Is it really common to have a cleaner/lawn care?

[backontrack]

Jul 7, 2011 13:49:55 GMT -5 midjd said:

Slight hijack - those of you who have a cleaning service, is this a licensed/bonded agency, or just a person you pay to come in? Seems like it's common enough to be a good source of side income for some YM-ers *cough*Doxie*cough* but probably not if most of you are using agencies.

I decided on an agency. I was weary of having someone independent in our house alone. With the agency there are two cleaners at a time, a supervisor to check behind them, and I knwo that if anything is broken or missing I the agency will take care of it.

[swamp]

Jul 7, 2011 13:49:55 GMT -5 midjd said:

Slight hijack - those of you who have a cleaning service, is this a licensed/bonded agency, or just a person you pay to come in? Seems like it's common enough to be a good source of side income for some YM-ers *cough*Doxie*cough* but probably not if most of you are using agencies.

I hired my cleaning lady based on recommendations from my friends. I don't think there are any cleaning agencies near me. She's been doing it for years and comes highly recommended.

[robbase]

to answer the OP--I think it depends. I really should have had a lawn service this last year, but on principal I didn't do it.

just moved to Texas last year, and had my own lawnmower, edge trimmer, etc. from Maryland. Had no problems mowing and stuff in Maryland. Land was bigger in TX and also the freaking heat in the summer (had to get up at like 0600 to mow grass- what the hell?), but i reasoned since I had the equipment already and was moving in a year to just suck it up---I definitely regret it now - that would have been the best $90 a month I spent (and wouldn't have had to spend it during the short "winter" months either)

[spartan7886]

Our lawn guy is just an individual, but we use a licensed/bonded agency for cleaning. I would have been willing to go with an individual if I had a recommendation from someone I trust, but everyone we know well enough to ask locally has either a SAHW or small apartment, so there's nobody to ask.

[debtheaven]

We have a cleaner, but we do nearly all our own garden work.

Every few years we hire somebody to do major pruning. (I don't want DH on a stepladder / ladder / hanging from branches with a chainsaw.)

Everybody we know in our neighborhood is the same: cleaner (more or less often), no lawn service, hires out occasionally major garden maintenance.

Give us a few years and I'm sure everybody here will have "lawn service" too LOL.

I am in a HCOLA near Paris.

[dancinmama]

We've had gardeners ever since we relocated over 5 years ago to a home that is on a .4 acre lot. The original owners hired a landscape architect to design the gardens. DH is a corporate guy and has a longish commute and although he really enjoyed doing our yards at our previous home, we knew that he would not really have the time to do regular yard maintenance and wanted to make sure that the gardens were well taken care of. In spite of having the gardeners, I used to do putz A LOT outside (okay, a lot more than just putz), but carpel tunnel and vertigo have made it almost impossible for me to a lot anymore.

I used to also have a cleaning lady, but I gave her up after a couple of years. It was definitely a luxury and I decided that it was not worth the expense.

[Miss Tequila]

I don't do anything that I can pay someone to do for me...that sounds lazy...well, ok it is lazy but life is too short

[illinicheme]

Jul 8, 2011 20:46:13 GMT -5 @rj said:

Come on folks, I drove 200 miles a day and still had time to keep my own 1 acre lot up, what do you do, drink cocktails and talk shit all night?

We play a lot of WoW.

[dcmetrocrab]

To OPs question, it's very common in my area and circle of friends. The magic formula seems to be, if both parents are working and there is a young child(ren) and the home is larger than a 2 BDR apartment, there is a cleaning person at work. With the average commute here at an hour and most making 6 figures with the equivalent long hours involved, it's how they make time for the kids.

[Deleted]

Hockeygrl and Archie just made me wonder if most of us are violating the tax code here by not paying SS for our "employees."

I consider my guy an independent contractor. I pay him by check, and he runs a "service" with lots of customers. But I have no idea how/if he handles the tax part. I figured that was his business.

Now I'm wondering . . .

[DVM gone riding]

I would have both AND a pooper scooper person if I could justify it!! Its not that I can't "afford" it, its just that there are other things I think are more important--like savings, and IRAs and the like.

[formerexpat]

We have lawncare service. We have just shy of an acre of land. Rather than spending 4-6 hours mowing is the heat, plus edging, trimming shrubs and cleaning up, we use the lawn service. They come every 2 weeks, the lawn looks great. They use their professional lawn care equipment a couple guys and are done in an hour or so. We are not having to constantly buy lawn care equipment or repair mowers. To us it is worth the price.

This sounds like one of those math problems. If it takes two guys 1 hour to mow, edge, etc a one acre lawn, how long does it take for one guy? The answer isn't 4 - 6 hours.

It's not bad to have luxuries but don't make up lame excuses. Maintenance of a tractor & weed eater isn't that difficult either.

For us, we pay for a cleaner to come every two weeks and our lawn is taken care of through our association and included in the dues. We decided to buy a town home instead of a single family because I knew I did not want, or rather did not have the time to take care of the lawn myself.

[MN-Investor]

This sounds like one of those math problems. If it takes two guys 1 hour to mow, edge, etc a one acre lawn, how long does it take for one guy? The answer isn't 4 - 6 hours.

My bet is that the poster stating it takes 4-6 hours is like us and has a walk behind power mower. When you have a number of trees on the lawn, etc. it can be time consuming and very tiring to mow. The professionals have zero-turn radius riding lawn mowers which make very quick work of mowing. So yes, they can do it much quicker!

[Poppet]

I am thinking I need to get into the house cleaning biz.