When you own a home, you naturally want to take thorough care of its appearance, and your yard is no exception. Seeing how your neighbors maintain and update the outside of their homes can be a great motivator for the entire neighborhood to keep up the beautifully designed facades and perfectly manicured lawns. The unspoken friendly competition leads to welcoming environments, but it only takes one household lacking in its appearance to ruin the aesthetic of the entire bock. This is even more true for a Florida lawn, which needs to be well maintained year-round in our subtropical climate.
If it’s been a while since your yard received the TLC it deserves, it may be time to give it some extra love and become the (friendly) envy of your entire street. However, the question then remains — should you care for your lawn yourself, or leave it to the professionals?
You Could Just DIY, but…
DIY lawn care may seem like the easiest way to achieve the lawn of your dreams. After all, if you’re doing something yourself, then surely you should see the exact results you want, right? Unfortunately, DIY lawn care projects often don’t measure up to expectations. Here are some of the potential pros and cons to handling your own lawn maintenance and landscaping:
The Pros:
- Initial cost — It’s true that you may save on the initial costs of maintaining your lawn, as you will be saving on the cost of labor and only paying for what you think your lawn needs. Over time, though, inexperience may lead to needing to purchase extra tools and materials which you may not even need or may not even be sure how to use.
- Your own hard work — Of course, a natural sense of pride comes from taking care of your own lawn, especially when the hard work pays off with the appearance you had hoped to accomplish. Working on your yard all on your own can also impress your neighbors. When things go wrong, though, frustration and disappointment can set in.
- Physical activity — Finding the time to exercise can be difficult as an adult with a busy career and a family. Mowing your lawn and taking care of your landscaping is a great way to get in a healthy amount of physical activity while still being productive. But, beware of pushing yourself too hard and causing injury!
The Cons:
- Long-term cost — As previously mentioned, costs may initially be low when you first start handling your own lawn care, but that can quickly change over time. Making a mistake and fixing the problem can become costly, and you may find you need to purchase more expensive higher-quality tools that you may lack the skills to properly operate.
- Below-satisfactory results — Reading DIY lawn care articles online or watching YouTube videos can certainly help, but they can’t completely make up for years of skilled landscaping experience. You may soon find yourself struggling to get a healthy lawn while fighting off seasonal weeds that just won’t seem to go away, no matter which fertilizer you try. You may end up working twice as hard, only to achieve results below your expectations.
- Time consumption — You may not monetarily be paying for labor when you take care of your lawn yourself, but you will certainly make up for the saved costs with your own time. Lacking professional lawn care experience can lead to longer hours spent caring for your lawn, learning to use new tools, visiting the hardware and lawn care store frequently, cleaning up, etc.
With all these factors in mind, it will likely save you the time, money and stress to achieve the immaculate yard of your dreams when you hire a professional lawn care company. Not only will you likely receive much higher quality results for your lawn from skilled and professional lawn care experts, but you will also be able to enjoy an increase in your amount of free time. Personal safety is another benefit, as the physical demands of lawn care may be too much for some people. The cost may seem more up front, but hiring a professional lawn service company can keep your costs low and your satisfaction high over time.
What to Look for in a Lawn Service Company
Should you decide to leave it to the pros, choosing the right company is the next step. You will likely have many local businesses to choose from, but how will you know which ones you can trust?
Pay attention to these things to look for in a lawn service company:
- Reputation — Online reviews on a lawn care service company’s Google My Business page or Yelp account can provide a helpful insight to the overall quality of service. While it’s important to take online reviews with a grain of salt due to customers often only leaving extremely positive or extremely negative reviews, reading through them can still be helpful. An overwhelming amount of negative reviews can be a red flag, for instance. It also helps to ask the members of your community which lawn care company they would recommend and why. Successful small business thrive on word-of-mouth marketing!
- Licensing and insurance — Going with a lawn service provider who isn’t licensed and insured can put yourself at serious risk for liability if their employees become injured while working in your yard. A licensed and insured lawn company will be responsible for employee injuries, and they will be able to provide coverage in case your property is damaged. It also shows how serious a lawn service company is about their work.
- Professional or trade organization membership — The next step showing dedication lawn care and landscaping is if a lawn care company is a member of a professional or trade organization. These memberships require members to adhere to high industry standards, as well as to continually seek out professional learning opportunities.
- Contracts — Contracts are understandably common practice in the lawn care industry. However, be wary of companies pressuring you into long contracts without the option to negotiate a trial period, a shorter contract, or to even forego the contract altogether. The best lawn care companies know their high-quality service will make you a return customer, regardless of a contract.
- Customer service — You have a busy life and can’t afford to be waiting on a lawn care company all day, whether to simply make an appointment or to receive services. Customer reviews can be a helpful way to gauge customer service quality, and you can also check by simply seeing how quick and courteous a company is to respond to your phone call or email.
- Equipment maintenance — Lawn care companies dedication to professional service are serious about the quality of their mowing blades, as this makes a huge difference in the appearance of a lawn after it is mowed. Be sure to ask prospective lawn care companies how often they change or sharpen their blades. In general, they would be changed or sharpened after no more than 10 hours maximum of yard work.
Check Out Everything Else We Can Do
At Daniel’s Lawn Service & Pressure Washing Inc., we are dedicated to providing the highest-quality professional service across Central Florida. From routine lawn maintenance to experienced landscape design, we can create the perfect outdoor environment for relaxing, entertaining or spending time with your family. Our experienced and licensed professionals offer a variety of other services, such as tree trimming, tree installation and tree removal. Contact Daniel’s Lawn Service today to learn more about our lawn care, landscaping, tree work, pressure washing services, and more!