The 'Uber of lawn care' makes its way to Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – With temperatures rising and summer quickly approaching, it’s the time of the year for lawn care.

Spring in the southeast is the business season for the landscaping industry, and now, homeowners across Charlotte can get their lawns mowed with just a button.

“Edge, mow, weed wack, blow off, that is what a standard cut is for us,” said Manny Fuentes, a landscaper with P&G Lawn Services.

Every spring, the crew hops from yard to yard across the region.

“If it’s worth it, we just go,” Fuentes said.

The family-run business has used word of mouth, business cards, flyers, and social media posts to grow its clientele for years.

Now, they come to them.

“It’s really easy, and it is easy for people, both the vendors and the people,” he said.

Last month, Nashville-based ‘GreenPal’ launched in the Queen City.

“It just kind of organically grew, and here we are,” Co-founder of GreenPal Gene Caballero said.

It’s been described as the Uber of lawn care. It allows homeowners to find local, pre-screened lawn professionals without face-to-face interaction.

“If an individual was going to summon a stranger to come pick them up or allow a stranger to live in their guest bedroom for a weekend to make money, then they would do the same for lawncare,” Caballero said. “That’s kind of the idea of how GreenPal came about.”

Homeowners looking for lawn care download an app, enter their address, describe what services they want, and the bidding process begins.

“Pretty much you get a notification when a house comes up for bid, and you bid on it,” Fuentes said. “There are other vendors that can also bid on it, and whoever gets the house, you go and look at it, and it’s easy.”

In Charlotte, GreenPal has 85 vendors, including P&G Lawn Services.

Fuentes says some days, they are winning upwards of 10 bids.

“It’s expanded the business all a lot; it’s been helping out,” he said.

The app officially launched in 2015 in Nashville. Following the pandemic, Caballero said it has taken off. Right now, about 30% of customers are over the age of 60.

“We saw a huge increase in demand and a huge increase in demand of people over the age of 60,” Caballero said. “I think it was just the safety reasons. There is really know need to meet anyone at the property, walk the property, and exchange money at the end. It’s truly contactless.”

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