Tractor vs. Zero Turn for small mowing business

[hunter5567]

If you ask me, ten yards is not near enough to warrant a riding mower especially between 2 people unless you are cutting at least 2 acres per yard. My rule of thumb is to never buy equipment unless you absoulutely need to.
You will have to buy a trailer to haul it around as well unless you are within lawn mower riding distance to all of your yards. A used lawn tractor may be just the ticket for the few yards that you do and you can usually buy one without problems in that price range. I would be leary about buying a used ZTR that originally cost 2500+ for 1000 or less as it probably has major problems that will have to be fixed. Maybe you can get a mechanic to look at it first before buying.
Another option to buying new is to get it financed through Sheffield or other and you can have low monthly notes that you easily cover through the winter and then pay more on when the grass season is upon you. Also keep in mind any gates you have to go through to get to the backyard to cut and don't get anything that you can't fit through with the grass chute raised. For me it was a 42" cut mower with 44" being its widest part. Measure the gates and the mower width at its widest point.

 

[Mad Mackie]

I mowed in season with two Ingersoll GTs for many years and used the same machines in winter, one with a 54" plow, the other with a 48" single stage snow blower. I've had cargo trailers for many years so hauling the machines around in the winter was no problem. I did buy a Scag Tiger Cub 48" deck and collection system in 2008. Once I got accustomed to a ZTR, I was able to reduce my mowing time by 1/3 to 1/2. The smallest lawn that I do is 1 acre and up to 4 acres. ZTRs are specialty machines and don't do well for snow removal. My Ingersoll GTs have 8.00-16 rear wheels and with wheel weights and two link chains are great for snow removal. The problem with snow removal is damaging driveways with the chains. I did buy a set of "rubber" tire chains which greatly reduced the possibility of damaging driveway surfaces but did reduce traction somewhat. With these chains I was able to change my plowing pattern to accommodate for the reduction in traction. I also mounted two rubber tired casters to the plow to reduce driveway damage from the skid shoes and blade edge of the plow. However to get the driveway clean, I had to finish it by hand with a plastic shovel. Most typical GTs don't have enough traction to be able to push any amount of snow. Having had some serious damage to my snow blower from stuff left on and around driveways, I always walk the area first to check for stuff and walking them helps me mark the driveway perimeters. Many homeowners design their driveways as if there will never be any snow and this makes it difficult for the snow removal folk, solar lights, pretty stones, shrubs and other stuff.
If your credit rating is good enough, you may consider a new ZTR with 48 month financing, and I would recommend researching snow blowers to find those that would fit your needs. Focus on machines that have basic features and durability, electric start is nice but adds to price and maintenance.
Just my thoughts!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

 

[LawnBoy97]

Wow thanks for all the replies, a lot happened while I was on vacation! Anyways, with the average size of the gates that we go through, we would be needing a pretty small width, and like some of you were saying, most of the ZTR's under or around $1000 did seem to be well used and had some issues listed in the descriptions. But it just so happened that I saw an older John Deere riding mower in someone's driveway that had a few parts taken off, and after talking to the guy we picked it up for pretty cheap. I believe it's a 185 Hydro. It does need a few little maintenance things, and a few knobs, but otherwise it is in pretty good shape. So I guess now the plan is to fix it up and probably try it on our personal yards, and then if we like it, see how it does to reduce our mowing times. Now if it just isn't much help, we decided that we would just go ahead and sell it, and any profit we make go towards the purchase of new equipment. And after reading some of your replies, it does seem a bit silly to have a big and expensive ZTR for so few yards, so I think what we are planning to do is just see how many yards we can pick up next season, and then go from there. And Mad Mackie, that's some interesting stuff. I'll have to think about that for when winter comes around.

 

[Ric]

My friend and I have a small lawn mowing business mowing yards around the neighborhood. We've been using regular push mowers since we started a few years ago, but with more yards and more landscaping jobs, we are looking to speed things up a little. Right now we have less than ten regular mowing customers, and it usually takes us between 40min to 1 hour to mow, trim, edge, and blow. Next year we are hoping to expand into surrounding neighborhoods, with maybe about 20-30 regular customers. So back to the question, would a regular tractor type lawn mower or a zero turn mower be better? We currently don't have the money to buy a new mower, so we will be stuck with buying used, and I know that right now we could buy a dixon or similar zero turn for just over $1000-$1250, or a john deer tractor for about $500-$700. So what do you guys think?

If the two of you are taking between 40min to 1 hour to mow, trim, edge, and blow a yard you're taking to long. You need to cut that in half. Can I ask how much you charge for a yard and there size?

 

[LazerZLandscaping]

My friend and I have a small lawn mowing business mowing yards around the neighborhood. We've been using regular push mowers since we started a few years ago, but with more yards and more landscaping jobs, we are looking to speed things up a little. Right now we have less than ten regular mowing customers, and it usually takes us between 40min to 1 hour to mow, trim, edge, and blow. Next year we are hoping to expand into surrounding neighborhoods, with maybe about 20-30 regular customers. So back to the question, would a regular tractor type lawn mower or a zero turn mower be better? We currently don't have the money to buy a new mower, so we will be stuck with buying used, and I know that right now we could buy a dixon or similar zero turn for just over $1000-$1250, or a john deer tractor for about $500-$700. So what do you guys think?

I think you should get a ZT. But for smaller yards use a push mower or just a normal lawn tractor.

 

[arielredhunter2]

I think you should get a ZT. But for smaller yards use a push mower or just a normal lawn tractor.

I used to have a very small landscaping business. About 20-30 customers. I didn't want to get any bigger than that as I did it alone. I had batches of customers here and there, so I already had a small Nissan pick up. I bought a small cargo flatbed trailer for the mowers, and carried the weed whacker and blower in the pickup along with two gas cans. I bought a new Sears $1000.00 LT every year. Always under warrenty. Always new battery. Always new tires. I had to set the mower decks myself, because I used a 2 1/2 inch high cut. The guys at Sears did not have a clue about setting mower decks. If the machine could not be made to cut right, I returned it, and got a different model. I used it on my own lawn before doing any customers. I don't experiment on customers lawns.

 

[gfp55]

Wow thanks for all the replies, a lot happened while I was on vacation! Anyways, with the average size of the gates that we go through, we would be needing a pretty small width, and like some of you were saying, most of the ZTR's under or around $1000 did seem to be well used and had some issues listed in the descriptions. But it just so happened that I saw an older John Deere riding mower in someone's driveway that had a few parts taken off, and after talking to the guy we picked it up for pretty cheap. I believe it's a 185 Hydro. It does need a few little maintenance things, and a few knobs, but otherwise it is in pretty good shape. So I guess now the plan is to fix it up and probably try it on our personal yards, and then if we like it, see how it does to reduce our mowing times. Now if it just isn't much help, we decided that we would just go ahead and sell it, and any profit we make go towards the purchase of new equipment. And after reading some of your replies, it does seem a bit silly to have a big and expensive ZTR for so few yards, so I think what we are planning to do is just see how many yards we can pick up next season, and then go from there. And Mad Mackie, that's some interesting stuff. I'll have to think about that for when winter comes around.

I think you two are going about this correctly, you are taking your time and thinking things though and not jumping in and getting shouldered with debt. This is just me, but if you "buy" something on credit, and you miss some payments for whatever reason and the repo people can come and take it from you, it's not really your's until you make the last payment, by then it's almost, if not all used up. You two, I think are going somewhere in this world if you stay on the some path and follow though with your plans. Good Luck and keep us posted....

 

[arielredhunter2]

I think you two are going about this correctly, you are taking your time and thinking things though and not jumping in and getting shouldered with debt. This is just me, but if you "buy" something on credit, and you miss some payments for whatever reason and the repo people can come and take it from you, it's not really your's until you make the last payment, by then it's almost, if not all used up. You two, I think are going somewhere in this world if you stay on the some path and follow though with your plans. Good Luck and keep us posted....

If it is any help to you two guys, I did no landscape construction during the first few weeks of spring, when the grass needed cutting twice a week. I had my hands full getting all of that done. Then, when I could start cutting once a week, I would do flower bed maintainence. By the dog days of summer, when I could cut every 10 days on the non-irrigated lawns is when I would do the more involved landscaping construction jobs. I also had an angle grinder. I hoisted the nose of the mower every third mowing day, and sharpened the blades with the angle grinder. I might add that in those days, Sears had their mowers made by the same company year after year. Now they change all the time. I would now buy from a cub cadet dealer the 38 or 42 inch cut machine, and run it one season, then trade it in on a new one before the mowing season begins. At the Sears place, I used to get a $500.00 trade in against a new mower. They wanted my trade-in, because the machine looked almost new, and were easy to re-sell. Or so they said.

 

[TaskForceLawnCare]

you guys should look into getting a walk behind. if you're primarily doing residential it'd be perfect. as far as, size/brand buy what your wallet can handle

 

[gfp55]

you guys should look into getting a walk behind. if you're primarily doing residential it'd be perfect. as far as, size/brand buy what your wallet can handle

How good are they for snow removal, snow blade or snow blower?