It has been wet recently, but none of my neighbors lawns look like this. We all have companies that come and mow and edge for us. They mow and edge weekly.
Is it unreasonable to expect the drainage grate and water shutoff area are edged too?
Is it unreasonable to expect they clean off the driveway and sidewalk of the mud marks from their tires?
by Ok_Variation_9180
40 Comments
nah bro, that is definitely not acceptable š
Thatās pretty rough looking to be honest. Sometimes you have to mow when itās wet, but I think youāre right to be a little frustrated. Iād ask them if they turn in the driveway to at least sweep it off and ask about the additional edging work.
Theyāll either agree and do it, agree and not do it, or disagree. 2/3 scenarios you can get a new crew š¤£
Honestly, the ruts/damage in the yard would be more frustrating to me than the things you mentioned. Iāve never had a company mow my yard, but I know they have to mow on a schedule, so mowing wet probably comes with the territory. Iām not sure they would be required to edge the grate. If you want that done you might want to request it. I wouldnāt worry about the marks on the driveway. If itās been raining a lot that will more than likely wash away easily.
Not acceptable. Mowing the yard when itās that wet is not professional. For the edging Iād check what youāre paying for and what the contract says but that should definitely be included. Iād cancel them either way asap
Someone leave their shark in your yard?
I think they cut it too short & uneven. I donāt blame you for being dissatisfied.
Looks like they cut it in the rain, and did it fast.
Nope, not acceptable. There’s a difference between tracking and rutting. Tracking goes away pretty quickly but rutting doesn’t. They should’ve walked the turf first
RIP grass. Let us pray š
I run a lawn care company and the mower they used was too heavy for how saturated the ground is. Either shouldāve skipped or used a much lighter mower. Thatās why I always trim first cause it allows me to assess ground conditions before I put the mower on the property. My primary machine weighs over 800 pounds and wouldāve rutted up your yard way worse than that so on your yard I wouldāve had to use my smaller mower which weighs closer to 120 pounds. Most lawn guys mow first then trim so they may not realize itās to wet until itās to late and that point most will just send it lol
The horse on the plow is too well endowed
Itās āproā in the sense that you pay them but a kid in the neighborhood would do better since even he doesnāt want to mow when the grass is saturated.
There is a company that has a lock on our neighborhood. They charge a ridiculous amount and they come every week on the same day no matter if it just rained 2.5ā the night before. Their lawns all look awful now. In fact some of my neighbors have kind of asked if I have advice on how to improve theirs. Well, if you want to spend 0 hours a week and are willing to pay $75/week for cut and fert, not much. Maybe ask that one guy down the street that has a nicer lawn who his service is.
Just because they have a business doesn’t make them a professional.
Unacceptable. My parents fired three companies for doing this. I am poor and mow my own lawn, or I would fire people for doing this too.
Due to all the rain the machine sunk in. The lawn will recover. As an applicator you donāt know how saturated the lawn is till you get on it. Life finds a way. It will recover and mud washes off
This is why you have to take care of your own. In their defense, itās been raining so much everywhere they were probably backed up
As a professional applicator with a ride on machine, Iād be disappointed in leaving a property like this. I would have walked the property instead of riding it to prevent all of this.
Sometimes itās just too wet for the equipment.
The lawn will be fine and recover without issue though, so pick your battles. I would just say hey Iām not happy with this, please adjust in the future. If they donāt, find someone who will respect your property the way you do.
Not acceptable. Dudes are mowing lawns as fast as they can with no consideration for the saturated ground. They should def assess it before they mow it.
Kinda looks like a t (a crucifix) on the first picture
Super professional ruts!
If none of the neighbors yards look like this, why not use one of their vendors
I would not have let my guys onto that lawn. That said, sometimes we donāt have a choice. I have a clear āwe wonāt mow if it rains or we judge the ground too wetā policy but some homeowners insist they get mowed. They get my āok but we arenāt responsible for the damageā service.
Itās not a golf course. They arenāt going to trim around you draining grate and valve.
I don’t know where you live, but I know in my area this spring and summer has been the wettest I can remember and at a certain point it is the choice between letting grass grow too long or cutting your losses and mowing it wet which will leave those tire marks.
I still don’t think that looks like a great job, but I do defend the tire tracks.
Landscaping companies have too many yards to have the privilege of waiting for dryness. In turn this is what you get from them when the yard is wet and they canāt reschedule. The only way to avoid this is to do it yourself because then you can delay the mowing until the right conditions
How bad is the drainage at your house, Iāve got properties where I just expect this if it rained in the past 60 days because they refuse to do anything about the poor drainage
As a company owner myself, no this isnāt acceptable. We canāt always control every employee / crew though. Sometimes they do dumb shit.
Call and talk to the owner calmly and just tell them your problems and tell them you will send them photos. I guarantee if itās a reputable company they will make it right and have a talk with that crew.
This year has been extremely tough with rain everywhere it seems. I usually never leave mud tracks in a yard Iāll pull off it and come back but these last few weeks I havenāt had a choice in a few areas. We will still weed eat the area where it starts to track and thatās what they should have done instead of running back through that area and tracking / rutting it up.
Again pass it along to the owner, and let them know you understand it being wet / rain situation but ask them get the crew to take a little more care next time.
I don’t know what you’re paying them, but I’ll gladly ruin your lawn for half that.
Fire them.
It depends on how much you paid. However, if it was wet, they should have skipped for a few days to let it dry. Ask them not to mow it wet, and it should get better. And ask them to edge the drainage gate and water shutoff. Again, whether they edge those would likely depend on how much you are paying. If they are cheap, then no. If they are expensive, then they should have known to do it. Nonetheless, just tell them what you want done, and if they do not do it, then find someone else. It should be simple just to talk to them, and I do not think it is anything about which to be enraged.
Yeah my neighbors yard always has spots like this. They have hired like 6 different companies in 5 years and they all tear the hell out of the turf by mowing wet.
Mow it yourself if you want it done right, otherwise you gotta deal ĀÆā ā _ā (ā ćā )ā _ā /ā ĀÆ
Ran a mowing business for 20+ and never trimmed the water meter box or drain unless the customer asked for it. Seems like d of pointless to me but to each their down.
The ruts look like it was wet. So assuming it was their first time there and they didnt know the wet spots or it was raining for several days. Give the owner or manager a call. Things like this can nor.ally be solved easily
The good news is that it will recover.
But your lawn care company should have 1) mowed with a much lighter mower 2) called you beforehand to inform you of the conditions and let you decide whether or not you wanted them to mow 3) come back at a later date (which is damn near impossible once the entire field has been rained out).
You can try to get them to come back to ārepairā it with some topsoil. Depending on how they respond to your request, you can then decide whether to terminate services or give them a second chance. A good company will care about an unhappy customer and will try to resolve the issue.
As far as the tracks on the driveway, I personally feel itās a non-issue because this can happen in many other circumstances but I understand it can feel like another slight after theyāve rutted up your sod.
And Iāve *always* edged out grates, walking stones/pavers, meters, etc. But I was also the owner/operator and gave a shit. Iād often have to remind my employees that these little touches are what set us above our competitors.
You know you could just do its yourself.
If you want the best possible lawn you will have to mow it yourself. No company will do a better job than you if you really care and want to invest the time and effort into your lawn.
Just ask yourself – ādoes this look like it was taken care of by someone who is invested in their business and reputation?ā
Just the fact that youāre on here talking about it means that itās unacceptable work and the lawn company should make things right.
Stuff like this is why itās always better to pay a lil extra for the guy that fucking loves his job. And better yet, hopefully whoever is churning out this lazy excuse of what could loosely be called ālawn careā loses enough business to either change their ways or pick a job better suited to them
When I mowed yards for money as a kid (12-15yr), I never left anyoneās yard looking this way. My dad would have whooped my ass.
I mow all day everyday. This is a situation where the guys mowing get screwed either way. The customer complains that their lawn got skipped, seemingly ignoring the 3 previous days of rain we had, and then loses their mind when it inevitably ends up looking like that. I would say if they told you that would happen and you still told them to mow itās on you.
Landscaper for 15 years here. This is fucking unacceptable to me. Always walk your property first to assess wet areas. If too wet, skip. Customers would ALWAYS you rather skip than tear up a yard. My guys would be re-seeding and fixing those ruts for you. That also looks like fescue. Theyāre mowing too short. Unfortunately a lot of ālandscapersā are kids who donāt know any better.
It is a little unreasonable to ask them to wash off the mud markings. Sometimes shit happens. Itās part of the industry. But under no circumstances should they have mowed this wet anyways. Thatās where all your mud is coming from.
Grate area? Not unreasonable at all. We ALWAYS edge those areas and valve boxes. They should be doing that.
Again, a lot of ālandscapersā are kids with no experience. If theyāre lucky they might have a lead who knows that theyāre doing.
Overall, this is a really piss poor job. Those blades need to be sharpened or changed out. It looks like the deck may be uneven as well. If this was my lawn Iād be pretty disappointed.