Tips For Hiring a Landscaping Company Near Granger, Indiana
Installing mulch into your landscape design in the Granger, Indiana area can bring on a decision. Should you hire a local landscaping company in Granger or should you buy, transport, prep the area, unload and install the product yourself? Mulch is a widely used feature in any landscape design and it serves many purposes other than its great cosmetic curb appeal. With a little bit of study and some good work ethic, you may be able to install mulch yourself or with help from some friends. It will help if you have tools and equipment like dump trucks, wheel barrels, staples, shovels, and rakes. The other way to complete the mulch installation process for your business or your home in Granger is to hire a professional lawn care or landscaping company. Here are a few things to look out for when selecting the right landscaper for your Granger mulch installation project.
Landscaper Reviews
Always be sure to look at a company’s online Facebook, Google, Yelp, and Home Advisor reviews. Reviews tell a story of all the landscaping company’s previous customer experiences and if you read them, you can get an overall feel for how the landscaper operates his local business and further decide if their work is up to par with what you are looking for. In 2021, online reviews are becoming more and more popular and if a company is fair and honest while providing quality work, these online reviews can really help a local landscaping company stand out.
Landscaping Insurance
Its always a good idea to check to see if your landscape service provider has insurance that meets your standards and gives you peace of mind. There are lots of guys that cut grass on the weekends and can take out old bushes, but you have to ask yourself this question, “is this landscaping company insured?” As a landscaper, you need to give your clients peace of mind in choosing your company to complete their landscaping or mulch installation project. A landscaping company in Granger, Indiana that is offering mulch installation services should have commercial general liability, workmen’s compensation on their staff, and commercial auto insurance. You don’t want an uninsured landscaping company doing work on your property when someone gets hurt. An uninsured landscaping service puts their clients at great risk. When getting a quote or hiring a local landscaper, ask for a certificate of insurance.
Uniformed Landscaping Staff
Take a look at the photos that a landscaping and mulch installation company have on their Google listing, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Do they have uniformed staff that presents well? Having a uniformed crew isn’t everything but it’s a telling sign on how professional the landscaping company really is. If the owner of a local landscaping company cares to present well with their tucks, trailers, and staff members or employees, it’s a telling sign that they may care the same about your landscaping projects.
How Long Has the Company Been in Business
When seeking out a local company that offers a highly rated mulch installation service for your commercial business or home, its helpful to learn how long the company has been in business. You can usually do this by looking at their Facebook profile or Google listing. If they don’t have these attributes updated on their listings, its suggested to ask the foreman on the team or the person that answer the phone when you call about getting a consultation. If a company is only a couple years old it doesn’t mean that they don’t have experience but it’s a telling sign that you may need to dig a little deeper about the experience that the Granger landscaping company brings to the table. This is especially the case if you have a bigger landscaping project that may be liable for costly mistakes. For simple lawn maintenance task like lawn care, yard mowing, weed control or brush removal, hiring a newer landscaping company might be a great way to support a local landscaping business startup. Its always great to support local entrepreneurs.
Lets Talk About Mulch Installation in Granger, Indiana
In Granger, Indiana, it’s important to consider the different types of material that can be used for both curb appeal and elemental protection. One of the best landscaping companies in Granger, Indiana, Fast Act Landscaping and Lawn Care LLC, suggest that mulch is an excellent type of product for many reasons. One common way to protect plants that are used for your landscape design is to implement a mulch placement strategy. These ground covers do more than just protect your plants from weeds but they also help keep plants safe through extreme weather conditions. In Granger, Indiana, a local landscaper has to have a skill set for landscaping through 4 different seasons. The seasons that a Granger, Indiana landscaping company must have a knowledge base for are spring, summer, fall and winter. Although all mulch seems similar in some ways, there are some vast differences when it comes to maintenance, pricing, curb appeal and material popularity. In the Granger, Indiana area you will see many kinds of mulch types implemented by home and business owners alike. Mulch installation is a commonly used practice because it is a cheaper ground cover to have installed into your landscape design than river rocks, pea gravel, crushed stones, lava rocks or pebbles. Let’s look at the pros and cons of using mulch as a landscaping ground cover in a little more depth.
Should you do mulch landscaping?
Landscaping with mulch in Granger, Indiana area can be a great experience whether you are a home owner that is installing the material yourself or hiring a professional Granger Landscaping company to install the mulch for you. Mulch is easy to work with. Whether you are experienced in putting mulch down as a weed control measure for your landscape design features or not, you can most likely lay much yourself.
How Much Does Mulch Weigh?
Mulch is a lighter weight than river rocks and other material that may be used for curb appear l or weed control measures. Therefore, you can more easily transport it to the sight of installation. The weight of any kind of mulch that you buy is going to depend on how much moisture the mulch holds at the time. If the mulch product you are purchasing has been exposed to rain or other forms of water then it will weigh more. Mulch that you would use for your landscaping project usually weigh between 350-850 LBS per cubic yard. Soil can weigh up to 2800 LBS per square yard of material to give you some context.
What’s An Efficient Way To Transport Mulch?
Dump trailers are a great way to pickup your landscape material and deliver it to the job sight. There are attachments that can go on the back end of a dump trailer and with these features can easily tilt the unit, raise the dump bed and roll out the mulch into a bobcat bucket or a wheel barrel, ready to immediate transport. You may be able to do the same with types of rock product but landscaping mulch is a fast and simple item to work with. When is comes to landscape material delivery in Granger, Fast Act Landscaping and Lawn Care says that they use dump trailers for all of their transportation to and from their job site. To use a regular trailer or a pickup truck for a mulch installation job in the Granger area would just add too much unnecessary cost and pass too much overhead to the client. Equipment means efficiency and efficiency, when it comes to landscaping in Granger, means saved money.
The Mulch Formula
How much mulch Should You Buy?
It’s a good rule of thumb to use a formula for figuring out how much mulch you should lay in any given area. With mulch installation, it’s important to make ensure that you don’t use too much mulch and at the same time ensure that you are not using too much. If you have 1 inch of mulch that you intend to lay over a given area, you will need to divide the square footage by 325.
When Should you Lay Mulch?
Depending on what your goals are for you mulch installation in Granger, Indiana, you may need to use different strategies when it comes to the time that you decide to lay the mulch. If you are using the mulch for your flower beds, landscape around the home or for a vegetable garden hen it is best to wait for the soil to warm up a bit as mulch acts as an insulator. If you are indeed using the mulch that you are having placed for the purpose of insulation then it may be a good idea to lay it down in the late fall after the ground has frozen. Mulch is great for the purpose of moderating the winter and fall temperatures.
What types of Mulch are There?
There are many types of mulch that are made from anything from hardwood to rubber. Each type of mulch that you can get your hands on in Granger, Indiana serves a different purpose and has its own set of pros and cons. There are a few types of much you may be able to purchase in the Northwest Indiana area.
- Shredded Bark – Although this type of mulch is known to increase a soils alkalinity, shredded bark continues to be widely used in all forms of landscaping. This type of mulch is affordable and washes away less often than mulch in a nugget form. This is because the bark intertwines with the other pieces surrounding it keeping it stable. This is a great product to use on hills or slopes.
- Wood Chips – This type of mulch is made of chipped wood. It is durable and doesn’t flake and splinter easily. This type of mulch is known to create a nitrogen deficiency in your soil because it has a high ratio between carbon and nitrogen. This is a widely used form of mulch in the Northwest Indiana area is very accessible.
- Pine Needles as Mulch – Pine needles are a brown-colored, natural mulch style that takes a while to decompose and when it does, can add needed nutrients to the soil underneath.
- Nugget Mulch – This type of mulch is the bark from pine that is long-lasting. Nugget mulch has a con of not retaining moisture very well and is known to float more often than other mulch types.
- Cedar Mulch – Some say the best thing about cedar mulch is the fact that you can smell the cedar. A long-lasting mulch, cedar mulch can also repel insects due to the oils that it contains.
- Cypress Mulch – This mulch has a golden color and is capable of reflecting sunlight. This is a longer lasting mulch but like cedar, this type of mulch doesn’t offer the soil it covers many nutrients because of takes so long to break down.
- Rubber Mulch – Rubber mulch has a great status as the go-to mulch for playgrounds. As a playground cover, it works as a weed preventative and also serves the purpose of softening the landing of a falling child. A great product of recycling, this type of mulch can also be used around plants as a permanent style of landscaping.
If you choose to do your own landscaping project in Granger or if you decide to hire a professional landscaper near Granger, Indiana, make sure you do your homework. Mistakes made on any landscaping project can be costly and when it comes to saving money and time, a little research goes a long way! If you are reading this Fast Act Landscaping and Lawn Care wishes you the best with your project. Happy Landscaping!
