Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael 61
I am closing on a new home in the village of Richmond in three weeks. For the first several months, I will be traveling back and forth to Colorado to ready my existing home for sale. I currently live in a townhouse, so owning a house with a yard will be a new experience for me. Especially since I will be gone for stretches at a time the first few months, I am assuming I need to hire someone to mow my lawn as soon as possible. My realtor told me to check out others in the neighborhood who are mowing neighbor’s lawns, and hire them (don’t know how many neighbors I will have initially as many homes are still being built). Is this the way to find a mower, or does someone have a good referral? I have read horror stories on yelp and other sites where the homeowner signed a contract and the service was horrible. Also, do I Immediately need to hire someone to periodically treat lawn for pests? If so, does anyone have a referral for that service? Thank you.
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We've lived in the villages for roughly ten years. Options are many. You can hire one company, a larger company to do all of it-perhaps the most expensive choice but you will not have one person blaming another. ie The comical bug person blaming the fertilizer person or the sprinkler, or mowing person. Some will TRY, I would never pay in advance.
Quality of the work depends not just on the company but on the crew working for you.
I hired a person to mow and I do the rest myself. This is the first time in my life that I did not do the whole thing myself. It has been an adventure. They all use huge HEAVY mowers.
Since they must get the work out they will mow in the rain and on a wet lawn. That leaves wheel tracks and spreads disease and weeds. I am not a difficult customer. When they mow wet they leave clods of cut grass. I do not call them back. It is easier for me to just rake them up myself. In ten years we've had three different people. One the best of the three, lasted two years and then just disappeared and we pay the first of the month, he stole a month from us. The next one did not do as good a job he lasted like 3 years and them just quit, no notice. He did return our money for the month he did not work. We are now on the third guy in 10 years. The quality of his work is the worst of the three. Many people mow their own lawns. Villas only have tiny lawns. Our lawn is 5,000 sq feet. Certainly does not need a riding mower. Three strikes and I am out. Perhaps time for me to buy a mower? Aside the pros will mow once a week. The guidance is do not cut off more than 1/3 of the grass blade. They will not do it but in the summer it should be cut more often than once a week. In the dormant season they come every two weeks to justify billing you. If, the grass is not growing there is no reason to mow it.