On-demand lawn care, snow removal app launches in Dayton

“After successfully launching in 200 other markets, we are excited to help homeowners in Dayton find reliable, safe, and local lawn care and snow removal,” said co-founder Gene Caballero.

GreenPal launched in 2012 after Caballero, working in the technology industry out West, saw the rise of on-demand services coming and decided to get ahead of the boom.

“(It was) one of those things, being in the landscaping profession in high school and college and then being a consumer, I was fortunate enough to see the pain that both signs of the equation have," Caballero said. "I knew that 'Hey, if someone is going to pay a stranger to come pick them up, at some point they would do the same with lawncare.”

Dayton is the third Ohio city to launch GreenPal, following Columbus and Cincinnati. It joins the growing list of cities across the country, including Chicago, Tampa, Atlanta, San Jose and more.

To keep the lights on, GreenPal takes 5% of the transaction from vendors. Homeowners will not see any additional fees when receiving their quote from the local professional, Caballero said. In return for the payout, vendors benefit from more than exposure to customers via GreenPal.

“That’s kind of where we differentiate ourselves from other kinds of platforms like ours is, we’re the first true operating system for landscaping professionals,” Caballero said. “Not only do we handle their demand creation, we handle their scheduling, their route optimization, payment processing — we handle all that for the landscaping professional. He (just) gets up, sees what he has to do for the day.”

Local vendors joining the app must pass a screening process, including submitting photos of previous work. At the end of the GreenPal process, customers then rate the job of the professional on the app, which can be helpful for the next customer needing services.

A Dayton-specific site has been created for residents to search and order lawncare and snow removal services. People can browse and get a free quote at https://www.yourgreenpal.com/local/lawn-care-dayton-oh.