Several of my neighbors use Gary's Landscaping. Not a coincidence that these neighbors do not work from home or are away during the lawn care. This landscaping company uses several industrial-strength leaf blowers at the same time. Consumer reports tested the commercial backpack-style leaf blowers, and found they averaged around 90 dbA (decibels). Normally acceptable noise levels are around 60 dbA. Not particularly good if you work shifts and need to sleep during the day, or have infant children. Adding to this noise is the sound of lawn mowers, and leaf trimmers. There aren't earplugs strong enough to remove this noise, even if you were able to forgo hearing your phone, listening for the baby, doorbell, etc. No lawn is worth that much racket!
Yes, they do work quickly, probably due to all the workers sporting noisy machines. But they have been known to show up a couple of times a week.
Speaking of lawns, they do tend to cut the lawns way too short, almost like a putting green. This might be the homeowners' preference, but wasn't there an article in the paper advising people to let their lawns grow a little long to avoid having the cicada killer wasp nest in them?
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