Yard maintenance reccos, not DIY, please help

First of all, I apologize for the hideous smiling face, but I can't seem to edit it out!!! There's no category to put this in, aside from DIY, and I've looked through posts, but there are no questions, at all recently, about this specific but mundane inquiry, i.e., yard maintenance.

Job description: spring clean-up, pruning shrubbery, spring mulching, powerwashing the patio, fall clean-up, composting the lawn in the fall, and that's it, for now.

I've lived in South Orange for about 30 yrs., in my present house for 20. I had my relatively small yard landscaped about 15 yrs. ago, and helped to design. We have sizable trees, a flower garden, a lawn front and back, and about 5 cubic yards of mulched area. I am an able gardener, in the biggest sense of the word. I know a lot about gardens, grass, and trees, so I'm a hands on customer, and I want whoever works my yard to be ok with that, and to be knowledgeable about more than lawn mowing and hardscape construction. Still, I'm a nice person, and not so demanding that I would scare anyone away! My husband and I are getting too old to do everything we used to ourselves, and the maintenance required for my beautiful yard is about to get even more expensive than we're used to. In the end, I want what everyone wants for everything: quality at not too high a cost. But I didn't say cheap, and I'm not expecting it to be so...

I had an excellent landscaper for the last three or four years, but he's so good, and reasonable, that his business grew to the point that it's not worth it for him to travel to South Orange anymore. I got an estimate from Anthony's Landscaping, but the mulching cost in particular is more than I was anticipating, (and no one came to meet with me about it, just a contract in my mailbox). Any reccos for the type of work I'm looking for would be greatly appreciated; I need direction. We don't need mowing, so far, we still do that ourselves, but probably someday in the not too distant future, I'll have to add that to the list! Thank you for your time and opinions!

I hate having to put it this way, but you get what you pay for.

Most 'landscapers' know how to mow lawns and blow leaves in the fall, and that is about it. You cannot trust them with pruning (I have lost multiple cherished plants to them), and they trample everything when mulching. If you want something better than that, you have to pay a premium.

I have been known to do some pruning and removal of unwanted bushes/small trees (trimming & raking, but not carting), but I do not undertake the other parts of your project list. If you want a quote on that portion only, please send me a PM.

I hear you, tomcat, and as I said, "I didn't say cheap, and I'm not expecting it to be so". BTW, I lost some butterfly bushes in the past and that was quite a shock at the time! The mulching estimate was $200 more than I had previously paid, and I was wondering about that., but I'm well aware that you get what you pay for. Although the prices quoted for the Fall & Spring clean-up are probably not too much, the quotes are just, again, more than I've been paying. I guess I was hoping to connect with someone like me, hence the details, but I wasn't expecting to, hence the details, e.g., "I am an able gardener, in the biggest sense of the word. I know a lot about gardens, grass, and trees, so I'm a hands on customer, and I want whoever works my yard to be ok with that, and to be knowledgeable about more than lawn mowing and hardscape construction" Fall clean-up in my yard requires more than than just blowing some leaves, and I'm sure it's more than you have in mind. I wrote the whole detailed email hoping to find someone like me, and in my situation, but I think now that perhaps I wasn't actually expecting to find what or who I was looking for. Thank you very much for your reply. You are one of two people that reached out to help, and I appreciate that more than I can say. SOMA is the best place to live on earth.