Caring for your lawn, especially when you have a large grass area, can be a time-consuming undertaking. If you do not have the time to spare for landscaping work or labor-intensive lawn maintenance, you may want to think about hiring lawn care professionals who would get the job done without you lifting a finger.
Just like with any gardening service, it’s important to know what you need to look out for when you want to hire someone for lawn care services. When it comes to lawn care services knowledge is power, especially with pricing. We take a look at the different types of lawn care services and how much you should pay for them.
Why Lawn Care Is Important
Before we jump into the details of lawn care pricing, it’s worthwhile to talk about why it’s important to care for your lawn, and ultimately invest in.
If you want both a beautiful looking and healthy lawn all year round, consistent and suitable lawn care is essential. Low lawn maintenance could lead to a variety of problems, such as unsightly thin and brown grass patches, pests or lawn diseases.
If your lawn doesn’t get what it needs, your grass may eventually die, and you will have to start sewing a new lawn all over again. Ideally, you don’t want to get that far, so it’s best to learn as much about caring for your lawn as possible and what regular essential maintenance it needs.
Lawn Care Services Pricing Chart
There are different factors that play into the price of lawn care services. The zip code you live in and the size of your property all have an impact on the price you will pay for a landscaping service to look after your lawn.
Here are some of the baseline prices for the most essential lawn care services:
- Complete lawn care service: $40 – $80 per hour
- Lawn mowing: $25 – $60 per hour ($175/acre)
- Lawn fertilizer application: $80 – $380
- Lawn aeration: $70 – $190
- Lawn dethatching: $175 per hour
- Weed removal: $35 – $120
- Leaf removal: $190 – $540
- Yard cleanup (in fall or spring): $100 – $250
- Winterizing the lawn: $80 – $380
- Overseeding: $1,200
- Landscape edging installation: $700 – $1,700
- Sprinkler system installation: $1,700 – $3,400
- Sod or turf installation: up to $4,800
- Tree pruning & trimming: $292 – $638
- Tree removal: $780 (on average)
Complete Lawn Care Services
Price: Approximately $40 – $80
Time to get into the nitty-gritty! We start off with the full package for lawn care services for your property. This goes well beyond just grass cutting but should also include services like fertilization, weed removal and evaluation time where a landscaping professional evaluates your lawn for what it needs and then recommends specific solutions.
This is the reason why many elements of complete lawn services are usually charged by the hour, and for complete lawn care services, you can expect a price of approximately $40 to $80 per hour.
Also, if you live a little bit out of the way somewhere out in a rural community or the suburbs, you will be charged a higher fee to account for travel costs that the lawn care company incurs to and from your property.
Most lawn care professionals will give you a choice on whether you want to pay per hour or if you need their services for longer, which means you may get the option to pay weekly or monthly.
Because this is a significant investment, it’s a good idea to get different estimates from different lawn care companies. I would recommend asking the company for an itemized quote so you can see the price breakdown per service. This way you can decide to hire them for any individual item on the list, or go with the full service.
Lawn Mowing
Cost: $30 – $80
This is one of the most widely used lawn maintenance services, and if you want to hire someone to mow your lawn, you are looking at between $30 and $80 per visit. As it’s a single service, you’ll usually be charged a set price instead of an hourly fee.
The price of grass cutting depends very much on the size of your property. The larger the lawn area, the higher the flat rate. It’s best to contact some lawn care professionals and get a quote from three different companies to compare.
If you have a larger property, you might pay around $175 per acre for lawn mowing. Some lawn care companies offer discounts for larger grass cutting jobs as they won’t need as much time for preparing materials and edging the lawn, so it’s worth asking them about this.
For smaller properties, it’s common that lawn care businesses ask for a much lower rate, around $25 to $60 per hour. This takes into consideration travel time and equipment prep work.
Lawn Fertilization
Cost: $80 – $380
It’s necessary to stay on top of fertilizing your lawn because the fertilizer gives the grass the nutrients it needs, and it helps your lawn to stay healthy throughout the year.
When it comes to deciding what kind of fertilization you need for your lawn, it’s best to check with your lawn care company or landscaping professional. They will be able to advise you on different options, such as whether you want organic or synthetic fertilizers and fast or controlled release.
Slow-release lawn fertilizers release nutrients into your lawn over a longer period of time, so you don’t have to repeat the application too often. This saves you time and money.
It’s best to start fertilizing your lawn in the spring, usually around April. Then the second feeding should be around six weeks after the first application, which would be end of May. Then you can fertilize every six to eight weeks, all the way through to October.
You can also enquire whether your lawn care professional uses liquid or granular fertilizer. Most landscapers tend to apply fertilizer on large scale, and as they are professionals they can easily factor in wind to ensure the fertilizer is equally distributed across your yard.
While you can use a broadcast spreader for granular fertilizer if you wanted to do this yourself, lawn care professionals usually use liquid fertilizer and they have the proper equipment to get the job done fast.
Depending on the size and condition of your lawn, an application of lawn fertilizer can cost between $80 and $380.
Aeration And Dethatching
Cost: $70 – $190
Lawn aeration is an important process for your lawn because it puts holes into the soil. This will allow more air and air to get to the grass roots, helping them to stay healthy.
In addition to this, dethatching is another important lawn care process that helps the lawn to breathe and provides it with the nutrition it needs. During dethatching the lawn care professional removes a layer of organic material between the soil and the grass. This layer usually prevents nutrients and water from getting to your grass. Once this layer is removed, your lawn can breathe and more nutrients can be absorbed by the grass roots.
If you hire a lawn care professional to aerate your lawn, this generally costs between $70 and $190. Aeration is best done in the fall or spring. Also remember to check with the lawn care company what tools they are using in the process and ask them for more details on how they carry out the aeration. They might also give you a choice of what type of aeration you want, here it’s good to ask for core aeration.
When it comes to dethatching this usually costs approximately $175 per hour. This is more expensive because once the layer of organic matter and dead grass has been removed, it needs to be disposed of. This makes it a much more labor-intensive and costly process.
Weed Removal
Cost: $35 – $120
Weed removal for your lawn is another critical task for your lawn care. If you decide to hire a lawn maintenance professional for this, you are looking to pay between $35 and $120.
The price for lawn weed removal depends on how big your yard is and how big the weed problem is. The particular method of weed removal used by the lawn care company can also impact the costs.
There are three main types of weeds, which all grow with different kinds of lawn grass. Annual weeds grow, produce seeds and then die in a year. These are the easiest weeds to kill as they haven’t had enough time to develop a strong root system. On the other hand, biennial weeds live for two years, producing seeds in the second year. The third type of weed, perennials, live from season to season and they produce seeds annually. The latter two types are more difficult to kill but weed control can stop these weeds from reaching their mature stage before they can become harmful to your lawn. Regular weed treatment will also help to prevent these weeds from continually reappearing.
Most methods used for weed removal involve blocking weeds in early spring by applying a pre-emergent herbicide or weed and feed. This stops the majority of annual weeds from germinating for up to 6 weeks and allows the young emerging grass to grow into a healthy lawn that crowds out the weeds.
Then later in the season, the lawn care company usually applies a post-emergent weed and feed to kill the weeds that have sprouted.
Of course, weeds can also be removed manually by hand. This is the most environmentally-friendly but time-consuming method.
Leaf Removal
Cost: $190 – $540
With large amounts of leaves dropping from big deciduous trees in fall, you should ensure that all dead leaves are removed from your lawn before winter starts. If this doesn’t happen you will likely end up with unsightly dead spots and brown patches across your lawn when the snow starts to melt next spring. And that’s not just an ugly problem but can be costly too.
This is what makes leaf removal for your yard money well spent, which lawn companies charge between $190 and $540 for.
Of course, you can also pick the leaves yourself but if you have a large property this can take a lot of time, and that’s why many homeowners feel that hiring a professional to do this is a worthwhile investment.
Lawn Care For Spring And Fall
Cost: $100 – $250
Spring is not just the time when we whizz through the house for a spring clean, but the garden also needs special care and attention. In spring you will want to remove any debris or branches on your lawn, and you might also want to pick up and remove any garden beds.
On the other hand, in the fall you will need to get your garden ready for winter. You need to rake garden beds and prune back perennials so they have a good head start for the next blooming season.
For yard cleanups in the fall and spring, you can expect to pay between $100 and $250. This is a good investment to keep your home and garden tidy so you can focus on what really matters: enjoying your lawn.
Getting Your Lawn Ready For Winter
Cost: $80 – $380
In order to get your lawn ready for winter, lawn care professionals apply a special fertilizer that has a high level of phosphorus and potassium. This will support your lawn’s ability to handle the cold weather in winter, and it also boosts its resilience to disease.
Winterizing your lawn will cost between $80 and $380, and lawn care companies will charge between $50 to $110 to get your sprinkler system ready for winter. The cost for this will depend on the size of your system but the average is roughly $80.
Overseeding
Cost: $1,200
Overseeding your lawn is one of the most expensive and labor-intensive lawn care jobs, and that’s why lawn care professionals usually charge up to $1,200 for this.
Overseeding is a process that can help to boost the appearance and health of your lawn as it encourages grass to grow, even when older grass patches die.
Lawn care companies usually will give you different options for overseeding. You can choose for drought-resistant or disease-resistant grass seeds to be used. This can make your lawn more resistant to harsh weather conditions, like extremely hot or cold climates.
Landscape Edging (Curbing)
Cost: $700 – $1,700
You may wonder why landscape edging, also called curbing in some parts of the country, is so important for your lawn.
A well-defined edge to your lawn doesn’t only create an attractive line between the grass and garden beds, but it also helps to keep the grass at bay and makes mowing your lawn much easier.
You can use a variety of lawn edging materials, and different ways of placing edging around your lawn. If you decide to have edging installed by a professional, the costs will depend on the material that is being used, and the linear feet of edging. Some popular materials for landscape edging include wood, concrete, wood, brick or stone.
As this can be a very labor-intensive job, the installation of landscape edging commonly costs between $700 and $1,700. As with a lot of other landscaping work, the side of your property and the type of edging will have an impact on the fees.
Installing A Sprinkler System
Cost: $1,700 – $3,400
Installing a sprinkler system for your lawn can depend on so many factors, from the size of your lawn and the number of garden beds, to different obstacles and soil type. All this impacts the costs of installing a sprinkler system.
For a professional sprinkler system installation, you will likely pay between $1,700 and $3,400. As this is a sizable investment, it’s worth spending some time thinking about what exactly you need from your sprinkler system, and then get a few quotes from different lawn care companies for comparison.
We also have a separate article on How much should a lawn irrigation system cost?
Turf Or Sod Installation
Cost: $4,800
With a hefty price tag of $4,800, professional turf installation is a serious garden investment. Whether you are having artificial turf or sod installed professionally, it needs expensive materials and lots of labor to get the job done.
Before you can get a quote from a lawn care company, they might come out to visit your property to determine the size. Other companies can do this remotely by satellite images.
Contact a few different lawn care professionals to get the best price and service.
Tree Removal
Cost: $780
If you want to have a tree removed professionally, this can set you back up to $780. There are a few different facts that can impact the price of tree removal, such as the location of the tree and its size. Also the health of the tree and whether you want the stump ground up after the removal can affect the costs.
We also have The Ultimate Guide To Killing Tree Stumps with information on stump killers.
Take Control Of Your Lawn
Your lawn isn’t just a pretty thing you look at but it needs care and maintenance throughout the year so that you can enjoy it as much as possible.
A lawn care service company can help you with just the odd job here and there, or they can offer the whole lot. Whatever service you want a professional to do, it’s good to remember some basic factors that affect the cost of hiring a lawn care professional: where you live, the size of your property and the state of your lawn.
Also ensure to get a few quotes in from different companies. Some of the more labor-intensive lawn care services are expensive and comparing can save you a whole lot of cash.
Of course, you can also save by doing some jobs yourself. The more you can pick up, the better. And there is a feeling of real satisfaction after you finished mowing the lawn, and you can lean back and relax.