How much are you paying for grounds/yard maintenance in HCOL?

[kozachka]

Need to figure out what's fair for our property in San Diego area. We used to pay $100 per month in 2004-2007, but than stopped using the service, can't recall why. I think it was for biweekly service. They were not great, but already working on other houses in the area, so easy for us to hire them. We rented the house out when we moved, and tenant offered to take it on when quotes for the new service came in way high (if I recall correctly at $400?). We are in the process of renegotiation rent, and are arguing over the value of grounds/yard maintenance, and might have to hire service again. Wondering what to budget for this. For the reference, we have almost 0.2 acres lot and it's partially on a slope, if it makes a difference.

[essnce629]

We're in Los Angeles and pay $100 a month for them to come weekly. It's 2 guys and they mow our front and back yards, prune our rose bushes in front, reseed in winter, trim all our bushes around the house, and take our 3 trash cans out (since they come the day before trash day). They're great and will do pretty much whatever I ask them. They break down all my large boxes for me and put them in the recycle bin each week, removed a dead tree for me, reseeded two patches of dead grass when we first moved in, moved the sprinkler control box, fixed some messed up sprinkler heads, and hauled away a bunch of metal piping and bricks that the previous owners had left in the backyard.

[jenmcadams]

We live in Denver, so not super HCOL, but not low. We pay $35/week for basic mowing, trimming, edging, clean-up for 0.5 acre lot. Our guys also do our aerating, fertilizing, sprinkler maintenance and weed control and our monthly bill varies from $140ish to over $250 depending on the services that month. I'm sure I'm paying more than I would if I hired out all the services separately, but we like dealing with one provider...

[kristenk]

We're not in a HCOL area (DFW) but it sounds like our yard expenses are pretty high compared to some of the others mentioned.

We pay $30/visit for lawn mowing, edging and blowing away/cleaning up the grass trimmings. We have about 1/3 of an acre. They mow weekly in the summer and every 2 or 3 weeks in the Spring/Fall.

[egoldber]

We pay $25 per visit. It is not a monthly fee because they come when they need to: more often when it is warm and rainy, less often when it is dry and the grass is not growing that quickly.

They do other things (weeding, trimming) if we ask them to, but it is not included in the standard visit.

[Pennylane]

Dfw area here and I pay $60 for an acre which includes mowing and trimming. Very reasonable in my opinion. We moved from Raleigh and 1/2 acre there was $50.

Ann

[AnnieW625]

We don't actually pay for services right now but there are gardeners galore in our area so most services are definitely under $100 per month. In 2005 when we had gardeners for a month we paid $75.

[Giantbear]

NYC area, $165 per month for weekly cutting, edging, hauling for 1/3rd of an acre.

[DualvansMommy]

We pay $50 weekly for cutting, trimming, weeding, and edging. This is in addition of snow removal along our sidewalk in front of our property and long driveway if we get more than 3 inches of snow.

it's for our 1 acre lot in Central Jersey.

[wencit]

We pay $70/month for biweekly visits in the SF Bay Area. Small lot (0.1 acre).

[connor_mommy]

We're in the Silicon Valley and pay $80 a month for weekly service.

[mytwosons]

We aren't in a HCOL area, but the standard here is $40 per weekly mow. They trim and edge as needed.

[niccig]

Just outside LA, $135 a month. We have lots of landscaping. They mow, blow, weed, will prune plants as needed. It's actually cheaper than other friends who have a service that mows, blows and goes.

Ask neighbours for referral. I have a cranky old neighbour and figured if he was happy with his gardener, then I would be too. I was right. He's great. He will do extra as needed, they just helped us re-do our backyard, we knew what we wanted, and he had the manpower to do it. Much cheaper than using landscape gardener, but our gardener knows about plants/grass etc.

[jayali]

For mowing, edging and blowing we pay about $40/week for a 50x150 lot. The house is at the Jersey Shore.

[elbenn]

We pay $45 per mowing/trimming for about 1/2 acre lot. This doesn't include any extras, like fertilizing or pruning, etc. Not HCOL--more like medium cost of living.

[ourbabygirl]

Medium COL here, too, and we just hired a lawn guy; he charges $45/ week for a half acre. He mows, treats weeds, trims along edges, etc., and we have a bunch of small trees, a big play set, and an above-ground pool that he has to mow around, so it's probably a bit more time-intensive. He came for the first time on Friday, on a 100 degree day... DH was so happy to not have to go out there and mow- it usually takes him about 2-3 hours to do the whole process, so while it's expensive each week, we felt it was worth it, at least this year while the kids are young (1 & 3) and need constant attention... and since I'm a SAHM, I'm looking forward to having DH's help again for those 3 hours on a weekend morning! :love5: Our big back yard faces west, so it really should be mowed in the morning before the sun shines on the whole yard, but we don't feel like we should be out there mowing before about 10 a.m. on a weekend (risking waking up/ annoying the neighbors). Tried hiring the kid across the street, but the two times he mowed and we paid him $20, DH had to redo a bunch of what he'd done, anyhow.

It does add up fast, though, and I hope we don't get too spoiled by it this summer!

[MelissaTC]

Another Medium COL and my lawn service is $25/week. Our lot size is 0.38 acres but most of it is wooded. They basically mow, edge and blow the leaves and pine straw. We have an additional service that comes out to treat the lawn and fertilize. They cost $60 every 5-6 weeks. We pay them extra for aeration and other related services.

[LexyLou]

I live in the suburbs of San Francisco in a HCOL area.

For a standard mow and blow We pay $100 a month. They do also do some basic pruning but if we need any other service, like planting, aerating and seeding, it's an extra fee.

ETA: I don't know our lot size but it's small. Not a lot of grass at all.

[theriviera]

We pay $100 a month in the LA area.

[ZeeBaby]

$30 per service. So I estimated $120 per month, but we don't do every week. DH mostly cuts himself

[Mommy_Again]

I think it is totally dependent on the size of your lawn and the complexity of your plants/trees. A lot of these seem low to me (I'm in SFL), but maybe the properties are smaller than my point of comparison.

[dhano923]

We're in so. CA. We pay $70/month for our gardener. He comes once a week and does all cutting, mowing, and trimming. He shapes the hedges every couple months and will pull obvious weeds. If I ask him to do something extra, I tack on an extra $10-20 to his check for the month.