Commercial Lawn Service (Jacksonville: HOA, house, neighborhood)

[HIF]

This poll is specifically for Jacksonville residents.

What does your commercial lawn service do with bagged leaves and debris and fallen limbs that have been collected during the course of their work?

[Karla with a K]

hif
in our neighborhood the lawn folks that maintain the common areas take the stuff with them.

for the private properties I have seen the lawn services do both.
When I was working on a landscape project for one of my neighbors the guy we hired left the stuff in bags that we put out on yard waste pick up day.

I have heard that the lawn service guys have to pay to take the stuff to the dump

[riveree]

Anytime I've hired a professional for tree work or something similar, they always carry the debris off with them. The tree company I use recycles all of the debris - they turn it into mulch for their nursery.

When I've hired lawn service people (and I do so rarely), it's a mix. I had someone pull up a large expanse of ferns that had taken over a backyard on an old property I own and they left it bagged at my curb. I occasionally hire someone else to mow my yard and he takes the debris with him.

When I mow my own yard, I use a mulching mower and leave the grass right on the lawn (it's good for it).

But I voted for "taking the debris away" since that's been my experience the majority of the time.

[HIF]

Thanks, Karla and riveree. More opinions, please. I know that I will get for-real input on this site.

I reached the end of my rope when our lawnservice left over 25 bags of debris at my property yesterday and another 25+ bags at another residence. Yet a board member is saying that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill. I need a reality check.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by HIF

Thanks, Karla and riveree. More opinions, please. I know that I will get for-real input on this site.

I reached the end of my rope when our lawnservice left over 25 bags of debris at my property yesterday and another 25+ bags at another residence. Yet a board member is saying that I am making a mountain out of a mole hill. I need a reality check.

Well, the only positive I can think of is that as long as the city will pick up that many bags, the debris will go to the proper place. The city makes mulch from this as well.

If your lawn service is too cheap/lazy/whatever to take this away, then they might not follow the law and just end up dumping it in the woods or something. So maybe it's for the best, at least while you are using them.

Are they charging the same as everyone else? Or are you at least given a discount considering they are not doing as much work as the next guy?

[PhotoZel]

I think that in Duval county, if a lawn company does work in your yard, they have to remove the debris. If they leave at the curb they can be fined. Curb pickup is for the residents only, lawn companies are being paid, so it is up to them to get it disposed of.

Fly by night lawn guys usually leave it, professionals take it, rule of thumb.

[agreatlife]

Hmmm. I've had many professional services over the years, and with the exception of trees, they have left it curbside.

You guys would all hate me, we had the debris for ever a few weeks ago when we did the spring yard cleanup. OMG, it was forever. We were very grateful that it got picked up before the Saturday winds came in. I think our neighbors were glad too.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by PhotoZel

I think that in Duval county, if a lawn company does work in your yard, they have to remove the debris. If they leave at the curb they can be fined. Curb pickup is for the residents only, lawn companies are being paid, so it is up to them to get it disposed of.

Fly by night lawn guys usually leave it, professionals take it, rule of thumb.

That sounds right, they are supposed to remove it.

The city sort-of covers it here, but they don't specify lawn service/grass only. There IS a limit on how many cubic yards can be left roadside, so that alone would put HIF's lawn service out of compliance :

Rules for Residential Pick Up

[mawipafl]

I have a mixed experience (HOA community) - our lawn service mulches the clippings and it's left on the lawn, and any debris (bush cuttings, raked leaves) is left curb side - tree trimmers take the cut fronds away. I've seen a mixture in our neighborhood wherein some services leave debris, some take it for an extra fee, some just take it (with the expense built into the price I presume). However, I've never seen such an enormous amount left behind. When we first moved in we probably generated that much yard trash when we had the gardens weeded and remulched and all the bushes trimmed, but the company took it all away since it was such a huge pile.

I don't have too much problem with lawn services leaving normal amounts of debris curb side, but I, too, would be raising a stink about 50 bags of it just between two residents. If you have an HOA I'm sure there are rules about how long trash and debris can be left curb side - our rule is no more than 24 hours (although, to be honest, hardly anyone complies with that rule, but don't get me started on that.)

Plus, if I was the fire department, I'd also raise h-e-two-sticks about the hydrant being somewhat blocked.

[Chris L M]

There is a charge of $40 per ton to dispose of yard debris at the city dump. If it is a large amount we remove it and obviously have to defer the cost to the customer. If the yard looks bad because the lawn professional left large amounts of debris, bagged or not, then they did not do their job and make the lawn service professionals look bad. Bottom line is that the company should be doing what it takes to make the customer happy and the lawn to look like it was worked on by a professional. We typically ask the customer if they mind if we leave a couple bags of debris for the city to pick. That service is for the homeowner to have the debris picked up but that yard debris did come from the homeowners yard. The city is only supposed to remove 3 cubic yards per house at one time.