For someone who is looking for some work, this would be a good opportunity for users to have a “side hustle”. Just like Uber, there are 2 types of users in this app, the workers (who are like the drivers working and representing the app) and the hirers (the consumer using the app to get services done). Hirers can find workers to do jobs based on their working experience and skill level in which all workers will have verified accounts to show that they represent the app. These can be jobs either outside such as lawn mowing, car washing, cleaning the gutters or inside such as cleaning or moving things around. Do you think people would use this app and and if so what type of people would use it?

Been struggling to get someone reliable for mowing and light yard cleanup. Either they don’t pick up, overquote, or just flake. Curious what works for you …apps, websites, or old-school referrals?

I need my lawn cut after returning from a vacation and I don't currently have time to do it myself. I hate throwing around my name or address on social media sites and I also don't trust random anonymous people on craigslist. Is there any place I can look for someone (preferably with reviews) to cut my grass this one time?

I work long hours in my job that are also unpredictable. It also has a lot of stress. Outside of cutting my grass, doing laundry, and washing my car.. I don’t have time or energy for anything else really because I can’t literally work 24/7 and be sane. Like yesterday I had to work like 18 hours at the hospital and got home in the AM, and now being Saturday I’m basically useless. I have a lot of weeds that have to be pulled and projects to get done but I just can’t bother.

I’d like to hear your opinions on how to view work life balance and succumbing to hiring landscapers and related labor?

Soon I will be a homeowner in Houston and am looking forward to some guidance when it comes to yard work. I want to hire someone to do it and as I get quotes, they give a rate and say “every week”. I get that one may need weekly mow/edge/blow service in the summer, but do people really need this maintenance ever week over the winter too?

Specifically, I'm looking for someone to clear out a large flower bed at my house (removing pea gravel, weeds, grass, etc) but I have other things I need help with from time to time as well. I'm familiar with apps like Task Rabbit, but that's not available in Knoxville. I'm a little weirded out by Craigs List so I'm hoping there is a better option?

I'm new on reddit and this is only my 2nd post - please be kind in your responses.

I'm a middle aged person living in a home I've owned for about 19 yrs and I'm in need of advice on what to do. Without going into tremendous detail (but hopefully enough to explain my situation) here's some pertinent info about me &my home. I'm disabled and homebound. I'm unwell and not able to think as clearly and problem solve like I used to. In 3 yrs I've left my home exactly 1x and that was to go to the hospital. I have little to no contact with anyone and I struggle to get through everything by myself. I'm not able to care for my home anymore, It's been this way for 4-5 yrs. It's not desirable but it's my reality and I'm trying to make peace with it as moving isn't an option anymore.

The inside of my home is hidden from the outside world but I can't hide my exterior. There really hasn't been any landscaping done in 3 yrs. A home I once took pride in owning and maintaining now looks like a haunted house. The yard is a mess. Things are overgrown and dead everywhere, front and back. A part of the sprinkler system broke in 2019 so my grass largely died off during the pandemic. Some stuff still grows but I don't exactly know what the grass to weed ratio is because I can only see things through the Ring doorbell or faraway window. I know it's a disaster though. My shrubs need a hard pruning, as does anything else still alive. There were annuals, perennials &herbs growing in backyard, most likely all need removing now. I know my trees are overgrown but tree trimming seems like a luxury I won't see.

I need help getting things looking ship shape but my efforts to reach out for help haven't gotten me anywhere. I don't know what more to do! I have no friends or family local to help me. Neighbors haven't really been helpful. Because of being largely bedridden and not able to use a phone, I'm left with only having online access and a Ring doorbell to communicate with ppl.

I tried Googling landscaping/ lawn companies to help clean up yard but I get nowhere. Since they can't contact me by phone no one replies to my emails or I can't submit an online form submission (I've tried giving dummy ph# then explaining lack of ph# but requesting email contact). I've had help previously from the sorority/ fraternity organizations at the local university but their charitable yard clean up day has long passed and I never got a response after submitting paperwork for help. My home is part of an HOA so I emailed the HOA president a few wks ago as a last resort but nothing back yet. I suppose it's possible that an email or 2 went into junk/ spam folders, or perhaps no one had had the time to respond, but everyone?? I know there are HOA rules for the upkeep, maintenance, appearance of my home &lawn so why can't I get attention to the matter?

I'm really flabbergasted that I can't get help! I've tried to be honest about my situation to those I've contacted. I've not asked for handouts (they'd be appreciated but at this point that's the last thing I'm expecting even though funds are limited). I've tried to appeal to everyone's sense of humanity, heart but... crickets I gave up caring that no one gave a shit if I ate, was well mentally or that I lived or died. I assumed someone would care about the exterior of my home and property values. I'm mistaken again apparently.

So, I'm here asking if anyone knows how I might go about hiring help online or old fashioned snail mail if I must. Is there a business that might respond to me that I'm unaware of? Another site/forum to look into? Please, if you have any ideas or advice that would be helpful, let me know. Sorry for rambling and being repetitive.

Thanks!

I used to think people who paid others to mow their lawn were lazy fools. Then I had a health issue, took on some extra work and increased some volunteer hours, so we started paying someone to cut our lawn. Holy cow, it’s so nice to have 90 minutes back each week to tackle other more expensive projects. I’ve cleaned out my sump discharge line, refurbished patio chairs, fixed our landscape lighting and I can’t remember everything else I’ve done with my new time. I figure those 3 projects alone are near $1k of work if I’d paid someone (or simply bought new chairs). So, if you have the budget for it and lots of home projects to do, consider paying someone to cut your grass to free up more time for you to tackle more expensive projects.

We just started landscaping our 15,000 sqft. bare yard. We specifically bought this house for the yard size (my wife loves gardening) but now, I am questioning myself if its realistic enough to maintain this yard with battery powered mower, rakes and other basic tools ? I have heard that its therapeutic and we would like to do yard work but with 2 toddlers running around, I am not sure how much time per week this would consume ?

So, experienced gardeners who went through a similar situation, what did you do and how is that working out for you. ?

Update: thank you all responses folks. I have decided to do it on my own and will report back how it went ! Really appreciate the tips !

Moved into a place in NYC with a small patch of lawn. I need to hire someone to come mow and tidy it regularly. Any local services you trust?

I need to hire a few people for some intense yard work (clearing brush, hauling debris, etc.) and want to make sure I do it fairly and respectfully. For those who’ve hired workers from pickup spots or word-of-mouth:

What’s the best way to approach workers waiting for jobs? Is there an order or system to who gets hired first? How are rates usually set? Do I offer, or do workers state their price? Any other etiquette I should follow?

I'm looking for a yard maintenance person for smaller jobs. Due to some physical limitations, I cannot remove leaves/debris or anything that requires excessive bending. Does anyone have a name for someone happy to take smaller jobs? I did a search on this subreddit already but most of the posts were regarding bigger jobs.

Sorry in advance for this vent, I may regret posting it but I'm having a particularly bad homeowner day. I knew this was going to come with a never-ending parade of projects and expenses but I had no idea what a toll it would take on me to have to be constantly keeping track of what needs doing, figuring out if it's something we can do ourselves or if we need to pay someone, and going through the process of finding the right person or company for the job and getting multiple bids like everyone says you should.

Today I'm spiraling because we've spotted raccoons on our property several times lately and I just saw a sick-looking squirrel wandering around the yard, raising the possibility that it's infected with raccoon roundworm. Our yard is huge and we live in a semi-wooded part of our neighborhood, so have kind of let the edges get a little wild in the past few years since we bought it...that's on lack of time, lack of tools/skills, a lil bit of executive dysfunction, and the general overwhelm of being in your thirties and trying to keep up with jobs, commutes, family stuff, all the basic staying-alive things. But also, plants grow fast when you're not paying attention, and now I'm so disgusted imagining that we might have a raccoon latrine somewhere in the overgrown part of the yard and not know it. I grow fruits and veggies in raised beds and am skeeved out to think that raccoons might be tracking roundworm eggs into the beds if they're digging around in there for grubs or something. Do I need pest control? Full landscape cleanup? Am I overreacting? Possibly yes to all.

Meanwhile we need to replace our deck, I think the lawn has a fungus, I can not get on top of weeding to save my life, and the garage is an unspeakable catastrophe of unfinished projects and junk we can't get organized enough to move. We should probably have a plumber out at some point to look at a slow-draining shower, which also needs recaulking. There's moss on the roof!

Just to be clear: we didn't buy a fixer-upper, we're not hoarders, and nothing is actively broken (oh, except the garden gate that's fully falling off its hinges), we're just kind of bad at shit? I would give anything to go back in time and take my high school shop class so I could look at something and say "oh yeah I could fix that" instead of stressing about hiring someone or having to watch a bunch of YouTube videos to even know what questions I should ask. Our (retired, handy, time-rich, never idle) neighbors keep their place neat as a pin, so I feel terrible that ours looks so scruffy but we're really flailing trying to keep up with it all. I enjoy doing projects and on good days I swear we love our home, it's just that there's so much we don't know, and time and capacity are both scarce right now.

Please tell me someone can relate! I need like, a homeowner life coach to help me figure out what to prioritize, god.

Edit: Holy crap, thank you all for the encouragement and commiseration, it's lifted an absurd weight off me just to get this out there and see that we're not alone. Promise I'll come back and chat in more detail when I'm through with work.