Blog

Yard Care Tasks – Should You Do Them Yourself or Hire Someone Else?

Your yard can be the perfect place to hang out during the summer months if you keep it well maintained. The question is, should you do the maintenance work yourself or should you hire a professional to do it for you?

If you are trying to stick within a tight budget it can be tempting to try your hand at maintaining your yard yourself. However, this may not be a good idea if more complex or time-consuming tasks are involved. Let’s take a look at some of the more common yard maintenance tasks and the pros and cons of doing them yourself or hiring someone else.

Caring for your lawn

Having a pristine lawn is something that most homeowners dream of. However, it’s not always easy to keep a lawn in good condition. Tasks involved with lawn care include:

  • Mowing
  • Watering
  • Getting rid of weeds
  • Fertilizing
  • Overseeding

Even just the mowing aspect of lawn care can be a time-consuming task. However, if you have the time on your hands, mowing can be a good form of exercise. Caring for your lawn yourself can also be less expensive than hiring a professional, once you have invested in the equipment that you need.

You can see the benefits of DIY lawn care but there are also benefits of using a professional lawn care service. The major benefit is that reputable professionals will maintain your lawn in excellent condition. They will generally do a better job than you. Having them do the work also means that you have more time to concentrate on other household tasks or on social activities.

Cleaning the guttering on your home

The guttering on your home is there to serve an important purpose. It takes rainwater away from your home so that it does not cause any damage. If the guttering is broken or blocked water can get into your property and lead to problems with damp and mold. 

You should keep a check on the guttering on your home on a regular basis. Just taking a look up should allow you to see if there is a problem. If you think there is a problem you can try cleaning the guttering yourself. However, this may not be possible if you do not like the idea of climbing that high up a ladder. Hiring a professional to do the work means that you can avoid the stress and you can ensure that the job is completed effectively.

Landscaping your yard

The decision about whether to landscape your yard yourself or not depends on what you mean by landscaping. If you are simply looking at a change in the arrangement of plants or putting up simple fencing you may be able to save money by doing the work yourself.

However, if you are looking for a complete garden re-design it’s usually a better idea to hire a professional landscape designer. They have the expertise and experience to put to use to give you the finished result that you are looking for. If your re-design includes major work, such as building a swimming pool, you should hire a reputable landscape architect.

Maintaining your pool

Having a pool in your yard can be a real blessing, especially when the weather is warm. However, you need to be prepared for plenty of work if you want to maintain the pool yourself. Jobs you will need to carry out include:

  • Clearing debris from the pool on a daily basis.
  • Testing the pH of the water twice a week.
  • Testing chlorine levels twice a week.
  • Testing for dissolved solids once a month.
  • Cleaning the pump thoroughly twice each season.

You need to make sure that you get this maintenance right or swimming in the pool could be an unpleasant and unhealthy experience. Often, it’s easier to get someone to do the work for you although this is obviously more expensive.

You can see that there are some yard care tasks that you can easily do yourself. However, if you want to save time and make sure the job is done effectively, it often makes sense to seek help from a professional.

Show More

Related Articles

Back to top button