GreenPal, the lawn mowing app users commonly call the "Uber of lawn care," expanded to Auburn on Thursday, April 10. Across the nation and most recently in Auburn, GreenPal connects users with local vendors to achieve affordable, efficient and high-quality lawn care at the touch of a button.
Active across all 50 states, lawn mowing app GreenPal helps match local clients to local lawn care vendors to ensure the best possible lawn care. Users can download the app and list necessary information like their address, their preferred types of lawn care and the date of completion. Once a job is listed, local landscapers can view the clients’ descriptions and yards from Google Earth images to decide on bidding.
GreenPal aims to supply users with same-day lawn care without online searching or over-the-phone negotiating. By diminishing the amount of time required to hire lawn care, GreenPal hopes to create more job opportunities for vendors and help clients find the best deal through vendor competition.
Co-founder Gene Caballero first recognized the demand for more efficient lawn care services after working in sales on the West Coast, as he watched new technologies centered around the ease of the user emerge.
“I was privy to newer technologies like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb and knew that if someone was gonna allow a stranger to live in their guest bedroom for a weekend or allow a stranger to pick them up to take them somewhere, then I would hope they would do the same for lawn care,” Caballero said.
Caballero is no stranger to lawn care. He first worked in lawn care in high school and became increasingly familiar during and after college. He soon realized it would be easier for both clients and workers to use an app to “order” lawn care like food or transportation.
Recognizing the possible demand, Caballero co-founded GreenPal with three other men to ensure clients could receive high-quality lawn care without the usual obstacles.
Like Uber, GreenPal vets its local vendors by requiring them to be at least 18 years old and have a valid Social Security number and bank account at a financial institution. Once these vendors provide the necessary information, they can bid on lawns.
Users can also rate and discuss vendors, making information more accessible for themselves and others.
“We do all this, and what homeowners tell us is the most important thing for them are the vendors’ ratings and reviews,” Caballero said.
GreenPal is free for homeowners to sign up, and the quotes can range from $25 to $45. However, no additional fees apply, as GreenPal only takes 5% of the transaction.
“You know when you order your $15 hamburger from Uber Eats, when it gets to you it’s like $33. There’s no pricing like that. You know, it’s pretty transparent,” Caballero said. “[...] ‘It’s $30. Well, what do I have to pay?’ Well, that’s what you pay, $30.”
GreenPal also aims to serve local lawn care vendors by handling time-consuming tasks that can distract from their jobs.
“We’re able to help the vendor grow his business. Not only do we handle the vendor’s demand creation, but we also handle their route optimization, their payment processing and also the scheduling,” Caballero said. “So, GreenPal is, kind of like, the first true operating system for landscaping professionals.”
Founded in 2012, GreenPal is now nationwide, growing approximately 20% annually. According to its official website, the app expands to a new city every two months.
“We’re just happy that we’ve been able to continue to grow through the pandemic. It’s the vendors’ lives who we’re changing,” Caballero said.
Auburn is the newest addition to GreenPal’s extensive list of cities, with 100% operability since its Auburn launch. While reviewing their data, Caballero and other co-founders saw Auburn homeowners were signing up for GreenPal and wanted to meet the demand.
“Auburn was one of those cities that we just saw the homeowner sign up, and we knew that it was a market that we had to launch in 2025, and that’s what typically happens,” Caballero said. “You know, we’ve launched in Huntsville, Birmingham and Montgomery already, and so what typically happens is in those suburban areas, it’s kind of where we start having and meeting the service.”
Auburn residents and lawn care specialists who hope to enjoy easy transactions and same-day lawn care through GreenPal can sign up on their official website.
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