Should I renovate my lawn myself or hire a lawn company?

Most Virginia homeowners can renovate a lawn themselves. The work is not complicated, it happens over a few weekends in late summer or fall, and the equipment can be rented. Where a lawn company earns its fee is on large or sloped yards, grading and drainage, professional-only herbicides, and the discipline of getting every step done in the right order. Many people split the job: hire the heavy parts, do the rest.

What the job involves

Whoever does it, a renovation has the same parts. Our guide to fixing a lawn that is mostly weeds and bare spots has the full sequence; in short:

• Diagnosis. A thin lawn usually has a cause: neglect, poor mowing, too much or too little rain, soil problems such as the wrong pH, poor drainage or compaction, or a grass that does not suit the site.^[1] Reseeding without fixing it means paying for the same lawn twice.
• A soil test. When we checked on October 27, 2026, the Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab charged $10.00 per sample for its routine test for Virginia residents.^[5] Do this yourself even if you hire the rest; it lets you judge whether a quote's lime and fertilizer make sense.
• Weed removal. For a full renovation that usually means a nonselective herbicide such as glyphosate, applied at least a week before seeding, with four weeks or more allowed for a repeat treatment where bermudagrass or other hard-to-kill perennials are present.^[4]
• Soil preparation. Core aeration, vertical mowing or tilling, then lime and fertilizer.
• Seeding and watering. Newly seeded lawns need more frequent watering for the first three to four weeks,^[3] starting with light, frequent watering until the seed is up.^[1]

When doing it yourself makes sense

• The lawn is a size you can cover with a rented core aerator and a walk-behind spreader in a day.
• The ground is fairly level and drains, so no soil needs moving.
• You are home enough to water every day or two for the first few weeks.
• You are comfortable reading and following an herbicide label, or the weeds are few enough to pull.

Equipment is not the barrier it seems. Virginia Tech's turf specialists point out that a core aeration machine can be rented, or you can hire a professional to aerate the lawn for you.^[2] Seed, lime and starter fertilizer come from any farm supply store, and a farmers cooperative, specialty nursery or turf supply store is more likely than a big-box garden center to carry the top-rated cultivars.^[1]

When hiring a company makes sense

• The yard needs grading or drainage. Virginia's contractor regulations define landscape service contracting as the alteration or improvement of a land area by means of excavation, clearing, grading, construction of retaining walls for landscaping purposes, or placement of landscaping timbers.^[9] That is contractor work regulated by DPOR, so look up the licence, and soil moving is where most DIY renovations go wrong.
• Irrigation is part of the plan. Under the same rules, installing, repairing or removing irrigation sprinkler systems is landscape irrigation contracting,^[9] another licensed specialty.
• The area is large or steep. Hydroseeding and commercial seedbed equipment cover ground quickly. Commercial applicators may use a tool with vibrating solid tines, called an aeravator, to prepare a seedbed,^[1] which is faster than several passes with a rental aerator.
• The problem needs professional products. Some of the most effective treatments are not sold to homeowners. Virginia Tech notes that many lawn fungicides can only be used by a certified applicator,^[4] and that the best chemical control for moss in home lawns, carfentrazone, is labeled only for professional applicators.^[2]
• You cannot water. If you travel or work long days, a renovation with sod, or a company that includes follow-up watering, may be the only way it takes.

A word of caution about cheap offers: a seed-only job tends to fail when the soil underneath has not been prepared.^[1] Ask exactly how the seed will reach the soil.

Licences and insurance to check

Several parts of a renovation are regulated in Virginia, and a good company will show you its paperwork without being pushed.

Spraying weeds. Under Virginia law, "No person may apply or recommend for use any pesticide commercially without a pesticide business license and the employment of a certified commercial applicator"^[6] responsible for the application. To get that license, a business files a certificate of insurance showing at least $100,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury to or death of one person, and $300,000 per occurrence,^[7] and every pesticide business license expires on March 31 and must be renewed each year.^[7] Ask to see the current one. Our guide to whether a lawn company needs a licence to spray has more.

Fertilizer. Virginia requires certification for licensees and contractor-applicators who apply fertilizer commercially to non-agricultural land,^[8] so ask whether the crew includes a Certified Fertilizer Applicator.

Grading and irrigation. Look the business up on DPOR's License Lookup^[10] before you sign for any soil moving or sprinkler work.

Utilities. Tilling and core aeration break ground. Whoever does the work should contact Virginia 811 at least 3 working days in advance^[11] to have buried lines marked.

What to get in writing

• What caused the decline, and what the plan does about it.
• How weeds and old turf will be removed, and with what product.
• The prep method, the grass species and cultivars, and the pounds of seed per 1,000 square feet.
• Lime and fertilizer, tied to a soil test.
• Who waters and for how long, and what happens if patches fail.
• The pesticide license number and the certificate of insurance.

Prices are covered in what it costs to redo a lawn in Virginia.

Stop and call a pro if

• Water stands on the lawn or flows toward the foundation, or the yard needs soil moved.
• Moss, disease or grubs keep killing grass after you have corrected the soil, mowing and watering.
• Bermudagrass or another perennial grass weed survives two rounds of spraying.
• The area is a slope you cannot safely run a tiller or aerator across.

Browse more lawn and landscaping answers, see lawn renovation services, or look up lawn and landscaping businesses around Blacksburg. To compare real quotes, describe the job once and local businesses quote it.