If you’ve been putting off hiring a professional lawn care service in North Texas, it might be that you’re not sure it’s worth the expense. After all, why pay for something that you can do on your own?
While we understand those feelings, the truth is, the cost of DIY lawn care is oftentimes not all that much less expensive than hiring a professional (particularly if you’re really investing in all of the products and equipment for the different services your lawn needs).
We understand that you want to know: Are lawn services worth the cost?
And that’s why we’re tackling the cost of a lawn care service vs. DIY lawn care.
Before you jump into buying all the different products and equipment you’ll need, consider these points.
In considering the cost of lawn care services, it’s important to recognize that lawn care is a lot more involved than just tossing down some weed and feed—at least, it should be a lot more than that.
Too often, people (or even lawn care companies) only do the bare minimum or don’t provide the lawn everything it needs. Then, they don’t understand why the results aren’t what they wanted.
It’s usually when there’s a lawn problem that it becomes abundantly clear that lawn care is more complex than people tend to realize. There are numerous potential issues that could be causing trouble and diagnosing it properly will be key.
Unfortunately, a misdiagnosis can lead to costly mistakes. For instance, if you assume that brown patches in your lawn are the result of drought damage, and it’s actually related to turf disease, watering your lawn could spread the problem and make it significantly worse.
Suddenly, the cost of DIY lawn care could be a whole lot more money because problems need to be fixed.
Even issues like applying the wrong amount of fertilizer and burning the lawn or purchasing the wrong products and wasting money (or causing damage), could end up being costly to fix after damage is done. It’s much more expensive to repair a lawn (or to have to sod), than it is to just invest in proper lawn care from the start. It’s not to say that there will never be problems, but they will be properly diagnosed and treated by a professional.
In weighing the differences in the cost of a lawn care service vs. DIY approach, we find that homeowners sometimes undervalue their own time. But your time is worth a lot.
Your time is valuable!
When you first start out, you may find DIY lawn care fun or even be enthusiastic about handling these tasks. But over time, it can become a chore. Suddenly you are spending your free time out in your yard when you could be investing your time in a better way.
We often find that homeowners want really great results but underestimate just how much time is going to be involved in achieving them. In fact, they often say it’s more than they bargained for! It’s not uncommon for us to get called in after a homeowner started handling lawn care on their own and soon felt it was too much.
As we start talking to homeowners about all of the time they’ll need to invest, they begin to see that it’s not as “simple” as they thought it was. The hassles and headaches involved with all the work also quickly become apparent.
We also want to point out that it’s not like DIY lawn care is free! And it’s not inexpensive either.
If you were to actually invest in all of the different equipment and products that you need to try and achieve the same results as a pro, that investment can start to add up! You also have to factor in the time and gas involved in running back and forth to the big box store or local hardware store. You know that getting the right products rarely happens in a single trip! Taking the DIY route often means lots of back and forth from the store.
Plus, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to get it right.
You might end up investing all of that money only to end up with subpar results.
Whether you bought the wrong lawn care products and they aren’t working or maybe you’ve bought subpar products that are not yielding great results, it can feel really frustrating to throw money away and not get very good results.
Of course, it might not even be your fault. You might do everything right (and make no mistakes), but it’s purely a matter of the product you’re using. It’s important to realize that lawn care products sold in the local hardware store simply won’t stand up to what a professional is using.
Commercial-grade products are going to be a lot more effective, hence why it might be worth paying a little bit more but getting the results you truly desire!
In answering the question Are lawn services worth the cost? we would be remiss in not mentioning that there is always some risk involved in a DIY approach. Even something that seems as easy as applying lawn care products still means being out in the heat, lifting heavy bags, and performing some laborious work.
You might also encounter bees, wasps, or even snakes, all of which are prevalent in our region. On top of all that, working on your lawn can take a toll on your back (or your body in general). It’s undeniable that lawn care is labor-intensive work—probably not how you wanted to spend a free weekend.
Lawn care products will also need to be applied and stored safely. This is something that a professional lawn care technician is trained to do but when you take a DIY approach, the onus is on you.
At the end of the day, this is where the value comes in when hiring a pro. As you weigh the cost of lawn care services (that is hiring a pro), it’s worth considering that you are handing off the burden and the risk to a trained technician rather than taking it all on your own.
We completely get that choosing to hire a professional is not always an easy decision. We’ve been there ourselves. So often, DIY projects start out seeming simple. Trust me, I (Jack Moore, Grassperson CEO) can relate. I’ve often become entangled in seemingly small house projects that I figured I could do on my own. But after the fourth trip to Home Depot, I often wonder why I didn’t just hire a pro.
If you’re weighing the options of hiring lawn care services near Flower Mound, TX or tackling your lawn care on your own, we hope that you’ll consider these points about the cost in making a decision that’s right for you. At the end of the day, the last thing that we like to see is homeowners feel like they’ve gotten over their heads or made costly mistakes that they are now upset about fixing.
We also hate to see people fall into DIY traps to save a little bit of money.
Sometimes, by paying just a little bit more, you can have the best-looking lawn without all the hassles, headaches, or worries.
Ready to get a professional-looking lawn at your Flower Mound, Highland Village, or Lewisville, TX home? Get a free quote and get ready to enjoy the best lawn on the block with no hassles!
