When you're looking for help with your lawn care, there are endless categories of companies that offer various services.
Gardening by the Yard host Paul James recently decided to shop for a service. He shares tips, with the help of Howard Nixon, the general manager of the company he selected:
Be realistic about your expectations. What a service company can provide will often depend on the lawn. In certain parts of the country, for instance, cool-season grasses such as fescue look great in the spring and fall, but by July and August they look pretty ratty, and there's not a lot to do about that.
Check out all of your options. Get multiple bids, and remember that cheaper isn't always better. Once you've chosen a company you're comfortable with, the contractor should do a drive-by.
"Usually when I pull up to a site, generally the location and the visual aspect of it are going to determine how you should approach [the job]," Howard says. "If it looks like an area that's highly managed and maintained, that's the approach I would take."
Howard and his crew have a basic service that includes mowing, edging, weed-eating and leaf-blowing. Taking it up a level, they would also provide garden maintenance and attending to seasonal changes.
Is it better to lock into a year-round contract? With the effects on contractors' prices — such as rising gas prices — you may find it to your advantage to lock in a 12-month contract.
"When they're locked in, they're locked in," Howard says of customers who use contracts. "Usually the last thing we'd do is say, 'Hey, we've had some fuel surcharges.' "
What other services can you expect to find? Some lawn-care services go way beyond your average mow-and-blow — keeping up landscapes from season to season or planting trees and shrubs to fill out the landscape.
Once you find your perfect lawn care provider, use that company for all of your landscaping needs. "If they're qualified, they can control every aspect," Howard says. "They know timing to do things, coordinating different projects, seeding, de-thatching, fertilizing."
What about my opinion on the look of the lawn? It matters. After all, you're ultimately the one who has to look at it every day. And if you're not happy with the work your landscape service is doing, don't be afraid to confront them about it. Chances are you can work things out. And if not, send them packing.
)