It wasn't that bad a winter. Weird, sure, but even my first-year lawn is coming back very nicely now (photos soon, people, as soon as I clean up, get the first cut done, and get rid of the poa annua).

Those of us who've used a service weren't happy, and most of us can tell if a lawn is serviced by the fact that it looks like crap. Harsh, but there it is. They don't take the kind of care of your lawn that you will.

The basic instructions:

Mow: High as you can stand. If that's the top deck of your mower, great, but it should be close. That keeps the grass long, reduces the water demands, increases root mass, and shades out weeds. Don't knock off more than 1/3 of the blade at a time (so if you mow to 3", mow at or before 4.5").

Water: Rarely, once a week tops in warm weather, once a month in cool weather. Add 1" of water at a time (use a tuna can as they're 1" deep). Slightly more water or more often may be required in very hot weather like we had last July.

Feed: Any good food (the generic is just as good as the name brand), according to bag instructions, and as often as the bag recommends. Don't bother with a weed-and-feed as they're not that effective. Organic feeding is good to restore a lawn, too, as well as build the soil.

Weeds: Spray with Weed-B-Gone, any other name brand, or any generic. If you have crabgrass, make sure to get a spray built for it. Not all of them are, and those that are advertise it (usually right on the label).

Another lawn guy says grubs damage.
another says turf disease.
I say let's do it ourselves.

You say tomato, I say to-mah-to, you say...

Yeah, that happens a lot. Photos of it might get you a positive ID here.

If you're seeing less than 10 grubs per square foot they're probably not causing enough damage to matter. More than that, yes. Some will say to use insecticide, others nematodes. Both work (the nematodes won't wipe out the worms in your soil at the same time, however).

Seed: Now if you must, but it has to be real soon (like this weekend and no later). It's already past prime time.

Really...that's it. All else is details (organic or synthetic and so on).

Lots of lawn care guys shoot from the hip because they're selling you applications and not necessarily good service. It's very possible that some of the problems you're describing can overlap but it doesn't sound like you've found a service that does a good job of scouting turf to anticipate pests.

I'd like to make a couple suggestions. One is never to take the advice of someone who neither explains nor proves what they tell you. Another is not to run the gamut of lawn services in search of a good one.

Because you complain of several diagnosis from different people, it's a little difficult to know where to begin in helping you here. So, let me try to put things into perspective.

1. To diagnose lawn disease, I need characteristics of the dead/brown patches. Do they look wet or greasy? Are the patches circular or irregular? Do the patches seem to be spreading/growing? Is the grass matted? Any pinkish or grayish color? Does there appear to be fuzzy growths on the grass? I'm asking for details of specific diseases that might be present at this time of year. I don't think any others will have revealed themselves since temperatures have not been warm enough yet.

2. Chinch bugs suck the juices from grass blades. If the brown patches in your complaint do not have roots, you do not have a chinch bug problem. If there is chinch bug damage, you should reseed those areas.

3. Grubs do eat the roots. If you can fold back the top layer of soil like the image below, there was a grubs problem. Right now, you likely won't see many if any, but that is the type of damage they cause. You will have to reseed those patches. Treat for grubs in early June with an insecticide like Grubex or similar product. Liek Morpheus stated, it will also kill the earth worms, and earth worms are valuable to the soil. So beneficial nematodes might be a better idea though I'm not sure they will work quickly enough to prevent grubs this summer.

{{gwi:89133}}

Maintaining your lawn is not difficult though I can understand it may seem daunting to think of it. You don't tell us how much lawn area you have but if it's too much to irrigate, then perhaps you and hubby should consider reducing the actual-maintained lawn area for manageability. Either way, it is less expensive than a service. As you can see, the cost doesn't end with paying their weekly or monthly rates. In the very least, hire a service to do the mowing only. Become familiar with what must be done, how it should be done, and when it should be done so that you can instruct them, and thereby minimize damage and costs.

You'll find a good maintenance schedule in this thread. It is the 10th response from the top. Pay particular attention to the paragraphs on watering and mowing.