How loud is your landscaper? A decibel guide for condo boards
If your office takes calls about landscaping noise, the numbers below explain why, and what changes them.
Grounds maintenance is one of the few building contracts judged as much by sound as by appearance. A property can look immaculate and still generate a steady stream of complaints, and the reason is almost always equipment rather than scheduling.
The scale is not what it looks like
Decibels are logarithmic. An increase of 10 dB represents roughly ten times the sound intensity, and is perceived by most people as about twice as loud. So the gap between a 65 dB blower and a 100 dB blower is not a third louder. It is a different category of experience.
Sixty-five to one hundred is not a 50% increase. It is closer to eight times louder to the human ear.
Reference points
- 60 dB: normal conversation at a metre
- 65 dB: a battery blower near the operator
- 75 dB: a battery mower, comparable to a vacuum cleaner
- 95 dB: a commercial gas mower
- 100 dB: a commercial gas backpack blower, comparable to a chainsaw
These are typical published values measured near the operator. At fifteen metres every figure drops substantially, but so does the ranking between them, which is why residents on lower floors experience the difference most sharply.
Why two-stroke engines are worse than the number suggests
It is not only volume, it is frequency. Two-stroke engines produce a high-pitched, fluctuating tone that carries through closed windows and is far harder to tune out than steady broadband noise at the same level. That is why a gas blower two buildings away is more irritating than heavier, louder traffic on an adjacent road.
What to ask a contractor
Ask for their equipment list. Most will not have one prepared, which itself tells you something. If a contractor cannot say what their crew will be running on your property, they cannot make any commitment about how it will sound.
What changes in practice
Quieter equipment widens the service window. Work that would generate complaints at 8am becomes possible at 7am, which means the property is finished before residents leave and before the parking areas fill.