Does anybody pay to have their lawn done?

[Broken Arrow]

Well... to me it's a chore, but I'll do it any day over having to pay someone else to.

I think it is a good exercise don't you guys think? We should do it ourselves whenever possible.

Although, to be fair, I think you have a very good, positive attitude towards it.

[PrincessPerky]

I mow our lawn, and I am a girl...but DH is at work all day, so I either get my neighbor to play with the kids and do it during the day (I eturn fun times for it, so free) or I do it while he eats dinner with the kids, he gets limited time with them, not gonna take it away if If can help it.

I can see paying someone to do it, after all I pay for lots of things that are not neccessity (cabel net comes to mind!) but for me 30 bucks is a nice dinner out, and I hate cooking more than grass cutting.

[Roupey03]

Lawn care is not a hard job, I just hate doing it.

[Jewelfine]

Originally Posted by cschin4

I see nothing wrong with paying people to do any of the things you don't want to do. Sometimes, you can spend your time in other ways that are more important or valuable to you. I happen to enjoy yard work but if I didn't, I would have no qualms about having someone else cut it. It is just grass. As long as it gets mowed down short enough so the kids can play on it, I am happy.

I so agree - it's all about choice and in our case health - My husband is very allergic to grass so he can't cut it and I really don't have time with working in our business and starting a new one - so we have someone cut it for us. It depends on where you live on how much it costs I think.

[flinnie]

Mowe my own.Have a tiny yard also but, the prices here are very high.Would have to pay
someone 50.00. Most saturday moweing the grass is my excrise.Take me two hours with
a walk behind mower.

[toys]

I (a female) have worked as a landscaper (on/off) most of my life (though especially in the summers). For the record, I hate mowing.

I know that companies charge by the hour (rather than by the job), and it depends on the region. In the county, you can expect to pay $20/30 per hour (plus expenses) for lawn care. In the bigger cities, it's $40+ (sometimes as much as $60). Individuals (a guy with a truck and a mower [but no insurance]) willl usually do it for a lot less... around $15 per hour. Oddly enough, the smaller the job, the higher the rate usually is (people want to make sure all costs are covered). Depending on the terrain and equipment of course, you can expect an acre to take around an hour.

In my experience, most of the foreman (and some of the general laborers as well) do part-time work after their regular job. A lot of customers will hire the main company for one big initial job, then keep the under-the-table-cash guys for maintenance.

Mowing is easy. Don't pay too much: anyone (like a teenager down the street) can do it. Now, if you want someone to weed, expect to pay more (per hour) -- there is no (lawncare) job more tedious.

[Miz Pat]

You guys have hit on a newly painful subject for me. We did pay a gardener $60 a month to do the lawn. However, when the guys who trimmed the trees killed the front lawn, my sweetie told the gardener to only come once a month. I guess that didn't go over well, because its been three months.

Now I live in the desert. Mowing is horrible when its 100 and over. I had an electric mower, but it died. Out here we have to water the lawn 3 times a day to keep it green, and now that I stopped watering anything but the aloe and grapefruit tree, my water bill went from $25-$30 to $9.

I have an automatic sprinkler system, and right now its off, but I keep thinking about the growth in the valley and the need for water. I want to get desert landscaping and I'm saving for it. I also would like to try to garden - so far my only success has been the aloe taking over the front planter.

It just seems like water is going to be a future issue, and yet, we're watering lawns that no one enjoys. I would rather have drip irrigation and desert plants that are native to the area. This will reduce my costs of water, keep my yard looking better (the poor neighbors), and maybe be more manageable as I get older (and more susceptible to the weather).

The main thing right now is the yard looks like crap, the husband has bad back and congestive heart failure and no stated interest, and i feel like my house looks horrible.

Pat

[flinnie]

Mowed my own grass,pulled weeds and watered my garden saving myself over 50.00.
Even if I wonted to hire someone can't afford too never have the extra money.
I look at it this way....I get lots of excrise so does my little dog runing around in the
yard as I mowe.
Yesterday it took me three hours to get all thet work done.....hear hopeing to loose
some weight and saveing some monry.

[PrincessPerky]

For allergies, if you want to test it, my BIL uses a paint mask to mow, keeps the allergens out and he manages with no more than minor sniffles from it..but it wouldn't be my first choice...that said I do have allergies (minor), showering immediatly after mowing makes a difference for me and my son..

[Great to be Debt Free]

My DH is working long hours these days, so, since I am not currently employed, I feel it is my job to SAVE< SAVE, SAVE and do all I can so that the time he and I have together can be spent better. So I mow the lawn. It's not a huge lawn, but it is tough. It's a push mower -- not electric or gas -- so if I wait too long it's a real workout. But I feel great when my husband gets home and sees that there's one less job for him to do. He's surprised every time he sees it -- but I always make sure I'm showered and cleaned up before he gets home-- I don't want to scare him! LOL!