jekjr
Lawn Addict
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2013
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This is rather lengthy I understand. Maybe it is informative to somebody reading it.
We started up as a lawn service the first week of August in 2012. It was something I had looked at for several years off and on. As a kid I had always had some yards and honestly all of my life I had thought about going back to doing it.
I decided to start up that late in the summer verses wait till the following spring because I would have somewhat of a jump at getting started as far as accumulating clients.
I had operated a zero turn mower some although I had never owned one. However I have operated all kinds of equipment over the years both farm and industrial.
I read as much as I could find on mowers. Locally the only dealer I really wanted to do business with had Kubota, Scag, and Exmark mowers. I started looking at the other local lawn services. Actually most of the ones here that had been doing it for any length of time I had observed for a good while. I started to observe that the bigger ones were trading about any mower you could name in for Kubota. In fact the standard for several was the ZD 326.
When I started to purchase, I had made up my mind that I was only interested in Kubota because it seemed hands down that every company I saw upgrading was upgrading to Kubota. I never saw one trade a Kubota for anything else.
I saw several of the more reputable lawn services that were hauling two. One long time guy actually had 4 326's.
I decided to go with a ZG 222 with a 48" deck. I figured that this might be a niche type mower because it was a little smaller but still capable of cutting about any size yard you needed to cut.
Kubota offers 0 down and 0 interest on these mowers. They also offer a great insurance plan on them that has a low deductible and is a very good situation for a commercial operator especially one starting up.
I had always know Kubota is quality so for me with all of the incentives and recommendations and watching the local services running them for me it was a no brainier.
I ran the ZG 222 from Aug 2012 and then in April of 2013 we had picked up a good number of yards and we decided to take the plunge and go ahead and buy that second mower. By then I knew this was definitely what I wanted to do long term. I bought a 16' Cargo Trailer and because much I was competing with basically was running the 326 Kubota I decided that this was definitely the machine for me.
Now understand something. A 326 is a beast. It is definitely a quality machine. Priced in the $13K range however it outta be. It is like a tank. We have run it hard. At times we work under nothing that can be described as less than down right brutal conditions. We have cut properties as small as one cemetery plot (of course we did not need the 326 for that only a weed eater) and as large as a State Park of 40 very rough acres. We have cut 40 very rough brutal acres in two days with the 326 and the 222.
Starting up I was operating on a shoestring so to speak financially like many people. I looked at Stilhl, and Echo, and other brands of hand held equipment. Tractor Supply was running a very good sale on Cub Cadet string trimmers. I went in and bought the 27cc split pole trimmer. It was cheap. I figured it would run good enough to get us through long enough till we could upgrade to Stihl. They also had a Poulan Pro hand held 200 MPH blower for like $89. The Cub Cadet trimmer was doing a great job for us. Ran it till up in the spring of 2013 with no problems. I needed a second trimmer so I bought another one just like it. So far it had not missed a beat. It was strong and did an excellent job. Within a week after I bought the second trimmer the first one developed carburetor problems.
Now if you are a home owner the Cub Cadet carries a good warranty. If you are a commercial operator it is like 30 days I think I remember. Any way mine was no longer warrantied. The Tractor Supply guys said that they had a mechanic that picked up stuff weekly and fixed it and brought it back and they would be glad to get him to fix it and he was reasonable but not in warranty. I agreed. Three weeks later they called me and said he had it ready. Did not have a charge because they said he had just adjusted the carburetor. It never ran right and if I was going to have to pay for it I sure could not leave it for a couple of weeks again.
I carried it to a shop down by the road from us and the guy said sure he could fix it. He went through the carb on it and I paid him and it really did not run any better. I carried it back and first he he had to order some parts. Then he said that he thought it had compression problems......... Not fixable. I got another shop to just look at it. His guy said compression was fine but it needed a coil and a new coil and shipping was more than the thing was worth........ another guy looked at it who is a friend of mine and he said that it was just a problem with a wire to the kill switch. He got it running again but it still was not right. I finally junked it.
I bought a Stihl FS 70 trimmer at the local John Deere dealer. The FS70 ran great for a couple of months. Then one day we had problems with it. Not sure what was going on but it just was not running right at all. We were in town and there is a Stihl dealer right there where we were so I took it in and had them look at it. Honestly it seemed like all it needed was just tweaking the carb but because it was no older than it was I figured I would let them do it instead of doing myself because of warranty.
They said they would get it fixed. We were not back to the one Cub Cadet that we had left. Three days later we finally got the Stihl back. They told me it was bad fuel and it wound up costing me like $75 of so cause warranty would not cover it. We were very careful to only run good Non Ethenol gas 93 Octane. We were using only Stihl oil and had a clean can that we were using. Needless to say it was either pay up or not have the weedeater so I paid up.
We are to this day still running the FS70 though and it is a great machine. We have had few other issues with it. We just put a clutch in it a couple of weeks ago. We now just work on it ourselves.
In Feb 2014 We got a job cleaning some parking lots on a facility that we now have a 12 month contract with. We had known for a while we were going to have to buy a back pack blower. Up to that time we were using the Poulan Pro hand held and a Stihl hand held that we bought from an individual through faebook for $35. We are by the way still running the little Stihl handheld daily.
I went to the local shop in town and bought a Shindiawa 804 back pack. It is a very good blower. We still have it and I don't foresee us getting rid of it for years to come.
The Kubota Scag Exmart dealer here changed hands last year. The previous owner had been in business like over 60 years. He had been selling Kubota since the 1970's. They did not sell hand held equipment. When they changed hands they took on the Echo line of equipment. they dropped the Exmart line of mowers.
We liked doing business with them so we started running Echo products. We now have a PAS 225 split pole and a PAS 280 split pole with string trimmer heads for both as well as the hedge trimmers, pole saw, edger attachments. We also bought a 500 Echo Back Pack. We had some problems with the 500. It did not like to start especially in cold weather. Two trips to the shop but now it runs great with no problems. HOWEVER if I were to do it over again I would go back and buy either the largest Echo comparable to the 804 Shindiawa or another Shindiawa. The 500 lacks what we really need sometimes. It gets the job done but is slower many times.
Last Summer we got to a point that we needed a third zero turn at times because we cut some larger properties and there were three of us working. I was strongly considering a second Kubota ZD 326. I was at the dealer and they had a Scag demonstrator. The dealer owner told me to put it on my trailer and run it a few days and see what I thought about it. He said he also had one of the Kubota 700 series as well for a demonstrator.
I really did not think I was interested in the Scag because I did not know of but two business that were running them. Anyway I figured what the heck atleast I will be running a free mower for a couple of days at the worst and I might like it.
I was literally shocked at the difference in the cut. The Scag would literally do as good of a job in one pass over bahia grass as the Kubota would do in two. The mower I first demonstrated was a Turf Tiger with a 35 hp gas motor on it. It was so incredible. I however did not like the gas consumption It took a lot of gas to run it a day. I forget the price but it was more than I wanted to spend as well for a third mower. That was one reason I was not jumping up and down to buy another 326.
I looked hard however at the Tiger Cat Scag. Ever since the first morning I put it on the ground it has been my bread and butter mower. If I could get what I owe on my 326 for it and I might can. (Financed it 0 down 0 interest 60 months 23 months ago.) I will buy another Tiger Cat just like the one I have. Then at some point in time I will sell the ZG222 and buy the third if we still need the third at that time.
We also bought a bagger for the ZG222 from a dealer off of Craig's List last summer for a whole lot less than a new one. It got us a good bit of work this winter removing leaves. We also use it from time to time on some properties we try to keep exceptionally neat. It does a good job.
To sum all of this up. Much can be learned from observing those around you in business. However just because the others are doing it does not necessarily mean it is best. Even guys one here. For instance I know guys who have been in the lawn service business 20 years plus who still will buy nothing but the ZD326 Kubota. However for me after my personal experience it is more of a status symbol than it is the ultimate yard tool. A lesson I won't forget.
I highly recommend also if you are looking at getting in the business. Buy from a good reputable dealer. I understand I have bought a lot of equipment from my dealer but IF we are down they will get us running. I even had him give me one of his own mowers to run till we got one running one time and a demonstrator another. Having a dealer that understands what down time is for you means much in dollars when it comes to down time.
That is my experience for up to this date in the Lawn Service business. I know that many people are reading these posts looking for input. Hope this helps one or two of them.
We started up as a lawn service the first week of August in 2012. It was something I had looked at for several years off and on. As a kid I had always had some yards and honestly all of my life I had thought about going back to doing it.
I decided to start up that late in the summer verses wait till the following spring because I would have somewhat of a jump at getting started as far as accumulating clients.
I had operated a zero turn mower some although I had never owned one. However I have operated all kinds of equipment over the years both farm and industrial.
I read as much as I could find on mowers. Locally the only dealer I really wanted to do business with had Kubota, Scag, and Exmark mowers. I started looking at the other local lawn services. Actually most of the ones here that had been doing it for any length of time I had observed for a good while. I started to observe that the bigger ones were trading about any mower you could name in for Kubota. In fact the standard for several was the ZD 326.
When I started to purchase, I had made up my mind that I was only interested in Kubota because it seemed hands down that every company I saw upgrading was upgrading to Kubota. I never saw one trade a Kubota for anything else.
I saw several of the more reputable lawn services that were hauling two. One long time guy actually had 4 326's.
I decided to go with a ZG 222 with a 48" deck. I figured that this might be a niche type mower because it was a little smaller but still capable of cutting about any size yard you needed to cut.
Kubota offers 0 down and 0 interest on these mowers. They also offer a great insurance plan on them that has a low deductible and is a very good situation for a commercial operator especially one starting up.
I had always know Kubota is quality so for me with all of the incentives and recommendations and watching the local services running them for me it was a no brainier.
I ran the ZG 222 from Aug 2012 and then in April of 2013 we had picked up a good number of yards and we decided to take the plunge and go ahead and buy that second mower. By then I knew this was definitely what I wanted to do long term. I bought a 16' Cargo Trailer and because much I was competing with basically was running the 326 Kubota I decided that this was definitely the machine for me.
Now understand something. A 326 is a beast. It is definitely a quality machine. Priced in the $13K range however it outta be. It is like a tank. We have run it hard. At times we work under nothing that can be described as less than down right brutal conditions. We have cut properties as small as one cemetery plot (of course we did not need the 326 for that only a weed eater) and as large as a State Park of 40 very rough acres. We have cut 40 very rough brutal acres in two days with the 326 and the 222.
Starting up I was operating on a shoestring so to speak financially like many people. I looked at Stilhl, and Echo, and other brands of hand held equipment. Tractor Supply was running a very good sale on Cub Cadet string trimmers. I went in and bought the 27cc split pole trimmer. It was cheap. I figured it would run good enough to get us through long enough till we could upgrade to Stihl. They also had a Poulan Pro hand held 200 MPH blower for like $89. The Cub Cadet trimmer was doing a great job for us. Ran it till up in the spring of 2013 with no problems. I needed a second trimmer so I bought another one just like it. So far it had not missed a beat. It was strong and did an excellent job. Within a week after I bought the second trimmer the first one developed carburetor problems.
Now if you are a home owner the Cub Cadet carries a good warranty. If you are a commercial operator it is like 30 days I think I remember. Any way mine was no longer warrantied. The Tractor Supply guys said that they had a mechanic that picked up stuff weekly and fixed it and brought it back and they would be glad to get him to fix it and he was reasonable but not in warranty. I agreed. Three weeks later they called me and said he had it ready. Did not have a charge because they said he had just adjusted the carburetor. It never ran right and if I was going to have to pay for it I sure could not leave it for a couple of weeks again.
I carried it to a shop down by the road from us and the guy said sure he could fix it. He went through the carb on it and I paid him and it really did not run any better. I carried it back and first he he had to order some parts. Then he said that he thought it had compression problems......... Not fixable. I got another shop to just look at it. His guy said compression was fine but it needed a coil and a new coil and shipping was more than the thing was worth........ another guy looked at it who is a friend of mine and he said that it was just a problem with a wire to the kill switch. He got it running again but it still was not right. I finally junked it.
I bought a Stihl FS 70 trimmer at the local John Deere dealer. The FS70 ran great for a couple of months. Then one day we had problems with it. Not sure what was going on but it just was not running right at all. We were in town and there is a Stihl dealer right there where we were so I took it in and had them look at it. Honestly it seemed like all it needed was just tweaking the carb but because it was no older than it was I figured I would let them do it instead of doing myself because of warranty.
They said they would get it fixed. We were not back to the one Cub Cadet that we had left. Three days later we finally got the Stihl back. They told me it was bad fuel and it wound up costing me like $75 of so cause warranty would not cover it. We were very careful to only run good Non Ethenol gas 93 Octane. We were using only Stihl oil and had a clean can that we were using. Needless to say it was either pay up or not have the weedeater so I paid up.
We are to this day still running the FS70 though and it is a great machine. We have had few other issues with it. We just put a clutch in it a couple of weeks ago. We now just work on it ourselves.
In Feb 2014 We got a job cleaning some parking lots on a facility that we now have a 12 month contract with. We had known for a while we were going to have to buy a back pack blower. Up to that time we were using the Poulan Pro hand held and a Stihl hand held that we bought from an individual through faebook for $35. We are by the way still running the little Stihl handheld daily.
I went to the local shop in town and bought a Shindiawa 804 back pack. It is a very good blower. We still have it and I don't foresee us getting rid of it for years to come.
The Kubota Scag Exmart dealer here changed hands last year. The previous owner had been in business like over 60 years. He had been selling Kubota since the 1970's. They did not sell hand held equipment. When they changed hands they took on the Echo line of equipment. they dropped the Exmart line of mowers.
We liked doing business with them so we started running Echo products. We now have a PAS 225 split pole and a PAS 280 split pole with string trimmer heads for both as well as the hedge trimmers, pole saw, edger attachments. We also bought a 500 Echo Back Pack. We had some problems with the 500. It did not like to start especially in cold weather. Two trips to the shop but now it runs great with no problems. HOWEVER if I were to do it over again I would go back and buy either the largest Echo comparable to the 804 Shindiawa or another Shindiawa. The 500 lacks what we really need sometimes. It gets the job done but is slower many times.
Last Summer we got to a point that we needed a third zero turn at times because we cut some larger properties and there were three of us working. I was strongly considering a second Kubota ZD 326. I was at the dealer and they had a Scag demonstrator. The dealer owner told me to put it on my trailer and run it a few days and see what I thought about it. He said he also had one of the Kubota 700 series as well for a demonstrator.
I really did not think I was interested in the Scag because I did not know of but two business that were running them. Anyway I figured what the heck atleast I will be running a free mower for a couple of days at the worst and I might like it.
I was literally shocked at the difference in the cut. The Scag would literally do as good of a job in one pass over bahia grass as the Kubota would do in two. The mower I first demonstrated was a Turf Tiger with a 35 hp gas motor on it. It was so incredible. I however did not like the gas consumption It took a lot of gas to run it a day. I forget the price but it was more than I wanted to spend as well for a third mower. That was one reason I was not jumping up and down to buy another 326.
I looked hard however at the Tiger Cat Scag. Ever since the first morning I put it on the ground it has been my bread and butter mower. If I could get what I owe on my 326 for it and I might can. (Financed it 0 down 0 interest 60 months 23 months ago.) I will buy another Tiger Cat just like the one I have. Then at some point in time I will sell the ZG222 and buy the third if we still need the third at that time.
We also bought a bagger for the ZG222 from a dealer off of Craig's List last summer for a whole lot less than a new one. It got us a good bit of work this winter removing leaves. We also use it from time to time on some properties we try to keep exceptionally neat. It does a good job.
To sum all of this up. Much can be learned from observing those around you in business. However just because the others are doing it does not necessarily mean it is best. Even guys one here. For instance I know guys who have been in the lawn service business 20 years plus who still will buy nothing but the ZD326 Kubota. However for me after my personal experience it is more of a status symbol than it is the ultimate yard tool. A lesson I won't forget.
I highly recommend also if you are looking at getting in the business. Buy from a good reputable dealer. I understand I have bought a lot of equipment from my dealer but IF we are down they will get us running. I even had him give me one of his own mowers to run till we got one running one time and a demonstrator another. Having a dealer that understands what down time is for you means much in dollars when it comes to down time.
That is my experience for up to this date in the Lawn Service business. I know that many people are reading these posts looking for input. Hope this helps one or two of them.
