# Cost per sq/ft of "perfection"



## Overtaxed (May 9, 2021)

This kind of goes with my other thread on what percent of people are lawn crazy, but it's a somewhat different topic, so hopefully OK to start a new thread on it.

I was looking across my chemical selection in the barn the other day and doing some mental math. Got to be 1000's in chemicals sitting there (granted, not all for my lawn, plenty of non-selective herbicides and garden chemicals there too). Then thinking about my mowers and all the cost and maintenance they require, the water bill to keep it irrigated, etc, etc.

Anyway, got me thinking, what's do you think the cost per sq/ft is for you to have a really nice/perfect lawn? Seems that almost everyone on here is doing it themselves, so it would be similar inputs to mine, but the follow on question that I'm really curious about.

What do you think it would cost to hire out a service to do what you do to your lawn per/sq/ft? I looked for some numbers, but all I could find is stuff like "mowing and edging" at XX per sq/ft. That's not even 1/2 of it, the chemicals, the fert, the spot spraying. In my area, I doubt I even could hire it out, not sure there are any lawn care services that have jugs of fungicide on board for biweekly spraying; they are more mow/go services.

Anyone hazard a guess on either number? What it costs to do it yourself or what it would cost to hire out "perfection"?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I think the cost for me would be directly proportional to the time I spend on the lawn. My chemical inputs are really minimal - much less than a lawn service would charge.


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## Overtaxed (May 9, 2021)

> I think the cost for me would be directly proportional to the time I spend on the lawn. My chemical inputs are really minimal - much less than a lawn service would charge.


That's what I'm kind of wondering. The chemicals aren't cheap, but on a per application basis, they really aren't that bad. But the time; if you had a service coming out every 2 weeks and spraying Azoxy, dropping PreM, overseeding/etc. What do you think that would cost? And then there are the folks who I think of at "level 10" who are dropping 3-4 different fungicides, have specialized herbicides for different issues, using PGRs and the big one, reel mowing 3-4 times a week. I can only imagine what it would cost to have a service do that. I'm not even sure there are services to do that outside of hiring a greens crew from the local golf course!

Cost per sq/ft for perfection DIY might be 200 bucks for 1K/yr, where having someone do it might be 2000/1K/yr.

Has anyone ever seen a "level 10" lawn maintained by a crew? I haven't; lawn crews seem to shoot for "good" not "perfect".


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

If you are amortizing your equipment costs, it's more than $200/1k for sure. If we're talking about reel-low turf as a level 10 lawn.

The reel mowing is relatively cheap if you aren't paying a mower operator. If a neighborhood was serious about elite turf, you'd be putting together a greens crew for sure. Trailering greens equipment is a challenge too. This stuff doesn't like being bounced around.

I've never seen a lawn service offer bi-weekly PGR treatments or spoon-fed liquid fert.

The best you'd get from a best-of-the-best lawn service would be weekly mowing's at 3.5-4"+ and a comprehensive weed-control and fertility program. Fungicides on as as-needed, curative, basis.

Any more intense than that and you're looking at a permanent hire (gardener/groundskeeper) or a professional sports turf management outfit.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Greendoc does this type of service in Hawaii. Wanna move?


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## Overtaxed (May 9, 2021)

@g-man I wouldn't be able to afford it if he offered it for free with the cost of housing/land in HI! 

@MasterMech I think that's where I'd set the bar, there's nothing harder that I know of than a super tight cut/putting green style lawn. Super easy to mess up, tons of inputs, not a lot of room for error.

You did make me think though, I'm sure it's out there somewhere, a gated community where they maintain all the lawns to "level 10". Which then made me think, "Man, I'd love to see that!!". If you have enough houses and an HOA fee to fund it, I could totally see this would be doable (and relatively "affordable"), basically hire a greens crew instead of mowing 18 or 36 holes, they mow and take care of 36 lawns. Certainly would be cheaper than a single homeowner doing it themselves, and probably easier too because there would be a lot less weed pressure from your neighbor's lawn that's a level 10 dandelion farm! 

There really is a big gulf between "really good" and "level 10" for level of effort/inputs required. I suspect that's why lawn crews don't offer it, we can get you the best yard in the neighborhood for 300 bucks a month or we can get you a level 10 for 3000/mo (mowing every other day, etc). Not many people are going to go "all the way", and, if they do, a lot are probably lawn crazy and want to do it themselves.


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

You got me curious as to how my cost-per-thousand looks like, and using last years' applications for my TTTF portion I'm surpassing $300/1000 (_see my update below...this is actually closer to $50_)!!! And this isn't even a "perfect" lawn, it's more of a "do whatever I can to keep TTTF alive in the Atlanta heat" lawn. Oh, and I haven't included my amortized equipment costs or the maintenance labor & supplies. Nor some of the free stuff that I got along the way from some YouTuber's to try out. This does account for me being the cheap SOB I am and always buying things local or in group buys (I ran a CarbonX / 8-1-8 program last year, at approx $20/bag cost basis). I used PGR and ran a preventative fungicide program May through Aug/Sept, and splurged on Subert Depth10+ "peptide power" (more as a support of Matt than anything else) as well as Moisture Manager (Lesco's Hydretain, which was too pricey for me even at contractors price) ... and then Ethofumesate & Tenacity at overseeding.


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## Overtaxed (May 9, 2021)

Oh, this year, I don't even want to calculate my cost per thousand. A lot of start up type costs, seed, overseeder rental, lots of chemicals (that will last years, but I needed to buy them all this year). It'll get better as time goes on, but this year, I probably could have bought a custom cut green shag carpet and had it installed for less per sq/ft!


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

My calculation above was way off, I had an error in my excel formulas. That $300+ is for the entire 6250 sqft, not per 1000. That number actually comes to approx $50.

I feel better now. It's been bugging me all evening. I knew I didn't spend close to $2000 on inputs alone. At least not for one years' worth of product.

Whew.


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## cleohioturf (Jul 20, 2020)

MasterMech said:


> If you are amortizing your equipment costs, it's more than $200/1k for sure. If we're talking about reel-low turf as a level 10 lawn.
> 
> The reel mowing is relatively cheap if you aren't paying a mower operator. If a neighborhood was serious about elite turf, you'd be putting together a greens crew for sure. Trailering greens equipment is a challenge too. This stuff doesn't like being bounced around.
> 
> ...


the area I live in, this is a real thing. Homes with 1/4" bent lawns, crews that just go up and down the area, reel mowers, spray truck, irrigation work, etc. Some of the homes are so close they actually work on two at a time. They will actually drive from home to home with a Gator instead of moving all the trucks and trailers.

most of these services are around 2500 a year in service fees, the mowing is additional per month. There are people who probably have 600-800 a month in mowing and upkeep services during the season.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

cleohioturf said:


> MasterMech said:
> 
> 
> > If you are amortizing your equipment costs, it's more than $200/1k for sure. If we're talking about reel-low turf as a level 10 lawn.
> ...


1/4" Bentgrass, mmmm, ahhhhhgggg..... :lol:


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## Overtaxed (May 9, 2021)

cleohioturf said:


> the area I live in, this is a real thing. Homes with 1/4" bent lawns, crews that just go up and down the area, reel mowers, spray truck, irrigation work, etc. Some of the homes are so close they actually work on two at a time. They will actually drive from home to home with a Gator instead of moving all the trucks and trailers.
> 
> most of these services are around 2500 a year in service fees, the mowing is additional per month. There are people who probably have 600-800 a month in mowing and upkeep services during the season.


Take some pictures, I'm sure that's beautiful! 

How many Sq/ft are these lawns? Sounds like we might be close to getting a cost/sq/ft to have it done professionally!


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I start at about $2500 per year for the first 1000 sq ft of lawn on a more than string trim and blow program. That includes reel cutting, trimming with rotary scissors, edging with a blade, and the full chemical program including PGR. Cost increases with shrubs and plant material under 10 ft on a trimming and chemical program. Not hard for a heavily landscaped 1/2 acre lot to be $8000 a year. Terms of service include dismissal of the irrigation person. I do not like changing diapers after those folks. They are good at burying pipes and wires, but do not have an adequate concept of the water needs of plants, never mind turf. Any irrigation work needed is of course not included in that annual price. I say annual because a lawn needs me 12 months out of the year. I try to average it out over a 12 month period because some months would cause sticker shock. Like the months when I am applying a lot of fungicides and nematicides.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

To preface this, I suck at math. But I hope the concept gets through.

At $15 hr, a full time yard worker would be by by $31,200 a year ($2,600 mo, $650 wk) . Plus the cost of chemicals. Also assuming you're have all the equipment necessary.

What's not factored in is wisdom, knowledge and experience. How many of us "don't know" something and spend hours a day or a week learning about it? What's that time worth?

It would be fun to see a "Level 10" neighborhood. Those 'hoods can afford a crew to crawl through reel-low.

I too would be interested in a cost per sq ft. But more interesting would be, is it scalable?

Quick! Someone make an app that we can input all our costs (time, wetware and hardware) to calc per sq ft and then see if it would scale from small to large yards.


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## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

Ware said:


> I think the cost for me would be directly proportional to the time I spend on the lawn. My chemical inputs are really minimal - much less than a lawn service would charge.


This is a nice, succinct way of putting it.
I'm the same....super minimalist with what I put on the lawn. The value for me would be somehow correspond to the time I put into the lawn.


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