by: Lawn Care Business
Choosing a commercial lawn mower
Your commercial lawn mower is the most important piece of equipment for your grass cutting service business. Purchasing the wrong equipment can cost you thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
The lawn care business program available through our website at:
StartALawnCareBusiness.com includes a huge buyers guidebook for lawn equipment purchases. We recommend you read the entire guidebook before making an important purchasing decision which will affect your business each and every day.
Here are a few quick tips taken from the equipment guidebook:
1) Engine size: Purchasing a lawn mower with a small engine size will give you inferior performance from your lawn mower. A low powered lawn mower will not allow the lawn mower blades to slice quickly through the grass. Sluggish blade movement tears the grass instead of cutting it. Torn grass turns brown and gives an unprofessional look to the lawn. We recommend a minimum of 14 hp engine for most any commercial walkbehind lawn mower with a 48" deck size or smaller.
If you are purchasing a ZTR, zero turn mower, or other mowers that carry the operator, bump up your engine size to a minimum of 17 horse power.
2) Deck size: What kind of grass cutting jobs does your company perform? If your lawns are small and your customers’ back yards are gated, you do not need a 61" mowing deck. Look for something smaller such as a 36" or 48" mowing deck.
These decks are easier to maneuver and can often fit through back yard gates. If you are doing wide area mowing, look for 48" to 72" decks. Larger decks increase the chance of scalping uneven yards.
3) Controls: There are many types of operator controls in the commercial market today especially for walkbehind lawn mowers. Some controls require constant attention but they offer great ability in keeping the tracking of your lawnmower straight to give professional straight line patterns to your lawn. If strength or dexterity is an issue for you, choose controls that are easy to maneuver and will allow you rest your hands during
your work.
These are just three tips of what to look for in a commercial lawn mower. For a huge lawn mower buyer’s guidebook, purchase our program available from
http://www.StartALawnCareBusiness.com