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About $50. That doesn't include any gardening except for mowing the lawns and sweeping up (leaf blower).
I suggest that you call 3-4 different landscaping companies and get quotes. $20 sounds really cheap to me.
Whatever you are paying it is not manpower by the hour. It includes machinery, insurance, and travel time to and fro. Some of those commercial lawn mowers cost thousands of dollars and that pickup truck isn't cheap either. I pay $75 to have a pickup with a plow clear my driveway of snow. The kid who drives it is worth about $20 an hour, but the truck is worth $40,000 and I'm renting that.
When my son is here, he clears my driveway for free labor, but the machine he uses cost $30,000. He sure wouldn't clear anyone else's driveway for free.
At one time my son owned a dump ruck. He said that he got $75 an hour for the truck and he went along for free. It was the machinery that he was getting paid for more than his time
If you don't want to pay the $20, you can get a darn good walk behind mower that is self propelled and easy to start for about $600 and do the lawn yourself.
If you hire this out, describe your lawn (size/layout) and share what you pay for the privilege. I think I'm being ripped off...
Well, in metro Seattle lawn service and everything else is notoriously jacked up. Not sure why compared to other major markets like say Los Angeles or similar, might be simple supply-side economics at work.
I don't know my square footage, but I pay a crew $80 every two weeks to tidy up. In the winter they mostly rake up debris. True to its reputation Seattle has plenty of trees, leaves, and falling stuff so there is always tidying to do. We have snow maybe 1-2 weeks/year, sometimes not even that. I pay them year round w/o comment.
In the spring, summer, and part of fall they mow. They don't mow in our dry months of July-Sept or thereabouts when the lawn is clearly dormant. Nor winter. But when needed, they notice and just bang it out. I don't have huge lawns. I'd say it's one hour of work, three or four guys, they're here and gone again and do a nice job for that kind of money.
I found it cheaper than doing this myself, in terms of quality and equipment. Took me two seasons to puzzle that out, when I thought I'd be clever and do my own work. The place didn't look great after two years, so I pay experts: who cares.
Exactly! I'm paying $20 for 15 minutes. Seems excessive?
Nah, where I live you really can't get someone to your house for anything at all for less than $15-$20, excluding estimates on larger jobs where the contractor stands to make a pretty good profit. Unless they are able to mow your lawn in two or three passes that doesn't sound at all excessive.
Exactly! I'm paying $20 for 15 minutes. Seems excessive?
That may be and it takes my guy to do our 1/3 acre lot about 15-20 minutes for $35.00 each week but it's worth it to us. It takes my husband who hates mowing an hour just to do half the lawn and he won't edge!...of course since he hates it he drags out the whole process.
I'm so glad we started with a lawn service two years ago!
If you hire this out, describe your lawn (size/layout) and share what you pay for the privilege. I think I'm being ripped off...
100x150 fenced lot (1/3 acre) with 1250sq. ft. ranch plus one car attached garage. Front and back yards completely fenced. 12x16 deck off the back of the house. 8x10 shed near the back yard fence. About a 40 ft. driveway from the garage to the street. Lawn is cut twice a month at $48 per cut. No watering, chemicals, fertilizer, weed killer, etc. Just a cut and trim the edges of the lawn by the sidewalk in front of the porch. Lawn is green and whatever grows on it's own without watering is welcome - grass, crabgrass, weeds, dandelions, clover. Kept short and green. The same guy blows our leaves, cleans the roof gutters and shovels snow. Everything runs about $1K per year and we don't do anything.
How do you even get somebody to come to your house for $20? You actually think somebody is going to show up for what, 10 bucks? Ask around the neighborhood, maybe you can find a 6 year old who’s just trying to break into the business.
Yeah if you don't want to pay someone, try it yourself. I think we used to pay about $45 a month for twice monthly service & we had a tiny lawn. Now we have moved & do not have a lawn, much better.
Exactly! I'm paying $20 for 15 minutes. Seems excessive?
For $20 it doesn't matter if it takes 5 minutes on a 20x50 foot lot. They have to drive to your place and back, use gasoline and their own equipment. I think you are looking for slave labor. Maybe it would take you an hour to do what they do in 15 minutes. Is $20 worth your not having to do it? I'd love to cut my own grass, but haven't been able to in the last 5 or 6 years, so I pay and am happy to have someone to do it for me.
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