In 2016, the U.S. Lawn Care industry saw $77 billion worth of revenue and retail sales of lawn care supplies are projected to reach $6.6 billion in 2019. Those numbers alone indicate that Americans are more than willing to spend big on landscape materials.
Eighty million households in the United States have private lawns and 83 percent of Americans think having a yard is important. What’s more, 90 percent of those surveyed think it’s important to have a yard that’s well-maintained. In fact, the average American spends an average of four hours per week taking care of their lawn. That’s more than 200 hours per year that the average person spends making their lawn look its best.
But for all the sparkle and shine a well-manicured lawn can bring, it’s important to keep your home safe. If landscaping isn’t your thing, landscaping companies can offer ways to improve your home security through landscaping. Up to 31 percent of Americans say they don’t know how to grow a healthy lawn, yet only 44 percent hired a professional landscaper in the past year. Not having a the proper landscaping can leave your home vulnerable.
An electronic surveillance system will obviously be a big help to improve your home security. Landscaping companies can use the landscape of your property to you feel safer in your home. If you’re aiming to improve your home security, here’s how landscaping companies can help.
- Keep it simple: Basic landscape design can help keep the burglars away. Have landscaping companies install outdoor lighting and make sure windows aren’t blocked by trees or shrubs. Good visibility will allow neighbors to keep an eye on your house. A tree border can do a lot too, especially if it surrounds your property. A ring of trees or a tall fence can act as a barrier to keep the baddies out.
- Eliminate hiding places: According to Home and Garden burglars want to get in and get out fast and eliminating ways to get in the house or tools to break in is very important. Take care have some kind of security around windows, especially on the ground floor. Keep garages and tool sheds locked and try to keep shrubs and trees around windows to a minimum, Thieves will use shrubs and trees as hiding places and the less space they have to hide, the better off you’ll be.
- Maintain your yard: Tweaking your lawn to improve your home security is a good idea, but it’s important to maintain it once that happens. Landscaping companies can help make that happen, getting rid of dead trees, dead plants and overgrown shrubs.
- Use lighting: A burglary occurs every 14.6 seconds in the U.S. and a burglar wants to spend no more than 60 seconds breaking into a house. Lighting can be a big deterrent. Leaving radios and TVs on gives the impression that someone is home and as far as landscaping goes, outdoor lighting, perhaps triggered by motion sensors can disorient a thief and hopefully send him running.
If you need to improve the landscaping around your home or your property, Angie’s List provides a list of reputable landscaping companies.