The 50% Solution: Turf Renovation

“Many variables enter the equation,” he said. “Portions of the lawn may have extensive grub or shade damage.”

Repairing such common problems can be very time consuming, and Fair recommended sodding as the preferred solution. “Sod is an immediate fix. You just rip out the sick section of lawn and install a healthy one in its place, just like when you’re laying carpet,” he explained. “The tough part is when you have to repair a bunch of small sections because you wind up duplicating work. A typical lawn may be effected by a whole range of problems, and it’s common to stumble on new ones as you’re working on the trouble spots previously identified.”

Bruce Moore, president, Eastern Land Management, Stamford, Conn., has developed his own formula for pricing turf renovation projects. While labor and customer expectation definitely enter the equation, contractors also have to decide whether the job will be a spot repair or a situation in which the original grass will be eliminated through the use of a non-selective herbicide and completely replaced.

Here, the choice of equipment becomes a critical consideration, according to Moore. Will a core aerator be the most efficient choice, a rototiller or an overseeder? Moore said each option should be measured by its time and cost efficiency. There are also the additional considerations of labor, materials, the expense involved in hauling away the old sod and dumping it at the local landfill.

“Each piece of equipment is operated differently and has its own set of costs,” Moore said. “The are three types of aerators, for example: a spoon type that opens up a small hole in the soil; a core aerator that lifts plugs out of the soil and leaves them on the surface; and a shatter type which makes a slit in the ground and shatters some of the subsoil structure.”

Determining the costs associated with each type of machine, be it for purchasing or renting, is critical to accurate pricing.

“Material expenses also play a big role in pricing,” Moore noted. “If you’re going to use an herbicide, how many ounces will the job require? If you’re going to use seed, you have to multiply pounds of seed by the square footage of the lawn. The same goes for fertilizer and mulch, which you will need if you decide to rototill. Finally, there are the costs that most people don’t think about, such as travel time to and from the job.”

Moore relies on what he calls the 50 percent rule to determine which course of action he will take. If 50 percent of the lawn is in need of repair, it makes more economic sense to fix the entire lawn, rather than to go through the labor and time it takes to reconstruct it piecemeal. In this respect, turf repair is not terribly different from architectural renovation. From a dollars and cents prospective, it’s often smarter to tear down an old building than to coax it back to life with cosmetic changes that make the structure prettier but no sturdier or more livable.

Another advocate of the 50 percent rule is Don Holder, president, Holder Landscape Management Co., Loganville, Ga.

“If we do an estimate and find that 50 percent of the existing turf is not the type of turf the customer wants, then we recommend the use of a nonselective herbicide to kill the existing plants to the roots, keep the weeds from coming back and make the soil amenable to new planting,” he explained.

“Next, we rip up the ground with a chisel plow for eight to 10 inches of penetration. We till until the hard soil becomes fluffy, just like the farmers do. Then we sod or hydroseed. Hydroseeding costs about 25 percent more than seeding but it’s cheaper than sodding and much less labor intensive.”

WORKING AROUND THE ACTS OF GOD. The television weather report, with all of its maps and visual aids, is wrong as often as it is right. Sam Farison, president, Farison Lawn Care, Inc., Louisville, Ky., is very familiar with the capricious side of the weather, and estimates his renovation work accordingly.

Farison knows that heavy winds, hard rain and other natural phenomena can veto a day’s work in minutes. For this reason, Farison builds a fudge factor into his price, basing his pricing not only on the original job, but on subsequent visits he expects he will have to make. Even without the threat of wind and rain induced disaster, a second visit is probable for the simple reason of weed control. Nature abhors a vacuum, Farison noted, and when the soil is busted up after a renovation, weeds will take advantage of the situation by colonizing the broken turf.

“The problem with renovation is that you have a very narrow window of opportunity for doing the work,” Farison explained, adding that the best time for him to seed is from the end of August into early October. “If we’re doing a fall renovation, we’ve got approximately 40 days or so to get the seed in the ground. Because of weather uncertainties and seasonal factors, the later you plant, the greater the likelihood you will come back for a second visit.

“It’s probably wise to do some dormant seeding as well,” he continued. “If you’re strictly doing renovation vs. rehabilitating the entire lawn, then you have to fill in the dead areas fast. People want a quick fix. They want those dead patches to come to life as quickly as possible. We don’t do a lot of sodding or hydroseeding, especially for residential customers. Seeding is slower than sodding, but you can still have good, young grass out there within a season. It’s also cheaper than the two alternatives.”

Farison uses regular service calls as an opportunity to sell his clients on lawn renovations. A customer may have a mixture of grasses on his lawn creating an undesirable visual effect that renovation can remedy. Some grasses are more durable than others, Farison noted, or may grow better in certain situations. In some cases, a completely new lawn may be mandated by structural improvements such as swimming pools, decks or other landscaping changes that retard turf growth. Then there’s the problem of uncontrollable weed growth, which to turf is the plant equivalent of cancer.

Other contractors promote renovation services via their reputation. Holder, for example, does no direct advertising. Instead, he lets his people do the advertising. His employees all wear a logoed shirt and drive company vehicles with the company name and phone number displayed on the side. Former customers often recommend his services or allow him to plant signs in their recently rehabilitated lawns, advertising the fact the his company was responsible for the renovation. According to Holder, this kind of customer loyalty is only possible when a contractor brings two things to the table – honesty and a job well done.

“When our customers receive the final bill, they get an itemized list of everything that went into the job, including equipment costs, time involved, materials, labor and a square footage cost for the application of sod or hydroseeding. The dollar figure you wind up with depends on all of that, plus the square footage of the property. On average, you’re talking $3,500 and up for either new construction or renovation.”

WHY HYDROSEED AND WHY NOT? Farison and Fair both noted the higher costs often associated with hydroseeding compared to seeding or sodding. At the same time, they both also pointed out that there are times when hydroseeding is the only viable alternative to more traditional renovation practices. Because of the possibility of runoff and soil erosion, hills can create health problems for an otherwise thriving lawn. Farison hydroseeds in these situations, because other methods simply don’t work as well.

Hydroseeding is a uniform method of distributing grass. The seed is literally jetted into the ground by way of pressurized delivery system consisting of a tank and hose. The holding tank not only contains grass seed, but also fertilizer, mulch, lime or anything else one elects to put in the mix.

Hydroseeding works best when the aim is to grow grass as evenly as possible on slopes or other normally inaccessible areas, Holder noted. Hydroseeding is more susceptible to the effects of wind than seeding, but rain is another matter. According to Fair, a single rain storm can wash away a whole day’s hydroseeding.

“Hydroseeding is charged per 1,000 square feet,” Fair continued. “The method is very efficient, and since you’re talking about a truck with a tank, a sprayer and maybe one operator, it’s also very labor friendly. The thing to remember is that hydroseeding is usually much more expensive than seeding. A renovation where hydroseeding is used exclusively can cost a customer around $5,000.”

Brian Tregoe, sales manager, Easy Lawn, Seaford, Del., put the total hydroseeding cost for the contractor at about 2 cents per square foot, noting that is the most obvious benefit over sodding.

“Hydroseeding also provides quicker germination than seeding and a higher percentage of germination because the mulch holds the moisture,” Tregoe added, while admitting that renovations are often too small to necessitate hydroseeding.

THE RIGHT STUFF. Holder estimates his lawn renovation equipment investment at well over $50,000 for a skid steer and a miniature bull dozer with attachments for tilling and raking. Without accessories, the skid steer runs about $30,000, and accessories can add $20,000 to that cost. Manpower, another capital expense, may run as high as $10 per hour.

According to Wally Butman, director of marketing, Finn Corp., Fairfield, Ohio, a landscape tiller and hydroseeding machine should be added to the necessary equipment list as well. He recommends contractors invest in larger machines outright in order to offset the labor costs involved in using a smaller machine.

“An 800-gallon hydroseeder can cover one half an acre of turf renovation per load,” Butman said. “Contractors can cover a bigger area with a larger machine, which means not having to stop an refill the tank mix as often. To work efficiently with equipment and materials, a contractor should know the true costs, including overhead items like gas, fuel, labor, trucking costs, insurance, materials and all of those hidden profit eaters.”

Turf renovation is likely to increase in popularity in the years to come, Butman noted, because of increased exposure to the process on the part of consumers and the excellent results that can be achieved.

“The contractors are also doing a much better job of marketing their services,” he added. “Like everyone else in business in these competitive, cost-conscious times, they are getting more creative.”