Services
What goes into a September visit
Each job is priced by the lawn it's done on. The estimate names what goes in, in the order it happens.
Core aeration
Hollow tines pull out plugs of soil, one pass or two. Red clay and heavy foot traffic get two.
Plugs left on the lawn to break down
Flags on sprinkler heads you point out
Fenced yards through any gate wide enough
Overseeding
Tall fescue seed in a blend named on the estimate, spread by the pound per 1,000 square feet.
Seed blend and rate in writing
Lawns that are thin get more seed than lawns that are patchy
Slit seeding
A machine cuts shallow grooves and drops the seed in them. Good for lawns that don't need cores.
Often paired with a light dethatch
Used when the soil is already loose
Dethatching
A power rake pulls dead grass out of the lawn. We do it only when the mat is thick enough to matter.
Checked with a probe at the visit
Raked up and hauled, or left in a pile for you
Starter fertilizer and lime
Fertilizer made for new seed, and lime when a soil test says the ground runs acid.
Amounts follow your soil test
No weed spraying: we are not a spray company
Watering plan
A one-page plan with times and minutes for the first month. We go over it before we leave.
Works with a sprinkler or a hose
Tells you when to stop and when to mow
How pricing works
How an overseed gets its price
What decides the price
Raleigh lawns run from a quarter acre of Knightdale clay to a Holly Springs cul-de-sac. Size, soil and how thin the grass is move the number more than anything else.
Square feet of lawn
Slopes, fences and gates the aerator has to get past
How hard the soil is: red clay can need an extra pass
How thin the lawn is, which sets how much seed goes down
Whether a thatch mat has to be pulled first
What the estimate includes, and what it doesn't
The written estimate names each pass, the seed blend, the pounds per 1,000 square feet, the starter fertilizer and a watering plan for the first month.
Left out: sprinkler repair
Left out: grading low spots
Left out: sod, and any weed or crabgrass spraying
What happens at the visit
Sandra or Owen walks the lawn, pushes a probe into the soil, measures the beds and the slope, and checks what grass you have. It takes about twenty minutes and you do not need to be home.
When you get the number
In writing, before a date is set. If the lawn turns out different from what we saw, we stop and call before anything is added.
How and when you pay
You pay when the seed is down and we have walked the lawn together. The owner fills in the payment methods here.
If the job changes
More thatch or harder clay than we saw at the visit means another pass or another bag of seed. Nothing is added to the number without your yes first.
What a visit covers
Do you aerate bermuda or zoysia?
We aerate them, but not in the fall. Warm-season grass wants its core aeration in late spring, and we only book fescue overseeding.
Do you spray for weeds or crabgrass?
No. We don't spray herbicides, so we can't seed and spray in the same visit. Crabgrass preventer and seed also don't mix, and we'll tell you which one your lawn needs this year.
What about my irrigation system?
We flag the heads you point out and avoid the lines we can see. We don't repair sprinklers; a break we cause is on us and we'll say so before we leave.
Seed has a window. Pick a slot in it.
Send the address and a photo of the lawn. The visit comes first, then the written estimate, then a date.