As a new year approaches, you might be thinking about your lawn and landscape plans for the coming spring. In fact, you might even be considering whether you can tackle some (or all) of these tasks on your own or whether it’s worth investing in a professional.
In this “DIY world,” a lot of homeowners are taking matters into their own hands for projects around the house—but should landscaping be amongst them?
The fact is, there are a variety of ways in which DIY landscaping can go awry and end up costing you unexpected expenses (and headaches). We know this because we get quite a few calls from homeowners who tackled a project on their own only to bring us in later when things didn’t go quite right. We’d rather help you avoid the hassles upfront if we can, which is why we believe it’s so important to be educated on what to expect.
The other issue with store-bought products is that they aren’t as good as what the professionals are using. It’s easy to assume that all products are created equal, but the materials that a pro has access to are going to be commercial-grade and much more effective. That means that you’ll get better results by hiring a professional.
But there’s more than just the laborious piece—it can also be legitimately dangerous. You may encounter unwanted pests like bees or wasps or be putting your back at risk if you’re lifting something heavy. You might also be dealing with products that are safe when applied properly but dangerous if you spill them or store them incorrectly. Again, there’s just a lot more to it than people tend to realize when they’re starting out.
Some homeowners even assume they can handle smaller-scale hardscaping projects such as a paver patio. After all, pavers can be purchased at the local big-box store. But these types of projects generally wind up being more involved than the homeowner bargained for. Even a small hardscaped area must account for factors such as drainage, which can cause you major headaches down the road. There is nothing more frustrating for homeowners than to invest the time and materials into a project that they just need to have redone by a professional because it wasn’t built right the first time. When we’re the pros brought in to fix DIY mistakes, we do feel bad that homeowners essentially end up paying for a project twice.
In the end, we just want you to be happy with the results that you end up with. This is not to say that a DIY approach can never be successful. We’ve certainly worked on some properties (and with some homeowners) who handle some of their landscaping tasks themselves—and it works for them. Some homeowners, for instance, enjoy weekly mowing. And some homeowners do have the skills and know-how to tackle small projects.
The bottom line? We feel it’s important that you understand what you’re getting into. If you’ve done your research and you have a good understanding of what you’ll be doing then we absolutely say, “go for it!” But if you have some concerns or you suspect you might be one of those homeowners who end up being unhappy with the results then perhaps it’s best to leave it to the pros.