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Is my lawn care quote complete?

Check that your lawn care quote sets out the visit calendar by season, what each visit covers, clipping and yard-debris disposal, gate and pet access, rain-day and cancellation terms, and any fertilizer or weed treatment as its own line, along with the work description, materials, completion date and price the FTC says a written estimate should include.

Source: FTC home improvement estimate guidance, read 14 October 2026.

Researched by the InstaBids editorial team. Last checked: 14 October 2026

A push mower, string trimmer and leaf blower lined up beside a lawn.

Key facts

What should a written lawn care quote list?

Ask for a written lawn care quote that names each turf area, the number of visits per month in each season, and what one visit includes: mowing, edging along beds and paving, string trimming around obstacles and blowing clippings off hard surfaces, plus a start date and the length of the agreement.

The FTC's home improvement guidance, read 14 October 2026, says: "A written estimate should include a description of the work to be done, materials, completion date, and the price." For a recurring yard service, ask the bidder to write the description of work visit by visit and to state when the agreement ends or renews.

Source: FTC home improvement estimate guidance, read 14 October 2026.

  1. Visit calendar: Does the quote plan the same number of visits all year, or a different number in summer and in winter, and on which weekday?
  2. Mowing: What cutting height does the crew plan for your grass, and does the quote say whether clippings stay on the lawn or are bagged?
  3. Edging and trimming: Which edges are cut on each visit, such as the driveway, sidewalk, curb and bed lines, and where does string trimming reach around trees, fences and posts?
  4. Blowing: Are clippings blown off the driveway, walkways, patio and street edge on every visit, or only on some?
  5. Areas: Which parts of your property are in scope, such as the front yard, back yard, side strips, the swale by the street and any lake or canal bank?
  6. Term: When does service start, how long does the agreement run, and does it renew on its own?

Mark which yard jobs stay with you, such as hand-watering new plants, picking up fallen fruit or moving patio furniture before a visit, so the quote neither counts those jobs nor leaves them unassigned. Ask the bidder to list anything it expects you to do before each visit.

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Which items are often left out?

Check your lawn care quote for possible gaps such as hedge and shrub trimming, palm frond removal, bed weeding, leaf and branch pickup, haul-away and disposal of yard debris, the first cut of an overgrown yard, irrigation checks and fertilizer or weed treatment. Ask each bidder to mark every item included, extra or excluded.

Ask where cut branches, palm fronds and bagged clippings end up. One quote may mean the crew hauls the material away, and another may mean it stacks the material at the curb for a yard-waste collection day. Ask each bidder to name one of those in writing, along with any limit on how much it removes per visit.

Ask whether the first visit is billed as a routine cut or as a separate initial cleanup when the grass is long or the beds are overgrown, and which visit returns to the normal scope. Photograph the yard before that first visit so you keep a record of its starting condition.

Ask what the crew needs to reach your back yard: an unlocked side gate, a gate code, an opening wide enough for its mower, and pets kept indoors on service day. Ask whether a visit that finds a locked gate or a dog in the yard is billed, skipped or rescheduled.

Ask whether any sprinkler check is part of a visit, such as running each zone or spotting a broken head, and whether replacing a head or fixing a leak is a separate line. The UF/IFAS hiring checklist, read 14 October 2026, includes this irrigation question: "Set the irrigation controller schedule to meet the water management district rule and local restrictions (if applicable)?" Ask who would adjust your controller, and whether that work is inside the visit.

Source: UF/IFAS hiring guidance, publication EP614, read 14 October 2026.

Keep fertilizer and weed treatment on their own lines, apart from mowing. Section 482.1562(2) of the Florida Statutes, read 14 October 2026, states: "Beginning January 1, 2014, any person applying commercial fertilizer to an urban landscape must be certified under this section." Subsection (9) of the same section states: "Yard workers who apply fertilizer only to individual residential properties using fertilizer and equipment provided by the residential property owner or resident are exempt from the requirements of this section." Ask the bidder who would apply any fertilizer, whose product and spreader would be used, and on which visits.

Source: Florida Statutes s. 482.1562, read 14 October 2026.

Subsection (7) of that section begins "Certification under this section does not authorize:" and its first listed item reads "The application of pesticides to turf or ornamentals, including pesticide fertilizer mixtures;" The same UF/IFAS checklist includes this turf fertilization question: "Avoid using combination products like weed and feed that contain both fertilizer and pesticides?" If a quote lists a weed-and-feed product or an insect treatment for your lawn, ask the bidder to show it as a separate treatment line and to say who would apply it.

Source: Florida Statutes s. 482.1562, read 14 October 2026.
Source: UF/IFAS hiring guidance, publication EP614, read 14 October 2026.

What should the payment terms say?

Check that the payment schedule in your quote says whether lawn care is billed per visit or as a flat monthly amount, how a visit skipped for rain or a locked gate is credited or made up, when each invoice is due, and how much notice either side gives to cancel.

If the quote bills the same amount every month, ask how many visits each month includes, so a month with fewer cuts is visible on paper. If it bills per visit, ask what counts as a completed visit when a storm stops the crew halfway through the yard.

The same FTC guidance, read 14 October 2026, says: "Don’t pay the full amount for the project up front." Ask whether the quote expects a season or a year paid in advance, what that payment covers, and what happens to unused visits if you end the service early.

Source: FTC home improvement estimate guidance, read 14 October 2026.

The FTC guidance also says: "Even if your state doesn’t require a written agreement, ask for one." Ask that your agreement state the notice period for cancelling, whether notice has to be in writing, and how a month paid ahead is handled after the last visit.

Source: FTC home improvement estimate guidance, read 14 October 2026.

Ask that any extra work, such as storm cleanup, reshaping an overgrown hedge or cutting a new bed edge, be written as a change order with its own amount and approved by you before the crew starts it. Keep treatment visits on a separate invoice line from mowing visits, so a skipped treatment is easy to spot.

Does the quote say who pulls the permit?

Ask whether any line in your lawn care quote would need a permit, who would apply for it, who books any inspection, and which business would be named. Ask that question in writing for any irrigation connection work or tree removal listed in the quote, and keep the answer with the quote.

DBPR's page on what requires a license, read 14 October 2026, lists in its column of contractor work that needs a DBPR license: "Perform plumbing work or irrigation installation that requires the contractor to connect lines to potable (drinking) water for compensation." The same row, in the column of work that does not need one, reads: "Install or repair irrigation systems that have a backflow preventer connected to a potable (drinking) water supply regardless of compensation."

Source: DBPR examples of contractor work, read 14 October 2026.

Ask the lawn care bidder whether any sprinkler work in the quote connects to your drinking-water line, whether a backflow preventer is already in place, and which business would do that part of the job. Keep that answer as its own line, separate from the mowing and edging scope.

If the quote includes removing a tree, ask the bidder whether your city or county calls for a tree removal permit at your address, who would apply, and whether the removal waits for that answer. Ask the local office yourself as well, rather than relying on the bidder's answer alone.

What should my request include?

Describe your yard in one written scope: each turf area, beds and hedges, the swale and any lake bank, gate width and access, pets, and which tasks you keep for yourself. Add a photograph of each area, every gate, slopes and any sprinkler heads or obstacles near the mowing line.

Contact details stay hidden until the homeowner picks a contractor and they confirm the connection.

Source: InstaBids process and privacy, read 14 October 2026.

How can I compare it with other written quotes?

Compare lawn care quotes visit by visit: the season calendar, what each visit includes, debris disposal, access terms, the rain-day rule and cancellation notice, with fertilizer and weed treatment set beside each other as separate lines. Ask a bidder who skipped or changed a line to answer it in writing before you choose.

  1. Visits: Does each quote state the number of visits per month in summer and in winter, or does one assume fewer cuts?
  2. Per-visit tasks: Does each quote include edging, string trimming and blowing on every visit, or only on alternate visits?
  3. Debris: Does each quote haul away clippings, fronds and branches, or leave them at the curb?
  4. Treatments: Does each quote leave fertilizer and weed control out, or list them on separate lines with who applies them?
  5. Rain and access: Does each quote say how a rained-out visit or a locked gate is handled?
  6. Cancellation: Does each quote give a notice period, and does any expect a season paid in advance?

Hold add-ons such as monthly hedge shaping or a mulch refresh apart from the base visit, so the comparison stays on the same mowing, edging and cleanup work. When a bidder points out something you missed, such as a lake bank or a fenced side yard, add it to the scope and resend that version to all bidders.

Once the visit calendar and treatment lines are settled, use the same written scope when requesting competing written responses.

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Source: InstaBids process and privacy, read 14 October 2026.
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Sources for the facts on this page

Sources checked: 14 October 2026.

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