You take pride in your home. Your lawn is one of the first things people notice. But every spring, the same question comes up: is it really worth paying someone to take care of your grass? For homeowners in Sioux Falls, SD, the answer comes down to understanding what professional lawn care actually includes—and how it compares to doing it yourself.

What Professional Lawn Care Actually Includes in Sioux Falls, SD

Professional lawn care is more than a truck showing up and spraying your yard. Behind every visit is a system built on soil science, product chemistry, and precise timing:

  • Commercial-grade products — The fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides that professionals use are not the same as what you find at the hardware store. Commercial formulations are more concentrated, more targeted, and more effective.
  • Precise application rates — Professional equipment is calibrated to deliver the exact amount of product your lawn needs—no more, no less. Over-application wastes money and can damage turf. Under-application wastes time.
  • Seasonal timing — Each treatment is scheduled to align with your grass’s growth cycle and the lifecycle of common weeds and pests. Applying the right product at the wrong time can render it ineffective.
  • Trained technicians — Licensed applicators who understand local soil conditions, regional weed pressure, and Midwest-specific turf challenges.

The Hidden Costs of DIY Lawn Care

DIY lawn care sounds like a money-saver on paper. In practice, the costs add up faster than most homeowners expect:

  • Equipment: A quality broadcast spreader ($100–$200), a pump sprayer ($50–$150), and protective gear. These need regular maintenance and eventual replacement.
  • Products: Fertilizer, pre-emergent, post-emergent herbicide, grub control, and insecticides can run $150 to $300 per season—and you’ll likely have leftover product that expires before next year.
  • Time: Between researching what to apply, when to apply it, calibrating your spreader, doing the work, and cleaning up, budget 15 to 20 hours per growing season.
  • Mistakes: Apply too much fertilizer and you burn the grass. Apply herbicide at the wrong time and it doesn’t work. Miss a pre-emergent window and you spend the whole summer pulling crabgrass. These setbacks cost time, money, and an entire season of progress.

When you total everything up, DIY lawn care often costs nearly as much as hiring a professional—but without the consistent, compounding results.

How Professional Results Compound Over Time

The real value of professional lawn care isn’t in any single visit. It’s in the compounding effect of consistent, properly timed treatments over multiple seasons.

Sharp Lawn Care follows a proven five-step process called the Roadmap to a Sharp Lawn:

  1. Aerate every spring and fall to relieve soil compaction and allow water, air, and nutrients to reach the roots.
  2. Fertilize and control weeds with a consistent program of properly timed applications throughout the growing season.
  3. Overseed in fall during the ideal three-week window to thicken your turf and fill in thin areas.
  4. Mow tall — when temperatures go up, mowing height should too. Taller grass develops deeper roots and shades out weeds.
  5. Water deep — deep watering every two to three days encourages roots to grow 2 to 3 feet deep, making your lawn resilient to drought and heat stress.

When all five steps are followed consistently, most lawns show dramatic improvement within one to two seasons. That’s not a marketing claim—it’s the result of following the science.

What About the Guarantee?

One of the biggest advantages of working with a professional is the safety net. At Sharp Lawn Care, we offer a 100% loophole-free satisfaction guarantee:

  • If you’re not satisfied with the results, we re-treat your lawn at no additional cost.
  • If we still can’t resolve the issue, we’ll pay a competitor to make it right.

That’s a level of confidence you don’t get with a bag of fertilizer from the hardware store.

How to Know If Professional Lawn Care Is Right for You

Professional lawn care isn’t for everyone, and we respect that. Here’s an honest framework to help you decide:

  • Your time is valuable. If 15 to 20 hours per season of lawn work could be better spent with your family, on your hobbies, or just relaxing in your yard—professional care makes sense.
  • You want real results. If you’ve tried DIY and your lawn still looks patchy, weedy, or thin—professional-grade products and expertise can break through that plateau.
  • You want it done right. If you don’t want to worry about product selection, application timing, or equipment calibration—leave it to the pros.

If you’re on the fence, the best next step is to see what it would actually cost for your specific property. Our free estimator gives you exact pricing in minutes.

Get Your Free Quote Call (605) 251-6880

Related Pricing Guides

Frequently Asked Questions

Is hiring a lawn care company cheaper than doing it yourself?

When you factor in equipment costs ($200–$500), product costs ($150–$300 per season), and 15 to 20 hours of labor, DIY lawn care often costs nearly as much as professional service. Professional results compound over time, delivering a noticeably healthier lawn within one to two seasons.

How long does it take to see results from professional lawn care?

Most homeowners notice visible improvement within the first season. Following a consistent program of aeration, fertilization, weed control, and overseeding, lawns typically reach their full potential within two seasons.

What guarantee does Sharp Lawn Care offer?

Sharp Lawn Care provides a 100% loophole-free satisfaction guarantee. If you’re not happy with the results, we re-treat at no charge. If we still can’t fix it, we’ll pay a competitor to make it right.