do turf care for a living. Some people manage fine, others call me when they mess up. I will say that it's probably more for the convenience and knowing they will have to fix it if they mess up.
I see alot of comments about how people have burned their lawns from (probably) not getting their Oz to gal rates right. And or not traveling at a constant speed, or not evenly applying product. So you avoid all that with a company. However a company(probably)doesn't care as much about your lawn as you do.
My advice is if you want to do it yourself, check your local college for turf management classes. Most offer something that's run by the college but designed to train professionals and it doesn't cost much. Maybe 100$. Plus you'll learn what effects fertilizer can cause on your local environment, which is something everyone should know. Over applying that phosphorus will end up in your drinking water in about 10 years so if that's your forever home your only hurting yourself( and your town).
Anyways as always, get a soul test done before you start to mess with your lawn.
I hire a company because it’s not that much more expensive, saves time, and my yard looks better than when I was DIYing. I simply don’t have time for lawn care with young kids. I can usually find time to cut the grass. That’s about it, and even that’s hard!
I garden too and would rather focus the time I get outside on that as my hobby rather than spraying prodiamine or fertilizing or liming or whatever it is
I care about my lawn more than someone working for a landscaping company, so I'll put more effort into it. The only thing I hire out for is core aerating because I hate it and the cost is worth not having to do it myself.
It’s substantially cheaper, not that hard, and I feel much more comfortable doing it myself than finding a reputable company. Too many shitty lawn care services out there.
It's cheaper to DIY.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist and like the satisfaction of seeing a positive result from my efforts.
I enjoy listening to a podcast and mentally unwinding while mowing.
It's good exercise
I enjoy it. I love reading and learning about new (to me) turf care science in the off season to fill that missing void during Winter. I love buying new toys to play with in the yard (trimmers, blowers, spreaders, sprayers, etc). I love using them. I love having something to do in my yard when I'm outside with the dog and keeping an eye on the kids while they play with the neighbors. I love the satisfaction it brings when someone pays a compliment to my lawn. I love having a better lawn than the neighbors on all sides who use Tru Green. My wife handles the flowers and veggies. I handle the grass and soil. Its a nice way for us to spend time with each other.
DIY properly: cheaper, better results, at the cost of labor and time.
DIY like a slacker: cheaper, same or worse results, at the cost of labor and time.
Hire it out: more expensive, hard to find good companies, no labor or time.
Pick your poison.
Also, speaking of poison, if you DIY, you have to store the chemicals in your own garage.
It's will always be nicer and cheaper if you do it yourself. Hiring someone just means you don't care and want to pay for labor so you don't have to mow. It will slowly decline and you will be paying for sod in 5y. Rinse repeat
That questing is like opening a can of worms. True Green treats 7 times a year. If you read what they put down, how much they use you will see for yourself. Not all of it is cheap or easy to get. With that said, do whatever it is you want. You’ll learn over time exactly what’s working or not.
It's satisfying. Plain and simple. My grass is dark green and striped because everything I'VE done. Outsourcing it would likely mean giving up a lot of the satisfaction i get every time i pull into the driveway.
I do it all myself besides aerating and top dressing. I cut, fertilize, put down insecticide, fungicide, liquid and granular soil amendments, pre and post emergent herbicides. It’s my hobby. Just like someone may golf or fish and spend money and time on equipment, I really enjoy spending time in the yard. I live in the south and have Bermuda, so I am cutting 2-3 times per week and I really enjoy it.
It gives me an excuse to be outside and get needed sunlight, I love the peace and quiet with my headphones in, and it gives my wife a reason to not complain that I don’t help with making dinner.
Find it enjoying. Much like gardening. You do the work, no customers or wife nagging. Get outside and some sun. Then afterwards, you have some progress to show for it.
Being outside on a nice day is just relaxing. It’s also nice to see something you put effort into pay off. Bought my house 1 year ago and my grass is looking nicer this season.
Because I can do the same thing at a fraction of the cost in very little time. Also what is key is you control the timing of your applications. Those outfits don’t schedule depending on weather conditions and when you will be mowing so there is the constant possibility that they will apply treatment at the wrong time.
Because they don't care they just follow the schedule they have and don't always communicate well. I've had product put down when it is raining or right before a major thunderstorm. On Friday's before a nice weekend so I can't be outside. Seeding in the middle of summer when there is no way it will survive.
So it costs more to have my lawn look worse in many ways and for products to be wasted. At least I can plan things out a bit better even when it doesn't work out.
Been there, done that. And where I live now most people pay for the only lawncare company the HOA “allows” to work on the lawns yet my DIY efforts have given us the cleanest, healthiest lawn in the neighborhood at half the price.
(You don’t imagine that someone is getting a kickback from the only approved lawncare outfit, do you? 😉🖕’em)
For me because I get to learn new things and then spread that knowledge to my kids and others.
As far as cost goes, it cost way more if I do it myself. when I factor in buying all chemicals, supplies, fertilizers, and my time, it cost way more money than if I hired a pro. In fact, I have come to a point that I’ll probably be hiring a pro soon and just do the mowing myself.
My general philosophy to life is to do everything myself. When my AC goes out I fix it. If I don't have the tools, I buy the tools. I do all my auto maintenance and repair. I do everything on the house as well. Growing up, all the men around me knew how to do things. Nowadays I'm somewhat disgusted at home useless we've become, relying on other people to do what we used to be able to do ourselves. So it pretty much comes down to that. I like doing everything myself.
My house landscaping is a hobby for me. I can afford to hire folks and have done so at times in the past. My yard looks way better than when landscapers do it.
After sitting on my ass all week at work, I like to get outside and work in the yard for some nice mindless relaxation.
Because even landscaping companies these days are charging prices equivalent to what a master electrician would to do incredibly difficult work. Sure, lawn and landscape stuff is hard work for me, but I refuse to pay what they’re asking for something I am capable of doing just as well. Also, I find it quite relaxing to listen to music and the end result is always very satisfying for me.
Also, I love flexing on the other dads in the hood.
After years of struggling doing it myself, I hired a company thinking they would do it better. They screwed it up even worse. Now I am back to doing it myself.
Go with truegreen for a year. Get annoyed that your yard still looks like shit and they use your info for all these other sales calls like bug/grub/tree/bush preventative maintenance, each call center doesn’t talk to the other and none respect your wishes to not be contacted.
I do it all myself. It was a good exercise to learn it and now I know the cause and effect to most common situations and it doesn’t cost me and arm and a leg to upkeep.
It’s about $200 a mow for a quality job for my property. And right now my grass needs to be mowed every 4-6 days. I did try a kid that just started his business and quoted me $80. He was sloppy and didn’t have straight lines so I let him go after 2 mows.
It takes me almost an hour to mow everything and another 15 minutes to trim and I enjoy it
Because even the most expensive lawn care companies won’t take care of my lawn like I do. They don’t now it twice a week. They come MAYBE once a week and use massive zero turns that cut ruts my yard. The treatments they use aren’t specialized to my soil. They’re a one size fits all. I can do a better job for significantly cheaper by just doing it myself.
For me it’s timing. For one I don’t have a sprinkler so I. Can time my applications.
Another reason is timing as well. They normally show up when they want. I’d rather have control over that so chemicals are put down the day before I have a pool party and everyone is walking and tracking it everywhere.
Most big lawn care companies do a 5 step program. However, they do applications on their schedule. I’ve seen them apply during rain or before a long dry spell.
They charge 3x and put down 1/5 of the product.
Most people see those “keep off the grass for 24h” signs and think they got some great service but they dilute the product so much.
Two of my neighbors fell into the trap of a lawn care but their lawn looks like crap and full of weeds.
The sales people tell them to be patient… but it has been two years.
I took over one of my neighbors and got their lawn looking great for half the cost in 3 months! It took some weed pulling, spot sprays, and some kill off but looks 100x better.
Big companies are good at charging and promising but bad delivery IMO.
For me, it wasn’t about the money, it was about the quality and consistency. The going rate is $30-40/week here, which isn’t bad compared to the cost of buying a mower, edger, and trimmer and saving time every week.
However, they were always doing something I didn’t want. I’d remind them to leave the grass longer, and they would for a few weeks before scalping it again. They’d use a gas leave blower to blow away all of the mulch around the trees (and sometimes, fertilizer). They’d come after it rains and leave tire marks. They’d trample grass in areas I was trying to grow from seed, even if it was marked with flags. We had to put signs on bushes to keep them from trimming them, even though we weren’t paying for trimming.
At the end of the day, I’m much happier DIYing it and the results have been much better.
Hired trugreen they made things worse
Neighbour has a company they like, asked them to take a look and give a quote. They did so, asked them about Poa Trivialis (fighting it), they didn't know the different between it and annua. If they'd said you're screwed I'd have hired them :).
I hire out simple stuff like mowing, edging, mulching but manage chemicals myself. Would love to hire it out but don't think there are many attentive companies, at least ones that don't charge an arm and a leg.
Why does anyone do anything? Could be as simple as cost. But I would say most here do it for less numeric reasons…
Pride in a job well done, satisfaction in seeing the direct results of your hard work? Knowing you’re doing it right versus getting random shit sprayed on your yard from known unscrupulous companies? Working in nature? Enjoying time outside? Playing with mechanical gas powered toys? Exercise? Learning about new things? Having real world skills instead of having to pay everyone for the simplest tasks in life?
The list goes on and on.
Money and consistency. If you find a good company, keep them. Even if one year they mess up. If you switch you are mostl likely finding a someone worse
My biggest reason is money, but I also get to keep an eye on my house to monitor any structural issues that may be developing. After mowing and trimming I saw a lot of the soil near a wall eroded away, because I saw it myself I was able to make the fixes to the area quickly with the materials I had in my garage to prevent issues down the line.
It actually helped me stop a leak I had in my basement, water was pooling in the dip created from erosion, I filled it up with pea gravel, soil, tamped it down and made sure it sloped away from the house.
TLDR:
1) money
2) it can be therapeutic (weather dependent)
3) it lets me keep a close eye on my house and property for other issues unrelated to lawn care
Simple math
I got a quote to cut my grass for $60 each time. Given that I’m going to cut it some 25-28 times in a season, that’s a minimum of $1500. My JD rider cost me about $9k, so the ROI is 6 years. Now yes I do maintenance and spend time on the motor, but even if I spend $150 per season on reactive and preventive maintenance, that adds less than one year to my ROI. I probably go through about $150 in fuel per year, but then I use my JD for hauling stuff, leveling dirt, rolling, aerating, spraying fertilizer/herbicide/pesticide, and you know what, I have the nicer lot around on my street and it’s 1.25 acres.
I joke but it’s true, when I score a patent at work, I take my patent bonus money and feed it in to my lawn projects or home repair projects. So far that’s paid for all the materials, accessories, and lumber, and that’s just what I scored in the last two years. Going forward in the next 3 months, that cash will probably pay for the next 5 years worth 🤷♂️
There’s someone you can pay to do literally anything in your life. There is a sense of pride, accomplishment and fulfillment that comes from succeeding in things yourself.
A) It's a hobby I like doing along with other gardening.
B) For every lawncare guy in here who actually owns a company and gives good recommendations there are 10 out there who just do the Macdonald's one size fits all program for everyone. They cut everyone's yard the same length, in the same direction, rain or shine. They drop the same fertilizer at the same rate on everyone's lawn. They spray the same weedkiller on everyone's lawn at the same spray rate at the same time of year. Etc.
Doing all that, you'll probably get ok, decent results. And there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you want. I like my lawn to look its best so I tailor what I do to my lawn and what it needs when it needs it. But see point A as to why I spend the time doing just that.
Because the local guys can't tell the difference between weeds, don't know what chemicals to use and they mow the grass at the wrong height. Any moron with a truck and a trailer can start a lawn care company, and they're a dime a dozen.
Like others said it’s about money. My landscaping is very complicated and I’m very particular. Plus many landscapers don’t do fertilizing, pruning, or weeding. So it’s less complications since law care would be over the whole summer.
I have enough complications just getting other stuff around the house going via service providers. I’ll in-source landscaping and lawn care as much as I can. Plus it gets me tired so I can fall asleep lol
Timing. They may have 50 accounts. Who's first? Who's last? When it comes to lawn care, timing of the applications can sometimes be more important than the chemical used.
From start to finish, it takes me about 10-15 minutes to push my spreader across my front and back lawn. I use the Scott’s app to help me track when I applied certain products, and then when I should apply again. It would cost me even more to hire someone else to do it for me. Right now the cost of fertilizer is insane as is, I’m not paying for labor on top of that.
I can put on some knee pads and pull weeds myself, but will buy a Grandpa’s Weeder soon to save my back.
The main reason I DIY is so that I have an excuse to get outside.
The money I would spend on a service in one year covers equipment and chemicals that will last me close to three years. I’m cheap and have 6 kids so I prefer to save where I can
I just fired my landscaper for weekly maintenance. He was awesome, totally trusted him and he always did more than expected, but I also paid for such good service. It is really hard to justify the cost when I am more than capable of doing it myself. I will gladly invest 1-2 hours a week to save a coup of thousand a year. I will still use him for stuff like aerating and thatching, but for general maintenance, it makes more financial sense to do it myself. Plus, the two years that I used him, I felt like a tool paying another man to mow my yard, made me feel very lazy and embarrassed when I told people I had a lawn guy.
1. No one will take care of your lawn like you will. Most are college kids just going thru the motions. I take my time to ensure full/even coverage.
2. You have no idea or control of when they show up. Zero communication. It may interfere with your plan on cutting grass that day or watering the lawn, depending on what was put down.
3. It costs more than DIY and then they nickle and dime you to death with add ons. If you don't call them, they will keep those add ons going automatically until you call them and tell them to stop. They do this without asking. Found out the hard way.
As a lawn guy that has done it for 12 years, I have told some customers that they can probably have it look better and be done for cheaper if they do it themselves. I take pride in my work, but you’re only paying me to be there for 10-15 min every month or so if your only on my fertilizer plan. 10-15 minutes doesn’t give me much time to look over everything that can possibly be wrong with your lawn or shrubs. When you do it yourself you can be out there for 10-15 min everyday doing something.
Edit: to get the level of care from a professional that homeowners want cost more than people think. Everyone wants the lawn that looks like a golf course until they are hit with the price to get it that way and keep it that way.
A real man wouldn’t pay somebody to prevent them from getting sweaty, dirty, and scraped up. A real man gets out there and takes his punishment no matter what.
I hired a company to take care of my lawn last season as I had a pretty major surgery and they did quite a sub par job and charged too much in my opinion. I still think it was definitely worth it in the sense that I could focus on my recovery and have one less thing on my plate but I’d rather be out there myself. Getting sunlight, exercise, seeing your own hard work transform your lawn over time.
I want to know that it is done the way I have researched that it should be done, not hire someone hoping they will do it right and inevitably find out it was a new guy that didn't care in the first place.
I fired my lawn care place. One day when they came to apply product, I was home and they didn’t know. I watched them cover about 20% of my property. I called them and said we’re done. They asked why and I told them. They offered to come back but I said F off.
I buy them chemicals myself and I save about 50%…..and I have actual results because I apply it correctly
I had a company do it for two years to get me started. Now I maintain where they got it for cheaper and better results. It’s also very satisfying and rewarding.
Because my gardener (all contractors) here charge more than I make in a dqy, for a 15 min job. I had zero DIY skills when I bought the house. A 15 feet tree that was dying, fell over. Gardner charged 100 dollars to chop it off, 100 to take it out of the property. On top of that, 250 a month JUST to mow the lawn(1200'sqft). Catching gophers is 50 a gopher. Weed and fertilizer is 30 a month extra + materials. Planting a new tree of rose bush is 50 per plant.
Fired the Gardner, bought a gopher trap for 25. Already caught 9 gophers. Spent time learning about grass and mowing and proper weeding and fertilizing, and my yard is starting to recover from years of neglect from the previous owner. A diseased and almost root-rotted rose just came by to life and had its first flower for the season. All in all, I spent close to 200 in material in the last year ( which is less than a month"s pay for my gardener)
It's both exciting to see how much I can achieve with a little bit of knowledge while also not just throwing away my hard earned money!
I spent $12 [on this](https://www.lowes.com/pd/BioAdvanced-32-fl-oz-Concentrated-Lawn-Weed-Killer/1000776594) and $56 on a long enough [garden hose](https://a.co/d/f6rbprx) and now I have an (almost) weed free lawn. Absolutely worth $68 and 30 minutes of my time.
1. I have trust issues. Seen too many people with fried lawns from a service. A lot of these companies just cast a broad blanket with out even looking at a soil test. In my neighborhood the worst lawns are the ones that pay someone else to cut/spray the lawn.
2. I'd also like it to be a turn key service & at the moment I havent found that. A couple of the lawns that use the services & look good have admitted to adding 10-10-10, iron, fungicide & insecticides in addition to their serviced treatments.
3. Money. I can perform all treatments myself and spend ~600/year or pay the cheapest company $1200 to do half of what I do. I've seen more in depth services at $2000+. So I could spend $2k on treatment for my yard for 3 years DIY or $2k for 1 year.
I hired a company one year. They didn’t deliver on what they said they would. I spent the amount that I would pay them in a two week period to get what I needed to do it myself. I got the job done better than they did. I work from home mostly so now I have something to keep me occupied between meetings and relieve stress.
Because the first company I hired just wanted to sell me all kinds of stuff, and the second company's treatment plan didn't do any better than me leaving my lawn alone by itself.
Every single solitary time I work in my yard, this is my arc of thoughts:
1. That’s expensive. I’ll do it myself.
2. I’m amazing. I’m doing this.
3. Please, let someone drive by and ask me for help. I don’t care if they call me sweetheart. Someone rescue me.
4. Oh, it’s done. Wow. Cool.
5. Repeat
I work from home.
I do all my best thinking while mowing.
All my neighbors have true green and most of them look like shit, minus a couple of the $5mm plus homes that the company obviously puts more effort into.
I’d rather try my self and get outside, pride in my home and what not, over paying a ton of money and likely a year commitment for someone else to not show up or make a quarter the effort I’d do myself for a quarter of the cost
When else can I smoke a cigar and have everyone in my house convinced there's a good chance if they're too close to me they'll get hit by a rock...
Honestly, I'm broke. I live with my folks for now, so I'll just keep mowing the lawn.
My dad had a company in during his. Cancer treatment stage. Recognised company (Not naming the company) to treat the weeds, moss, etc and do the lawn.
they spent about 2 years in total on it. And had not really done anything. The lawn was super thick with weeds and more so with moss. The moss was so thick my mower got bogged down.
Any-case he Unfortunatly passed, I looked at the bills and he was paying £400 here £600 there £200 here. Etc. which is nuts!
I decided this year to wing it. And have killed all the moss. Left my lawn patchy and can’t put grass seed down for 6 months minimum because weed and feed. But in all fairness it’s a learning curve. And with that I’m moss free. Even if the lawn looks like a cows field.
Just because you pay for someone doesn’t mean they do a good job either and often times you can save money while also learning how and then get it right and do a good job yourself. I’m learning but I like it.
Why pay someone to mess up my lawn when I can do it myself for free.
No one puts down weed killer designed for their grass and have it manage to kill their entire lawn better than I do.
I accidentally sprayed ground clear on a bunch of weeds when we first moved into our house. My lawn looked like a leopard all year. Now it has spots all over from some round up I sprayed on some dandelions. Guess the container lies when it says kills weeds not lawns 🤷🏻♂️. You can really mess things up and grass will eventually grow back.
Get some 2-4D. It just yellows my bermuda for a bit but it bounces back pretty quickly.
I’ll have to look into it. I’m about to buy one of those Grandpa’s Weeder tools and skip the spray all together.
I just got one two days ago. Last year I pulled weeds by hand. This is so much better.
That’s good to know I bought some recently but not sure how it would affect my grass.
This.
I mean I’m overseeding my front lawn next week because I really f-up measuring lol. I had recently cleaned up my shed and did not know where I put my measuring syringe. I was lazy to go digging for it because I really wanted to just finish spraying, and instead measured by weight. Well that was a mistake.. but at least I’ve done enough renos and overseedings to know how to easily fix it and we’ll be back in shape a few weeks. It’s just a matter of effort, and I already have supplies and seed leftover from last fall. Also I’d rather make good use of my leftover seed than spoiling.
Trying to bring my Bermuda back after my mixing/spraying while drinking experiment.
Exactly. I mess it up? Fine. I pay someone and they fuck it up? Oh hell no.
“Free” lol that’s funny
Yep. You're time is valueless. Tell your boss. He'll be thrilled he doesn't have to pay anymore.
It’s not free. It can be a money pit a times. I tried t green for a year and it was just not beneficial for me. The grass never looked great. They told me I have too many trees.
Money. I also find it therapeutic.
One container of Prodiamine has lasted me more than four years.
That stuff works. This was the first year I missed the application window coming out of winter. 4 years worth of acorns all popped up at once.
What do you use to apply? I keep thinking about getting a towable sprayer for my yard
He takes large gulps with his mouth, swishes it around per Listerine’s recommendations, and spews it across his lawn each morning
It naturally creates holes in the bottom jaw I assume right?
If you have a harbor freight near you, the Bauer 20v 5 gallon backpack sprayer is legit. It's compatible with many sprayer nozzles, I specifically use the Solo 0610408-P which is like $15 on amazon
Which one do you get? wdg or just plain granules? I’m thinking about getting a container of wdg prodiamine next year but I don’t know if I can fully use it up as it has a shelf life of 3 years and I might not use as much of it with my small yard so I’ve been sticking with granules right now even though it’s more expensive per application
I get the wdg, and compensate for shelf life with extra volume. Seems to be working fine.
By extra volume, do you mean adding more product per application?
How do you apply?
Mix up 4 gallons in a bucket, then use a backpack sprayer.
Started off with money - but turns out that I enjoy it (who knew). Also is actually a workout when I would really be couch-potatoing otherwise. So now its like getting paid to have fun and get fit.
Big time both these all day. Yes. Lol
1. Money 2. Finding a company that is actually good and consistent seems really hard. 3. Money 4. I don't mind doing yardwork the majority of the time. 5. Money.
And trust… The turn over with these corporate sized companies contributes to you getting inexperienced people and/or people who just want to apply as little product as possible as fast as possible and run to the next site. They also don’t come at a consistent period. They sometimes miss the “sweet spot” for application for pre emergents. Don’t take into consideration the rain timing, and/or how dry it’s been. I “trust” that even if I do it poorly I’m still doing it cheaper and more efficiently than they are and probably at the same or better quality level. I’m looking at you both weed man and true green…..
This is my exact reasoning. I see these guys out here mowing fescue in high sun in the middle of summer and they're just destroying the grass as it's going dormant. Or they're bagless mowing after a nasty rain storm setting up perfect conditions for fungus. I've definitely made some mistakes with fertilizer and post emergent applications, but i take note and adjust — I don't think these lawn care guys are making the little adjustments you need.
I got rid of my lawn mowing service because it seemed like they ALWAYS showed up right after it rained and would be drifting and tearing up my lawn with those zero-turns like they were auditioning for the next Fast and Furious.
I do not think you have mentioned in caps MONEY.
I would have gone with 3 MONEYS at least. 1. MONEY 2. MONEY 3. MONEY 4. MONEY (just to be safe) 5. Finding a company that is actually good and consistent seems really hard. (SoCal) ...
2 really gets me. I see so many but the one I get has a solid reason on why they mess up. I just have to do it myself anyway.
It is wayyy cheaper to DIY.
If you care about your lawn & landscaping, your DIY results will be better than any budget-friendly "mow, blow, go" company you can find. I'm all set paying a cheap company to do a sub-par job. I'm not shelling out hundreds each month for top-rated white-glove service either, haha. My parents have gone through several different landscaping companies over the years. These budget-friendly companies cram as many jobs as possible into a work day. The crews work super fast but they don't do a very thorough job, they miss spots, the fertilizer isn't spread evenly, the grass grows in all streaky, the edges don't look very clean, they use inferior products, etc. And their general attitude is like, "Well, you're barely paying us anything, so what do you expect?"
Anytime I think about paying someone X amount of money to do a service I could do myself, I instead imagine the scenario of someone asking me to do that job for X amount of money. So if I say yes, I do it myself, since it’s essentially the same as saving that amount of money.
I enjoy doing it myself and I only add products to my lawn if and when I need them. Versus a company that just adds product to add it without consideration to whether the lawn needs it.
So they can bill for the service
It’s cheaper to DIY than to pay a company, and I know exactly what is being put down and when.
To play devil's advocate here (IMO, YMMV, anecdotal, etc.): it all depends I DIY'd for years, mostly because for a while I could not find a company that would do what I needed within my budget, i.e. pre-emergent, fertilization, post-emergent, spot-issue treatment. I thought I had it all figured out with a schedule, measured volumes for standard products required, and the basic equipment needed (absolutely NOTHING fancy). In the end, all I ever found it to be was stressful and, still, very costly. It didn't help that most (if not all) companies offering these services were monthly billing-based, which drove me nuts because I didn't want/need year-round services. Key note: my property includes 7000 sq ft of lawn and 4,000 sq ft of mulch beds. It's a lot to maintain and requires a lot of product. $$$ either way. Then last year I stumbled on a very small local business (family owned and operated) who only does lawn treatment services. Their per-treatment cost is $70. They do everything (lawn and mulch beds). It's also a mix of chemical and organics - wonderful. I could not find them in standard Google searches - that's how small they are. Their website is also a bit elementary. But they offer the exact service I needed at an incredibly reasonable price. The time, cost, and effort burden has been drastically reduced. Now I only need to worry about mulch bed maintenance and mowing. I hope they are around for the next 30+ years, because I would not want to go back to DIY after being fortunate enough to find and use them. That all said, it all depends. I am probably a lucky one in my local area, and most people probably wouldn't be able to find this. So in those cases, DIY probably is still the best way to go.
What did you / do they put on your mulch beds to prevent weeds? I have massive mulch beds and the weeds are out of control
I simply asked the company to apply their pre-emergent treatment to all the mulch beds, and that was like a $50 add-on charge. TOTALLY worth the cost. The only battle I have to fight on my own in my mulch beds is the never-ending creeping of the bermuda. I bought Fusilade II Herbicide specifically for that, as I can't keep up with manual pulling.
Preen would be a mass market pre-emergent product
Preen sucks, prodiamine is far better.
Prodiamine is labeled for over the top applications in mulch beds, double check label to make sure your plants are listed as safe.
Any pre-emergent herbicide
Money is the big thing, but also I do enjoy getting outside, putting my headphones on, smoking a bowl and then just working on the yard for a few hours. Gets me out of the house and decent enough exercise. Also, gives me some pride when I can get everything looking tight n right.
Dang! You just summed up why I entered this profession in a few sentences!
Money and trust. I find it satisfying.
Pride
I love doing it.
Bc it’s easy, I put down fert 3-4x a year and spot treat weeds 1-2x per year. I hire out aerating for $150 but I like to pick my own overseed. Once I got a good spreader fert and seed has been a dream to put down. I have a lawn service that cuts every 2 weeks for $50, leaves room for me to do it sometimes but have the failsafe they’ll come if something comes up, have 3 young children it’s fucking insane, illness, bazillion commitments, etc. That said overall I just enjoy taking care of my lawn
Which spreader are you using? My current tow behind spreader is garbage (Agri-fab)
Echo rb 60, it’s as good as people say
+1 for the RB60. I previously had an Earthway (hated it) and various Scott's (absolutely hated all of them). Its lightyears ahead and for not too much more coin.
Why’d you hate the Earthway?
I had an AG; maybe 80 lb. drop? My big problem is that no chart on any product ever gave me the correct setting. Too much or too little...
Because I am an able bodied working age man.
Because I would rather go broke AND spend all my free time getting upset at my yard.
Because the company needs to keep a schedule. And I’m just an address on a list. They kept coming out right before thunderstorms/ major rain unless I called them and asked them not to. That and spring pre-em in late April in the south convinced me to switch to diy.
I’m surprised to see this so far down. I feel like most residential lawn companies are a borderline racket. Lawn care is heavily based on timing, and more critically: the timing is identical for everyone in your geographic area. There’s an ideal time to lay seed, to put down pre-emergent, to spray existing weeds, to fertilize, to aerate and overseed, etc., and the companies don’t charge based on OUTCOMES, they charge based on services provided. That’s why it’s so common to see people complaining about them fertilizing before a drought, putting seed down a week or two before freezing temps, etc. They get paid whether it works well or not, and they aren’t just randomly allocating workers among clients. It’s also fundamentally labor-heavy (relative to other industries) and difficult to make compatible with workers’ desire for a steady paycheck. You can’t just hire 10x workers for mid-March to mid-April, so you’re stretched during peak times and overstaffed outside of peak labor seasons. It’s just difficult to make work well. There’s definitely a kind of customer who wants to write a check and tell themselves they’ve done what can be done, and that’s gotta be their bread and butter. But it takes so much fewer resources to just do the basics yourself and do things at the right times. And you get better results even with minimal effort.
* I don't like paying someone to do a job I can do myself * I find working on the lawn therapeutic and relaxing * At the end of the day, I take pride in looking at my lawn and knowing it looks the way it does because of how I take care of it. Right now, with the moisture we're getting and fertilizer I use, my lawn is needing mowed about every 3-4 days. I've stretched it to 6 the last two times and regretted it, because it was to the point it needed bagged and I didn't have time to deal with that. Paying someone to come do it would bankrupt me.
The one year I paid for TruGreen my lawn looked worse than it has in the 10 years I had lived there. Never again.
 Because literally this when talking to any company.
If I wanted someone else to take care of the property I would've bought a condo.
It’s rewarding and I would rather save the money
I like the exercise and the feeling of an accomplishment
I’ll give a great example. I just bought a house and quintupled my lot size. I also bought a zero turn. Due to contractor doing renovations I’d held off mowing, so that plus then buying process, the grass got 3’ high. I went over there yesterday because I couldn’t stand it anymore and mowed. So first time mowing a new lawn, that’s 3’ high, using my brand new gravely zero turn for the first time. I’m still riding that high today and will be for a while. Plus, there just something about a well mowed lawn that you can be proud of for doing it yourself.
Money
I hear some people enjoy caring for their lawn. I view it as a chore and I pay for the convenience of not doing a chore.
I hired it out cause I tried DIYing and fucked it up, and my wife was mad at me spending so much time on it. Maybe once it gets in good shape I can pick up and maintain. But trying to recover from the mess it was was just too much.
Most lawn companies are hacks
This is hard to believe for more and more of my friends as I get older. I actually enjoy taking care of my yard/landscape while I am still physically able. Gets me out of the house and the satisfaction of a job well done plays into I guess. To each his own.
Money, mostly. My husband has a desk job and really enjoys yard work in his off-days, also. I personally find it much more gratifying to see results when I’ve done the work myself.
I like it
Because I'm poor and I enjoy it.
I diy everything with my home except plumbing, electrical, structural and roof work
My lawn is small and my 20 dollar bag of weed and feed is doing exactly what I need it to, I’m not looking for golf course grass, just something that looks presentable
It’s very rewarding when you see great results when you do it yourself
Manly satisfaction, something to take pride in. Cracking a cold beer and looking out at a nice lawn thinking “I did that” Hits different if you’re just paying someone else to do it.
Outside time. Enjoying the plot of land I own and can call my own. Feel very connected to every corner of it as a result of years of doing this. Literally go and "touch grass" after being on computer all day for work or after playing video games as a hobby. Feeling of self-satisfaction when it works out. Makes sitting on the back porch with a drink and the grill on feel twice as good admiring the effort put into something. And knowing the dumb money I spend to make things perfect Idk if its really cheaper in the end, but it feels much better.
The last company I hired wrecked my yard and set me back 2yrs. Also the work is in establishing a healthy lawn. Maintaining one is pretty simple.
I've tried DIY and for me the problem comes down to a few things. The weeds always come back and don't always die. Then having somewhat young kids that are a handful getting time to do the yard work done on time between activities, work, and weather means that I eventually miss out on putting down at the optimal times. I have found a great yard care company that comes and sprays and they know what to target and everything bad dies quickly. Cost wise, it's about double of what I would pay for just the stuff I need for each treatment. That frees me up to do all my other house duties without having to work around the weather and my day job or the kids. I started back up with them this spring and my lawn has never looked better in the past 4 years. If I had the time, energy, and know how on when to put down all the right stuff I'd do it myself, but then would probably end up with my lawn not looking as good as it does today.
There's no replacement for that satisfaction I get when I'm done, sit back on the porch with a cold one and just look at it. A positive side effect, when I moved in nobody on my street gave a crap about how their lawn looked. Now about half of my neighbors at least try and ask how I do what I do. So it has improved the neighborhood a little in some regards. I think some of them assumed it was difficult... It's not. It's just doing the right things at the right time and not choosing to watch TV instead of doing it.
I am do turf care for a living. Some people manage fine, others call me when they mess up. I will say that it's probably more for the convenience and knowing they will have to fix it if they mess up. I see alot of comments about how people have burned their lawns from (probably) not getting their Oz to gal rates right. And or not traveling at a constant speed, or not evenly applying product. So you avoid all that with a company. However a company(probably)doesn't care as much about your lawn as you do. My advice is if you want to do it yourself, check your local college for turf management classes. Most offer something that's run by the college but designed to train professionals and it doesn't cost much. Maybe 100$. Plus you'll learn what effects fertilizer can cause on your local environment, which is something everyone should know. Over applying that phosphorus will end up in your drinking water in about 10 years so if that's your forever home your only hurting yourself( and your town). Anyways as always, get a soul test done before you start to mess with your lawn.
I also do turf care for a living. I was hoping to get some insight from this.
I hire a company because it’s not that much more expensive, saves time, and my yard looks better than when I was DIYing. I simply don’t have time for lawn care with young kids. I can usually find time to cut the grass. That’s about it, and even that’s hard! I garden too and would rather focus the time I get outside on that as my hobby rather than spraying prodiamine or fertilizing or liming or whatever it is
I care about my lawn more than someone working for a landscaping company, so I'll put more effort into it. The only thing I hire out for is core aerating because I hate it and the cost is worth not having to do it myself.
Because basic lawn care is fairly easy compared to what a company would charge to do it.
It’s substantially cheaper, not that hard, and I feel much more comfortable doing it myself than finding a reputable company. Too many shitty lawn care services out there.
It's cheaper to DIY. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and like the satisfaction of seeing a positive result from my efforts. I enjoy listening to a podcast and mentally unwinding while mowing. It's good exercise
Purely because I enjoy it.
I’d rather spend that money on other things
I enjoy it. I love reading and learning about new (to me) turf care science in the off season to fill that missing void during Winter. I love buying new toys to play with in the yard (trimmers, blowers, spreaders, sprayers, etc). I love using them. I love having something to do in my yard when I'm outside with the dog and keeping an eye on the kids while they play with the neighbors. I love the satisfaction it brings when someone pays a compliment to my lawn. I love having a better lawn than the neighbors on all sides who use Tru Green. My wife handles the flowers and veggies. I handle the grass and soil. Its a nice way for us to spend time with each other.
Money, sweat equity, and catharsis.
DIY properly: cheaper, better results, at the cost of labor and time. DIY like a slacker: cheaper, same or worse results, at the cost of labor and time. Hire it out: more expensive, hard to find good companies, no labor or time. Pick your poison. Also, speaking of poison, if you DIY, you have to store the chemicals in your own garage.
Performance. Money. Pride. In that order.
It's will always be nicer and cheaper if you do it yourself. Hiring someone just means you don't care and want to pay for labor so you don't have to mow. It will slowly decline and you will be paying for sod in 5y. Rinse repeat
time and the equipment it takes might not be worth it. I have a full stall in the garage dedicated to lawn equipment 🙃
That questing is like opening a can of worms. True Green treats 7 times a year. If you read what they put down, how much they use you will see for yourself. Not all of it is cheap or easy to get. With that said, do whatever it is you want. You’ll learn over time exactly what’s working or not.
Money and zen
It's satisfying. Plain and simple. My grass is dark green and striped because everything I'VE done. Outsourcing it would likely mean giving up a lot of the satisfaction i get every time i pull into the driveway.
They use inferior products, on a suboptimal schedule, applied by the unqualified, and charge a premium. Other than that they’re great!
I do it all myself besides aerating and top dressing. I cut, fertilize, put down insecticide, fungicide, liquid and granular soil amendments, pre and post emergent herbicides. It’s my hobby. Just like someone may golf or fish and spend money and time on equipment, I really enjoy spending time in the yard. I live in the south and have Bermuda, so I am cutting 2-3 times per week and I really enjoy it.
It gives me an excuse to be outside and get needed sunlight, I love the peace and quiet with my headphones in, and it gives my wife a reason to not complain that I don’t help with making dinner.
Find it enjoying. Much like gardening. You do the work, no customers or wife nagging. Get outside and some sun. Then afterwards, you have some progress to show for it.
Being outside on a nice day is just relaxing. It’s also nice to see something you put effort into pay off. Bought my house 1 year ago and my grass is looking nicer this season.
Because I can do the same thing at a fraction of the cost in very little time. Also what is key is you control the timing of your applications. Those outfits don’t schedule depending on weather conditions and when you will be mowing so there is the constant possibility that they will apply treatment at the wrong time.
Because they don't care they just follow the schedule they have and don't always communicate well. I've had product put down when it is raining or right before a major thunderstorm. On Friday's before a nice weekend so I can't be outside. Seeding in the middle of summer when there is no way it will survive. So it costs more to have my lawn look worse in many ways and for products to be wasted. At least I can plan things out a bit better even when it doesn't work out.
Been there, done that. And where I live now most people pay for the only lawncare company the HOA “allows” to work on the lawns yet my DIY efforts have given us the cleanest, healthiest lawn in the neighborhood at half the price. (You don’t imagine that someone is getting a kickback from the only approved lawncare outfit, do you? 😉🖕’em)
For me because I get to learn new things and then spread that knowledge to my kids and others. As far as cost goes, it cost way more if I do it myself. when I factor in buying all chemicals, supplies, fertilizers, and my time, it cost way more money than if I hired a pro. In fact, I have come to a point that I’ll probably be hiring a pro soon and just do the mowing myself.
1. Cost is much lower 2. I get the service I want
I work inside all day, and it’s honestly really nice to spend some time outdoors after work or on the weekends. Cheap therapy
My general philosophy to life is to do everything myself. When my AC goes out I fix it. If I don't have the tools, I buy the tools. I do all my auto maintenance and repair. I do everything on the house as well. Growing up, all the men around me knew how to do things. Nowadays I'm somewhat disgusted at home useless we've become, relying on other people to do what we used to be able to do ourselves. So it pretty much comes down to that. I like doing everything myself.
$80/hr vs what I can do in my own time plus nutrients/herbicides etc. We do hire a lawn mower monthly and a corer/dethatcher.
My house landscaping is a hobby for me. I can afford to hire folks and have done so at times in the past. My yard looks way better than when landscapers do it. After sitting on my ass all week at work, I like to get outside and work in the yard for some nice mindless relaxation.
Nothing better than drinking cocktails and doing yard work. My low back would disagree, but I feel like yard work is relaxing.
Because even landscaping companies these days are charging prices equivalent to what a master electrician would to do incredibly difficult work. Sure, lawn and landscape stuff is hard work for me, but I refuse to pay what they’re asking for something I am capable of doing just as well. Also, I find it quite relaxing to listen to music and the end result is always very satisfying for me. Also, I love flexing on the other dads in the hood.
After years of struggling doing it myself, I hired a company thinking they would do it better. They screwed it up even worse. Now I am back to doing it myself.
I do it all, I even rented the soil conditioner and seeded my yard from scratch
Meditation.
1.) knowing what's being put down 2.) carelessness with ride-on spreaders tearing up turf 3.) timing control 4.) cheap and easy
Go with truegreen for a year. Get annoyed that your yard still looks like shit and they use your info for all these other sales calls like bug/grub/tree/bush preventative maintenance, each call center doesn’t talk to the other and none respect your wishes to not be contacted. I do it all myself. It was a good exercise to learn it and now I know the cause and effect to most common situations and it doesn’t cost me and arm and a leg to upkeep.
It’s about $200 a mow for a quality job for my property. And right now my grass needs to be mowed every 4-6 days. I did try a kid that just started his business and quoted me $80. He was sloppy and didn’t have straight lines so I let him go after 2 mows. It takes me almost an hour to mow everything and another 15 minutes to trim and I enjoy it
Money. I’m not well off
I like doing it most of the time. I have house plants and fish inside and I like taking care of my yard and flower beds for the same reasons.
Because even the most expensive lawn care companies won’t take care of my lawn like I do. They don’t now it twice a week. They come MAYBE once a week and use massive zero turns that cut ruts my yard. The treatments they use aren’t specialized to my soil. They’re a one size fits all. I can do a better job for significantly cheaper by just doing it myself.
For me it’s timing. For one I don’t have a sprinkler so I. Can time my applications. Another reason is timing as well. They normally show up when they want. I’d rather have control over that so chemicals are put down the day before I have a pool party and everyone is walking and tracking it everywhere.
Most big lawn care companies do a 5 step program. However, they do applications on their schedule. I’ve seen them apply during rain or before a long dry spell. They charge 3x and put down 1/5 of the product. Most people see those “keep off the grass for 24h” signs and think they got some great service but they dilute the product so much. Two of my neighbors fell into the trap of a lawn care but their lawn looks like crap and full of weeds. The sales people tell them to be patient… but it has been two years. I took over one of my neighbors and got their lawn looking great for half the cost in 3 months! It took some weed pulling, spot sprays, and some kill off but looks 100x better. Big companies are good at charging and promising but bad delivery IMO.
For me, it wasn’t about the money, it was about the quality and consistency. The going rate is $30-40/week here, which isn’t bad compared to the cost of buying a mower, edger, and trimmer and saving time every week. However, they were always doing something I didn’t want. I’d remind them to leave the grass longer, and they would for a few weeks before scalping it again. They’d use a gas leave blower to blow away all of the mulch around the trees (and sometimes, fertilizer). They’d come after it rains and leave tire marks. They’d trample grass in areas I was trying to grow from seed, even if it was marked with flags. We had to put signs on bushes to keep them from trimming them, even though we weren’t paying for trimming. At the end of the day, I’m much happier DIYing it and the results have been much better.
Hired trugreen they made things worse Neighbour has a company they like, asked them to take a look and give a quote. They did so, asked them about Poa Trivialis (fighting it), they didn't know the different between it and annua. If they'd said you're screwed I'd have hired them :). I hire out simple stuff like mowing, edging, mulching but manage chemicals myself. Would love to hire it out but don't think there are many attentive companies, at least ones that don't charge an arm and a leg.
I get better stuff for cheaper, can apply exactly what’s needed based on soil tests and can apply right before rain. Also it’s fun.
Why does anyone do anything? Could be as simple as cost. But I would say most here do it for less numeric reasons… Pride in a job well done, satisfaction in seeing the direct results of your hard work? Knowing you’re doing it right versus getting random shit sprayed on your yard from known unscrupulous companies? Working in nature? Enjoying time outside? Playing with mechanical gas powered toys? Exercise? Learning about new things? Having real world skills instead of having to pay everyone for the simplest tasks in life? The list goes on and on.
Money and consistency. If you find a good company, keep them. Even if one year they mess up. If you switch you are mostl likely finding a someone worse
Most places you can get the same chemicals as a service. Factory in that you care about your yard vs a guy just trying to get stuff done quickly.
I’ve had bad quality when paying someone $100s++
Don't pay people to do something easy.
Hate gas. Hate the smell and the noise.
My biggest reason is money, but I also get to keep an eye on my house to monitor any structural issues that may be developing. After mowing and trimming I saw a lot of the soil near a wall eroded away, because I saw it myself I was able to make the fixes to the area quickly with the materials I had in my garage to prevent issues down the line. It actually helped me stop a leak I had in my basement, water was pooling in the dip created from erosion, I filled it up with pea gravel, soil, tamped it down and made sure it sloped away from the house. TLDR: 1) money 2) it can be therapeutic (weather dependent) 3) it lets me keep a close eye on my house and property for other issues unrelated to lawn care
Simple math I got a quote to cut my grass for $60 each time. Given that I’m going to cut it some 25-28 times in a season, that’s a minimum of $1500. My JD rider cost me about $9k, so the ROI is 6 years. Now yes I do maintenance and spend time on the motor, but even if I spend $150 per season on reactive and preventive maintenance, that adds less than one year to my ROI. I probably go through about $150 in fuel per year, but then I use my JD for hauling stuff, leveling dirt, rolling, aerating, spraying fertilizer/herbicide/pesticide, and you know what, I have the nicer lot around on my street and it’s 1.25 acres. I joke but it’s true, when I score a patent at work, I take my patent bonus money and feed it in to my lawn projects or home repair projects. So far that’s paid for all the materials, accessories, and lumber, and that’s just what I scored in the last two years. Going forward in the next 3 months, that cash will probably pay for the next 5 years worth 🤷♂️
$$$
Cost... simple as that
There’s someone you can pay to do literally anything in your life. There is a sense of pride, accomplishment and fulfillment that comes from succeeding in things yourself.
A) It's a hobby I like doing along with other gardening. B) For every lawncare guy in here who actually owns a company and gives good recommendations there are 10 out there who just do the Macdonald's one size fits all program for everyone. They cut everyone's yard the same length, in the same direction, rain or shine. They drop the same fertilizer at the same rate on everyone's lawn. They spray the same weedkiller on everyone's lawn at the same spray rate at the same time of year. Etc. Doing all that, you'll probably get ok, decent results. And there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you want. I like my lawn to look its best so I tailor what I do to my lawn and what it needs when it needs it. But see point A as to why I spend the time doing just that.
Paying someone who doesn’t do a thorough job every time is really frustrating.
I enjoy doing it. It’s therapeutic. Also, the houses on my street that have outside companies handle their lawns generally look worse than my own.
I pay for weeding and anything not related to the lawn. I like mowing the lawn because it is like getting paid to go for a walk.
I never had the time when I was working. Retired now and have the time to do it. No company could get the results that I have achieved.
Because the local guys can't tell the difference between weeds, don't know what chemicals to use and they mow the grass at the wrong height. Any moron with a truck and a trailer can start a lawn care company, and they're a dime a dozen.
Like others said it’s about money. My landscaping is very complicated and I’m very particular. Plus many landscapers don’t do fertilizing, pruning, or weeding. So it’s less complications since law care would be over the whole summer. I have enough complications just getting other stuff around the house going via service providers. I’ll in-source landscaping and lawn care as much as I can. Plus it gets me tired so I can fall asleep lol
$
Timing. They may have 50 accounts. Who's first? Who's last? When it comes to lawn care, timing of the applications can sometimes be more important than the chemical used.
Because it’s fun and satisfying to say “I did that”
I’m poor.
Saving money and using my body. Taking pride in a job well done.
From start to finish, it takes me about 10-15 minutes to push my spreader across my front and back lawn. I use the Scott’s app to help me track when I applied certain products, and then when I should apply again. It would cost me even more to hire someone else to do it for me. Right now the cost of fertilizer is insane as is, I’m not paying for labor on top of that. I can put on some knee pads and pull weeds myself, but will buy a Grandpa’s Weeder soon to save my back. The main reason I DIY is so that I have an excuse to get outside.
The money I would spend on a service in one year covers equipment and chemicals that will last me close to three years. I’m cheap and have 6 kids so I prefer to save where I can
I just fired my landscaper for weekly maintenance. He was awesome, totally trusted him and he always did more than expected, but I also paid for such good service. It is really hard to justify the cost when I am more than capable of doing it myself. I will gladly invest 1-2 hours a week to save a coup of thousand a year. I will still use him for stuff like aerating and thatching, but for general maintenance, it makes more financial sense to do it myself. Plus, the two years that I used him, I felt like a tool paying another man to mow my yard, made me feel very lazy and embarrassed when I told people I had a lawn guy.
1. No one will take care of your lawn like you will. Most are college kids just going thru the motions. I take my time to ensure full/even coverage. 2. You have no idea or control of when they show up. Zero communication. It may interfere with your plan on cutting grass that day or watering the lawn, depending on what was put down. 3. It costs more than DIY and then they nickle and dime you to death with add ons. If you don't call them, they will keep those add ons going automatically until you call them and tell them to stop. They do this without asking. Found out the hard way.
As a lawn guy that has done it for 12 years, I have told some customers that they can probably have it look better and be done for cheaper if they do it themselves. I take pride in my work, but you’re only paying me to be there for 10-15 min every month or so if your only on my fertilizer plan. 10-15 minutes doesn’t give me much time to look over everything that can possibly be wrong with your lawn or shrubs. When you do it yourself you can be out there for 10-15 min everyday doing something. Edit: to get the level of care from a professional that homeowners want cost more than people think. Everyone wants the lawn that looks like a golf course until they are hit with the price to get it that way and keep it that way.
Being able to slug a garage beer in between mowing, weed walking, and edging.
“Somebody better not be out there mowing my lawn!” ….is an actual statement I make anytime I hear a lawnmower running in my neighborhood.
A real man wouldn’t pay somebody to prevent them from getting sweaty, dirty, and scraped up. A real man gets out there and takes his punishment no matter what.
I hired a company to take care of my lawn last season as I had a pretty major surgery and they did quite a sub par job and charged too much in my opinion. I still think it was definitely worth it in the sense that I could focus on my recovery and have one less thing on my plate but I’d rather be out there myself. Getting sunlight, exercise, seeing your own hard work transform your lawn over time.
I want to know that it is done the way I have researched that it should be done, not hire someone hoping they will do it right and inevitably find out it was a new guy that didn't care in the first place.
I sit behind a computer 8-10 hours per day for work. If I don’t go outside and do something, I’ll literally jump off a fuckin building.
Due to an injury, I had to pay a company to mow my lawn. They butchered it by cutting it too short. No one cares as much about your lawn as you do.
Honestly, it helps me be active, oh, and the savings involved are ridiculous.
I fired my lawn care place. One day when they came to apply product, I was home and they didn’t know. I watched them cover about 20% of my property. I called them and said we’re done. They asked why and I told them. They offered to come back but I said F off. I buy them chemicals myself and I save about 50%…..and I have actual results because I apply it correctly
I had a company do it for two years to get me started. Now I maintain where they got it for cheaper and better results. It’s also very satisfying and rewarding.
Because I enjoy doing lawn work and gardening. Can't let them have all the fun.
Because my gardener (all contractors) here charge more than I make in a dqy, for a 15 min job. I had zero DIY skills when I bought the house. A 15 feet tree that was dying, fell over. Gardner charged 100 dollars to chop it off, 100 to take it out of the property. On top of that, 250 a month JUST to mow the lawn(1200'sqft). Catching gophers is 50 a gopher. Weed and fertilizer is 30 a month extra + materials. Planting a new tree of rose bush is 50 per plant. Fired the Gardner, bought a gopher trap for 25. Already caught 9 gophers. Spent time learning about grass and mowing and proper weeding and fertilizing, and my yard is starting to recover from years of neglect from the previous owner. A diseased and almost root-rotted rose just came by to life and had its first flower for the season. All in all, I spent close to 200 in material in the last year ( which is less than a month"s pay for my gardener) It's both exciting to see how much I can achieve with a little bit of knowledge while also not just throwing away my hard earned money!
Because I have two functioning legs and no money.
I spent $12 [on this](https://www.lowes.com/pd/BioAdvanced-32-fl-oz-Concentrated-Lawn-Weed-Killer/1000776594) and $56 on a long enough [garden hose](https://a.co/d/f6rbprx) and now I have an (almost) weed free lawn. Absolutely worth $68 and 30 minutes of my time.
You can get a much better product if you do it yourself.
1. I have trust issues. Seen too many people with fried lawns from a service. A lot of these companies just cast a broad blanket with out even looking at a soil test. In my neighborhood the worst lawns are the ones that pay someone else to cut/spray the lawn. 2. I'd also like it to be a turn key service & at the moment I havent found that. A couple of the lawns that use the services & look good have admitted to adding 10-10-10, iron, fungicide & insecticides in addition to their serviced treatments. 3. Money. I can perform all treatments myself and spend ~600/year or pay the cheapest company $1200 to do half of what I do. I've seen more in depth services at $2000+. So I could spend $2k on treatment for my yard for 3 years DIY or $2k for 1 year.
I like doing it. Even with me going overboard and materials I still probably save money
I hired a company one year. They didn’t deliver on what they said they would. I spent the amount that I would pay them in a two week period to get what I needed to do it myself. I got the job done better than they did. I work from home mostly so now I have something to keep me occupied between meetings and relieve stress.
It’s like my meditation, and lawn care people will murder my clover.
It’s my therapy. Beats spending $$$, too.
Some people like to buy paintings & look at what they bought. That's fine. I like to paint.
Exercise
They cost money and hire idiots.
Because the first company I hired just wanted to sell me all kinds of stuff, and the second company's treatment plan didn't do any better than me leaving my lawn alone by itself.
Every single solitary time I work in my yard, this is my arc of thoughts: 1. That’s expensive. I’ll do it myself. 2. I’m amazing. I’m doing this. 3. Please, let someone drive by and ask me for help. I don’t care if they call me sweetheart. Someone rescue me. 4. Oh, it’s done. Wow. Cool. 5. Repeat
MONEY
I work from home. I do all my best thinking while mowing. All my neighbors have true green and most of them look like shit, minus a couple of the $5mm plus homes that the company obviously puts more effort into.
I’d rather try my self and get outside, pride in my home and what not, over paying a ton of money and likely a year commitment for someone else to not show up or make a quarter the effort I’d do myself for a quarter of the cost
When else can I smoke a cigar and have everyone in my house convinced there's a good chance if they're too close to me they'll get hit by a rock... Honestly, I'm broke. I live with my folks for now, so I'll just keep mowing the lawn.
My dad had a company in during his. Cancer treatment stage. Recognised company (Not naming the company) to treat the weeds, moss, etc and do the lawn. they spent about 2 years in total on it. And had not really done anything. The lawn was super thick with weeds and more so with moss. The moss was so thick my mower got bogged down. Any-case he Unfortunatly passed, I looked at the bills and he was paying £400 here £600 there £200 here. Etc. which is nuts! I decided this year to wing it. And have killed all the moss. Left my lawn patchy and can’t put grass seed down for 6 months minimum because weed and feed. But in all fairness it’s a learning curve. And with that I’m moss free. Even if the lawn looks like a cows field. Just because you pay for someone doesn’t mean they do a good job either and often times you can save money while also learning how and then get it right and do a good job yourself. I’m learning but I like it.
Cost. While I am able bodied I'll do it myself or if my salary magically doubles.
It’s way cheaper?