Hey, I dont know if this us the right forum but it was the closest thing I could find. I'm only 15 but I am starting to look at commercial grade equipment. I am trying to decide between simplicity, toro, and exmark zero turn mowers. I am looking to stay under 8000 dollars, but my ideal range is 5000-6000 dollars. It has to mulch well, and good traction is always good. I'm also open to wide cut mowers and stuff like that. (a good Wide cut mower would almost be better). I would appreciate it if you included specs, negative experiences, or any other helpful information.
Commercial lawn mowers
- Thread starter yard_kid
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Hey, kid, welcome to the forum. Hop on over to this site and look around then ask your questions. When you want to know what oil to run, come back and ask the pros here
http://www.lawnsite.com/
http://www.lawnsite.com/
WELCOME TO BITOG! Around here all the pros seem to like Skag. My neighbor has one he picked up at auction and he loves it. The Skag brand was unknown to me until he got it. Then I started to notice all the orange painted mowers in pro service. FWIW--Oldtommy
We have a fleet of Toro Groundsmaster 328D at work, and auction them at about 4 years and 2000 hours. I always thought they'd make a great unit for a startup business. I think they tend to sell for about $3-4000, but I would def set aside a bit for maintenance. We have many untrained employees with bad attitudes who abuse the equipment, so that MUST be factored in. But the upside is that these machines generally get serviced every day and the Kubota diesels will run forever.
I've been happy with my 2005 John Deere 757 that I picked up for $3200 last summer. It has the 60" 7 Iron deck.
A neighbor down the road owns a landscaping company and they use Toro equipment. He seems to be satisfied with the Toro's that he owns. Since he does commercial work he has only 48" and 54", he says that he'd like a 60" but most of his accounts have areas where a 60" won't fit.
A neighbor down the road owns a landscaping company and they use Toro equipment. He seems to be satisfied with the Toro's that he owns. Since he does commercial work he has only 48" and 54", he says that he'd like a 60" but most of his accounts have areas where a 60" won't fit.
Anything in the $6000-8000 crowd is going to get you an excellent commercial machine. 10 guys are going to give you 10 different 'must haves' on that one. Generally you're going to pick the make/model/brand from a nearby dealer you like and who gives you a good price. IMO, $5K won't cut it if you want something that you're going to be using ~40hrs/week for your living. You might want to consider something used for that price range. As an example, I've got a Cub Cadet Z-Force 44" Fab'd deck. It's considered "high-end residential" by the industry. It's a good machine for the ~$3800 I paid for it new, but you'd get beat up on it using it to make a living.
Joel
Joel
+1 on the lawnsite forum.
Actually, your question brings back some fond memories. My son began cutting grass for pay when he was 8 (with me closly walking alongside him). At the time he used our consumer grade toro super recyclers. He acquired a total of 4 or 5 lawns, at which point when the one lawnmower he was using broke down, we realized we needed a second lawnmower as backup. So, we bought a second Toro Super Recycler. At that time, we also bought a 4x6 trailer, that we paid for ourselves, for our son to use to haul the mowers around (of course, we had to drive as he was still only 9/10 years old).
Then, my son began observing the professional lawn maintenance companies in our neighborhood, and he expressed an interest in getting his own large commercial walk behind mower. We told him that if he earned half of the cost, we would pay the other half. When he turned 11 years old, he had accumulated enough, so we matched his funds with ours and he bought a 36 inch Toro Proline, gear/belt drive with floating deck and T-bar. As I recall the grand total was about $3600, and he chipped in half, which amounted to $1800. We needed that size as many of the lawns he cut had fenced in back yards, and we needed to get the mower through the gate. However, now that he had two small push mowers and one large 36 inch one, we needed a bigger trailer, so my son paid for half of a 5x8 trailer, and we paid the other half.
Over the next couple of years, we acquired several Stihl trimmers, and a couple of blowers, and an edger - heavily subsidized by us, with selected pieces bought entirely by himself.
Flash forward to this year. This year, he bought a second large Toro walk behind, a 48" with Kawasaki V-twin engine, fixed deck, belt drive. Realizing our trailer was too small now to accomodate everything, he paid for half of a 5x12 trailer.
He's got about 12 accounts now, but plans to expand greatly next year.
My advice would be to grow your business carefully. Make sure you have enough business to be able to get a return on all the $$ you will be investing in your equipment.
My son will be 17 in April
Actually, your question brings back some fond memories. My son began cutting grass for pay when he was 8 (with me closly walking alongside him). At the time he used our consumer grade toro super recyclers. He acquired a total of 4 or 5 lawns, at which point when the one lawnmower he was using broke down, we realized we needed a second lawnmower as backup. So, we bought a second Toro Super Recycler. At that time, we also bought a 4x6 trailer, that we paid for ourselves, for our son to use to haul the mowers around (of course, we had to drive as he was still only 9/10 years old).
Then, my son began observing the professional lawn maintenance companies in our neighborhood, and he expressed an interest in getting his own large commercial walk behind mower. We told him that if he earned half of the cost, we would pay the other half. When he turned 11 years old, he had accumulated enough, so we matched his funds with ours and he bought a 36 inch Toro Proline, gear/belt drive with floating deck and T-bar. As I recall the grand total was about $3600, and he chipped in half, which amounted to $1800. We needed that size as many of the lawns he cut had fenced in back yards, and we needed to get the mower through the gate. However, now that he had two small push mowers and one large 36 inch one, we needed a bigger trailer, so my son paid for half of a 5x8 trailer, and we paid the other half.
Over the next couple of years, we acquired several Stihl trimmers, and a couple of blowers, and an edger - heavily subsidized by us, with selected pieces bought entirely by himself.
Flash forward to this year. This year, he bought a second large Toro walk behind, a 48" with Kawasaki V-twin engine, fixed deck, belt drive. Realizing our trailer was too small now to accomodate everything, he paid for half of a 5x12 trailer.
He's got about 12 accounts now, but plans to expand greatly next year.
My advice would be to grow your business carefully. Make sure you have enough business to be able to get a return on all the $$ you will be investing in your equipment.
My son will be 17 in April
Originally Posted By: antonmnster
I think they tend to sell for about $3-4000, but I would def set aside a bit for maintenance. We have many untrained employees with bad attitudes who abuse the equipment, so that MUST be factored in. But the upside is that these machines generally get serviced every day...
That's EVERYTHING. All of the nice commercial mowers are pretty durable, it's abuse and lack of maintenance that kills them. Any piece of equipment will have problems if its users are constantly beating on it and it never gets maintenance.
Go for the best deal on a new mower, or buy the nicest used mower you can find...then find a Stens dealer and stock up.
I think they tend to sell for about $3-4000, but I would def set aside a bit for maintenance. We have many untrained employees with bad attitudes who abuse the equipment, so that MUST be factored in. But the upside is that these machines generally get serviced every day...
That's EVERYTHING. All of the nice commercial mowers are pretty durable, it's abuse and lack of maintenance that kills them. Any piece of equipment will have problems if its users are constantly beating on it and it never gets maintenance.
Go for the best deal on a new mower, or buy the nicest used mower you can find...then find a Stens dealer and stock up.
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No offence to JTK but a z-force is by NO means a commerciaal unit! a beefed up Lowes unit at best, and in no way would stand up to true commercial abuse, it will most likely serve him well as a home owner, but NO Way will it stand up to commercial abuse let alone a balls to the wall hs kid! wink, another thing to look at is tire size if you plan to be truely commercial! Id reccomend a scag tiger cub for youre price point. But youd better have some yards lined up, otherwise youre [censored] in the wind
Originally Posted By: kcfx4
No offence to JTK but a z-force is by NO means a commerciaal unit!
Did I say ANYWHERE in my post that it was? I was just giving the young fella an example of what less than $5K (new) is going to buy you.
No offence to JTK but a z-force is by NO means a commerciaal unit!
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and yardkid, how much are you figuring into trimmers, maintence parts etc? id have a great homeowner push/self propelled mower in mind toro makes a good one as does jd lets figure $500, a decent string trimmer, no walmart [censored]! like an echo, redmax, stihl, or husqvarna, figure atleast 200, take that times 2 as i wouldnt rely on just one, now were near an extra 1k minus all the general maintence things youll want to have, not to mention a trailer, gee is this a good idea? not to mention everyone else is doing it!! im not trying to talk you out of it, but THINK
Originally Posted By: kcfx4
No offence to JTK but a z-force is by NO means a commerciaal unit! a beefed up Lowes unit at best, and in no way would stand up to true commercial abuse
He mentions something to that effect in his post
No offence to JTK but a z-force is by NO means a commerciaal unit! a beefed up Lowes unit at best, and in no way would stand up to true commercial abuse
He mentions something to that effect in his post
Stay with brands like Scag, Exmark, Hustler, Toro. They all make excellent mowers in that price range. John Deere is way overpriced. For my 2.5 acres, I opted for the estate/light commercial Scag Freedom Z with a 26 hp Briggs ELS and I've been extremely happy. But I'm not in the lawn care business. My nephew, who is, has an Exmark with Kawasaki engine.
That Scag is a nice machine. The deck suspension and amount of up/down deck travel is awesome. It's got the exact same Hydrogear ZT-2800 transaxles as my Cub.
Joel
Joel
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I sold my lawncare biz in 04 and haven't really kept up with the models since then. But back then I had a 60" Dixie Chopper and a 52" Exmark Lazer HP for my riders. Loved em both. I had 2 walk behinds, both Lesco's 36 and 48" loved em both. Just get a commercial unit and do the maintenance and it will last a really long time.
No offense, but i managed a sm eng dealership for yrs, we sold Jd, Cubcadet, Husqvarna, Scag, Exmark, Echo,Snapper, and Red Max. I retired, took a pt job selling Dixie Chopper, i noticed it was a far cry from a Scag Exmark or even Cub tank, i started answering the phone.....dixie flopper! LOl and i live in indiana where dixie flopper is made, NOT a commerical unit in my eyes, NO WAY!!
I don't see a whole lot of Dixie Choppers in my area, nor do I know much about them other than they have some ridiculous ground speeds, but they must be doing something right. They've got like two dozen different models!
Joel
Joel
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