What does a Groundskeeper do?

I currently work as an estate groundskeeper as a part time job. I could easily work 40 hours a week. I have keys to everything and a credit card for purchases but no benefits, sadly. That is what stops me from quitting my desk job. I'm dreaming of the day I can retire to only one job.

If I were ever going to seek groundskeeper employment, I would do it in a mild climate instead of a cold one. I simply cannot tolerate being outdoors in freezing temperatures, especially if precipitation is falling.

Last year, my area got a rare eight-inch snowfall. I had to spend time shoveling off my driveway, and I felt like my fingers were going to fall off! I had on gloves, but they kept getting wet with snow.

Groundskeepers in cold climates must have really thick skin and warm blood. They probably also have access to clothing that insulates them very well.

My uncle was a grounds supervisor for a large golf course. He had several staff members that he was in charge of that also worked full time.

During their busy season, it took several people to keep the golf course grounds in good shape. I have no idea what a groundskeeper salary is, but he seemed to make pretty good money. I am sure being a supervisor, he was paid quite a bit more than his average worker.

I don't mind keeping up with my own yard, but don't enjoy it enough that I would ever want to have a groundskeeping job.

I think the worst one would be working for a cemetery. There would be so much trimming you would need to do around all of the gravestones.

I don't mind mowing if I can sit on a mower and cover a lot of ground, but I think using a weed eater would be the main thing you would do at a cemetery.

I have worked for several years as a groundskeeper in landscaping. Most of job duties require me to do landscaping projects for homeowners.

I have done everything from big to small jobs. Most of the time I install the landscaping and the homeowner keeps up with the regular upkeep. There are some people who don't like doing their own landscaping and maintenance, so they pay me to take care of it for them.

Working as a groundskeeper is hard work and you have to work outside no matter what the weather is. Even so, I would much prefer to do this than be stuck at a desk inside an office building all day long.

I am not rich and don't own a large property, but there have been many times when I mentioned I would love to have a gardener.

I love having a green, well manicured lawn with lots of flowers in bloom, but it takes a lot of time and work. In the summer I spend most of my free time outside working on the lawn and garden.

I can understand how this would be a full time job for someone who was maintaining a huge property.

The older I get, the less I enjoy it, and wonder what it would be like to hire someone to take care of these lawn services for me. I don't foresee that it will actually ever happen, but it is nice to dream about once in awhile.

@titans62 - Although that may seem to be the case, there are many people, like ranchers or simply people that own a lot of property, that need to hire groundskeepers simply because there is no way for one person to maintain the property on their own.

Although there are some rich people, with large estates, that have groundskeepers to take care of and maintain their property, there are way more instances of people that are not rich that hire someone to take care of their property.

A groundskeeper's duties vary on what is wanted from those who hire them and this mean that even someone hired to mow a person's lawn can be considered a groundskeeper.

If someone is looking to make some extra cash as a groundskeeper, this is something they can easily do, but if one wants to get into the profession professionally they need to join a grounds keeping company or start a business on their own.

It seems to me like groundskeepers that work at private residences tend to only work for people that have a lot of money and do not wish to go through the trouble of maintaining their own lawns.

I really feel like that in order to be a groundskeeper at a home, one probably has to look for a rich person that is hiring people to do maintain the property, simply because most people tend to maintain their own lawn.

When I think of groundskeepers for private residences I think of large properties owned by people with a lot of money, that either simply do not have the time to maintain their own property or have the money that they do not feel like they should and can simply pay someone else to do the necessary labor.

@Emilski - I have heard that groundskeepers for major league baseball teams all have one specific job to do and they sometimes rotate their duties.

Because of the nature of the profession, there are millions of dollars put into maintaining the field every year, so they must be in immaculate shape and every single detail must be addressed.

I have heard that these groundskeepers can sometimes work 12 to 16 hour days if there are any problems out of the ordinary with the field, such as if there was heavy rain, or if there is a drought and the grass is dying.

Just like with the ball players, there are different levels of groundskeepers and the ones that work for major league baseball teams have reached the top of their profession and when their careers are over with the baseball teams they can go onto maintaining fields for colleges or even work on people's estates maintaining the grounds.

I used to work as a groundskeeper, and my job was to take care of and maintain little league diamonds for baseball.

Because of the lack of funds, I was forced to take care of three fields all by myself. My duties included picking up trash that people left from previous games, painting the foul lines, smoothing out the infield dirt, so it was playable, mowing the grass in the outfield, and mowing the grass.

This job required me to do a lot in order to maintain the field properly and I can only imagine what groundskeepers for professional sports teams have to go through, as those fields are in immaculate condition and not just in the condition that local kids can play on the field.