45 bucks every week in McLean. .35 acres

OP, location matters. You’re going to pay more in an affluent area. Ask your neighbors who they use and get a couple of quotes to compare. The guy who does my yard also mows for half of the street so it’s easier for him.

We have a 15,000 sq ft lot in Fairfax county and pay $35/week. They are here for 20 minutes tops each visit and they also do 2 other houses on my street which I think keeps our rate low.

I pay $50 every 2 weeks for a half-acre lot in Rockville. There’s a fair amount of grass but also a lot of tiered beds created by the former owner. They mow, trim and edge every visit. I will pay separately for extra tasks like mulching.

I pay $35 a week for mowing and edging. My lot is .16 acres total. Takes 2 guys about 15 minutes. This is through a landscaping service.

Anonymous wrote:OP: First time homeowner, thanks for the kindness and advice.

The house is not very big, but the lot is. The house needs a lot of work. My husband also makes a similar income. We live very frugally.

Last year I quit the lawn company, bought the equipment and learned to mow myself (single mom). Even buying the equipment, I saved money last season. This season I am paying a neighborhood teenager $30/mow.

Anonymous wrote:OP: First time homeowner, thanks for the kindness and advice.

The house is not very big, but the lot is. The house needs a lot of work. My husband also makes a similar income. We live very frugally.

If that's the case, it sounds like you don't have spare money to burn and that money would be better spent on the house proper and you should buy a mower/trimmer and do this yourself. Don't get a self-propelled, get a push mower - cheaper and more reliable/fewer things to break. It's a little more work pushing but you're young and can skip the gym/workout for a day or two. For the price of 3 or 4 visits of your current guy, you'll have the equipment and be mowing for years. My yard is the same size and it never takes me more than an hour - longer when I trim but I don't do that every time.

OP: First time homeowner, thanks for the kindness and advice.

The house is not very big, but the lot is. The house needs a lot of work. My husband also makes a similar income. We live very frugally.

Anonymous wrote:OP: I just have no concept of what's reasonable is why I was asking. I assumed it would be in the $50-$80 for 2 hours of work. He said it would be $120 going forward for every two or three weeks.

I don't make $60/hour, but I also don't have the equipment.

$50-$80? - those are prices from 15-20 years ago or someone doing it every 5-6 days and so it doesn't take 2 hours.

He came the next day and it was a month's worth backlog/growth you need to remember factor that in.

IMO every 2 or 3 weeks in a typical May/June around here is too long between mowing - you want 7-10 days tops; 2 weeks or maybe 3 in Aug when it's hot and not raining.

You need to get a few more estimates to see if that $120 price in line or not - there are many other factors that go into the price than just sqft.

Not everything reduces down to a rate per hour - Wait until you have to have a plumber in to snake the main sewer line to the street and then come back here and post, lol.

I pay $38/week for mowing/edging on a similar sized lot in Arlington. It’s a service with multiple guys and they take maybe 30 minutes all in.

Anonymous wrote:OP: I just have no concept of what's reasonable is why I was asking. I assumed it would be in the $50-$80 for 2 hours of work. He said it would be $120 going forward for every two or three weeks.

I don't make $60/hour, but I also don't have the equipment.

$50-80 for two hours isn't reasonable these days. It's also the time to get to your house, gas, equipment, gas for the equipment, insurance, etc. How do you live in such a big house with that little income?

OP: I just have no concept of what's reasonable is why I was asking. I assumed it would be in the $50-$80 for 2 hours of work. He said it would be $120 going forward for every two or three weeks.

I don't make $60/hour, but I also don't have the equipment.

$175/month or $40/wk

Lets see - you had long/month growth grass, a prioritized request and it took him 2 hours to do...

It wouldn't be that amount every time if they were doing it regularly but it seems like a fair price given the particulars you've outlined.

I'm curious what price you could have paid for all this that didn't prompt you to think it was too much....

What's the going rate for lawn service these days? We just bought a house in Northwest DC and have about 7000 sq ft lot. It's our first ever lawn.

It took a guy 2 hours. It was $175. He was able to prioritize our request and come the next day. The grass was very tall, at least a month of growth. But seems like a lot.