Question
Gina-
Hi,
I have a little bit of a different kind of
question than you probably usually get.?br> I am recently divorced, and my ex-wife is
wiping me out money-wise, as she claims to
be broke.?br> Today, when I went by her house to drop off
my child, I noticed that the entire yard, front
and back, was marked off all OVER the
place with 3 or 4 different colors of spray
paint. There were also little blue flags
everywhere that said "John Deere
Landscapes".
I know nothing about lawn care, landscaping,
etc., but I DO know that John Deere
equipment is more expensive than most.?br> Now, granted, the yard is not real big (but
not tiny either), I have no idea what she is
having done (and we're not on speaking
terms), but it looks to me like she may have
hired them to do a whole new landscape
design (we didn't have much of one before).
I've tried hard searching the web to see if I
could find a ballpark figure of what JDL
would charge to do something like this, but
couldn't find a thing.?br> If you might just help me out by telling me, is
John Deere Landscaping more expensive
than some of the others? I know it would be
hard to give me an estimate of the cost,
without knowing the size of the yard, or what
was even being done. A ballpark price ($300
or $3000) sure would help me though. I
would just like to know, basically, if she's
splurging with my kids' money (as it
appears), or if she could have had this done
a little bit cheaper.?br> Any help you can give me is much
appreciated.?br> Thank you.?br>
(I am in MS, by the way)

Answer
The flags you are seeing are promotional.... manufacturers put their logos on them for advertising.  I've seen them say "Roundup", "Monrovia", etc....It doesn't mean your exwife is using that vendor specifically.  As a matter of fact, I wasn't aware that John Deere - an equipment manufacturer - even has a design or installation service.  In any event, if you have a vested interest in the house; consider the landscaping an investment that will bring a return.  I've seen DIY improvements of $50 that brought in huge bucks in investment and I've seen $300K projects that did little or nothing to improve.