Just think about your monthly lawn mowing service as a monthly charge that is averaged all year, the same way that your utility bill could be averaged.

If you could pay for lawn maintenance per mow, it would probably be much more expensive during the summertime than the wintertime. Plus, a per mow rate would probably cost much more than being on an annual mowing contract.

I thought about having my lawn maintenance done on a per time, vacation basis, and doing the mowing myself when I’m in Florida. But the cost differences just aren’t that much between a per mow basis, and having to mow and trim myself.

If you rarely left Florida in the summertime, and rarely took vacations or trips, you could do the mowing chores yourself. But it would be pretty miserable to do that work yourself, in the summertime heat and humidity in Florida, verses any cost savings. If your time is worth anything, that really washes away any savings. Most older retired people in Florida choose to have a lawn care service take care of their lawns and shrubs, and retire from the lawn and shrub maintenance chores.

Garbage, pickup
 

Here’s something else for you to chew on. We’re snowbirds and still have to pay for garbage pickup even tho were not here. How do you expect the employees and trucks to still be here when we come back if all the snowbirds stopped paying for the pickup? Just like the lawn guys they depend on that income to live on and maintain they business,

When we lived in Minnesota, and we took vacations or trips longer than two weeks, we put our garbage service on vacation. We then received credit, and our garbage service expiration date would then be extended. We also paid for a whole year of the garbage service in advance, and we were given an extra free month of the garbage service.

If you’re garbage service is tied to your HOA fee, or if putting the garbage service on vacation isn’t an option, then you’re stuck paying for the garbage service that you don’t use in Florida, when you’re “up north” during the summer months.

Y’all have given me a warm and fuzzy with your kind posts.

Who do you use and what is their contact number? Thanks

Same

To get the low monthly rate you have to agree to an annual contract. You didn't complain when they were cutting every week.

Mowing. All year
 

My landscaper comes 4/5 times a month from March through Oct/ November /Dec ( depends on the growth and whether it’s cold and not growing - this year it was the coldest so he stopped earlier than normal ) He comes 1 / 2 times monthly from when he stops through March . I pay $45 a month regardless of how many times he comes. Frankly my lawn looks great! Up north, I was paying $45 a week for similar size property. I was actually paying more than double if you figure out my weekly cost for 6 months. I am grateful that I found my landscaper and more than willing to pay all year

The lawn people we have and have had for several years charge us half rate during the winter months. They still come every 15 days or so, sounds fair to me.

I have lived in FL for 32 years and this is the standard throughout the state. They work very hard during the hot weather then kick back a little in the “winter”. They still need their paycheck.

It is the scope of the job. 10 / 12 bucks a week is cheap when you must #1 buy the mower , trimmer, blower. #2 maintain said equipment and mow twice a week in the growing season #3 mow trim and clean up after mowing in the summer, frankly I would rather play golf lol

I was wondering the same thing a couple of years ago. Since I cut my own lawn I decided to do a little analysis, I tracked how many times I cut the lawn in a year. For two years it’s 28-30. You can do the math based on what your paying per month.

I mow my own lawn. Always have. The "professionals" are from what I see, not very proficient at it, especially edging and string trimming. True, they mow in the winter when it doesn't need it, and not enough in the summer. I mow about every 6 days from May to October. Every 2 weeks in March, April, November and December, and not at all January/February when the lawn is fully dormant. I get my gas mower and edger serviced yearly at Wildwood Mowers. They do a great job at a reasonable price. I do envy the senior communities that include lawn maintenance in their amenity fees. Everyone's lawn is done the same day in a neighborhood, instead of there being a gauntlet of trailers parked in the streets and mower noise all day every day. Good luck. Ron

Even if the lawn doesn’t need mowing my guys edge and blow to neaten up the yard. Contract is for 12 months of payments even though the lawn goes dormant for awhile in winter...

I believe the agreement with most of these companies is a yearly agreement for which they bill monthly. Usually, at the beginning they tell you the frequency at which they will cut, trim hedges, etc. It is not unusual in the winter for them to cut every two to three weeks. I see my guy drive by the house in winter and if it needs cutting he stops if not he keeps on going. Sometimes he will stop and just trim. He trims all the hedges five times a year and maintains the sprinkler heads. Lastly he takes care of all the weeds in the beds. For the money he charges, I have no problem with the frequency as in the summer these guys work long days in extremely hot weather. It is a bargain for what they do.