If you have been shopping for a commercial lawn mower, new or used, you have probably found there are at least 20-30 brands to investigate. It is important to shop carefully and thoroughly because prices of commercial mowers can be more than your car is worth.
If you have not read the How to Make Big Money Mowing Small Lawns book, I recommend doing so before you go lawn mower shopping. Don’t get ripped off.
I did a considerable number of online searches for the following phrases: “most popular”+”commercial lawn mower brands”, “commercial lawn mower brands”, “commercial lawn mowers”, “commercial mowers”+most popular, and “commercial mowers”.
When online searching did not give me all the information I wanted I went to my trusty phone book and looked up lawn care and lawn mowers. This search narrowed the number of mower brands in the running to 13. I am going to hazard a guess that if you can purchase a brand locally it is a more widely used brand than if you cannot buy it locally.
The phone book did not satisfy my curiosity completely either, so I put a note pad in the car and started writing down the brands of commercial mowers I saw while driving around the city. When I saw a brand more than once, I put a tick mark next to the brand name so I could easily keep count.
Between the online searches, the Yellow Pages, and keeping count whenever I saw a commercial lawn mower out on a job, the most popular brands of mowers seem to be:
- Scag – manufactured by Scag Power Equipment, includes the very popular Turf Tiger, Tiger Cub, Saber Tooth Tiger and Wildcat models
- John Deere – manufactured by Deere and Company, includes the Z-Trak models
- EverRide – manufactured by Ariens Corporation (Auburn Operations), includes the Warrior, Hornet, YJ, Wasp HP, Scorpion FX, and Scorpion models
- Toro – manufactured by The Toro Company, includes the Z-Master models
- Exmark – manufactured by Exmark Manufacturing Company, Inc., includes the LazerZ models
- Ferris – manufactured by Ferris Industries, includes the IS models and they highlight their suspension as superior to other brands
- Cub Cadet – manufactured by Cub Cadet, includes the Z-Force, Enforcer and RZT models
- Hustler – manufactured by Excel Hustler, includes the Super Mini Z, Fastrak, and Super Z models
- Ariens – manufactured by Ariens Corporation and includes the ZOOM models, smaller than most commercial mowers and priced between $360 and $800 new
I took Grasshopper, Gravely, Echo and Reel out of the list. They are commercial mowers but they are targeted to types of mowing most small lawn care business owners do not do. Grasshopper and Gravely are made for really big mowing jobs like those for a city or county or keeping up Golf courses. Echo is more for brushcutting and would compete with the DR brand. Reel is for turf manicuring and these machines are used after the mowing to height is finished.
- Grasshopper – manufactured by Moridge Manufacturing, models just have numbers, there are a large number of models and cut widths, and prices range from $6,000 to $19,000 new
- Gravely – manufactured by Auburn Consolidated Industries Inc., owned by Ariens Corporation, include the ZT and XTZ models and are priced between $3200 and $18,000 new
- Echo – manufactured by Allpower Industries Pty Ltd. of Australia, targeted at the brushcutting market
- Reel – manufactured by Locke Turf Corporation, includes the CL models and are finishing mowers targeted at Golf courses, and baseball, football and soccer fields for manicuring turf
Other commercial brands I know of but are not available locally and I did not see around are:
- Simplicity
- Husqvarna
- Walker
- Encore
- Yazoo
- Jacobsen
- Wheel Horse
- World
- Snapper commercial
- Murray commercial
- Lawn Boy commercial
- Troy-Bilt commercial
- Craftsman commercial (you can order one from Sears but they do not have any in the store here)
I also excluded the various mower attachments for John Deere and Kubota tractors. Those are available but are targeted more to farming equipment than lawn care businesses.
Are you in the market for a commercial mower? How is your search going? What brands are you considering? Are you planning to buy new or used? Please leave your responses in the comments. Thanks!
Oh, and don’t forget to get your copy of How to Make Big Money Mowing Small Lawns.
November 3rd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
You really need to do a lot more research. You really don’t have a clue what you are talking about. If you are looking for a commercial mower talk to a real commercial cutter.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Jean,
I’m just starting out and I’m still schlepping my residential push mower around with me. I’m not buying anything until I have the cash, so I don’t have a lot of experience yet. I am learning quickly why you don’t want to use a push mower.
I do talk to professional cutters, but they are usually small, one-man businesses and they only own one commercial-grade mower. I called Scag’s mowers the most popular make because those are the ones my friends own and the ones I see the most in my area. It may not be a generally true statement. All I can go on is my own experience and my own discussions with the people I meet here that mow for a living.
I can also only put so much into a blog post. If you want a lot more information on each mower, I could write a post for each model of each make that I have researched. Is that more what you had in mind?
If you have different opinions, please feel free to write your thoughts here, but a general comment about “I don’t have a clue” just doesn’t help me improve this blog. What exactly do you believe I don’t have a clue about? Do I not have some facts right? What?
December 18th, 2008 at 6:37 am
My vote
Comerical – Ferris
Home Use – Murray
January 8th, 2009 at 2:21 am
I found a good site that reviews and recommend lawn mowers. They have a lot of good insight. http://www.bestratedlawnmowers.com
January 9th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Hank, thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
January 12th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
You’re doing the right things. There are plenty of good commercial mowers out there…Scag is the best in my opinion, although Hustler is a very good machine, depending on what kind of yards you are cutting. Another thing to consider is your dealer. What is your down time if you break down? Does he put commercial cutters first? Does he carry plenty of parts or will he have to order whatever you need? Ask around. Commercial guys will not hesitate to tell you what you need to know to find a good dealer in your area. And stay away from the big box stores. Buy from a dealer.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:37 am
I am going thru much the same issues trying to pick out a zero turn mower for heavy estate mowing. There is a really good website if you haven’t found it: lawncafe.com. Very well represented with commercial lawncare guys and willing to give advice to homeowners. The advice I see over and over is that the dealer is as important as the brand. Pick any of the good mowers and find the good dealer locally. I suggest going first with what the commercial guys in YOUR area use and learning why and which dealer they frequent. Probably they pick the mower as much for the local dealer as anything else. Good luck.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I think writing about all of them would be great! there is a site that lets consumers rate there mowers called http://www.compacttractorreview.com/
there isnt much there though. Alot of these mowers you have listed including grasshopper and gravely are all good and cut almost the same. a big deal when buying a mower is dealer support and how far away they are. in my case i live 5 houses or half mile away from a exmark dealer. it would be stupid for me to go somewear else his support is fantastic, will lend out a demo while yours is being fixed. so if he sold any brand i would still use him no matter how it was rated. im in the north eastern new york we have ferris gravely scag kubota johndeere toro and exmark all with in a 15 mile radius of eachother they are all big dealers with good support, i cant say a bad thing about any company, or brand or how much better any of them are. I can tell you that alot to do with the cut is the person taking care of the blades and the deck, and the operator of the mower if he has experience will make any lawn look better than the next guy who doesnt have the know how. my mom has been doing our 3 acre fully landscaped yard for 17 years now, it looks better than the biggest lco arround who does the doctors across the street and he has 3 brands of the best you described above ferris dixiechopper and deere, experience means alot.
May 13th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Our hybrid remote control lawn mowers have slope mowing capabilities of up to 70 degrees. The rubber track drive combined with its ultra low c.o.g. allows these mowers to “stick” to the hills. Let your men make you money instead of wasting time using a weed eater as a lawn mower!
We also offer residential units perfect for elderly and/or disabled.
August 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
You guys should really check out http://www.wingfieldag.com. They have the best prices and can get practically any part you need. They didn’t have some of my parts on their site, but I called them and they got it for me. They are very nice too!
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:04 pm
A nice first attempt. You did not include Bunton lawn mowers or the Wright Stander lawn mowers. I am looking for a commercial grade lawn mower, myself. When I pull up next to a lawn maintenance company, I will look in their trailer to see which brand of equipment they use. The Bunton and the Wright are very common brands in my part of the USA. Great Dane is another brand. Many of the brands on your list are really not used by the professionals in my part of thye country. I see Wright and Bunton very frequently. Just calling a lawn mower “commercial” does not make it so. You must analyze and evaluate the quality and construction of the unit.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
SCAG is the most popular mower around my neck of the woods, and we have remote control mowers for steep hills and ditches instead of the traditional method of a bunch of men with weed eaters, now one man does what used to take 6. But Scag is very popular around here for wide open areas, I have even seen ball field guys using Scag,,,and they were haulin’ tail!!