Original research
Questions to ask a lawn care company, and the answers to walk away from
Mowing and chemical programs need different questions. Ask the set that matches what you are buying.
Find a Landscaping Company What it costs
Written by HyreYard Research Desk Research and fact checking
The short answer
Ask a lawn care company five things first: whoever applies fertilizer or pesticide is licensed by your state, the company carries liability insurance, every operation in a visit is written down, how the contract renews and how you cancel, and whether treatments follow a soil test or a fixed calendar. Those answers separate a crew that sells applications from one that solves your lawn’s problem.
Mowing and chemical lawn programs are different purchases. A mowing crew needs a clear visit scope and schedule.
A fertilizer and weed-control program involves pesticides, and states license the people who apply them for hire; Illinois Extension, for example, notes that hire-for-pay applicators must be certified and licensed by the state.
The questions below are split that way, each with the answer that should send you elsewhere.
Ask the same questions of every company you compare, and keep their answers in writing so the comparison is fair.
Questions for any lawn care company
Liability coverage protects you if equipment damages property or injures someone. Ask for the certificate sent from the insurer, naming you.
Mowing, edging, trimming, blowing and clipping removal can each be in or out. Get the list in writing. See lawn care contracts.
Per visit, seasonal or annual payments each shift risk differently. Ask what happens when weather cancels a visit.
Find the renewal notice date and any early-termination fee. A sale made at your home may fall under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, which gives three days to cancel certain door-to-door sales.
Ask whether crews are employees or subcontractors and whether the same crew returns.
A named contact and a response window settle complaints before they escalate.
Ask for two or three current customers with similar lawns, and check complaint records.
Extra questions for fertilizer and weed-control programs
Pesticides are registered federally under FIFRA, and states certify and license applicators. Ask for license numbers and check them with your state agriculture department.
South Portland’s guide for residents suggests asking whether a soil test comes first and choosing a company that fertilizes only when results show a need. See soil testing lawns gardens.
Michigan State Extension’s consumer guide lists application count, skipping and reapplication among questions to ask.
Ask for product names so you can read labels, and for notice before each application, especially with children, pets or a vegetable garden. See lawn chemical safety.
Spot treatment for actual weeds or pests uses less product than blanket calendar spraying.
Some towns limit pesticides. South Portland, Maine allows only certain organic lawn products citywide.
Ask whether they reapply at no charge and what the time window is.
The product label sets re-entry guidance. The applicator should know it and tell you.
Get it in writing before the first visit
Before the first visit, have in writing: the visit scope as a list, pricing shape and annual total, the renewal date and how to cancel, applicator license numbers for any chemical work, and the guarantee. Our landscaping estimates guide shows how to compare two quotes line by line.
Your inquiry
Tell us about the work
Nothing goes to a landscaping company unless you agree.
Free, with no obligation: a person at HyreYard reads your request and replies by email. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote, and nothing goes to a landscaping company unless you agree. If a tree or limb is on a power line, stay away and call the utility.
Find a Landscaping Company
One short form: your address and how to reach you. A person at HyreYard reads it and replies.
Questions
Does a lawn care company need a license?
What should be included in a lawn mowing visit?
Can I cancel a lawn care contract?
Should a lawn care company test my soil?
What are red flags when hiring lawn care?
Written and audited by
HyreYard Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a landscaping company. We read the statute, the municipal code, the water-district rule or the federal soil file ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. This desk is new.
The counts below are what we can already stand behind, and every one of them is counted from the studies on this site.
- 255
- source documents cited, each linked
- 112
- government (.gov) domains among them
- 258
- citations carrying a retrieval date
- 10
- research studies published
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. A rule comes from the statute, ordinance, board or agency that issued it, cited by section, with the URL and the retrieval date. We do not cite a blog that cites a code.
- Coverage is a number. A table titled to fifty states has fifty sourced rows. A table of cities is titled to the cities we actually read. Gaps are published as gaps.
- Company counts stay inside seven states. Texas, Arizona, Washington, California, Oregon, Florida and North Carolina. Texas is the largest roster on the weakest evidence, a self-reported NAICS sales-tax permit, because Texas licenses no landscaper. National claims rest on federal or state agency data, never on our counts.
- Fact, calculation, analysis and recommendation stay labeled. "According to…" is a source. "HyreYard analyzed… and calculated…" is ours. "This suggests…" is interpretation. We do not present our reading as something the source stated.
- We do not landscape, irrigate, plant, cut trees or pull permits, and we take no payment for placement, ranking or a favorable mention. Nobody buys a position on this site.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.