Hiring a lawn or property service: what to check first

Get the scope, the price and the terms in writing. Ask for proof of insurance, and if the company will put fertilizer or weed killer down, ask for the state license that covers it.

Then check what you can on your own. Florida runs public lookups for workers’ compensation coverage and for pest control licenses, so you don’t have to take anyone’s word for it.

The list below works for a single lawn, a rental you look after yourself, or a set of managed sites with a vendor file to fill.

UF/IFAS Extension’s checklist for hiring a landscape professional opens by asking whether they’re licensed and insured. For general liability cover, it says to ask for proof.

Proof usually means a certificate of insurance, or COI. Check that the business name on it matches the company you’re hiring, and that the policy dates cover the work.

Workers’ compensation follows its own rules. Florida’s Division of Workers’ Compensation says a non-construction business needs it once it has four or more employees, part-time included. In construction, the threshold is one.

Owners can sometimes opt themselves out. A corporate officer or LLC member who meets the state’s rules can file for an exemption. In a non-construction business, the state doesn’t count sole proprietors or partners as employees unless they choose to be covered.

So a small company may not be required to carry it. Ask, and if the answer’s yes, look the policy up in the state’s Proof of Coverage database. Owners who’ve opted out are in its separate exemption search.

“Mowing” can mean a quick pass or a full visit. Ask whether edging, string trimming and clearing the clippings are part of it, and get the answer in writing.

The UF/IFAS checklist lists a few signs of careful mowing worth asking about. Grass gets cut at the right height for its type, with no more than a third of its height taken off at once. Clippings stay off roads and sidewalks and out of storm drains.

A written scope should say what isn’t included, too. UF/IFAS’s model contract for community associations goes further, setting out how weather delays get rescheduled and how problems are reported. A single home won’t need all that, but the less that’s left to memory, the less there is to argue about.

Our lawn visits cover mowing, edging, string trimming, and blowing clippings off the driveway, walks and curbs. The details are on our lawn mowing page. On a recurring schedule, the included work is agreed before the first visit.

An agreement might run for a season, a year, or one visit at a time. Know which you’re signing and how much notice it takes to end it.

Ask when you pay, too: before the work, after each visit, or on a monthly bill. Find out which payment methods work and how invoices reach you.

If you won’t be there, agree how they’ll get in. That means a gate code or an unlocked gate, plus a word about pets, sprinkler heads or anything else to steer around.

Our own terms are short. There’s no long-term contract, and recurring service can be paused or cancelled anytime. You pay after the work’s done, by card, cash, check, Zelle or Venmo, with invoices by text or email. You don’t need to be home, as long as we can reach the property.

Looking after several sites? Our commercial page covers walk-throughs, the vendor paperwork and billing several properties on one invoice.