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Okay this helps a LOT.

I know that horrible soil.   The most expensive development in our region has exactly that.   It's the worst soil I've ever seen, and it seems that's what all builders are doing now.   I think they should all be fined for that crap.

First....if the homeowners are getting gorgeous grass, and your service is not, it's time to ask the homeowners what they're doing.  

Unless there is something keeping you from asking, you should ask.

Second....your lawn care company...what are you paying them and what exactly are they doing? (how many treatments, what is included, etc?)  Because if the homeowners are getting good results and your company is not?   AND you've got in-ground irrigation (which is truly the dividing line between the ability to have a good lawn, and an awesome lawn, if Lawn Care is not going to become your number one hobby) something is wrong.  It's time to assess what's happening and why.  

This is the best turf care company in the area. This is my third company. The lawn in noticeably better with this company. They leave detailed notes of what chemicals they apply and why. Probably 40% of the homes in my community use this community. Some homes are very similar in appearance to the few homeowners with the best looking (retiree) self turf maintained lawns. We all have the same crappy scraped clay turf, however; some of the nice lawns are some of the first homes that were built. Their lawns are about 8 months older than mine. I do not care enough at this point to do all my chemicals. They do all the weed treatments, pre / post emergents,, fertilizers, etc. I am happy with the compromise right now.

Good.  My hope for you was that they are a good, competent company.  If they are at that level, have they mentioned aeration/overseed to you, or given you a quote on that? If not, you should ask.

Third.....  That is not actually thatch, best I can tell.   That is dead grass (from disease or something else) lying on top of the ground.  

Fourth....Humic acid is an awesome thing.  I'm going to suggest you make liberal use of it. But real liquid aeration is different.  Does humic help with the aeration effect somewhat?  Yes.  It does.  But not like the Air-8 will..

Air-8 - How often should I use this? Once in the spring and fall?

Without actually putting eyes on your lawn, or being there, my recommendation would be to apply air-8, humic acid, and RGS in rotation, with applications once per week until the lawn goes dormant.   Then we will see where we stand. This more frequent application of Air-8 is a RESCUE situation. You are going more heavily than would be normal.   NOW THEN....it is necessary for you to pay attention to your lawn--to your soil and grass--to what it's doing--for this to be effective. The situation will be fluid, and you may need to shift as things move forward.  Help is always here, and now that you've found LCN, help is in that community as well.

The micro-greene will not be used as often.  It is actual fertilizer, and will be used in fairly small amounts, just as a boost to the basic fert program I'm sure your company is using.  Soil test first, then we will see about that one.

You need to have a system in place for evaluation.   It can be as simple as...take a screwdriver out there (or a trowel like you used before) and push it into the ground in a few places.  Rate, on a scale from 1-10, how deeply you can push the screwdriver in (when the soil is not wringing wet) and how difficult it is to push it.  Do this every now and then, and see what happens.  See if the rating changes in the difficult parts of the lawn.  Make notes, so you remember, and so you have a record.

Now...I don't know your region, so I don't know when you would overseed.

Zone 8a. The only "overseeding" (more like reseeding bare spots) that i really have is in high run off areas. I need to tie in 2 gutters to my underground french drains to fix this problem before I just kill more growth with high runoff.

Yes.  You are right.  Need to fix that.  Can work on soil in the meantime though.

I would be very tempted to burn that down, bring in a couple of loads of topsoil, and start over with a superior variety of hybrid bermuda.  BUT...that's a mess. That's expensive, and a lot of backbreaking work.  AND....you can fix your soil.  The thing you have to do to fix it, though, is get good grass growing in it, so the grass roots do the work for you.  That's going to take some work.  And it's not going to be a one-time pill you dump on the lawn.

Is it possible to  "seed over" the current species of hybrid bermuda with a superior brand? Without it looking too weird as it takes over the original grass?

It is possible, and my guess is that this would be a very good choice for you. Because I know so much less about actually growing bermuda than I do about cool season grass, this is a point of hesitation for me.  But I know that GCI turf services offers premium grass seed, and he offers Bermuda suitable for your zone.  I have grown his tttf (turf-type tall fescue) on several yards (much more expensive than the local seed suppliers) in difficult soils, primarily because I have connections to that company (no financial interest, I just know some of those folks) and I trust the owner's integrity re: what he puts in those bags.

Go here. Scroll down to the Alpha Elite Bermuda seed.  Click on that and read about it.  once you have mapped your lawn you will know how many pounds you need.   Pay attention to his teachings.  The man knows how to grow grass, and if he mentions it on this page, you need to be sure you are aware and can meet the needs of the seed. This will be useful no matter what seed you buy.  Is this the best Bermuda seed out there?   I don't know.  But I know that he grows it for his customers, and his quality standards are pretty damn high. His quality standards are high enough that his fescue seed, on irrigated lawns, are my best lawns, and even in this very difficult summer, have been the best-looking lawns in the neighborhoods where I work.

If I had only one yard to do, I would choose either that, or Barenbrug seed. HOWEVER, I don't know how you can get Barenbrug other than Home Depot, and I don't know if their mixes/varieties are as good.   Companies often dumb down the products for big box stores.  Barenbrug may not, but I just don't know since I get my seed from suppliers.  I'm guessing you can get Pete Denny's GCI Turf Bermuda seed through Yard Mastery as well, since they have a relationship with GCI.  If you get your company to do the aeration and overseed, they will use whatever seed they use, most likely, which is probably fine.  You might call and ask questions, in preparation for spring because......

There is one problem for you right now with overseeding.   This is NOT the optimal time to overseed for YOU.  In fact, I would tell you not to do it now..  I overseed in the fall (cool season grass) because it's incredibly difficult to get grass seed to establish in spring, well enough to take the summer heat without losing every bit of it.   YOU, however, would (optimally)  overseed in the spring, just before summer starts, because you want that longer season of hot weather to help your warm-season grass get established and strong before the frost makes it go dormant in the fall.  See the difference?  So if you are going to overseed, I suggest you spend the fall and winter building your soil to the max, and helping the grass you have, then overseed in the spring.  You will have to coordinate this with your Lawn Care Company if they are not doing it themselves.  Because if they are putting down pre-emergent herbicides (sometimes plain old post-emergents have pre-emergent activity as well) and you overseed on top of that, you will lose your seed.   So...speak with them about this, and in the meantime, build your soil.   If you want to go the extra mile you could core aerate this fall, then go in with liquid air-8 right on top of it to start of your soil conditioning program, but you will make gains just with the liquid amendments alone.  Then core and seed in the spring.  So...choices.

I will say to you that I doubt your present lawn care company is going to do that work, so you may be faced with a choice...Switch companies, to somebody with a more individualized approach, and pay out the wazoo for a major lawn overhaul, or...keep your present company and do it yourself.  

Now then, there's a problem with that.   If my customer started f**cking with his lawn in a major way in between my treatments, I'd fire that customer.  One person needs to be making the decisions about that lawn, and if I'm the professional getting paid for results, that person needs to be me (that's not as arrogant as it sounds. I can't fix what somebody else is messing with, and this would all be a team effort...I do a lot of communicating, the why and what I'm doing, and if my customer wants to do something, we talk about it, and the timing, and I educate the customer about how to carry out his/her effort).  BUT...if my customer's lawn looked like that, I'd be standing beside him, saying, "we have problems here, and here is the way we need to fix it. This is what it's going to cost you (there would be sticker shock) but your lawn sucks, and if you want it to not suck, it needs intensive care."  (So you know....I am not the typical lawn care company. I have fewer customers, they each pay me more,  I communicate because they like that, and I baby their grass (and their landscape, and their container plantings).  They like the attention and they like their gorgeous lawns. It is a boutique-style business. )

So you're going to have to figure out your approach.

Some points to note:
*I will not tell you what chemicals to put on your lawn. I don't know.  I could make a decent guess, but I don't treat Bermuda. I kill Bermuda.  With fire. From orbit.  Your lawn care company (or any reliable turf trx company in your area) knows more about that than I do.  

*Those same lawn care companies likely have a fertilizer program that works in your area, on Bermuda, too.   So what they're doing probably isn't wrong.  (Although it could be wrong.   Do you know anybody else in the neighborhood who uses your same company?  What does that lawn look like?)

*What I tell you to do will not interfere with what the company is doing, but there may come a point at which you have to take control of your lawn, to get it to work.  I can't foresee that point right now, but I'm just sayin....

I would prefer to stick to soil improvement product type chemicals that have little chance of interference with my company's program. They are very familiar with "pga golf course" management turf types due to the nature of their local experience and clients. I'll have to look at my account and see if I can look at past application chemical types as I don't keep their visit summaries once I've reviewed them.

I believe this is the best approach, and there should be no worries.   One easy approach:  If you know the general time they are going to come to do work, you just avoid any application at that time.  AND....none of these soil conditioners/amendments is going to interfere, anyway, but it makes sense that we just don't want to go right over the top of their fertilizer, and ESPECIALLY over their weed control treatments.  Each product comes with specific "water in, don't water in" instructions.   You don't want to do anything to mess that up.  So..you build your soil, let them try to grow grass..

To fix this, you will need to focus on SOIL building, a consistent, intensive program of it, and I would incorporate that with some traditional techniques including core aeration (not just one pass.   Pound the hell out of that yard with the aerator.  Three passes, at least.  From three directions.  Four would be better) overseeding with an improved variety (read expensive) of Bermudagrass, and significant soil conditioners.  These you will apply with the hose-end sprayer on a regular schedule, and I predict by spring, you can have the grass you want.  I say spring because your grass will go dormant at some point, and we can keep building the soil even through the winter (and we will, as long as the ground is not frozen) but you wont' see the results in pretty grass until it breaks dormancy in the spring.

[color=#ff0000]I am open to putting down a Tier 1 hybrid bermuda seed. I don't have that much lawn square footage. Do you have a recommended online map tool that can take an aerial image and draw boxes, if you will, to calculate the area of different lawn sections? It would have to work in zone 8a, with a couple weeks of mid 20s in January, and highs of 90-95 with 70 80% humidity during the summer months.

My knowledge of Tier 1 bermuda extends to the stuff I mentioned above.
I use google earth for mapping, as does almost every pro I know. There's a measuring tool in there. There are a few other programs, but the ones I know of are not free.  Now then...I do physically measure/map my lawns because I need to know exactly how many square feet I have, since I'm applying control chemicals (weed, insect, disease) etc, and some fertilizers at higher/edgy rates.  I have a measuring wheel for this.   But for your use, google earth will be fine to start out.  

Should I physically aerate once in the spring and once at the end of the season? How should I combine this schedule with the usage of the Air-8?[/color]

You COULD do a physical aeration this fall, to get you started., as mentioned above.  If you can afford to hire it done twice or are willing to rent/do work, etc, twice. But I think you will see gains just by using the products this fall.  In the spring, I would absolutely look into aerating right before you put down seed.  It will help your germination percentage and quicker rooting.  Do I LIKE core aeration?  No, I do not, and I don't use it on many properties, and others have seen me say, "don't do that.  Choose liquid."   But there is the occasional instance where I believe it's beneficial.  Yours appears to be one of those, based on my (unfortunately distant) view.    


*deep breath* Whew.  

Okay.  The first thing you are going to do is spend $60 $40 (sorry, I originally  put what I charge to pull the test and ship it.) on a soil test.   One from either Ward Laboratories or Spectrum Analytic.  I use Spectrum, so I'm more familiar, but you can use either.

Send me the form whenever. I'm not in a rush.

The second thing you are going to do is order some stuff from Greene County Fertilizer.

Air-8
Humic 12
RGS
0-0-2 Microgreene

How many of these can be mixed and applied at one time?

You can do all but the Air-8 in the same app.  However, you won't do the microgreen each time.  If you're doing once a week, you're going to rotate the three.  Air-8, Humic 12, RGS.  (Did you get D-thatch too? did I even talk about that? I may have forgotten.) Some people do Air-8 mixed, but it is So. Very. Alkaline.  I don't like mixing it with the others.   If I had limited time, or needed to take a week off,  I would mix Humic and RGS.  But all of these have some humic component.   When you do the humic app, you're just getting a big fat dose of it.  Am I making any sense at all?

We're going to get a soil test before we do the micros.

I think you can package these at Yard Mastery.

Stand by.  Let me look...

Yes.  They have packaged it as their "biostimulant pack"  here  $104 for a gallon of each.  Four gallons, shipped, for that money.  

(How big is your lawn.  I think this will be more than enough, but I should have asked that right off.)

The next thing you are going to do is go to home depot or lowes (and get 2 or three of these)

Chems and sprayers on the way. The Lawn Care Nut channel has helped me a lot.

He is a really cool person and I like supporting him.  Veteran, patriot, nice guy.

It's a POS hose-end sprayer.  You are buying more than one because you need a spare, so when it craps out (it will crap out.  I carry three in my truck.  Yes, sometimes I use these on customer yards.  Not often, but sometimes.  I have decent equipment, so if you want to know why I carry crap hose-end sprayers, just ask) and you say ugly words and throw it against the fence, you have another in the garage.

So once these arrive, I will post some videos for you to watch about how to set the hose-end sprayer to get what you want.

I will also link some videos for you to watch (fun and easy videos...all are entertaining) about these products and how to use them properly. When to use them, etc.

Then you will come in for the evening after a long day at work, you will put on your crummy yard shoes, pull out the hose (you need enough to reach your whole yard) grab a beer, pop the top, fill the POS sprayer, and chill.   The birds will sing.  The lawnmower down the street will start up.  The sun will sink, the air will cool a bit.  Your kids will squeal (you have kids?  In my picture of your situation, there are little kids that squeal) the dog will bark, and you will chill.

 No kids/ dog.

You will also dramatically improve your lawn, and you will (98 percent do)  see a response from your grass (a positive response) after the. first. treatment.

But you're going to repeat this once a week for a while.   A good long while.

So, once a week until the grass goes into dormancy this season? How about sequential seasons? Once a month April to October? Etc.

Once a month once you get the ground in better shape and a good stand of grass, is a very good goal to shoot for. If overseeding (in spring as mentioned above) you're not going to have that boost to the grass this fall, though you could get some thickening of the turf, more stolon development, and better color/grass health, so your most visible improvement will come in spring.  But the time to start working on this is now....making good use of the time you have before dormancy to pump the soil and therefore improve the grass along with it. (when is your first frost?)

After each treatment, you will run your sprinklers to wash this off the grass, and you will leave your crappy yard shoes in the garage, cuz this stuff STAINS.  The DIY lawn care community refers to these products as "paint it black".  It will stain your fence, your concrete (not permanently, but you gotta clean it off) the dog, your shoes, and your clothes.  So...crappy yard shoes, and rinse it off with the sprinklers before the dog goes out.

How much concrete stain are we talking? The up-turned pinkie neighborhood I'm in will probably not tolerate a massively off-color spotted driveway and sidewalk.

The way I do it is....Just stay away from the concrete.   What I do when I use a hose-end sprayer on customer lawns, is that I get down really low and run next to the pavement, then I stay away from the concrete, white fence, side of house, etc, with my main passes.   Because this is not weed control, you don't have to be right up against the hardscape.   Remember you are conditioning the SOIL, not trying to hit every weed for surface coverage.  Water will carry it. NOW THEN....your learning curve will be...plan your application so you're not dragging the hose through the humic substances, then across your paved surfaces.   Start at the far corner and work backward, see....so your hose stays clean.  If you get a few drops on the concrete, flip the hose end sprayer so it's just water coming out, and hose it down immediately.   Worst case, Lysol toilet bowl cleaner will get all of this off of concrete.  BUT....better to plan ahead and just keep it off light-colored surfaces.   When you start spraying the microgreene, be especially careful, as it has iron in it.   Iron stains way worse than humic, so just take your time and stay back from hard surfaces.

Now then...this is NOT fertilizer.

So I am going to assume you still employ your fertilizer company.  If not, we need to talk more about that.  You cannot do this without also having a good agronomic program behind it.  NPK.  You are going to supplement the micro-elements with one of the products, but NPK cannot be ignored.

I hear the questions coming.

Ask them.

Your understanding of growing grass and helping your soil will benefit everything you do, but also benefit everything your turf care company does.  When my customer becomes part of the team to get a great lawn, I really value that, and I suspect they will too.  Whether they will look at you funny if you tell them you are using humic acid and other Greene County fert products for the soil in between their apps, I don't know.  Some people (in spite of big agriculture buying hundreds of thousands of gallons of this stuff every year) have not opened their minds and call it snake oil.  Hopefully your turf company does not, but if they do, just nod and keep doing it.

** If you haven't done so, you might ask them what their recommended height of cut is for your bermuda, right now.  Bermuda loves heat, and my gut tells me you are cutting too tall, and that cutting lower will help with the spread, and the overall look of your yard.   But.....ask them.  They know what the ideal height of cut is, and wish more customers would listen when they advise. This is one of those "they know more than I do about bermuda" things.