Mike Andes walks lawn-care business owners through buying a second mower after their 21-inch push model. He recommends a 48-inch zero-turn stand-on for the best ROI and compact storage, weighing 36 versus 48 decks, stand-on versus sit-down visibility, and the $6,000 to $10,000 price range.
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Hey everyone, this is Mike Andes and you're listening to the Landscape Business course podcast. Make sure you check out landscapebusinesscourse.com we have a live webinar you can join for free. And I can answer all your questions on how to start, grow or save your landscaping and lawn care business. Now, today we're talking about what is the second mower you should buy when you first start your lawn care and landscaping business. Now remember, we're the first. The lawns is what we're kind of targeting at the beginning of our business just to get that recurring revenue model generated. And so we're really focusing on mowing right now. And so we've already talked about in episode one about what the first mower you should be buying is. And now let's talk about the second mower. Now we talked about in the first episode how it should just be your first mower should just be a 21 inch push mower. And until you have 20 to 30 recurring lawns each week, or at least 2030 recurring clients, then you can start thinking about getting a zero turn. Now when we start talking about zero turn, you can have a stand on zero turn, you can have a sit down zero turn. And then obviously you have different varying.
Widths of deck for your mower. So I obviously I can only suggest based upon what I've done and what I've done to create my business. And what I did is on my second mower I got a stand on mower. And the reason I did that is because I had a 6 by 12 trailer at the time, enclosed trailer. And so in order to fit that I need and I wanted to get as you know, obviously as wide deck as possible. The widest I could get was a 48 inch on there comfortably. And so the reason I would recommend a stand on is just its compactness. It's small, it's easy to learn if you haven't done zero turns before because you can see your wheels and you won't, it's easier to not leave skid marks. Whereas if you're sitting down a zero turn, you can sometimes, you can't see the wheels sometimes. And so you'll leave skid marks more often when you're first learning on the zero turn. Now why did I buy a 48 inch? First of all, like 36 inch is appealing in one regard, because a 36 inch mower can fit into the standard backyard gate. That's really the biggest thing I don't like about going over 36 inches with a zero turn is that you can't get a 36, anything over a 36 inch into a backyard. So if someone has a little postage stamp front yard, but then their backyard is half an acre, you're stuck with using a push mower unless you have a 36 inch zero turn. However, it's unlikely for people that have massive backyards. Typically if they have lots of acreage, they don't have gates, so. Or if they do have gates, they're large gates that can swing open and are typically bigger than the standard gate that's gonna be in a neighborhood and with lots of small yards. So typically you're okay. And so that's why I went from the 21 inch push mower right to the 48 inch. And really the reason I would go 48 instead of 36 also is you just see a larger, it's so much wider. And so you're able to see a larger, a greater ROI going from a push mower to a zero turn, as far as how much lawn you can get cut per hour. And so that's why I would recommend the 48. Now when we talk about stand on, that is really up to you. Because the thing I don't like about a stand on zero turn is you can only have a side catcher. So typically your bushel size, the amount of clippings that you can collect is only one. It's not very big. So like it's not very. A very big aluminum side catcher that you can get on a stand on, whereas with a sit down you can usually get like a three bushel. A bagging system with a vacuum. And so when we're talking about wet grass, you're definitely gonna. If you get a lot of wet grass in your area, I would then suggest you go with a system that has a vacuum system on the side and it has three bushels in the back and, and two or three. And the reason is just because the stand on mowers don't have the vacuum system and they're gonna get clogged up pretty easily with their side catchers. And especially if you're wanting to do larger lawns and you don't want to be taking off the bag a thousand times, I would then recommend making sure you have a bagging system that has a large volume and the vacuum system. So that's my $0.02 on getting your second mower. You're gonna be looking at anywhere from 6 to 10,000, depending on what size of mower you get, whether it be on or sit down, whether it be you know, 36 to 60 inches. That is my recommendation. Though I would recommend a 48 inch wide deck just to see that great return. Twice the size of a 21 inch over twice the size of a 21 inch. And so you really see the ROI. But yet you don't have this gas sucking behemoth that you have to get then a bigger trailer and a bigger truck just to haul it around. So that's my $0.02 worth. If you are interested in getting more information or joining the webinar to get your questions answered, head on over to to landscapebusinesscourse. Com Again, this is Mike Andes on the Landscape Business course podcast. Signing off.
