Top lawn care services near you

Is professional lawn care worth it?

Professional lawn care brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to your lawn. You may care for your lawn once a week for an hour, but your residential lawn care professional does it forty hours a week. To make your lawn look amazing and grow optimally, you’ll need to become an expert in lawn care or hire experts to handle it for you.

When it comes to knowledge and tool maintenance, there’s a strong argument for choosing a professional, even for basic mowing. Cutting the grass too short, it may need to spend more time growing back than actually rooting into the soil. If you cut it at the correct height to keep it maintained, your lawn takes better root and uses less water to stay healthy.

When was the last time you had your mower blades sharpened, if ever? A dull lawn mower blade might not really cut the grass – it may simply rip it out instead. Damaged grass is more attractive to unwanted insects.

It's also easy to over-fertilize. This causes some beautiful green grass at first, but it will hinder the grass from taking root properly. An excess of fertilizer, especially ones with high nitrogen, can cause excess ground-water pollution if the grass is unable to utilize it all. A lawn care expert knows how much to use and exactly when to use it.

Your lawn will look great and be healthier below the surface with professional care. There are likely dozens of lawn care services near you to help you get the best lawn possible.

What does lawn care service include?

Lawn care will be different depending on the season. In the Spring, the first step is to clean up all the fallen debris that comes with winter. Once that’s complete, your service will include aeration or dethatching as needed. Aeration is a process that alleviates soil compaction. This process creates holes in the lawn, which provides a pathway for more air, water, and nutrients to get to the grass roots. Dethatching means removing thatch, a layer of decomposing organic matter that builds between growing grass and the soil. Breaking up the thatch helps the lawn grab the air and nutrients needed. This is also the season to apply fertilizer and pre-emergent herbicide.

The summer months benefit from the work done in the spring with vibrant and healthy grass growth. Summer, of course, means mowing the lawn regularly, keeping at least the top one-third of the grass blade so the lawn isn’t harmed. Your lawn care service will also check for weeds and ensure they’re dealt with responsibly. Grubs may munch through grass roots, but too many can be a problem. A lawn care specialist will keep an eye out for them.

Once Autumn arrives, your lawn care specialists will fertilize once again. Your lawn will absorb and store nutrients for the dormant winter, giving it a strong start to Spring. They’ll also cut the lawn shorter. This makes it harder for falling leaves to matt down tall grass and also prevents snow mold. A specialist will use this time to patch any struggling areas of the lawn and seed them so strong grass will grow again in the Spring.

How can I assess a lawn care business?

Be aware that not all residential lawn care services near you are created equally. Some may offer simple services like a mow-and-go, which qualifies more as maintenance than actual care. This difference in terms is pretty big, as lawn care describes a process that fosters growth from your lawn into something lush and green. Maintenance is one aspect of lawn care. If you’re looking for more than maintenance, you’ll want to ensure the business you hire can accomplish that.

If you’ve selected a lawn care business, find out who’s checking out your lawn. Is this person a salesman who gets a commission, or an estimator or supervisor that performs the work? A commission-based salesman has the incentive to entice a sale, whereas someone simply estimating the work based on the lawn is just breaking down the service for you. You’ll want to know if you’ll generally see the same crew and what their experience level is. Do their crew members do all the services offered, or do some services require the company to subcontract? This can change their rates.

Is your lawn care company flexible? If you sign up for a specific package, can that be changed? If so, is there a penalty or restriction? Naturally, if you add more services to your care, your costs may increase, but that is different than a penalty for changing services. When you get an estimate for your lawn, is it broken down so you know what services you’re receiving for your price? Your lawn care businesses should also be licensed and professionally certified. Some states require different things, but any good business should have all its documentation and liability insurance should something go wrong. Most places will draw up a clear and concise contract, so you both agree to exactly what will be done.

How often does a lawn need to be mowed?

The general answer to this question is once a week, but that really doesn’t apply to all lawns and situations. You should cut your lawn depending on your grass height. Some common grasses grow higher than others for optimal health. Ryegrass, Bermuda grass, and buffalo grass live best when cut between one and two inches. Fescue, bluegrass, and St. Augustine should be cut within two to three inches, and zoysia prefers three to four inches.

Grass types tend to be divided into how they grow best. Cool-season grasses, which include ryegrass, bluegrass, and fescues, tend to grow vigorously during cool seasons such as Spring and Autumn, where they’re likely to get more rain. You’ll find your lawn needs to be mowed more often in these months and less often in the hot summer. Warm-season grasses, including zoysia, St. Augustine, Bermuda, and buffalo grasses, are often found in southern states with mild winters. These grasses grow best when the sun provides heat, so you’ll mow more frequently in summer than in other months.

Most grass tends to live best in the sunshine, so if you have a shady lawn, you may struggle to grow grass compared to your neighbors. Germination in grass is light-dependent, so cool-season grasses work best in these situations. Mow shaded grass less frequently, so it stays at its optimal height for longer and maintains its health.

What does professional lawn care cost?

Basic lawn maintenance (a mow and go) can cost between $30 to $80. Lawn service costs can rise if your lawn is over an acre large. On a per-acre basis, most professionals charge between $150 to $200. If your lawn is smaller than that, you’re not going to see your cost broken down by size unless you need to reseed or install sod.

The layout factors into the cost as well. Most professionals are assessing how long your lawn takes to maintain. It may need special attention if you have gardens or flowerbeds, slopes, water elements (fountains or ponds), shrubs, trees, and children’s playsets. A flat, rectangular lawn with no obstacles is simple to mow. Ones with walkways, sprinkler systems, or troublesome fences may be more difficult and therefore cost more.

Your lawn care changes depending on the season and the services needed.

• Watering: $50 to $400
• Aeration: $80 to $200
• Dethatching: $100 to $700
• Fertilization: $80 to $400
• Spring and Fall cleanup: $100 to $250
• Weed control: $40 to $120
• Pest control: $200 - $300

These are average costs for a one-time service, but a lawn care company will want to work with you and your lawn over a long period. These companies often offer packages and discounts which include some or all of the above in their services. This means you’d pay for mowing, fertilization, lawn cleanup, and everything your lawn needs for an agreed-upon price. An estimate of what it would cost for your lawn can be done by any local lawn care service company.

Will a lawn care pro apply fertilizer to my lawn?

Yes, lawn care professionals will apply fertilizer to your lawn. There are several different types of fertilizer and optimal times to apply them. Your lawn care specialist can analyze what your lawn needs and apply it in the best way possible.

There are four general types of fertilizer. Quick-release does exactly what the name implies and makes the lawn beautiful more quickly, but if overused, this fertilizer can leach the soil and harm the environment. Too much quick-release fertilizer will burn your lawn, and its effects only last a few weeks. Slow-release fertilizer takes longer to show results, but those results tend to last a couple of months. This fertilizer doesn’t stress the grass and is unlikely to leach it. Organic fertilizer is best for soil overall, but it’s expensive and takes time to show its effects.

Your professional knows all this, as they use these products every day. They understand what type of grass you have and know exactly when it's best to fertilize in your region. They’re already doing this for a number of lawns like yours. They also bring the tools to safely spread the fertilizer over the lawn. When it comes to fertilizing your own lawn, most people tend to make mistakes. It’s a learning process. If you want your lawn to look its best, you should ask several professionals what they’d recommend in terms of a schedule and how much they charge. Their advice should all be similar. The only major advantage to doing this yourself is to save on costs, but most people tend to trust professionals for fertilization.