Don't Blame the Lawn Crew!

I just wanted to say a word in defense of your lawn crew. I speak from experience having owned a landscaping business for over 30 years. Let me ask you a few questions.

If I broke some glass and dropped in your lawn and you later walked on it and cut your foot would it be your fault because you were doing the walking?

If I moved your trash car right behind your car in the middle of the night and you ran over it would it be your fault because you were doing the driving?

If I left the front door open and the dog got out would it be the dog's fault because he was doing the running?

If you laid several hidden obstacles in your yard and didn't tell your lawn crew where they were would it be their fault because they were doing the mowing?

Of course it is their fault! They are the lawn crew! If anything goes wrong in the yard they are guilty until proven innocent!

All kidding aside here, please give your lawn crew a break and have reasonable expectations. Let's do a little math here. Let's assume you have 10 heads in your lawn that are installed slightly above grade and are semi visible which means the lawn crew at least has a slight chance of missing them with the mower. If they mow your lawn 30 times a year that is 300 heads they have to dodge that they really should not have to even worry about. Let's also assume that you have an incredible lawn crew that is perfect at their job 99% of the time. If my math is correct they are still going to knock off about 3 heads a year! They would have to be perfect in order to not knock off any, but that seems to be many homeowners' expectation.

Let's give the lawn crew a break from unreasonable expectations and place the blame where it actually should go, the sprinkler repair person. Most of the time that ends up being a homeowner with good intentions, but maybe not quite enough know how. Sometimes it is just a lazy repair contractor. Whatever the reason I would like to propose to you that it should not fall upon whoever is mowing the lawn to have to fix for free someone else's shoddy work.

I am sure I will get an "Amen" from anyone who has ever mowed a lawn commercially before.

I also hope I can get a few homeowners to show a bit of mercy on the yard guy. None of us are perfect, so don't expect him to be either.