Best Commercial Mulching Mower for Nebraska

[Ric]

Okay I meant 15k sq. ft. properties. You might not even have any that small. I will post some pictures when I get the chance. But I will have to wait until I'm at the property to take some photos because I currently don't have any.

I mow in a sub-division. The lot sizes are weird, they can run any size up to a 1 & 2 acre track depending on your location within the sub-division. I do several 1 acre and a lot of quarter acre. I do them all with my ZTR. I mow a couple of homes that the square footage of there house is more than the property they have left outside to mow. :smile:

 

[Conn0r33]

I mow in a sub-division. The lot sizes are weird, they can run any size up to a 1 & 2 acre track depending on your location within the sub-division. I do several 1 acre and a lot of quarter acre. I do them all with my ZTR. I mow a couple of homes that the square footage of there house is more than the property they have left outside to mow. :smile:

I've always done very small residential accounts. Although I have four commercial. But I have no idea on large properties. So I was wondering if you could tell me about how much you or most companies charge for something like an acre. Or two acres.

 

[Ric]

I've always done very small residential accounts. Although I have four commercial. But I have no idea on large properties. So I was wondering if you could tell me about how much you or most companies charge for something like an acre. Or two acres.

That's a very good question. The problem is everybody has their own philosophy on charging for lawn care. The rate on what you charge can depend on the services you'll be performing, do you want to charge mileage/drive time to and from the job as added cost, what kind of overhead do you have, what are the cost you have that are involved in the job, are you going to cut weekly or biweekly. A Bi weekly cut I generally charge 40 to 50% more. First time cuts can run twice the normal cut depend on how bad the lawn is.
Your location can play a big part in what you can charge, I'd find out what the market could stand in your area because every place is different. I provide or charge for the Lawn cut, Trimming, edging with an edger not a trimmer and I finish up with a blower @ $60 an hour so basically a dollar a minute regardless of the size of the property and that's probably on the cheap side for most.

 

[Conn0r33]

That's a very good question. The problem is everybody has their own philosophy on charging for lawn care. The rate on what you charge can depend on the services you'll be performing, do you want to charge mileage/drive time to and from the job as added cost, what kind of overhead do you have, what are the cost you have that are involved in the job, are you going to cut weekly or biweekly. A Bi weekly cut I generally charge 40 to 50% more. First time cuts can run twice the normal cut depend on how bad the lawn is.
Your location can play a big part in what you can charge, I'd find out what the market could stand in your area because every place is different. I provide or charge for the Lawn cut, Trimming, edging with an edger not a trimmer and I finish up with a blower @ $60 an hour so basically a dollar a minute regardless of the size of the property and that's probably on the cheap side for most.

Thanks. That is an excellent answer. But I was only wondering how much you would charge someone for a property that is one acre. Because you charge 60 an hour, what is a realistic time that it would take you to mow and do everything on an acre property. I'm just wondering how much would half an acre, one acre, and two acre cost properties cost? Just a realistic number.
I'm just wanting to get an idea how much of a price and efficiency difference there is between large and small mowers. For me with 21" WB half on a half an acre property I would have to charge $100. But at those prices I'm not even competitive so it's not even worth me going after large properties right now because I don't have the equipment. So I just wondered how much companies are getting for properties like these and how much they are getting an hour. And at my price of $100 that's only $30 an hour but its lower once you get into edging and trimming.

 

[Conn0r33]

I don't use ZTR on small properties. You can actually mow faster with a wide area walk behind. And as far as hills go a walk behind will handle any slope you throw at it. Ric raves about stand on mower and I like them better than ZTRs but if you have a lot of steep hills to mow then a stand on is not for you.

What about Stand Ons that have the a fold up platform that you can use as a walk behind? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds for hills?

 

[Ric]

Thanks. That is an excellent answer. But I was only wondering how much you would charge someone for a property that is one acre. Because you charge 60 an hour, what is a realistic time that it would take you to mow and do everything on an acre property. I'm just wondering how much would half an acre, one acre, and two acre cost properties cost? Just a realistic number.
I'm just wanting to get an idea how much of a price and efficiency difference there is between large and small mowers. For me with 21" WB half on a half an acre property I would have to charge $100. But at those prices I'm not even competitive so it's not even worth me going after large properties right now because I don't have the equipment. So I just wondered how much companies are getting for properties like these and how much they are getting an hour. And at my price of $100 that's only $30 an hour but its lower once you get into edging and trimming.

I really don't know how to answer your question on what you should charge. They say in Lawn care that Time Is Money, the faster you are the more money you make.. If you are using a 21" Toro then I'd stick with the small lawns. As you say you can't be competitive so it's not even worth going after large properties right now because you don't have the equipment to compete with the bigger LCO's.
My small lawns I spend 20 minutes a lawn and charge $20 a cut and I don't kill myself by no means. My large lawns take me 40 minutes ea. to complete, the cost is $40 a cut and I use a 48 and 36" ztr on all. I try for three lawns per hr and that gets me my $60 an hr.
Now don't get me wrong because I have nothing against a 21" mower but you can't make any money with it, it just isn't fast enough. If your going to have a lawn care business and work sub-divisions a 36"to 48" ztr is the way to go and keep the 21 for tight places. A good 42" ztr is capable of mowing about 2 acres an hr.

 

[Conn0r33]

I really don't know how to answer your question on what you should charge. They say in Lawn care that Time Is Money, the faster you are the more money you make.. If you are using a 21" Toro then I'd stick with the small lawns. As you say you can't be competitive so it's not even worth going after large properties right now because you don't have the equipment to compete with the bigger LCO's.
My small lawns I spend 20 minutes a lawn and charge $20 a cut and I don't kill myself by no means. My large lawns take me 40 minutes ea. to complete, the cost is $40 a cut and I use a 48 and 36" ztr on all. I try for three lawns per hr and that gets me my $60 an hr.
Now don't get me wrong because I have nothing against a 21" mower but you can't make any money with it, it just isn't fast enough. If your going to have a lawn care business and work sub-divisions a 36"to 48" ztr is the way to go and keep the 21 for tight places. A good 42" ztr is capable of mowing about 2 acres an hr.

I know 21s are horrible for a primary mower I have to use them.
I'm not asking asking how much I should charge I know how much I charge. I charge by the hour with expenses. I'm just asking how much another company would charge for an acre property. What do your competitors charge? What would you say is the average price for an acre because I have absolutely no idea I can't just walk up to some company's guys and ask how much they get for a lawn. I'm in the small lawn market so I know what the going rate is for a 7,000 sq ft property because that's my area. But I would really like to know how much my competition is getting for something like an acre or half an acre or more. I know a guy who only runs large ZTRs and does large properties but I have no idea how much he or anyone gets. That's why I'm asking you because you mow larger properties. you know how much you and your competition is getting. I mean if they get a ton of money i would like to know because that would tell me that larger properties are better and maybe I should switch to that.

Thanks.

 

[LoCo86]

What about Stand Ons that have the a fold up platform that you can use as a walk behind? Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds for hills?

I have one that has the fold up platform. And the mower depends on you to stand on the platform to give the rear drive wheels traction. On top of that walking behind the machine just seems awkward.

 

[Conn0r33]

I have one that has the fold up platform. And the mower depends on you to stand on the platform to give the rear drive wheels traction. On top of that walking behind the machine just seems awkward.

Ok thanks!
So I guess I should change my thread name because this is my new question. I need a mower that can handle any job because I don't want to have to turn down work because of something like a hill. I'm planning on running either one 21" mower and a larger commercial mower whatever the members recommend. Or two 21" push mowers and a larger commercial mower. Or a 21" and a Toro Timemaster and a larger commercial mower.
So I need one mower to handle almost every job but if it's super small I have it covered with one of the push mowers. So my question is.
What is the most versatile commercial mower that is an extremely awesome mulcher?

 

[LoCo86]

Ok thanks! So I guess I should change my thread name because this is my new question. I need a mower that can handle any job because I don't want to have to turn down work because of something like a hill. I'm planning on running either one 21" mower and a larger commercial mower whatever the members recommend. Or two 21" push mowers and a larger commercial mower. Or a 21" and a Toro Timemaster and a larger commercial mower. So I need one mower to handle almost every job but if it's super small I have it covered with one of the push mowers. So my question is. What is the most versatile commercial mower that is an extremely awesome mulcher?

When you look at mowing companies that start to broaden their business from small big box store equipment they always go for a commercial walk behind mower. Why? Because there's no yard that it can not tackle. When they make enough money with it then they step up to larger more expensive ride on equipment to handle the lager yards that they were not being as productive on with a walk behind mower. But if you stick to smaller yards you'll never have that worry. And you'll always have the equipment to service those types of clients. On another note you should keep up with the amount of time you spend at each yard from start to finish and use simple math to find out if you're making the money you are looking to make on each individual property.