Recommended: Mow Your Lawn Lower Than Usual At 1
- Try to mow one or two days before we arrive and make it lower than usual. We recommend you set the mowing height to 1-1/2 . This will get the lawn low enough without scalping it.
- Mowing low makes both aeration and seeding more effective.
- Clean up any leaves, trash or other debris which might interfere with the aeration.
If You Are Adding Aeration Services This Year Make Sure You Have Consider Pricing And Profitability
Pricing can be difficult. Pricing can be even more difficult if youve never offered a service before.
As a business owner, getting pricing right means the difference between having a profitable company or going out of business. Adding on services will help grow your client base and your company when charging the right amount.
A member on LawnSite.com asked other members how to determine the right pricing when adding a new service to his company. See what they had to say.
millennium_123: Im starting aerating this year and Im not sure what to charge for that. Suggestions? I was thinking a starting price of $45 to $50? However, I have a few really small lawns that I mow for $25. I may only charge $35ish for those. Also, should I mow/scalp before or after aerating?
I MOW ALONE: Usually three times the cost, so cut = $25 aerate = $75. So, youre really low.
cody417: Fifteen dollars per 1,000 square feet to core-aerate in two directions does not include seeding or fertilizing.
JohnnyRocker: Yeah, dont work too hard for too little. I usually charge $75 for aeration alone. I charged $240 for aerate, seed and fertilizer all day long last season. Ive seen bigger companies charging $300 for that plus lime. Just make sure you do a thorough job on your aerating, and they will have no problem paying you money for a job done right. And, if they dont want to pay, then they cant afford your services, and move on. Good luck.
How To Aerate Your Yard
If you’re convinced that your lawn is in need of aeration, here are some lawn care tips on how to do it:
- Before you get started, make sure the soil is moist enough. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to aerate soil that is bone dry. Aerating the day after a rain shower or watering your lawn the day before is advised.
- Most aeration machines cover only a small percentage of soil surface per pass, so make multiple passes over the most compacted areas. Save resources by leaving unaffected areas alone
- The excavated soil plugs should be allowed to dry and then broken up to give your lawn a uniform, clean appearance. Break them up by running them over with a lawn mower or pounding them with the back of a rake.
- An aeration myth is that if you apply a pre-emergent herbicide on your lawn in the spring, aerating your lawn will destroy the herbicide “barrier.” This is not true research shows that aeration will not affect crabgrass control or weed prevention.
- After aerating, it’s important to continue basic lawn care practices such as proper fertilizing, mowing and watering.
Aeration is a beneficial practice toward achieving a beautiful lawn, but most people don’t realize it or understand the process. If your lawn is a candidate, make it an integral part of your lawn care regime. Your lawn will thank you for letting it breathe again.
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Professional Lawn Aeration Costs
If you hire a lawn care company to do the job, they may charge by the hour or the square foot. Or, they may set a flat rate for every quarter acre. Professional lawn aeration service costs, on average, about $15 to $17 per thousand square feet. For a 5,000 square-foot lawn, that adds up to between $75 and $85. Companies that charge an hourly rate usually want $15 to $32 per hour, so the total cost can vary depending on the size of the yard and the job’s complexity.
How To Cut The Cost Of Lawn Aeration
Having a lovely lawn shouldnt break the bankand it wont if you keep up with lawn irrigation and upkeep. Keeping turf grass healthy is easier, and less expensive, than attempting to recover it if its weak or injured, so stick to a regular watering, mowing, and fertilizing plan. Even further, annual lawn aeration is an additional cost to consider if you want to keep your grass looking green. Try these suggestions to get the most bang for your buck.
Obtain many estimates. Make it clear to the lawn service that youre searching for numerous estimates straight away. When a firm knows youll be contacting other businesses, theyll be more inclined to give you a better price. Even if youve previously used the business for lawn care, let them know youre expecting their best pricing and that youre collecting other quotes.
Make an all-inclusive offer. If a client is eager to hire them for more projects, it makes sense for businesses to reduce their rates on certain services. By negotiating an agreement with the business for continuing lawn maintenance, such as mowing, tree trimming, and overseeding, you may be able to save up to 20% or more off the normal price for lawn aeration.
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Cost To Aerate A Lawn
These estimates are for BASIC work performed in serviceable conditions by qualified trade professionals using MID GRADE materials. Work not mentioned on this page and/or work using master craftsman, premium materials and project supervision will result in HIGHER COSTS!
These estimates are NOT substitutes for written quotes from trade professionals. Homewyse strongly recommends that you contact reputable professionals for accurate assessments of work required and costs for your project – before making any decisions or commitments.
The cost estimate includes:
- Costs for local material / equipment delivery to and service provider transportation to and from the job site.
- Costs to prepare the worksite for Lawn Aeration, including costs to protect existing structure, finishes, materials and components.
- Labor setup time, mobilization time and minimum hourly charges that are commonly included for small Lawn Aeration jobs.
The cost estimate does NOT include:
How Much Does It Cost To Aerate My Lawn
4.3/5The cost to aerate your lawnlawnThe average lawnthe average aeration costlawnaeratelawn
No, it’s not necessary to aerate your lawn every year, especially if your grass is healthy and thriving. Aeration is good if you‘ve got compacted, poor or clay-heavy soil that’s been impacted by heavy equipment or lots of foot traffic. Always do “core aeration,” which involves a machine that removes plugs of soil.
Secondly, what is the best way to aerate your lawn? Before You AeratePeiffer says the best aerating machines are those with hollow, metal tines that penetrate the ground and pull plugs of soil from the lawn. You can help the tines penetrate deeper by watering your lawn one to two days prior to areating. Apply about an inch of water to the grass.
In this manner, how much should aeration and overseeding cost?
A good rule of thumb is to charge for aeration, overseeding and fertilization about twice what you’d charge for aeration alone, so, if you charge $75 to aerate a lawn smaller than 5,000 square feet, you’ll charge $150 to aerate, overseed and fertilize that same lawn.
What is the best time to aerate your yard?
The best time for aeration is during the growing season, when the grass can heal and fill in any open areas after soil plugs are removed. Ideally, aerate the lawn with cool season grass in the early spring or fall and those with warm season grass in the late spring.
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Cons Of Liquid Aeration
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Doesnt work as fast as core aeration. It takes longer to see the beneficial effects of aeration when you go the liquid aeration route.
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Can be more expensive over the long run. Rather than make a one-time investment in an aerator, you will need to keep buying liquid aeration solution.
- Not as effective for compacted soil. Chris Lemcke, national technical director at Weed Man, an international network of locally owned and operated lawn care businesses, says he first started testing liquid aeration products about a decade ago. While they can help make lawns healthier, he cautions against using them to loosen heavily compacted soil. Liquid aeration products will have almost no effect on compaction, especially in the short term, he says. If compacted soil is your main concern, opt for traditional aeration.
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Not the best option for newly-seeded lawns.Those are better served by core aeration since the holes provide a better foothold for new grass growth. Seeds need soil contact in order to germinate, says Lemcke. When you aerate, you pull the plugs that break down and cover the seed and allows for greater germination. Seeds also fall into the aerator holes and will germinate in the holes as well. This will not happen when using a liquid aeration product.
How To Calculate Aeration Fees
Most landscaping professionals around the country calculate fees for lawn aeration services 1,000 square feet at a time. Depending on where you live and the size of average lawns in your area, you might charge anywhere from $6 to $17 per 1,000 square feet of lawn for aeration services alone. Thats a big discrepancy! So, how do you decide where on the spectrum to set your rate?
Well, as with most pricing for mowing, leaf removal or other lawn services, you might consider pricing for aeration based on lawn size a smaller lawn will obviously take much less time, and be cheaper for the homeowner, than a large lawn. You might consider charging a flat rate for lawns up to 5,000 square feet, another flat rate for lawns 5,000 to 10,000 square feet and so on.
Consider how much it will cost you to offer lawn aeration services. Do you own an aerator or will you need to rent one? Are you able to perform multiple aerations in one day on a tight route, or will it take time and fuel for you to travel between jobs? How much do fertilizer and seed cost in your area? Think about what you need to do and charge to make lawn aeration profitable before you add it to your services.
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Lawn Aeration Cost: Signs Lawn Aeration Is Necessary
A lawn can go from lush one year to splotchy with bare patches the next if thatch builds up, reducing air circulation and the ability of the grass roots to absorb fertilizers and nutrients. For the best-looking lawn, aerating, dethatching, fertilizing, and other maintenance tasks should be performed regularly before lawn problems arise. Any of the following signs may indicate the yard is overdue for aeration.
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Additional Costs And Factors To Consider
You can save money even if you dont buy a seasonal service package by having the provider do an additional service on the same day that they aerate your lawn. Because their personnel are already at the house, it is more cost-effective for them to stay and perform another lawn treatment service. Lawn businesses will frequently give a discount for two services performed at the same time. If your lawn needs any of the following services, getting them all done at the same time can save you money.
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Of Aeration Affects The Cost
The cost of lawn aeration varies depending on the method used by the lawn care provider. Core aeration, which provides the most complete advantages, is the most expensive since it necessitates the use of a machine that extracts plugs from the soil and ejects them onto the surface of the grass. This necessitates a more complicated apparatus, resulting in a larger equipment investment. Spike aerators are less expensive and work on a simpler foundation than core aerators.
Why You Should Aerate Your Lawn
Lawn aeration is an important activity that should be carried out at regular intervals. Here are some of the reasons you should aerate your lawn:
Lawn aeration gets rid of dead and thatch grass aerating your lawn will help get rid of the dead and thatched grass to maintain grass health and aesthetic appearance.
Aerating your lawn allows for better root formation the main reason for aerating your lawn is to allow the roots to grow deeper into the soil and become stronger. This will in turn choke out the weeds by giving them less leeway to take hold on your lawn.
Better soil health Soil that does not get enough oxygen, water, and nutrients will reduce in quality over time and eventually affect the overall health of your lawn. Aeration helps prevent this by creating enough space between the grass for air, water, and nutrients to seep into the soil and be absorbed much more easily.
Aeration helps the sun to penetrate If the grass is too compact and full of dead grass and weeds, it might prevent the sun from reaching young sprouts of healthy grass thus making your lawn brownout or develop random dead patches. Through aeration, there will be enough space for the sun to penetrate through the older grass and improve sprouting and overall lawn health.
Aeration Might reduce the amount of water you need for your lawn as it will be able to retain more water afterward. Compact soil on the other hand leads to wastage of water because much of it either evaporates or drains off.
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What Is Lawn Aeration
In simple terms, lawn aeration is the process of loosening compaction of soil under a lawn to improve root growth, water drainage, and fertilization uptake of turf. It also helps oxygen to reach the root structure of plants and grass.
This air exchange is essential to healthy, vibrant growth .
There are different approaches to lawn aeration depending on the type of soil, the level of compaction, and the specific turfgrass. Lets dig into this a little just so that you have the basics.
Heavily compacted soil is best treated using core aeration. This process involves a machine that uses specially designed prongs that plunge into the soil and pull up cores of the soil.
Lawns with special turf grasses such as golf courts often use a spike aeration technique. This approach uses large metal spikes that are pushed deep into the soil.
The benefit of spike aeration is that it does very little damage to the appearance of the lawn. The downside, however, is that spike aeration is not nearly as effective as core aeration.
In fact, if you have a heavily compacted soil like clay, spike aeration can actually result in even more compaction .
There is one other approach to aeration that deserves mentioning here and that is liquid aeration. While I dont like the term I understand why its called aeration.
For more information, read Does Liquid Soil Conditioner Work? The Easy Aeration Promise.
Best Way To Aerate A Lawn
Depending on the size of your lawn and your budget, you have about four realistic options for getting this job done.
For a very small yard, you could do this manually with a core aerator hand tool . These tools are effective because they are not just spike aerators they actually pull cores from the soil. But its really intended for confined spaces. If your yard is really small, this is the most economic approach.
For larger yards, it comes down to cost, convenience, and long-term planning. You can rent a dedicated core aeration machine at a local hardware store, buy a pull-behind aerator that hooks up to your riding mower, or just pay a professional landscaper to do it for you.
Ive outlined the criteria you need to use on making this choice in Should You Rent Or Buy A Lawn Aerator? 5 Key Considerations so be sure to read that article if you are trying to decide which way to go.
For now, just know that the best approach really depends on your situation. The only rule of thumb that Id really impress upon you here is that core aeration beats spike aeration in almost any situation .
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Lawn Aeration Cost Per Square Foot
The national average cost of lawn aeration per square foot is $0.05. For small yards, the cost to have the lawn aerated is usually based on the square footage. For larger yards, the cost is usually per acre, not per square foot. For an average lawn of about 10,000 sq.ft., many professional lawn care companies charge a flat rate that varies from $120 to over $400. Since aeration is best done during the spring and fall, many people opt to overseed and fertilize an aerated lawn. It costs about $150 to $250 to add these extras. The average total cost to aerate and seed a lawn is $695 to $795.
Sprinkler Installation For Your Lawn
On average, it costs $1,720 to $3,423 to install a sprinkler system. However, if you combine sprinkler installation with lawn aeration, you can have everything covered for around $2,000.
Installing a sprinkler system is a worthy investment in the long run. If you are also overseeding simultaneously, the sprinkler system can guarantee the best results for seed growth.
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Aerating Tools: Plug Aerator Vs Spike Aerator
Two main aerating tools exist a spike aerator and a plug aerator. With a spike aerator, you simply use the tool to poke holes into the ground with a solid tine, or fork. Plug aerators remove a core or plug of grass and soil from the lawn. For the best results, use an aerating tool or machine that actually removes plugs of soil. Poking holes is less effective and can actually cause additional compaction in the areas around the holes.
Look for an aerating tool or machine that removes soil plugs approximately 2 3 inches deep and 0.5 0.75 inches in diameter, and about 2 3 inches apart. These machines can be rented from lawn and garden stores or home improvement centers. Always follow the directions provided by the store. You may want to consider sharing the rental cost with a neighbor who is interested in aerating the lawn.
