Marketing plan · Chula Vista

Landscaping direct mail in Chula Vista:
a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan

By Best Direct Mail, San Marcos · Numbers from USPS and the US Census Bureau

Chula Vista is the second-largest city in San Diego County, and for a landscaper it is two cities in one. West of I-805 are neighborhoods from the 1950s through the 70s, with front lawns and mature trees. East of it are Eastlake, Otay Ranch and Millenia, master-planned communities built from the late 1980s until today.

Older yards in the west need turf replacement and steady upkeep. Newer homes in the east often come with a bare backyard, and the hills along the open space need brush kept back. Below is what we'd mail where, starting with the public numbers for each ZIP Code.

Chula Vista by ZIP Code

ZIP Code	Homes (routes)	Single-family houses	Owner-occupied	Median home value	New movers a month (average)
91910 Northwest Chula Vista and downtown	28,162 (46)	47%	50%	$741,200	about 192
91911 Southwest Chula Vista and Castle Park	26,378 (45)	47%	52%	$636,100	about 157
91913 Eastlake and Otay Ranch	20,194 (22)	54%	70%	$812,200	about 126
91914 Eastlake, Rolling Hills Ranch and San Miguel Ranch	5,010 (7)	83%	80%	$1,049,600	about 25
91915 Otay Ranch and Millenia	12,104 (13)	55%	71%	$781,500	about 104

What the columns tell you:

Single-family houses: the share of homes that are detached houses, most with a yard to care for. The higher it is, the fewer EDDM® cards go to apartments and condos, where the HOA or the landlord hires the landscaper.
Owner-occupied: owners decide on clean-ups, new plants and turf replacement. Renters usually don't.
Median home value: higher values point to design, installation and full-service maintenance. Elsewhere, clear flat prices for mowing and clean-ups work best.

These figures cover whole ZIP Codes, and single routes inside them can be quite different. Our EDDM® route planner shows homes, income and homeownership for every route before you choose.

Homes and carrier routes are from the USPS EDDM® route map. Single-family houses, homeownership and home value are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates for the ZIP Code area. New movers are a US Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimate: residents who moved into a different home in the past year, turned into households and divided by 12.

New movers: on average about 600 households move to a new home in these ZIP Codes every month. A new owner often wants to make the yard their own and doesn't have a gardener yet.

What a mailing costs: $2,721 for 5,000 homes with our recommended 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard, including printing and postage. See our EDDM® prices for other quantities.

What to mail in each neighborhood

Northwest Chula Vista, Third Avenue and Hilltop (91910)

North of L Street and west of I-805, the streets around Third Avenue, Hilltop Drive and up toward Bonita are mostly single-family homes from the 1950s and 60s, on larger lots than in the new communities, with no HOA and plenty of lawn.

Turf replacement. A card about replacing the lawn with water-wise plants, with the rebate from the SoCal WaterSmart program, fits these yards well.
Tree trimming and clean-ups for the large, older trees on these lots.
Reliable monthly maintenance with a set monthly price.

Southwest Chula Vista and Castle Park (91911)

South of L Street and west of I-805, Castle Park, Otay and the streets along Broadway and Palomar Street have small 1950s and 60s houses, duplexes, condos and apartments, with many rentals among them.

Flat-price mowing and clean-ups. A clear price like a $99 front yard clean-up works well here.
Low-maintenance front yards for owners tired of a lawn that browns every summer.
Use a homeowner list here rather than whole routes, so your cards skip the rentals and reach landlords who live elsewhere.

Eastlake (91913 and 91914)

Eastlake was built from the late 1980s through the 2000s around its lake and golf course, in villages of owner-occupied family homes. The HOAs take care of the common areas and slopes, but each owner takes care of their own yard, and plantings from the original build are now 20 years old or more.

Monthly maintenance plans. Streets of similar homes close together are ideal for a tight route.
Yard refreshes that replace overgrown builder plantings and tired lawns.
Irrigation upgrades to smart controllers and drip.

Otay Ranch and Millenia (91913 and 91915)

Otay Ranch is a master plan of villages still growing east, with Millenia as its center of townhomes, condos and apartments. Many single-family homes are only a few years old, and many backyards were sold as bare dirt or a basic slab.

Backyard design and installation: pavers, artificial turf, shade, lighting and planting, often financed or done in stages.
New owner maintenance plans, once the yard is in.

In Millenia's townhomes and condos, the association hires the landscaper. Skip those routes for homeowner cards and reach the associations with a business list.

Rolling Hills Ranch and San Miguel Ranch (91914)

In the hills of northeast Chula Vista, Rolling Hills Ranch and San Miguel Ranch have larger, higher-value homes, many on bigger lots next to open space and canyons.

Fire-safe yards and brush clearance, mailed in spring before fire season. Homes in high fire hazard areas will also have to follow California's new rules for the 5 feet around the house once they take effect.
Design and installation for pools, outdoor kitchens and big backyards.
Slope care for the back slopes the owner, not the HOA, is responsible for.

A first Chula Vista mailing plan

Turf replacement to northwest Chula Vista. Mail an 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard to the owner-occupied routes in late winter and spring. Pick them in our EDDM® route planner for 91910.
Flat-price clean-ups to owners in the southwest. Mail a 6 × 11 postcard to a homeowner list in 91911, so you skip the rentals. To see which routes are mostly houses, open our EDDM® route planner for 91911.
Maintenance routes and backyard installs to the east. Mail an 8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcard to the routes in Eastlake, Otay Ranch and the hills, in our route planner for 91913, 91914 or 91915.
New movers every month. Chula Vista keeps growing, and a new owner in Otay Ranch often has a backyard to finish and no gardener yet. A small monthly mailing to new movers reaches them first.

Mail each group at least three times, a few weeks apart. Use a different offer code on each card so you can see which neighborhood and which service brings the calls.

EDDM® or a mailing list in Chula Vista?

Which one is better depends on which side of the city you're mailing. In the single-family villages east of I-805 and the house streets of northwest Chula Vista, most homes are owner-occupied houses with yards, and EDDM® reaches nearly the same people for less. In southwest Chula Vista and around Millenia, where there are more apartments, condos and rentals, a homeowner list wastes fewer cards. Compare the single-family and homeowner numbers in the table above, and tell us the areas you want and we'll recommend the right mix.

What to put on a Chula Vista postcard

Say you're local. "Serving Chula Vista, from Castle Park to Otay Ranch" tells people you can get there and keep a regular schedule.
Before and after photos of Chula Vista yards you have done, like a bare new backyard turned into a finished one.
One service and one offer per card, matched to the neighborhood above.
Your C-27 license number if you do installation work, plus "licensed and insured".

For the full list of services, offers and a 12-month calendar, see our landscaping direct mail guide.

Landscaping postcard designs

Start from one of our ready-made landscaping postcards. We add your logo, offer, license number and photos, send you a proof, then print and mail it. Need a custom design, or have your own? Just let us know.

Landscaping marketing plans in other cities

Chula Vista at a glance

Homes and mail routes: About 91,800 homes on 133 routes
New movers: About 600 households a month
Best areas: Turf replacement: northwest Chula Vista. Maintenance routes: Eastlake. Backyard installs: Otay Ranch. Fire-safe yards and slope care: Rolling Hills Ranch and San Miguel Ranch.
What it costs: $2,721 to mail 5,000 homes by EDDM®
Where to start: EDDM® with a maintenance plan offer in Eastlake, plus a turf replacement card to the house streets of northwest Chula Vista.

Frequently asked questions

How many homes are there to mail in Chula Vista?

The table above shows the homes and carrier routes in each Chula Vista ZIP Code, straight from the USPS EDDM® route map. Most landscapers don't mail the whole city at once: they pick 2,500 to 5,000 homes on the routes around their current customers or in the neighborhoods that fit the service they want to sell.

Should I mail the HOA neighborhoods in east Chula Vista?

Yes, for single-family homes. The HOAs in Eastlake and Otay Ranch take care of common areas and some slopes, but owners take care of their own yards. Condo and townhome communities are different: there the association hires the landscaper.

When should a Chula Vista landscaper mail?

Late winter for spring clean-ups and maintenance plans, spring for turf replacement and fire-safe clean-ups near the open space, and early fall, which is a good planting season in the South Bay.

Do you mail in Chula Vista?

Yes. Our print shop is in San Marcos, so we print your postcards there and take EDDM® mailings to the Post Offices that deliver your Chula Vista routes.

Get a quote for your Chula Vista mailing

Tell us which neighborhoods and services you want to focus on. We'll reply with a price for printing and mailing, and the routes or list we recommend.

Landscaping direct mail in Chula Vista:a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan