Click HERE to watch a video about the 6 steps to choosing the right lawn care company.
Step 1:
Decide what services you are looking for. Are you looking for a company that will help keep the weeds at bay and make your lawn green? Or, are you looking to get all of your outdoor maintenance needs taken care of?
We recommend choosing a company that can take care of every service you are looking for. This way, instead of shopping around and signing up with different companies for every service, you can just choose one and make life simple.
Step 2:
What level of service are you looking for? There is an old saying in the home service space that you can have things two of three ways… Good, Fast, or Cheap. What is important to you?
We recommend choosing a company that fits you and your budget. The only words of warning we will give are “Pay to get it done right or pay to get it done twice.”
Step 3:
Begin your search for a company. The easiest way to find a company is through referrals and asking family and friends for recommendations. After that, research online for a local company and look at their ratings, testimonials, and reviews to assess the quality of their service. Check out their website/social media and see if they do work or projects just like yours regularly.
Once you find a company that might be a fit, we recommend either heading over to their website and filling out an estimate request form, or calling and asking for an estimate. This first impression tells you A LOT about the company. When you fill out the form do they have the technology to give you an estimate online? Do they call back quickly? When you call, do they pick up the phone? (it's sad to say, but some companies do not.)
Step 4:
Congratulations, you have found a company you might want to work with! They made a good first impression, and are about to give you a quote. The next important step is to check and make sure they are licensed and insured.
How professional homeowners check for insurance and licensing:
If the company you are talking with offers fertilization or pest control, in PA, they must have a BU (Business Unit) Number with the Bureau Of Plant Industry. Great news, in order to get a BU number the company needs to provide proof of insurance.
If the company you are talking with offers landscape services (over $600) they will need to have a PA HIC (Home Improvement Contractor) license. Once again, the state does the leg work for you and the company must have insurance to renew their license.
If the company you are talking with only offers lawn mowing services, you will need to ask for a certificate of insurance because there is no licensing through the state.
Website to Search BU Numbers (Pesticide License) https://www.paplants.pa.gov/PesticideApplicator/ApplicatorExternalSearch.aspx
Website to search PA HIC Numbers (Jobs over $600)
https://hicsearch.attorneygeneral.gov/
The only other insurance that is very very important for you as a homeowner is their worker's compensation insurance. If a company does not have worker's compensation insurance and an employee gets hurt on your property, that employee can actually sue you, the homeowner.
Step 5:
Is this the company you would like to partner with for your lawn care needs? Switching your company every year would be a huge pain. This company must have values that match your own.
We recommend asking as many questions as possible to see how they do business. For example: if they are easy to work with, how they communicate, what type of people do they have on staff.
Step 6:
Satisfaction guarantee: The best companies offer a satisfaction guarantee or a warranty of some sort. Look for a company that stands behind its work and doesn’t ghost you if a problem arises.
Bonus Section:
Our favorite questions to ask lawn care professionals:
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Licensed & Insured
PA Home Improvement License #PA160766
PA Applicators License #BU14834
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