The mowing middle men

Cuttly

What: Cuttly partners with landscaping companies and connects them with homeowners. Jobs are sent to the nearest professional based on their GPS location and work is started in a couple of hours. No scheduling is required and some of the fastest jobs have started within 15 minutes of a customer ordering a service.

Started: 2015

Cost: Professionals are charged $8 a month to be included in the platform, and can cancel at anytime.

Size: Not disclosed

Locations: Available in 15 states; most are East Coast, Midwest and Southern states

Requirements: Providers need to complete an online application and background check. Professional experience, commercial-grade equipment and insurance are required.

Services: Mowing and snow removal

GreenPal

What: Customers pick the contractor they want to work based on ratings, reviews and price. Services can be scheduled multiple days at a time, so the homeowner doesn’t have to keep scheduling. The vendor takes a picture of the completed job and sends it to the homeowner for approval. The homeowner can pay instantly from the app. The money is then wired directly to the vendor’s account.

Started: 2012

Cost: It is free for both homeowners and vendors to sign up. GreenPal takes a 5 percent commission on anything that is completed on the platform. GreenPal secures the payment from the homeowner so that the vendor knows they will get paid after the service has been completed.

Size: 500 vendors and 12,000 homeowners

Locations: Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida; St. Louis and Charlotte, North Carolina

Requirements: Contractors need to have commercial-grade equipment and references, complete a personal interview and write a 200-word bio about themselves.

Services: Mowing, edging and blowing

LAWN GURU

What: LawnGuru provides on-demand lawn care and snow removal services. With the click of a button, it instantly connects consumers with local outdoor service providers to take care of their needs within hours of each request.

Started: Launched to beta market May of 2015

Cost: Free to sign up for both customers and providers. All payments are processed through Stripe. Contractors are paid via direct deposit immediately after they complete the job.

Size: Several hundred contractors and several thousand customers

Location: Southeast Michigan

Requirements: Providers are required to carry general liability insurance and must operate commercial grade equipment.

Services: Mowing and snow plowing.

Lawn Love

What: Lawn Love gives homeowners an instant satellite quote and schedules a contractor. Contractors can manage everything from their phone or web browser. It uses job clustering and routing algorithms to help build routes for vendors.

Started: 2014

Cost: The service is free to contractors. Lawn Love takes 15-20 percent of each job completed. Customers can pay via any major credit card, physical checks or bitcoin. The contractor receives a direct deposit to their account two days after they complete the service.

Size: More than 1,000 contractors, customer number not disclosed

Locations: 45 cities across 31 states

Requirements: Vendors need to have at least three years of professional lawn care experience, and have a truck and their own equipment. Contractors also need to be able to legally work in the U.S.

Services: Mowing, gardening, lawn fertilization, lawn aeration, weed control, lawn seeding, yard clean up, leaf removal, lawn repair, irrigation, snow removal and sod installation.

LawnStarter

What: Service providers are able to accept recurring customers who have already signed up for lawn service along their existing routes. They can manage it from their phone or PC, and are also provided free landscaping software to use with existing customers.

Consumers get online booking and account management, also through their phone or PC.

Started: 2013

Cost: LawnStarter takes 10-20 percent of the job. The consumer's credit card is charged after the service is completed and the provider is paid out within five business days.

Size: Several hundred contractors and several thousand customers

Locations: Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Ft Worth, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida; Richmond, Virginia and Washington, DC

Requirements: Contractors must abide by all the state and local regulations, and pass a test. They must be a full-time lawn care operators. LawnStarter also verifies insurance.

services: Mowing, lawn treatment, bush trimming, grub and fire ant control, aeration, flower bed maintenance, light tree care and light irrigation work.

Mowdo

What: Mowdo joined Amazon Home Services in March of 2016. The Mowdo app is still live for current customers and contractors, but all new customers and contractors are encouraged to join Amazon.

Started: 2014

Cost: There is no fee to join. Mowdo takes approximately 10 percent of each job completed. Providers are paid via direct deposit. Customers can pay directly through the app or website (powered by Amazon Payments). Contractors are paid two to three days after completion.

Size: Hundreds of providers. Customer number not disclosed

Locations: 30 major cities and looking to grow to 100 more by the end of 2016

Requirements: A contractor must be a licensed and insured business in the state they would like to serve.

Services: 18 services including maintenance, landscape design, irrigation and goat grazing.

Mowz

What: Mowz shows providers what jobs are in the area and they can accept, pass or request the job to be scheduled. A picture is taken of the completed job and sent to the customer for review. When rated highly, the provider gets to keep the customer. If rated badly, they never see that particular job again. Multiple bad ratings remove a vendor from the service.

Started: 2014

Cost: There is no fee for signing up to see the jobs. Mowz takes 30 percent and gets paid via a credit card service. Via the direct deposit system, any job completed during business hours will be paid within 24-48 hours.

Size: Not disclosed

Locations: Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Illinois, Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana

Requirements: Mowz requires $1 million in general liability for insurance and commercial grade equipment.

Services: Mowing; Snow plowing (through the sister app Plowz).

TaskEasy

What: TaskEasy delivers services to customers like lawn mowing, snow removal and pool cleaning.

TaskEasy’s platform establishes a standard, fair market price and supports guaranteed, quality service for homeowners, property managers, and vendors. The interface provides a way to manage customers, scheduling, routing billing and other business functions.

Started: 2014

Cost: There is no charge to sign up. TaskEasy takes 14 percent of each service completed and approved. If contractors don’t have their own general liability and workers comp insurance, TaskEasy has a per-task insurance rider that costs approximately an additional 6 percent.

The company has created a full credit card payment system built into the website.

The vendor is paid up front, and TaskEasy is paid once the client has approved the job.

Size: More than 5,000 providers, more than 500,000 tasks performed to date

Locations: Available in all 50 states and in over 4,900 cities.

Requirements: There is an application and vetting process for each vendor joining the network, as well as consistent evaluations.

Vendors need to have a valid business license and appropriate certifications for their area, and are required to either be pre-insured or use the insurance available.

Services: Mowing and exterior ancillary services including tree and shrub trimming, sprinkler adjustments and repair, rain gutter cleaning, routine maintenance to flower beds.