I was looking at the economics of mowing.

I do not have any equipment for it now but I would need:

1. mower-likely a self propelled gas one. Probably end up spending $400-500

2. trimmer-not sure how much this would be but likely looking at $150-200?

3. shed to put the stuff in. My garage is to for my cars. Figure even a cheap plastic shed would be $300 or so.

So I'm close to $1,000 plus the labor of doing this work. I'm wondering if it's worth it or should I just have a lawn service come out once a week.

Not sure on lawn size yet as haven't bought the home yet. But being Florida, it rains often and the grass grows quick and thick.

Just wondering what the members here do and why they either use a service or self service.

Mow and trim my own. It looks like shit, but I never claimed to be a landscaper.

You have to spread those costs over say 6-10 years. At 10 years, that's $100 per year.
I doubt you would find someone to do the lawn for an entire year for $100.

I do my own, and have for 40 years.

When I travelled had a mowing service, it's nice, coming home to a nice clean mowed lawn.

Now that I'm home it's no longer jobbed out. Yes you will have some equipment expenses up front, however a good mower and edger/trimmer should last several years, so you can offset the costs over 4 to 5 years easy.

If I was starting over I'd get an EGO self propelled electric mower, EGO power head and the needed accessories such as edger, trimer, shrub hedge cutter and probably the chainsaw.

This would eliminate the need to store gasoline, or mix oil and gas, and all the fuss that comes with keeping two strokes running.

Quiet, quick, powerful, light.

A grand isn't far off, but I bought a JD 130 and some EGO items listed and I'm ahead of the game, plus you get some exercise...

Good luck on finding a lawn service that will actually do what they say they will do, when they say that they will do it.

I got fed up with the lazy, lying, losers (alliteration?), so I fired the last one -- the previous ones fired themselves by not showing up.

84 year old Geezer, out there cutting my own grass.

I bought an EGo 56 volt self-propelled battery model; I think it was $499, less 10% veteran discount, so $449. It folds up nicely, won't take much room at all in the garage, will tuck into a corner. Battery powered, so no gas storage, minimum maintenance.

The battery will outlast me. I need to come into the air conditioned house, sit down, take a break, drink some GatorAde, I'll stick the battery on the charger while I'm doing that and by the time I'm ready to resume the job, the battery is back up at 100%, or close to that.

Cheaper than all the extra BP meds I would need if I had to keep dealing with the flaky jerks who run the lawn services around here.

Now if we had somebody like Mark123 around here, it would be a different story. Hey Mark, why don't you move to sunny Florida?

When I owned a suburban home on a treed lot, I had the lawn treated for fleas twice a year. Everything else was on me. I once inventoried all the gear I used to take care of the place:
Midsized rider mower.
String trimmer, including a big walk behind model that could pick up and throw a fist sized rock with the velocity of a 30-06.
Leaf blower.
Small trailer for the mower
Small chain saw.
Add in rakes, shovels, ladders and fuel for everything.
My In-Laws ran a plow service, so that was free.
If you actually take a pad and paper and inventory all your junk and the costs involved, you may be shocked!

I live in Pompano Beach and have a lawn service. It's a buddy of mine that owns the company. Being in hurricane country, I too don't want space taken up stowing a lawn mower in my garage, don't want a shed in my backyard to blow away, and quite frankly would rather work in my business an extra 30 minutes and just pay someone else to sweat their you know what off in the Florida heat. You need to price what a professional would charge to do it and then make the decision. As far as fertilizing, it's far cheaper to have a professional company come bi-monthly to do it, they use the correct stuff at the correct time of the year.

If you're in a normal house lot. And I was doing it, I'd go EGO for the weedeater and the edger, and probably gas for the lawn mower, but an EGO mower would also be a strong consideration.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
... Now if we had somebody like Mark123 around here, it would be a different story. Hey Mark, why don't you move to sunny Florida?

But then I'd have to work all year long. Bleh.

I do my own mowing and trimming. I actually kinda enjoy it, when it's not ridiculously hot out. (Even during the hottest part of the summer, it's not so bad if you get it done at, say, 8:00 am.)

Put on my ear pro with Bluetooth, kick on music/audiobook/podcast, zone out, and get to walking. Back and forth in neat little rows. It's almost therapeutic.

first house, I always cut my own,

maybe 40 minutes to an hour, ,tops, once a week,

second house, ,4-5 times the grass, one push mower and weed eater, and found a guy that would cut it for $50 a pop, and every 3-4 weeks,
just about the time it got shaggy he showed up to cut it,


ended up ditching him and using another service for a similar price per year,


so from 2002 or so to 2010 I paid,

I was working a shit ton of hours, so no real time to do it myself,

I inherited Dad's Deere X340 in 2010 and started cutting my own,
bought a new weedeater in 2014,

takes maybe an hour, put the ear buds in and ride around the yard, ,

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:
You have to spread those costs over say 6-10 years. At 10 years, that's $100 per year.
I doubt you would find someone to do the lawn for an entire year for $100.

I do my own, and have for 40 years.

Can you really get that much service out of homeowner grade equipment? Oh, don't forget to add what your time is worth?

We've gone back & forth with both.
Currently using the same guy 3 of my neighbors use, so he does r yards all at once. Does a good job & is reasonably priced. Also trims hedges/bushes & sprays weed killer in flower beds, included in the price.

May go back to DIY once I can replace my dead blower. Sweeping all of a corner lot is a killer in the depths of a humid TX summer.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Can you really get that much service out of homeowner grade equipment?

Yep.

I had my last Honda residential mower for 11 years (2009-2020), and it was still going strong when the ex-wife took it in the divorce. No maintenance other than changing the oil every year and changing the spark plug, blades, and air filter every 2ish years. The rear wheels were needing replacement due to the tread starting to wear down, but still had another year or two to go, and new wheels are like $20/pair.

Same with my Echo gas trimmer. Had that for 11 years too, until it also left in the divorce. The plastic fuel line cracked from age about 8 years in, so I had to replace that, but that took ~5 minutes. Other than that, new spark plug, fuel filter, and air filter every couple years.

That was 11+ years on mowing a roughly quarter acre of yard every week or two from about March through October/November. And plenty more years left in them.

With a quality brand, some basic maintenance, indoor storage, and ethanol-free gas, 6-10 years is nothing. Double that (or more) is perfectly doable.


I replaced the mower with another Honda, which I expect to last just as long or longer. The trimmer was replaced with a brushless electric Ryobi, which I'm guessing may not last quite as long, but it's much more convenient to use than the gas Echo trimmer.

You could wind up in the position I’m in.

I blew my knee out 10 days after moving in so I hired a service that rang the doorbell. Older couple and they had just done a nice job on my neighbor’s lawn. It was the two of them with a pickup, lawnmower, weed whacker, and blower. She ran the mower and he ran the other power tools. It was good quality and fair price.

However, they apparently turned the business over to a younger generation. It was fine at first but then they decided they needed to be higher volume. They replace the 22 inch commercial mower with a 36 inch mower which scalped my lawn in several places (the old mower never did). The part that I failed to recognize too late what is they had went to a thicker diameter string on the Weedwhacker and they took out my four year old fence in a matter of months. The string ate away 1/2 the 4x4 at the grass line.

On top of that, I asked them how much to replace the four post they had ruined and they wanted $600. I decide to do it myself and he proceeds to take out two more 4x4s the next week. I fired them and I’m doing it myself.

Between COVID and 6 years of oil & gas down market my business travels are nearly nonexistent so I have the time. I’ve also lost a bunch of weight so lawn mowing in August isn’t as miserable.

I actually enjoy cutting grass, but with the size of my lot it took me about two hours to cut, weedeat, and blow. And working I could only do it on the weekend. If it rained heavily on the weekend, then that meant a two week interval, and my time went to over 3 hours.

I finally gave up and paid a very reasonable $50/week. If I ever retire, I'll probably do it myself again, as I'd be able to do it at my convenience.

I have a lawn service, I've known him for years.

I'll be honest, when they do my yard, it looks so much better than when I do it. I don't know how, but it just does.
.

I have a guy in the neighborhood who cuts lawns. He does it once a week, trims, edges, and mows. does as good as job as I used to. $25 a cut, I pay him monthly.

I do my own...takes maybe 1.5 hrs on lawn tractor and minimal string trimmer use.

Not a lawn service per se but a gent who I met years ago through Black Hills Workshop (now known as Black Hills Works). They work with physically and mentally handicapped and he was one they ministered to. He was a cook at the local Air Force Base dining facility and then a clerk at the Base Supply Store. He later moved on to a series of jobs with local businesses. Currently a warehouseman with Monument Health hospital system.

More to the point he has been tending to my yard for 14 years now. He uses a combination of equipment, some mine (riding tractor, weed whacker, hedge trimmer, etc.), some his (push mower, blower, etc.). At one time he also groomed yards for a real estate company but in recent years I've been his only client (not counting his father's place).

One great moment was when then Governor Bill Janklow recognized four outstanding (not sure what term was used at the time) "challenged" State citizens in an annual program. Mark was one and a local TV station interviewed us both in my front yard as he was tending to it. He's in his mid-late 40s now.

He has been a godsend as my health and allergies have precluded me from doing any of this myself for years. He treats me well, and I him.

One of my places, yes. The other I mostly do myself.