I’m at the point of a crossroad. Do I finally go buy a riding lawnmower (with bagger) or do I hire-out the chore of performing weekly yardwork? The cheapest rider+bagger is about $1400 ($1750-1800 starting for John Deer), and this will cut and bag lawn clippings. A riding mower will only save me from walking the lawn in the summer’s heat (imagine 1PM, 90ºF and high humidity), and nothing for trimming, feeding, etc.
Hiring someone to do my yardwork can’t be cheap. Sure, Atlanta has about a million illegal day laborers, but none of them near me (25-35 miles away, since I’m deep into suburbia) and they to be hired for a day-job and not a couple of hours worth of work. If I find a small/large company its going to be $40-75 each visit, and with a Bermuda this means weekly mowing is a must. And the neighborhood kids are either lazy (spoiled) or wanting >$40 each visit for only mowing.
So, I have to wonder if spending $1800 up front is the right thing to do, or spending $1200-2400 yearly to have someone else do it. I’m getting too old to want to spend my free time doing yard work. I had joked for the past four years about getting the wife a rider so she ‘can help’, but the looks she gives me … 🙂
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That's what teenagers are for. :)
I cannot see paying a teenager almost as much as I make (per hour) for mowing the grass. They are asking for >$40 for two-hours of work.
Until a couple of years ago I lived in a small town in New York. The service that mowed my 1.1 acres charged $22 a mowing. They were a legitimate company with insurance. Since moving downstate I can't find anyone that reasonable. I can't find any $5 haircuts anymore, the cheapest place wants $10. So I finally bought a riding mower. It only takes 45 minutes and lets me wind down from work, so I don't mind.
Don't get the bagger, though. You can't send yard waste to the landfill, and if you pile the clippings in your yard they'll make a big stinky pile. It is much better for the lawn to set the mower for mulching anyway. That will return nutrients and organic matter to the soil.
Wayne, I think it is expectations more than anything. I've only seen one landscaping crew in five years not use a Latino crew. This means the landscaping company's labor charge is quite minimal, but this is never passed onto the consumer and the landscaper's 'expectation of what you should be affording (probably based on other people's willingness to pay ransom) is how the price the job. So, naturally, if landscapers charge $50-75/week then those lazy (ahem, spoiled) neighborhood kids think $40-50/week for just mowing is acceptable to demand.
No wonder highschoolers don't work at fast-food places anymore. BTW, the prices I mentioned include the bagger. I should also state that I found John Deer selling their bagger for <$310 while Lowes and Home Depot were selling the exact same item for $399.95! Isn't it nice that the illusion of a good deal is completely lost these days? And it was Home Depot that put my closest JD dealership out of business three summers ago by carrying every single JD residential model--now its only two models.
Ok, I'll get the rider and force-teach the wife to drive something else other than her her students.
I still say bag the bagger. There are only disadvantages to it.
How is an attached-bagger a disadvantage? In the past four seasons, trying to scalp the lawn, which is directly adjacent to other properties, is a monster to cut and collect my hand. If I let it just cut and fall to the ground it will invariably get re-cut (pseudo-mulching) and spread everywhere--especially since Spring brings winds.
Maybe I missed something about the drawbacks of a bagger. BTW, how would you remove +3" of dead Bermudagrass?
I don't know anything about Bermuda grass, we don't have it in New York. But the problem with a bagger is then, what do you do with a bag full of clippings? If it is piled up it makes a big, stinky mess and is unattractive. It can't be put out with the trash or taken to a landfill, so where would you drive it to? It could be composted, but that's work. Compost would be useful in beds and gardens, but not too useful in the lawn anyway.
The benefit of not removing the clippings is that they return nutrients and organic matter to the soil, reduce the need for water and fertilizer, and it saves time.
My sanitation company does handle yard waste, including grass clippings, branches, leaves, etc., but as a side charge. Fortunately, the company I am using is half the price of all of their competition so for a 1-2 month period I can easily absorb the additional costs therein ($30/month).
Besides, trying to successfully mulch 3" of dead grass and not have a thatching problem would be extremely difficult, no?
I've been grooming this fescue for 15 years with no bagger, put the clippings where they belong, right back on the lawn!