Lawn care prices in the Huntsville area (employment, contractors)

[RocketDawg]

My son lives in the NW Atlanta suburbs, Kennesaw in particular. He has an average size suburban lot, well landscaped, and pays $190/month year round which includes weekly mowing with a walk-behind Honda mower, edging, blowing, clipping collection, and periodic trimming of bushes (and he has a lot of them) - all the normal things. They do a really good job.

My neighbor pays just under $400/month for the same services, except the don't come as often and only trim the bushes once or twice a year, and they oversee with fescue in the fall.

I only get my lawn mowed once a week at $60 per pop, during the mowing season.

My question is - are we in Huntsville being screwed? Prices for the same, or higher quality, services in Atlanta are about half what we pay.

[dijkstra]

My guess is the guy your son in Atlanta is using pays his help in cash or as contractors rather than paying them as employees and withholding taxes. It is a well known problem in the Landscape field and the IRS has been cracking down on it. There was one here in Huntsville that got caught doing it and they audited them. He will probably get audited for not paying payroll taxes on employees at some point and his prices won't be so cheap anymore. Mathematically $190 per month for all those services do not add up if he has employees which he most certainly does because one guy by himself can't make money at that price either with the cost of trucks, equipment, gas and maintenance these days. So basically he is cheating the system in some way.

[writerwife]

My daughter lives in a very nice suburb of Atlanta and pays $50 every other week and the guy mows and weed eats and leaves no debris. Does a very nice job. I haven't found a price close to that here for same services either.

[minister]

When I lived in Tampa, I had a .20 acre lot, and I paid $75 a month for full cut, edge, weedeat, blow, and they sprayed for weeds in my flower bed.

Here, I have a .33 acre lot, I could never find that.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

My guess is the guy your son in Atlanta is using pays his help in cash or as contractors rather than paying them as employees and withholding taxes. It is a well known problem in the Landscape field and the IRS has been cracking down on it. There was one here in Huntsville that got caught doing it and they audited them. He will probably get audited for not paying payroll taxes on employees at some point and his prices won't be so cheap anymore. Mathematically $190 per month for all those services do not add up if he has employees which he most certainly does because one guy by himself can't make money at that price either with the cost of trucks, equipment, gas and maintenance these days. So basically he is cheating the system in some way.

Don't think so - it's a company that does several of his neighbors, and has trucks with company logos on it. There's no reason to believe that they're evading employment rules and evading taxes.

It seems that in our area we're being charged as if the workers are college graduates.

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Don't think so - it's a company that does several of his neighbors, and has trucks with company logos on it. There's no reason to believe that they're evading employment rules and evading taxes.

It seems that in our area we're being charged as if the workers are college graduates.

I will bet money they are paying their employees as 1099 contractors instead of employees and doing payroll taxes. It is a well known and rampant problem in the lawn care and landscape industry. You can google it and I am sure you find plenty to read about how common it is in that industry. The IRS has been cracking down and if they are doing it that way, it is just a matter of time until they get a visit. Get your son to bring it up somehow and ask one of them. Maybe act like a buddy of his is thinking about starting a lawn care business and he is wondering how the pay works.