Updated Jan 12, 2023
Updated Jan 12, 2023
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If your lawn is suffering from bald patches, has areas of dead grass, or isn’t as lush or as healthy as you’d like it to be, overseeding might be the perfect solution for you. Overseeding is planting new grass seed on an existing lawn, and it can often lead to a thicker, healthier-looking, lush lawn that becomes the envy of your neighbors.
The House Method Review team has reviewed and analyzed all of the best lawn care services that provide seeding or overseeding services. The total cost of your lawn overseeding will depend on many different factors, including the size of your property, the quality of your existing grass, your location and climate, and the type of grass seed you want to plant. Read on to discover the cost of reseeding a lawn and the best way to go about the process.
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Reseeding is a common practice because, if done correctly, it leads to a fuller, more aesthetically pleasing lawn. The national average cost for reseeding is around $600 for a standard, 5,000-square foot lawn, with most homeowners paying between $450 and $900. Overseeding provides a myriad of benefits, including:
The cost for overseeding varies quite a bit, but most homeowners pay approximately $0.12 per square foot for the service from a professional landscaping company. That means the average price for every 1,000 square feet is around $120, or between $90 and $180 for 1,000 square feet. However, the overall cost is often lower than overseeding because smaller sections of your property will likely be treated.
While the prices for overseeding can vary quite a bit based on many things, the most significant cost factor will always be the size of your property or the area you want to be seeded. Of course, larger properties require more time and grass seed, so prices will increase with bigger property sizes.
The table below provides some average pricing for overseeding based on the size of your lawn. Keep in mind that these are just estimates, and they only consider the size of your yard and not the other cost factors, such as labor costs and equipment rental.
Area in Sq. Ft. | Cost |
≥ 1,000 | ~$120 |
1,000-2,000 | $120 to $240 |
2,000-3,000 | $240 to $360 |
3,000-4,000 | $360 to $480 |
4,000-5,000 | $480 to $600 |
5,000-10,000 | $600 to $1,200 |
~20,000 (half an acre) | $2,400 |
~40,000 (1 acre or per acre) | $4,800 |
Reseeding is sometimes “overseeding,” but it usually refers to planting grass seed where there isn’t an existing lawn. This could mean spreading grass seed on dirt patches after installing a sprinkler system, filling in dead spots where grass has died from pet urine, disease, or bacterial infection, or any other application where the grass is applied where no lawn currently exists.
Overseeding always refers to placing grass seed on an already-established lawn. This is a popular option for improving the yard’s thickness, health, and appearance, as new grass will fill in any bare spots and grow between existing blades.
If you choose to reseed or overseed your lawn yourself, you’ll save a substantial amount in labor costs. However, you will be doing the work yourself, so you’ll pay for the job with your time rather than your money. If you buy the right equipment for the job, seeding your lawn isn’t too labor-intensive, but it will take some time and effort to ensure it’s done properly.
Depending on the grass seed you buy, you’ll spend between $2 and $6 per 150 square feet. For every 1,000 sq ft of lawn, you want to reseed, expect to pay $35-$100. A typical 5,000-square-foot lawn will total between $175 and $500 for the seed alone. Overall, you could save between $275 and $400 by doing the job yourself.
From our top recommended lawn care service, TruGreen
While the numbers in the table above provide somewhat accurate estimates, it’s not that easy to estimate your total cost for overseeding. Your pricing is based on several factors, impacting the total cost by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The cost factors you’ll need to consider are discussed briefly below.
As mentioned above, the kind of grass seed you want to put down can drastically affect your total price of overseeding. The table below provides some typical per-pound grass seed costs for the most popular grass species in the country.
Grass Species | Climate | Avg. Price Per Pound |
Clover | Best in temperate climates but suitable for most areas throughout the country | $4 |
Kentucky Bluegrass | Best in temperate and warmer climates — generally reserved for the transitional climate and warm climate zones | $6 |
Bahia | Best for hot climates — generally reserved for the warm climate zone in the Southern U.S. | $10 |
Fescue | Best in temperate climates but suitable for most areas throughout the country | $2-3 |
Bermuda | Best for warmer climates — generally reserved for the warm climate zone and southern parts of the transitional zone | $6 |
Ryegrass | Best in temperate climates — generally reserved for the transitional climate zone | $4 |
From our top recommended lawn care service, TruGreen
As is the case with all home improvement, the brand of the products you use will have a significant impact on the cost. The table below provides average pricing for some of the most popular grass seed brands available.
Brand | Bag Size | Price |
Scotts Turf Builder Clover Lawn | 2 lbs | $19.49 |
Greenview Fairway Formula Grass Seed Kentucky Bluegrass Blend | 3 lbs | $19.99 |
Pennington Argentine Bahia Grass Seed | 7 lbs | $48.97 |
Scotts Turf Builder Grass Seed Tall Fescue Mix | 20 lbs | $65.97 |
Vigoro Bermuda Grass Seed Blend with Water Saver Seed Coating | 5 lbs | $26.98 |
Scotts Turf Builder Grass Seed Perennial Ryegrass Mix | 3 lbs | $16.90 |
Seeding a new lawn requires the same process as overseeding, but you’ll want to be extra careful to distribute seed with your garden spreader evenly for even grass growth.
It would be best to begin by amending your soil and balancing the pH to provide the best growing conditions possible for your new lawn. Once that’s done, till the soil, level it, and begin spreading the seed. Use a drop spreader around garden beds to avoid getting seeds where you don’t want them and a broadcast spreader for larger areas where precision isn’t needed. Once the seed is down, add any new-grass fertilizers, topcoat the seed to prevent water and wind from moving it around, and water the newly laid grass seed. Maintain adequate soil moisture (moist but not soaking wet) for several weeks until the grass is long enough to mow.
There are some alternatives for homeowners who want a green lawn but don’t like how much work it takes to maintain the color and health of common grass species. We’ll include a brief list of the most common grass alternatives below and average per-pound pricing. Keep in mind that these are estimated costs, but most options will be significantly less cost-effective than traditional grass seed.
When it comes to seeding your lawn, you have two options: hire a professional lawn maintenance company, like TruGreen, to do the work for you, or do it as a DIY home improvement project. There are some pros and cons to each, which we’ll discuss below, and our recommendations for each strategy.
Hiring a professional lawn care company will save you the time and frustration of learning how to seed your property. Provided you choose a reputable company, the technicians will base any soil amendments, fertilizers, and additional services on soil tests. Professionals have the tools required to get the job done correctly, so you never have to worry about wasting grass seed on mistakes you might make during DIY seeding. As such, professional service is often worth the cost.
The best lawn care service for overseeding, in our opinion, is TruGreen. This company has very reasonable pricing — averaging around $270 for a 5,000-square-foot property — and countless other services that can bring your property from looking brown and dead to green and vibrant. Plus, the company provides a customer satisfaction guarantee. The table below provides some information for each of the plans TruGreen offers:
Plan | TruMaintence | TruHealth | TruComplete | TruSignature | TruNatural |
Soil Test | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Fertilization | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Seeding | X | X | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Aeration | X | X | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Pre-emergent Weed Control | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Targeted Herbicide Application | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Grub Control | X | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | X |
Tree Care | X | X | X | ✓ | X |
Shrub Care | X | X | X | ✓ | X |
All Natural Products | X | X | X | X | ✓ |
OVERALL COST | $ | $$ | $$$ | $$$$ | $$ |
TruGreen also provides overseeding as a one-off service and many other a la carte options.
Learn more: TruGreen Review
If you prefer to save money on labor and don’t mind taking the time to do everything yourself, you’ll spend an average of $175 to seed a 5,000-square-foot property. You’ll likely spend quite a bit of time researching the proper grass species and doing the actual work, but you stand to save around $100.
Sunday Lawn Care is a great hybrid option between professional overseeding and a DIY job. Sunday sends the products you need to seed your lawn properly, including soil amendments, nutrients, and even grass seed. You’ll still be doing the work yourself and will pay a bit more than a complete DIY job, but you’ll also have help from a professional service.
Read more: Sunday Review
Reseeding and overseeding your lawn can quickly elevate your property and make your lawn look fuller, more vibrant, and healthier. Even better, a thick lawn due to overseeding will act as a natural weed deterrent and can help prevent some lawn pests from laying eggs in your soil.
When you’re planning on overseeding, you’ll have a few choices to make, but the most crucial one is to go the professional or DIY route. Hiring a professional will save you time and money on retreatment in the long run. TruGreen is one of the best lawn care companies for overseeding. It has affordable pricing, results backed by science, and a customer satisfaction guarantee.
Generally speaking, you’ll need about a pound of grass seed for every 150 feet of property you’re looking to seed. A typical 5,000 square foot plot will require about 34 pounds of seed, and a 1-acre property will require approximately 291 pounds of grass seed.
Hydroseeding is an increasingly popular seeding option that uses a commercial mixer to spray-on grass seed, fertilizer, water, and a top dressing component — like mulch or topsoil — all at once. Hydroseeding can range in price, but the average cost is $1,500 for a 10,000 sq ft property. Prices range from $500 to $3,500 for this size lot.
Reseeding isn’t labor-intensive, but you need to make sure you get the process right for the best results. You’ll want to consider the type of grass seed you’re putting down, the climate in your area, soil amendments required to balance the pH, nutrients you’ll need to add with fertilizer, and how much seed you’re using per 1,000 square feet of property.
If you’re using the proper tools, the actual process should take only an hour or two for a 5,000-square-foot property. Due to inexperience, many DIYers take three or four hours for this lot size. However, you should not expect instant results! Grass can take 4 to 10 weeks to grow in, on average.
Most lawns could benefit from some overseeding. It might be a good option for your property if you have bare spots in your grass, poor grass health overall, weed infestations, or grass that never seems to stay green throughout the growing season.
Possibly, but germination is unlikely. While growing grass isn’t complicated, you need to take the proper steps to ensure it grows as planned. Prepping the soil with amendments, fertilizer, and lawn aeration is an excellent first step. You’ll want to topdress the area and water it diligently to maintain moist — but not wet — soil. Watering two to three times a day for about 10 to 15 minutes each time for the first few weeks will help ensure your grass grows thick and healthy. Limit foot traffic on your lawn once the grass seed is down until you mow.
At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. That’s why we took the time to create an objective rating system and score each lawn company/service according to our methodology.
Our research team dug deep into the fine print of contracts, combed through over one hundred customer reviews, and thoroughly investigated each lawn care service’s costs, benefits, customer reviews, guarantees, plans, products, and a-la-carte options. We’ve done the homework for you by researching nearly all of the lawn care companies on the market so you can have the information you need to make the best choice for your home.
We developed a formula to objectively determine the best lawn care companies and give each a score out of 100 based on the following criteria:
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