Frequently Asked Questions

HyreYard is an independent landscaping information resource and connection platform. We perform no outdoor work, we publish no average landscaping price because we hold no dataset of landscaping invoices, and we rate, rank and recommend no company. What follows are the questions we are actually asked, grouped by what you are trying to settle — the yard itself, the money, the rules, and how this site works.

Your yard

The questions that come before choosing anyone — diagnosis, timing, water and what to fix first.

What happens after I submit a landscaping enquiry?

We read the project type, the zip code and anything you noted, then follow up about next steps. Company matching is still being built, so this is not an instant dispatch line. You should hear from us about your question and, where we can, about connecting you with landscaping companies that serve your area. Your details are not sold, and no company receives them unless you agree.

Is there a charge to request landscaping quotes?

No. Submitting the form is free and does not commit you to a landscaping company, a design or a start date. You decide whether to talk to anyone and whether to hire.

How much does landscaping cost?

It depends far more on access, grading, drainage and base preparation than on the plants and pavers you can see. A patio on a flat lot with machine access and a patio behind a narrow gate on a slope are different projects at the same square footage. Ask for site preparation, base build-up and disposal as separate lines so bids become comparable.

Why does my grass keep thinning in the same spot?

Usually shade, compaction, drainage or the wrong grass for the conditions — not a lack of product. Turf needs more sun than most people assume, and areas under mature trees often do better as beds or ground cover than as perpetually failing lawn. A soil test and an honest look at light will tell you more than another treatment.

When should I seed or renovate my lawn?

It depends entirely on whether you have cool-season or warm-season grass, and the two have effectively opposite calendars. Doing the right task in the wrong season is the most common wasted spend in lawn care. Your state extension service publishes a regional calendar, and it is the authority worth following.

How often should I water?

Less often and more deeply than most people do, and early in the day. Frequent shallow watering produces shallow roots and a lawn that cannot cope with heat. Evening watering leaves foliage wet overnight and encourages disease. Check local restrictions first — many areas limit outdoor watering.

Do I need a permit for a patio or retaining wall?

Often for retaining walls above a certain height, for work that changes drainage or grade, and for anything in an easement. Patios at grade frequently do not require one, but this varies by jurisdiction and HOA. A call to the building department settles it, and it is free.

Why do pavers sink or shift?

Almost always the base. Insufficient depth of compacted aggregate, poor compaction, no edge restraint or water moving under the surface will move any paving regardless of how good the stone is. That is why the base specification — depth, compaction and edge restraint — belongs in the written scope.

Should I choose native plants?

They are usually a sound default. Plants adapted to local rainfall and soil generally need less water, less feeding and less replacement, which is a maintenance-cost argument as much as an environmental one. Native does not automatically mean maintenance-free, and it still has to suit the specific light and drainage of the spot.

Is it worth hiring a designer?

For a whole-yard project, usually. A plan lets three contractors bid the same thing, prevents the sequence errors that force rework, and stops a yard becoming a series of unrelated purchases. For a single job like a lawn renovation or a fence line, it is generally unnecessary.

How do I know if a tree needs work?

Dead limbs over a structure or path, large cracks, fungal growth at the base, sudden lean, or roots being disturbed by construction all warrant a look from a certified arborist. Avoid anyone who proposes topping a tree — reducing height by cutting through the crown damages it and produces weakly attached regrowth.

What should I do first in a brand new yard?

Fix soil and drainage. Builder’s lawns are frequently thin topsoil over compacted subsoil, and water often has nowhere sensible to go. Correcting both before planting is far cheaper than doing it around established beds, and it determines everything that follows.

Money

Why there is no price on this site, and what to do with the numbers you are actually given.

Why is there no average landscaping price on this site?

Because we hold no dataset of landscaping invoices, and because a national average for outdoor work would mislead more than it helped. Access, soil, grade and disposal move these numbers by factors rather than percentages — a small patio behind a 36-inch gate on a slope can genuinely cost more than a large one on flat ground with a driveway to the site. What we publish instead is the arithmetic on what landscaping costs and twelve calculators that take your numbers and your quoted rates.

Two bids for the same patio differ by forty percent. Is one of them a scam?

Often neither. It is entirely possible for both to be honest and for them to be quoting different projects — one building a compacted aggregate base on a compacted subgrade with edge restraint, the other laying pavers on a couple of inches of screenings. You cannot tell them apart from a photograph and you will not be able to tell them apart in year one either. Ask both for the base depth, the compaction and the edge restraint in writing and the two numbers usually start to make sense. That is what the base specification is for.

Should I pay a deposit?

A deposit for materials on a project of any size is normal practice in this trade. What is worth being careful about is the proportion, the timing and what it buys: a deposit that covers most of the project before anything is delivered, pressure to pay in cash, or a payment schedule with no link to milestones are all worth slowing down for. Ask what the deposit is for specifically, and get it written on the contract rather than agreed on a doorstep.

Is a maintenance contract worth it?

It depends entirely on whether you would otherwise do the work, and on what the contract actually includes. The thing worth knowing before you sign is that the two variables that most change turf quality — mowing height and watering depth — are free and they are largely yours rather than the contractor’s. The clauses to read twice, including auto-renewal and the cancellation window, are on lawn care contracts.

Permits, chemicals and safety

The parts with a rule attached. Local authority beats anything written here, including this page.

Do I need a permit for my project?

Often for a retaining wall above a threshold height, for work that changes drainage or grade, for anything in an easement, and sometimes for removing a tree. Patios at grade frequently do not require one. Two cautions. First, the wall threshold in the model code is measured from the bottom of the footing, not from the ground you are standing on, so a wall showing three and a half feet of face can already be over it. Second, a permit exemption is not permission: it does not waive zoning, a setback, an easement or a homeowners association covenant. Our permit threshold study and tree removal rules cover the detail, and a call to the building department settles it for free.

Is it safe to have chemicals applied with children or pets in the house?

That is a question for the product label and for the licensed applicator, not for us — we recommend no product, rate or programme. What we can tell you is what to ask: the product name and EPA registration number, the re-entry interval, whether a notice will be posted, and what to do about vegetable beds, a well, a pond or a pet that grazes. A pesticide label is a legally enforceable document, and the detail is on lawn chemicals, licensing and labels. If you think someone has been exposed, call Poison Control on 1-800-222-1222.

A tree limb is touching a power line. Who do I call?

Your utility, not a tree company, and keep everyone away from it including pets. Work near energised conductors is regulated, specialised and not something to arrange through a general landscaping quote. Once the utility has dealt with the line, the rest of the tree is an ordinary arboricultural job — see tree service and pruning.

Do I have to call 811 before digging?

In the United States, calling 811 before you dig is free and in most states it is a legal requirement — for you as well as for a contractor. It is worth asking explicitly who is making the call and when, because "we always do" is not the same as it having been done. A struck gas or fibre line is an expensive and occasionally dangerous way to discover the answer.

HyreYard itself

Who publishes this, how it is paid for, and what happens to your details.

Is HyreYard a landscaping company?

No. We plant nothing, grade nothing, build no wall, cut no tree, install no irrigation, apply no chemical and pull no permit. We are an independent information resource and, in time, a connection platform. Every page here is written so that you can judge the company that does the work.

How do you make money?

We expect to earn revenue from landscaping companies for introducing homeowners who asked to be introduced. It is not live yet. It will be disclosed where it applies, it will not change what these pages say about base depth, drainage or plant choice, and it will not create a ranking, because there is no ranking here. Homeowners are never charged. The detail is on about HyreYard.

Do you rate or recommend landscaping companies?

No, and we hold a standing promise not to. This site will not describe any company as trusted, vetted, approved, certified or recommended while that is not something we have established. How we vet professionals lists exactly which checks are performed today and which openly are not, with the unperformed ones shown as unperformed rather than implied.

What happens to my details if I send an enquiry?

They are used to answer it and, with your agreement, to make an introduction. They are not sold, not entered into a lead auction, and not passed to any company you have not agreed to. Our lead quality standard sets out the rules, and the privacy policy covers what is stored and how to have it deleted.

Who writes these pages?

An organisational research desk, not a roster of invented people. There are no author personas, stock portraits or claimed years of experience anywhere on this site, because the credibility of a page should rest on the sources cited and the retrieval dates beside them. Where a figure is ours rather than a source’s, it is labelled as ours.

Something not answered here?

The twelve service pages each carry their own questions specific to that job, and the research studies answer the ones that need a statute, an ordinance or a federal soil file behind them. If it is still not there, ask us — and if something on this site is wrong, the corrections route on that page is the one we want you to use.