Here's a little insight into how I come up with my pricing for lawn care and lawn maintenance services. Number one, I know my overhead and direct costs to operate the business. Second, I know the time involved in completing the tasks we provide as part of our service. And finally, I know the profit margin I would like to have in order to operate a succesful business.

Pricing for lawn care treatments is easy- its solely based on the square footage of your turf area. Lawn maintenance can get a little more complicated- its based on the time needed to service the property in a way that will meet and exceed your expectations. Factors such as leaf volume, detail work required, gated areas that require small equipment, etc all effect pricing.

Our prices usually end up being right around industry average for quality, established lawn service companies.

Most of our customers are paying anywhere from $120 to $200 per month for lawn maintenance service; depending on the size of their property, leaf volume, and the level of service they are looking for. Its very important for us to price our services correctly; if we're too low we don't realize a profit and eventually the service suffers, too high and we lose business to a more reasonably priced competitor. 

The most common story I hear from a prospective client who is thinking about switching lawn services is that their current service provider started out great, then gradually were not responsive to requests and the property started to decline. If they happen to be surprised that we are higher priced, I have to point out that if their current company was pricing them correctly and making a profit they would probably be bending over backwards to satisfy them and exceed expectations- just like we do for our clients. 

So yes, you can always find it cheaper. But when you want a company that knows how to balance quality service at a fair price, give Whitehouse Lawns a try! 

By maintaining a profitable business, we won’t need to cut corners, rush through the schedule, and can continue to use premium products. Almost every time I talk to a new prospect who is unhappy with their current lawn care provider, it turns out they are getting a very very good deal on pricing. I know exactly how to price my service so that I can make a profit and go above and beyond service expectations. You will always be able to find a cheaper priced lawn service than us, but I believe we serve our customers better than anyone in any industry! 

Being efficient means that we can focus on the tasks that are most important to you.

This is where I need your help– I need to identify those the tasks that we are falling short on so I can make sure they are top priority.  Rather than make a guess and do things the way I want to do them, I figure it makes sense to ask you directly for your input. Your constructive criticisms could be the most important tool I have to improve my service.  And don't hold anything back or sugarcoat anything, I promise my feelings won't get hurt. If you can think of anything we can do to improve please let me know, then sit back and watch as we proceed to get better and exceed your expectations.    

This is also a good time for me to get any positive comments about your experience with Whitehouse Lawns. It does feel good to get positive feedback and its great motivation for my employees when I tell them you think they are doing a great job. Also, customer testimonials are a fantastic marketing tool for me to offer “proof” to new prospects, so I might use your comments on the website or marketing materials.

I can’t say this enough, thank you for your business over the the last 14 years and in the future.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for being a client. I always take time to reflect (especially this time of year) on all the great people and experiences I have in my life, and many of them are directly related to you. My personal interactions with you are extremely gratifying; getting to know your families, working with your charities, and hopefully satisfying your expectations for the business we do together. The business allows me to support my family very well and I know I need to continue to over-deliver value to sustain that. So I thank you and wish the very best to you and your families this holiday season!

Please let me know if there is ANYTHING I can do to help you out, as a friend or a landscaper.

Holiday schedule update: as the leaves begin to slow down, the frequency of our visits will also. And we may not be there on a regular day. Once again, our goal is to have properties looking clean and neat for the holidays. Please let me know if you have a special event planned that might require our extra attention or a scheduled maintenance visit.

Ben Whitehouse

This turned out to be a “just ok” Fall for lawn renovations. We really did not get enough good steady rains to really make the germination rates go up. We’ve been continuing to spot seed areas that need to fill in and hopefully have a couple more weeks of good weather to get that seed germinated. If you still have any areas that you are concerned with by mid-November, please let me know so we can come up with the right solution. Right now our biggest challenge is being careful with the new grass and not mowing when its too wet. Unless we have discussed areas that you are still trying to get to germinate, you should be back to a regular watering schedule of 2-3 days per week, one time per day, for a deeper  watering. By mid-late November you will be ready to shut down and winterize your irrigation system (see page 2).

Next up is leaf season! Our maintenance priority will begin to focus on leaf cleanup over the next few weeks, and this will go on through December and usually into January until all trees are clear. We will start by picking leaves up from turf areas on each maintenance visit, and then cleaning out beds where applicable once most of the leaves are down. As always, we will have every residential property cleaned up the week of Thanksgiving and looking as good as possible for the holidays so you can be proud of your landscape when you celebrate with friends and family. The only thing that throws a wrench in that plan is if we have rain during Thanksgiving week. Please let me know if you have any special events planned that you want a maintenance and leaf cleanup scheduled for.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you for being a client of mine. I feel extremely lucky and blessed to be associated with you and I look forward to many years of beautiful landscapes and positive relationships.

Please let me know if there is any way I can improve my service for you.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving, Ben

Now back to reality... Overall we've had decent rainfall, but along with that comes brown patch fungus, nutsedge, and other grassy weed breakthroughs. We are furiously spraying fungicide for our Premium Lawn Care customers to control brown patch fungus. Spraying nutsedge and crabgrass is a little trickier. For one, the herbicide can damage the Fescue grass if its too hot. In addition, the herbicide needs to stay dry for 24 hours to really kick in. So it can be difficult to find days to spray weeds that are dry enough and not too hot right now. But that goes along with the joys of summer lawn care!

As always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions about watering, lawn diseases, lawn care treatments, weeds, or the mowing schedule.

Thanks, Ben

We have started our shrub trimming schedule and will be getting to everyone who has requested shrub trimming over the next few weeks. If you would like your shrubs taken care of for a special occasion or a certain date please let me know, otherwise we will come by as you fall on the shrub trimming schedule this month.

The next item that will need special attention this month is treating lawns for Brown Patch Fungus. Its usually mid to late June when we see the first signs of fungus on the lawn, but it looks like it could start early this year with the mild weather. Heat, humidity, and thunderstorms will bring on ideal conditions for Brown Patch to thrive and we usually start seeing the lesions on the grass blades right after we get a batch of evening thunderstorms followed by a 90 degree day. Once again this could be a summer where Brown Patch could do some severe damage to lawns if not treated. Everyone on the Premium Lawn Care Program is getting a fungicide treatment at the end of May/first week of June.

Water management is very important this time of year for a few reasons. The lawn needs extra water as we get into the hot season, but over-watering is a big mistake because its expensive and will cause brown patch fungus– even with the fungicide treatments we do. Since most irrigation systems run at night or early morning, we usually don’t think about them and don’t catch issues until the damage is done. I highly suggest taking the time to audit your system every few weeks– turn on each zone and walk around checking each head or drip area. Are the heads rotating correctly? Are all areas getting covered properly with water and not watering into the street (a simple nozzle change could adjust the amount of water and distance for a sprinkler head)? Are there any noticeable leaks? Do any areas look stressed from lack of water? Doing an irrigation audit regularly can save you money on your water bill and save your plants and turf from stress. Please let me know if you find any irrigation issues you need addressed or if you want help with your irrigation audit.  

Thanks, Ben

One theory that is building steam is that the warm winter (4th warmest winter on record!) will result in insect infestations greater than we have seen in the past. I talked about this with a buddy of mine at the NCSU Horticulture school and the experts think that insect levels will remain average, but we will see activity earlier in the season from fire ants, Japanese beetles, and other common insects we see in the landscape. So we will be on the lookout and ready to treat when needed.

It looks like weed control will be much more intense this year as well. We have gone through almost twice as much Round Up as we normally do this time of year, and I have already seen crabgrass breakthrough in full sun areas, as well as nutsedge.

We never know what Mother Nature has in store and how it will affect our landscapes. Forecasting and reacting to the changing weather patterns definitely keeps us on our toes and sometimes presents some big challenges for our industry. I've always put an emphasis on continued education for myself and my employees so we can provide the best service to our customers and stay ahead of the competition. 

I hope you can break through the pollen this Spring and enjoy your landscape. We have a big event coming up as my little girl turns 9 and runs in her first 5k race!  

We will be starting the regular maintenance visits in March as we start to warm up and the turf enters its growing season. The grass usually does not need to be cut every week in March so we will be focusing on cleaning up the main beds of your landscape, picking up any leftover leaves, picking up gumballs (I hate em!), and any leftover debris from the winter storms. Let me know if you have any other items you want taken care of.

First off, running a regular schedule is always a challenge as we go through spring. Life is a heckuvalot easier for everyone when we can come on the same day every week. Unfortunately, it almost never works out that way in March and April. 1 day of rain will throw us off but is pretty easy to make up during the week. 2 days or more of rain can create some challenges. If we have not made it to your house on your regular day and have had frequent rain, we will usually get there on the next day (this might be Saturday if you’re a Friday visit). We will try to give you a call or email to let you know your status if it will be more than 2 days. We will settle in to your regular mowing day of the week as soon as possible. 

We are also very conscious of damaging the turf when working in wet weather. There may be times when we need to skip areas that are really wet, or use smaller equipment if time allows. I’d rather be overly cautious than damage turf at the beginning of the season.

I will be making some changes to the delivery of the In Bloom newsletter. Communication is a major key to success in this business and the monthly newsletter has been a fantastic communication tool. I put a lot of time in creating content for the newsletter, printing, and delivering because I feel its important to keep you informed. However, I can’t ignore the cost of producing a paper newsletter and getting it delivered on time vs. the ease and no cost of using email. So I’d like to take advantage of some new tools available and turn In Bloom into a monthly email newsletter. This will save a lot of time and money for me and I think it will streamline the delivery process. I know it can be a pain for some to spend more time with email, but I ask that you please give this a try. I will keep the number of emails to a minimum and only include information that is important for you to know and will be of value to you.

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The next 2-3 weeks we will primarily be pruning crepe myrtles, completing a couple of sheduled projects and make another round of maintenance visits in February. If you have an event coming up, friends or family visiting, just want the property spruced up, or if you have a landscape project in mind please let me know. This is a great time to plan and complete any outdoor projects for your property.

Thanks, Ben