Upgrading my mower

[lawn mower fanatic]

V-Ride... Check that out.

A lot of LCO's use 36" mowers and also ZTR's. It really depends on what kind of yards you have. Fl is different than where you are. And where I am is different too. A 36" has it's advantages too.

Try out a few mowers, both 48" and 36" and see what suits you. The decisions is up to you.

Yep you are right. And honestly if I had a larger budget I wouldn't hesitate with getting a 48" Exmark, Toro, or Scag zeroturn. But I don't have that kind of money I want to spend. But I heard the saying today, "You have to spend money to make money". And that's true. It's just how long I want to be "in debt" because of the large purchase.

 

[Ric]

V-Ride... Check that out.

A lot of LCO's use 36" mowers and also ZTR's. It really depends on what kind of yards you have. Fl is different than where you are. And where I am is different too. A 36" has it's advantages too.

Try out a few mowers, both 48" and 36" and see what suits you. The decisions is up to you.

Yep you are right. And honestly if I had a larger budget I wouldn't hesitate with getting a 48" Exmark, Toro, or Scag zeroturn. But I don't have that kind of money I want to spend. But I heard the saying today, "You have to spend money to make money". And that's true. It's just how long I want to be "in debt" because of the large purchase.

Yeah I agree a lot of LCO's use the 36" and 48" mowers, I do myself, but that V-ride isn't a walk behind (BIG DIFFERENCE) It's a ZT rider just like the Grandstand 36" I use and both mowers up your productivity where as the 36" walk behind doesn't gets you a whole lot more than your 21" Honda and in some cases less. Ya know they call those things a Wide Area Walk Behind for a reason. If your worried about budget most of these company's offer the 42 or 48 month 0% financing and with the increase you'll get in productivity you'll be able to make the minimum payment and more and pay the mower off in no time especially if you were to use the money your going to spend for a down payment.

Depending on the mower you buy, your down payment, you could end up less than $100 a month, my payments on the Z-Master are $146 a month and with what the mower makes me I do $250 a month minimum. The way I look at buying mowers is you can do a couple of different ways. 1 you can buy new, buy warranty and in a couple of years have a turn around value or 2 you can buy used and buy someones Else's problems and pay for repair bills and in a couple of years have crap for value.

 

[Lawnboy18]

I don't see how a 36" would be counter productive on certain size lawns. If they weren't, companies wouldn't sell them. They have there uses and below 1 acre they can be pretty fast on a yard. They are sometimes faster than a Z. They are lighter, so they don't rut up a yard as bad. The Hydro ones turn on a dime, overhead is cheaper, etc. I mean if you are always mowing big yards 1 acre, 2 acres, etc then a Z would be good.

A 36" is good on small heavilly landscaped yards.

 

[Ric]

I don't see how a 36" would be counter productive on certain size lawns. If they weren't, companies wouldn't sell them. They have there uses and below 1 acre they can be pretty fast on a yard. They are sometimes faster than a Z. They are lighter, so they don't rut up a yard as bad. The Hydro ones turn on a dime, overhead is cheaper, etc. I mean if you are always mowing big yards 1 acre, 2 acres, etc then a Z would be good.

A 36" is good on small heavilly landscaped yards.

Nobody said a 36" was counter productive. I said I agree a lot of LCO's use the 36" mowers. You'll probably find they buy them as a back up mower for there primary mower like Stander or ZTR. Most WB mowers are not as fast or faster than a stander and there certainly not as fast as most of the ZTR mowers made today. I used a 36" walk behind for two years and I can tell you there not as easy to use as you may think. I made the choice for the 167 lb 30" Turf-Master because I got tired of man handling a 460 lb mower with operator assist reverse and the difference in productivity between the two isn't all that great.

The point of productivity is to save as much time as you can per lawn and maximize your profit and the point I am trying to make is if LMF doesn't buy a mower that will put him in and out of a yard in twenty minutes or less he isn't making any money and your investment in your mower isn't paying off. You can't pop 4 lawns in an hour with a walk behind.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

Thanks for everyone's input. Ric you say I could be paying $100 some dollars per month, that would take me over 2 years to pay off...I would rather just pay for it upfront honestly. But this had made my decision a lot harder. I guess I will demo both the Exmark Commercial 30 and Exmark Metro 36", and see how long it will take to mow my lawns. If it doesn't reduce my time by much OR if I don't like how they cut or operate, I have a serious decision to make.

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

Honestly now I am leaning towards the Exmark Commercial 30. For some reason I kind of want to stick with a walk behind, and I feel like I won't be happy with the cut of the true wide area walk behinds. Not that they don't give a crisp cut, more that I won't like the side discharge or the mulching isn't good. Ric- does your Turf Master save a decent amount of time compared to your Cub Cadet 21"? It would really be better if I bought the Commercial 30 rather than a true walk behind because I was going to go with a Toro 32 or 36 inch, due to the fact they are cheaper than the Exmarks, but my "hometown dealer" doesn't sell Toro. So I would have to drive farther for service. I just want the grass to start growing so I can demo some mowers!!

 

[Ric]

Thanks for everyone's input. Ric you say I could be paying $100 some dollars per month, that would take me over 2 years to pay off...I would rather just pay for it upfront honestly. But this had made my decision a lot harder. I guess I will demo both the Exmark Commercial 30 and Exmark Metro 36", and see how long it will take to mow my lawns. If it doesn't reduce my time by much OR if I don't like how they cut or operate, I have a serious decision to make.

I think anyone would rather just pay for it upfront but buying the mower at 0% interest is like paying cash for it or upfront. You can pay it off anytime you like with no penalty. My minimum payment is $146 a month on a $6100 loan and I generally make at least twice that and more depending on the months income.

The beauty in the whole thing is that I look at as I don't make the payments. I let the business and my clients do that with the money I make with it. I just use it and maintain it. It's a win win for everybody. The clients get what they want, I improved my productivity which improves my income which allows me to make larger payments so the mower is paid off quicker and put more money in my pocket.

:laughing: My minimum mower payment is $146 a month :laughing: You want ridiculous, My cable tv payment is $230 a month just so I can watch John Wayne

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

I think anyone would rather just pay for it upfront but buying the mower at 0% interest is like paying cash for it or upfront. You can pay it off anytime you like with no penalty. My minimum payment is $146 a month on a $6100 loan and I generally make at least twice that and more depending on the months income.

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:laughing: My minimum mower payment is $146 a month :laughing: You want ridiculous, My cable tv payment is $230 a month just so I can watch John Wayne View attachment 25408

True....that is nice!! :thumbsup:

 

[lawn mower fanatic]

The thing is that $150 a month payment would be turned into a heck of a lot higher because if I get a zeroturn I am going to need a larger trailer, and a better vehicle to haul the trailer. So my trailer kind of limits my purchases as well.

 

[Lawnboy18]

You are at a point where you have to think about long term. Do you want to invest and do this for a living?
I have no clue how much $ you have. I recommend getting a 6x12 cash and finance the mower you want.