The green dream in front of the house only remains a green dream if it is mowed very regularly - but unfortunately the life of regularity can sometimes cause difficulties. If the new partner, the new job or, unfortunately, the completely new leg in a cast takes up the time that was reserved for mowing the lawn, outside help is needed. Having your lawn mowed by a professional is a good solution if the price is reasonable, and there are a few other options:
Hourly wage or m² price?
Seems to be a basic decision to be made before the search for the companies begins. But that's a little misleading, as all the considerations that need to be included in a price comparison show:
- The square meter prices start at 0.05 euros and end at around 0.50 euros (if you include all additional costs)
- The hourly wage starts at 8.84 euros (comprehensive minimum wage gross per hour) and goes up to around 20 euros
- How many square meters an employee creates per hour also depends on the lawnmower used
- There are lawn tractors, bar mowers and flail mowers, each in different mowing widths
- Each of these devices tackles the same lawn in a slightly different amount of time
- Some lawn mowers are better suited for large areas, some for small areas, some for hilly areas and some for smooth, flat areas
- The professional has different devices and also knows which device mows which type of lawn best
- But he has to pay completely different taxes and operating costs than a small business owner
- If clippings have to be disposed of outside the property, it must be clear whether this is possible and how the disposal is factored into the price
- The first cut of a lawn that has not been mowed for a long time can cost more than the regular follow-up cut
- Or not, if you sign a long-term care contract
- You can also have the scarifying and fertilizing done at the same time, of course it costs extra
Complete packages can seem very cheap, but they don't save you from having to think things through carefully. In general, you should know what exactly you are ordering, and if you “test mow” the property you have just purchased with a borrowed mower and a stopwatch in your hand (which, if in doubt, will save you extra costs for the “first cut”).
Overview of lawn mowing prices
On average, the following m² prices are quoted for mowing a lawn:
- For smaller areas up to 150 m², mowing costs 0.17 to 0.20 euros per m²
- Medium-sized areas of 150 to 1,500 m² are mowed for 0.11 to 0.16 euros per m²
- Large areas from 1,500 m² are freed from overgrowth from 0.05 euros per m²
- Disposal of green waste starts at 16 euros per m³
- Since a cubic meter is a lot, it depends on how and whether parts of a cubic meter are billed
- Travel costs can rise to fantastic heights, but with “sensible companies” they stay within the range of 10 to 50 euros, depending on the distance
Incidentally, these prices should only apply to accessible areas. If the lawnmower (your own or someone else's) is to be operated by hand, the costs increase in the m² price.
But there is also hourly wage billing, for which the following average prices can be set:
- Garden helpers without special knowledge: Between €10 and €15 per hour
- Garden helpers with specialist knowledge (e.g. trainee in the gardening): €12 to €18
- Gardener who can advise on care, fertilization etc.: 12, - up (open at the top, extends into garden design/landscape architecture)
It is doubtful whether the total costs in this case are really hardly manageable, which is why you should not agree to someone working for an hourly wage (as you can sometimes read in online articles about working for an hourly wage). If a company wants to get rich with household services that require personal contact and sends a number of employees into the area who, because they are underpaid, need three jobs and can hardly hold the lawnmower because they are so weak, they can do this even by charging per square meter. And anyone who knows the size of the area and looks at the clock when starting work can calculate what the costs are per hour or per square meter.
Tip:
Proximity of the company to your property is top priority for such contracts with recurring services. If the nursery next door offers garden services, they will be happy to send an employee over once a week without travel costs, who will then mow the towel in front of your house in no time and for a maximum of €20 net. If the “lawn mower” (which in this case means the device and the person operating it) has to be brought in by truck from the next larger city for a travel cost of €79, a hand lawn mower is used for €0.30 per m² due to poor access to the area and a 30 euros additional allowance for the bushes and the garden shed on the lawn is added, after mowing 100 m² you will have 140 euros on the clock (and start to think about whether you should let a meadow grow - what kind of temporary "“Mowing prevention” can be a sensible idea; meadow mowers and brush cutters are available from machine rental companies near hardware stores).
These facts should be asked for in the offer
Mowing the lawn is not the same as mowing the lawn, the following details should be discussed in the offer:
- In which units (time/area) is lawn mowing billed?
- Which device is used for mowing the lawn?
- Is there a better lawnmower for the lawn area to be worked (which the provider you requested may not have in use)?
- Does the clippings have to be disposed of separately? Is this taken into account in the offer?
- How are the prices staggered in relation to the area size?
- In which season is the lawn area to be worked on?
- Does the condition of the lawn have any effect on the cost?
- Is there a higher price for the first cut?
- How long does not mowing count as a first cut? 14 days, three weeks?
- Are hardship allowances calculated, e.g. B. for trees, bushes, play equipment on the property or for rough, hilly terrain/slopes?
- Is there a travel fee?
If possible, ask for a written price comparison first (by email). Then you can sort out in advance the providers who offer unrealistic fantasy prices without having to discuss with them why these fantasy prices are absolutely justified. In the second round there are (free) viewing appointments, which reputable service providers naturally offer because they need to see the lawn in order to be able to really calculate the amount of work and therefore the costs.
During this viewing appointment you will get to know the entrepreneur, the employee who works for you or both - and it makes perfect sense to go with your gut feeling and sympathy and not “blindly” choose the company with the best price-performance ratio to commission.
Tip:
If you want to spend a manageable amount of time e.g. For example, if you are “unable to mow” due to a limited physical limitation (leg cast, etc.), you may be able to fulfill a childhood dream: borrow a robotic lawnmower that you can operate yourself with minimal physical strain. A ride-on zero-turn mower with a working width of approx. 107 cm costs e.g. B. for 24 hours for 120, - €, is easy to maneuver, reaches high speeds, has a high mowing performance and makes mowing the lawn pure fun. If there is no machine rental service in your area, but there is a community organization that takes care of the needs of your settlement, perhaps they already have a ride-on mower in their shared machine park (or can be encouraged to purchase one)?
Price comparison
In summary, this means that in order to compare prices you would have to make a list that includes all the decisive factors. Only when this list has been completely filled out for each provider can you really compare “like with like”.
Hourly wages and price per square meter cannot be compared? Oh yes, because the provider with the price per square meter has to convey some idea of how many square meters he or his employees can handle per hour. This idea should also be clearly reflected in the contract, otherwise with your signature you would be giving the company the right to bill an employee who runs back and forth on your lawn with a lawnmower until he or she retires
Tip:
If you are one of the committed citizens who consciously question their consumption decisions, you want to hire a company that pays its employees “living wages”. Finding this out simply by searching is not yet possible today. The first advertising platforms in this direction are currently being considered, but it is not that easy to work out the appropriate criteria without socially committed companies having to “get naked” (in contrast to competitors who do not publish any company facts at all, happily ripping off people and laughing up your sleeves). But you can stick to companies that have proven when they were founded that they are not just working for themselves or “growth”: gGmbHs (non-profit GmbHs whose profits go to charitable purposes), workshops for employees with limited he alth, cooperatives (Profit is distributed among members), etc.
Be careful with dream prices
If lawn mowing is offered at an unusually low price, it will probably be too good to be true.
Such providers often work with unusually long contract texts or general terms and conditions, on page 97 of which a condition for the cheap price is listed that your lawn unfortunately does not meet (minimum lawn size, certain lawn condition, resourceful providers can certainly come up with completely different requirements for the low price comes to mind). For those of you with legal knowledge who now object that surprising clauses in general terms and conditions are ineffective: According to Section 305 c of the German Civil Code (BGB), it is not entirely certain that every revised district judge will find the time to read the general terms and conditions up to page 97 and the remaining 400 pages, with which the entrepreneur, who has now become a litigant, “slams” the court, really needs to be read.
It is not a rip-off if a provider does not work with a ride-on mower (lawn tractor) or does not work with the latest equipment at all. On the contrary, when in doubt, an old lawn mower says that this provider knows what he is doing; If the self-propelled vehicle would really be faster over large areas, this can still be adjusted via the price. And an old lawn mower doesn't necessarily have to have a dull cutting blade, but can also be looked after - right up to the old hand lawn mower with a self-sharpening blade (which works, and is no longer manufactured for that very reason) that the energetic trainee from the nursery next door uses to clean his lawn cuts cleanly in just a few minutes and for manageable euros.
Are lawn care contracts worth it?
If you have gathered all the facts beforehand and recorded how long you have been busy with regular lawn care yourself, maybe.
Because the current care contract is a mutual contract like any other, but the service provider has a calculable income available within the notice period and often rewards this security with a price reduction.
And what about the kid next door?
In a “normal neighborhood” where “normal social contact” is maintained, he would actually be the first person to be asked whether he would mow the lawn. Guaranteed short distances, the lawnmower is “operated with the exuberant strength of youth”, and you help a young person who wants to buy their own things get (perhaps their first) job.
Students are allowed to work part-time from the age of 13 (with the consent of their legal guardian) as long as the job is easy and suitable for children, § 5 JArbSchG. Please be sure to observe the legal framework here.
