We always hear “buy local” or “support local businesses” and you should with your local lawn care service provider too! Supporting local businesses allows for more money to stay in your area's economy and it creates more jobs for your community. There are many local professional lawn care companies in the area, but you still want to find the best local lawn care services, right? A great lawn care company should have awesome customer service, the treatments you need, and professional licensed lawn maintenance technicians. The beauty of the internet is that there are plenty of resources and tools for you to use on the world wide web to help you find out if a local lawn company is the real deal or not. Utilizing these resources will give you a better understanding of which local lawn care company is right for you!

Website

A website can say a lot about a company. On their website you can find their services, mission statement, the company’s story, customer testimonials, and more. Some lawn care companies offer free quotes, saving you some money and letting you get to know them risk free! Customer service is very important in lawn care. This company will be coming to your house many times throughout the summer so you will want to choose someone who will take care of you and your lawn. Look for care tips and blog posts on their website. These will come in handy for you during your service. This also shows that they care about you and taking care of your lawn.

Reviews

Checking reviews is a good way to find out if a lawn care company will work for you. Reviews are comments that past and current customers may write about a company and their services. Some reviews are good and some are not so good, but remember to read the reviews and interpret the words for yourself. Do not just look at the number of stars. Decide whether or not a negative or positive comment is important to you. You can look for reviews and ratings at the websites listed below:

Google Reviews

With Google reviews, anyone can leave a review just by searching for a business in the search bar and finding their Google Place. A Google Place is the info box with the map on it at the top, to the right of the search results. While reading the reviews from customers, you can also read the business's responses to reviews. When there is a negative review, the owner or a representative had two options. They can reply to the comment or they can ignore it. When companies reply to negative comments, it shows how they deal with problems for their customers. You may also filter reviews by most helpful, most recent, highest score and lowest score. This gives you the opportunity to find reviews that accurately fit the lawn care company’s level of service and a valid customer experience.

Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau is a private business that receives and filters customer reviews about companies. After they filter the reviews, they give the company a rating based on customer satisfaction. The highest rating is A+ and the lowest rating is an F. On their website, you can see their rating from the Better Business Bureau and you can read the reviews that customers have left on the website. The BBB also shows if the customer is verified to make sure the reviews are legitimate and reliable.

Facebook Reviews

Facebook reviews are a great way to see customer feedback of any business that has a Facebook page. With Facebook, you will be able to see how many stars a customer leaves for the company and the comments they leave. You can also filter reviews by most helpful, most recent, and star rating. On Facebook, others can interact with the reviews by liking or commenting on them. The owner can also interact with these reviews. Noting how the owner responds to Facebook reviews can give you some insight on how they handle their customer service.This is also a great place to look for reviews because, in order to be able to post a review on Facebook, the reviewer needs a profile. Having reviews being left by real profiles mean less fake reviews and more reliable reviews.

Licensing

Licensing is important in professional lawn care. A company that provides local lawn care services without a license could be lacking the knowledge to properly take care of your lawn. Licensed lawn care companies that apply pesticides attend trainings and testing sessions throughout the year. This assures the safe use of pesticides and can help prevent misuse mishandling. There are 30,000 licensed lawn care providers that apply pesticides in the state of Ohio. Finding a licensed local lawn care professional will give you peace of mind knowing your lawn will be safe.

Ohio Department of Agriculture

The Ohio Department of Agriculture is a great resource to use when searching for a licensed provider of local lawn care services. You can simply enter in the name of the local lawn care company you are considering and the Ohio Department of Agriculture database will show the address, county, and license category. Hiring a licensed lawn care service can be the difference between a healthy lawn and an unhealthy lawn so be sure to check for licensure before hiring!

Green Cha-Ching

Local lawn care service companies want to keep your lawn healthy, and you want to keep your bank account healthy. Get a few quotes or ask about pricing on the phone. If you like a company that is a little bit more expensive than others, you may be able to negotiate for a better price by telling them what the other companies price their service at. Avoid potential scams. Prices that seem too good to be true are probably not going to save you money in the long run. They may give you a great price on your first treatment, but down the road they could charge you higher prices after you have signed a contract. Speaking of contracts - be sure that you know what you are signing up for. Ask all the questions you may have. It is your lawn and money you are dealing with. Remember to ask for the TOTAL price of their lawn care services. Some companies may give you the application cost, but that is not what you will be paying.