Need Advice on New Mower for Business

Ric · Aug 2, 2015

Conn0r33 said:
Do you want just clients I mow every week or should I also include people who hire me to mow only when they are on vacation? I do not know how long my route is.
Equipment: 2 Toro SR4 push mowers, Stihl BR 200, Stihl FS 45 and a Stihl edger which I'm not sure the exact name right off the top of my head. By the end of the year I will have $23,000 that I could use to reinvest in the business. Obviously not all of it but I could use some for marketing or better equipment etc.

Just clients you mow every week.

Conn0r33 · Aug 2, 2015

Ric said:
Just clients you mow every week.

Well I currently mow twelve lawns a week. I'm not sure the exact number of clients because some clients have more than one property to maintain.

Ric · Aug 2, 2015

Conn0r33 said:
Well I currently mow twelve lawns a week. I'm not sure the exact number of clients because some clients have more than one property to maintain.

To answer your question about the photo and why I have so many trimmers and blowers etc, as I said before, buying or adding another trimmer or edger or blower to a business isn't going to necessarily make you or him any faster, it has nothing to do with our speed per lawn. The only thing you accomplish is having back up equipment, which IMO is a necessity. It's called being prepared to do any job the client needs to have done. I carry sixteen pieces of equipment on my trailer everyday when I leave the house.

As far as the mower goes, with you having only 12 lawns or clients to do in a week I'd stay with what I have and maybe take a look at getting better equipment like Blowers and trimmers and such because 12 lawns doesn't justify spending 8K on a stander or 2 walk behinds. IMO you need to stay away from the commercial end and stick with the smaller residential stuff and build your client base to maybe 25 or 30 then start looking at the Stander or walk behind. As far as mowing hills the Grandstand is rated at or for up to 20 degree slopes, a lot better than the 15 of the ZTR.

Conn0r33 · Aug 2, 2015

Ric said:
To answer your question about the photo and why I have so many trimmers and blowers etc, as I said before, buying or adding another trimmer or edger or blower to a business isn't going to necessarily make you or him any faster, it has nothing to do with our speed per lawn. The only thing you accomplish is having back up equipment, which IMO is a necessity. It's called being prepared to do any job the client needs to have done. I carry sixteen pieces of equipment on my trailer everyday when I leave the house.

As far as the mower goes, with you having only 12 lawns or clients to do in a week I'd stay with what I have and maybe take a look at getting better equipment like Blowers and trimmers and such because 12 lawns doesn't justify spending 8K on a stander or 2 walk behinds. IMO you need to stay away from the commercial end and stick with the smaller residential stuff and build your client base to maybe 25 or 30 then start looking at the Stander or walk behind. As far as mowing hills the Grandstand is rated at or for up to 20 degree slopes, a lot better than the 15 of the ZTR.

Here is my plan. I am planning on Internet markering, door hangers and EDDM postcards. I will be getting a license next year to start fertilizing yards. I am hoping to reach 25 clients or yards next year. I can barely handle how much I am mowing currently we usually mow 15 a week because something comes up and I get hired to mow a lawn for a week. My goal is to reach 25 yards to mow next year. Which is not a crazy goal because last year we used to mow 5 lawns this year we mow 12-15. The reason I am asking about mowers is because I am wanting to be prepared if I hit 25 yards next year I doubt I can push mow all all that. So I want to have a mower picked out for next year that I would only buy if I hit 25 yards

lawn mower fanatic · Aug 2, 2015

Conn0r33 said:
Here is my plan. I am planning on Internet markering, door hangers and EDDM postcards. I will be getting a license next year to start fertilizing yards. I am hoping to reach 25 clients or yards next year. I can barely handle how much I am mowing currently we usually mow 15 a week because something comes up and I get hired to mow a lawn for a week. My goal is to reach 25 yards to mow next year. Which is not a crazy goal because last year we used to mow 5 lawns this year we mow 12-15. The reason I am asking about mowers is because I am wanting to be prepared if I hit 25 yards next year I doubt I can push mow all all that. So I want to have a mower picked out for next year that I would only buy if I hit 25 yards

I mow 25-30 lawns a week with a push mower, and I am done work for the day between noon and 3:00 at the latest. I don't know the exact size of the lawns you do, but what MY plan is, is to get to my max lawns I can fit in my schedule before I make any big equipment changes, so I can have the most money to spend. I want to know how much I am willing to spend to buy bigger equipment to grow my business, but not something that costs too much so it will take too long to make my money back.

Conn0r33 · Aug 2, 2015

lawn mower fanatic said:
I mow 25-30 lawns a week with a push mower, and I am done work for the day between noon and 3:00 at the latest. I don't know the exact size of the lawns you do, but what MY plan is, is to get to my max lawns I can fit in my schedule before I make any big equipment changes, so I can have the most money to spend. I want to know how much I am willing to spend to buy bigger equipment to grow my business, but not something that costs too much so it will take too long to make my money back.

Well I'm going to make about 9,000 just on lawn care this year but I will also do snow removal. So that will be more money. I know you can finish soon but you have to rember that im still in school so I don't have all the time in the world to be out mowing lawns.

Ric · Aug 2, 2015

Conn0r33 said:
Well I'm going to make about 9,000 just on lawn care this year but I will also do snow removal. So that will be more money. I know you can finish soon but you have to remember that im still in school so I don't have all the time in the world to be out mowing lawns.

How much you charging a lawn?

Conn0r33 · Aug 2, 2015

Ric said:
How much you charging a lawn?

Well I added up all the prices and got an average of $35. I have a lot of lawns priced really low at $20 for friends. But then we have some that pay $40-60+ but the average is $35

Conn0r33 · Apr 20, 2016

I know this is an old thread but I thought i would give you guys an update. In all these posts I set my sites too high on mowers that are too expensive and would most likely cause me to take home less money. I decided to go with the Toro Turfmaster the commercial 30" push mower. I have two cause my brother works with me. I wanted and still do either the Scag SWZT, Snapper Pro walk behind, or the Scag V-Ride. After considering my finincial situation the fact that I am not making too much money I needed to go with something less expensive. After only owning Home Owner Toro push mowers mainly the Toro SR4 it is amazing to me how great the cut is from the turfmaster and how well it mulches. It probably mulches the grass into pieces 4x times smaller at least. I will post some pictures when I get the chance.
I also wanted to thank all of you guys for all your help I have learned so much thanks to you I feel like I have enough knowledge to buy a bigger commercial mower when the time comes.

My_guy99 · Apr 24, 2016

Good info!

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