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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?

First if you buy the JD parts will cost a lot.
For what you are doing I would buy a new ztr
Maybe a toro timecutter this way you have a new mower with a warranty.

I tried a Murray 40" tractor. It was really a nice machine... to be honest it did not cut enough time off my mows to make it worth it plus the lines to me always looked terrible. I would say you would be better off using even a entry level zero like the toro time cutter. (find them at home depot)

Okay, thanks for the inputs. It seems like the biggest issue with tractors is the speed. But then the biggest draw for me towards the tractor is the ability to add a snow plow for use in the winter, as this past winter we really could have benefitted from that. I do really like the Toro Timecutters, but + or - $2500 may just be too much for us. Are the commercial walk behinds any competition for a zero turn? And also, I may have a chance to buy a John deere f510, which is essentially a zero turn, for $200, but I'm not sure if that would be a good option either

I just got thru ''been there done that''. I first bought a tractor and it didn't work for me...too many bushes and trees. Then bought a ZRT 44'' eXmark for $1800.00. The ZRT is head and shoulders above the tractor. Based on my experience I would spend as much as I could afford and then somehow find another $1000.00 to put with it and go buy a medium dollar used mower with low hours from an individual. That's my 2 cents worth. John

Okay, so what did you look for when you were buying a zero turn? Everything I see on craigslist are usually overpriced and beat up which I guess beat up is all we could afford, but I'm not sure what to look for.

After about 15 years on 2 tractors I made the switch to a ZT. Not only do you save time, but it's so darn easy and if setup properly super nice cut. As far as a tractor for snow plowing on the money you listed I am not sure about the performance. My boss has a blower on his Deere 7xx, but how well will a cheap lawn tractor push snow?

You'll get some great advice on buying tips. Good used ZTs are out there for sure. I scoured Craigslist for a good while, but decided to buy new when the Wife gave me the blessing. I saw some great prospects under $2k. Some with less than 200hrs as well. Find the guy that took good care of his mower, but needs money!

I wanted a ZT mower that was sold by a lawnmower business, not by Lowe's or Home Depot. I really wanted a commercial type mower with individual pumps and motors for each wheel (which I did not get). I wanted a mower that a majority of the people did not badmouth and after that I wanted a cheap price so I could sell it if I needed to so I could get what I wanted. Having never had a ZT I didn't know what was bad and what was good, I did it like I always have; jump in, buy one, if I don't' like it....sell it. If one fool would buy it (me) I figure another would also.

Commercial mowing like you are going to do is something else. If you have customers that want their yard mowed and your broke down whatta do you do about that??????

I'm sure anything you do will be fun if you have the right attitude.

Happy trails.............John

LawnBoy97 said:

Okay, thanks for the inputs. It seems like the biggest issue with tractors is the speed. But then the biggest draw for me towards the tractor is the ability to add a snow plow for use in the winter, as this past winter we really could have benefitted from that. I do really like the Toro Timecutters, but + or - $2500 may just be too much for us. Are the commercial walk behinds any competition for a zero turn? And also, I may have a chance to buy a John deere f510, which is essentially a zero turn, for $200, but I'm not sure if that would be a good option either

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If you plan on moving snow in the winter and cutting grass in the summer don't just jump and get a z-turn. You said you were thinking about moving snow with a snowplow/snowblower. Do you need to pull anything like a trailer, etc. z-turns have limited pulling power. You should do your homework and think what you will be doing with you machine. Are you are going to be just cutting grass or will you be doing winter work also. If you get some cheap sh-t lawn tractor you can't cut very fast, but some older high line garden tractors move pretty fast. If you go cheap on a older z-turn with lots of hours you may spend a lot of time fixing it and the parts are not cheap. Take your time and be wise. Good luck with your business.

In my humble opinion if you plan to shovel snow in the winter you are living way to far north. I cannot help you there.[/I]

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.

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:

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.

LawnBoy97 said:

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?

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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?

LawnBoy97 said:

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?

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

LazerZLandscaping said:

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

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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.

LawnBoy97 said:

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.

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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....

gfp55 said:

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....

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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.

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

TaskForceLawnCare said:

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

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

gfp55 said:

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

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I know with my snapper I can take the deck off and put many attachments on it. Like a snow blower

It's kinda set up like a David Bradley tractor.

never tried to use a walk behind mower for plowing. I'd suggest if you want to plow snow buy one for your truck don't use your mowers they aren't built for it and you can't make $ taking an hour to plow a driveway for $20.

TaskForceLawnCare said:

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

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I have a Scag walk behind, it is awesome! It's perfect for residential.

TaskForceLawnCare said:

never tried to use a walk behind mower for plowing. I'd suggest if you want to plow snow buy one for your truck don't use your mowers they aren't built for it and you can't make $ taking an hour to plow a driveway for $20.

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I think you hit the nail on the head when you said you can't make $ taking an hour to plow a driveway for $20 nor can you spending between 40min to 1 hour to mow, trim, edge, and blow a yard especially with two people.

we run walk behinds as much if not more then the ztr's. they're efficient, low maintenance, fast and great tools especially in the average sized half acre including the house driveway etc subdivision lawns. I didn't start running ztr's until we started getting bigger lawns. I've never plowed with my mowers and never will. its a waste of time IMO I've a snow dog vxf85 I don't like doing driveways but if we have our parking lots clear we'll go do them. it takes me 3 minutes to back drag push away from their entrance and my passenger will shovel the sidewalk and collect the cash usually $25-30. never forget they called you because they need your help getting out.