If you have decided you want to be a lawn care professional or you have been mowing lawns with a mower designed for residential use, you may be in the market for a commercial lawn mower.

Before You Even Start Looking

My first recommendation is that you pay cash for whatever mower you choose to buy. In the lawn care business you can earn enough money fast enough to save quickly for anything you need, so there is no reason to go into debt to purchase equipment.

My second recommendation is to find out what the seller’s return and refund policies are before you even look at a single mower and start falling in love, rationalizing why you should buy it no matter what. This is a business decision and must be based on logical thinking and strategic planning. If you let your emotions rule your equipment purchases, you will have a lot more trouble being successful.

Commercial Lawn Mowers

Commercial lawn mowers are much bigger than residential mowers and come packed with features that make lawn mowing very fast and much easier. The faster you can mow the more lawns you can cut per day and the more money you will make. A commercial mower is an investment, but it is well worth the money  you will spend because it will pay for itself very quickly with increased speed of mowing.

Commercial lawn mowers are much more sturdy and durable than their residential cousins. They have better quality, higher horse power engines designed for continuous daily use. They usually have higher blade speeds that allow cutting grass of any length easily. Tires are more durable and so are the wheels. Decks are made from thicker steel. Blades are made to be sharpened and switched out for repeated use. Many parts of the mower are belt-driven, preventing damage to the engine if an obstacle is hit that damages the mower blade or deck. Many residential mowers are direct drive machines, and an obstacle can bend the blade shaft and damage the engine in the process. Obstacles that will damage a residential push mower usually won’t damage a commercial mower.

Zero-Turn Radius, ZTR

Most people choose the zero-turn radius models or ZTRs, and for good reason. They are very maneuverable, capable of mowing around obstacles well, can handle difficult terrains, and don’t require you to have a push mower on hand. Your string trimmer is enough to get the spots the ZTRs won’t cut. What is special about the zero turn radius mower is it can make a 180 degree turn the length and width of the mower’s body. It basically turns around in place. It can also make a complete 360 degree turn in place because the controls allow the operator to control the power delivered to each wheel. The mower doesn’t have to move out of place to turn. These feats of maneuverability are handled with hydraulics and a hydrostatic transmission.

There is always the debate between buying used versus new, but as a smart shopper, buying a good used mower is your best choice. Why? Just like cars, the biggest amount of depreciation on a commercial lawn mower happens the minute you take it off the showroom floor and start it up. At that moment it becomes a used mower and therefore has a used value. Unless you are making more money than you know what to do with, let somebody else take the depreciation hit for you and buy used.

What to look for in a used ZTR commercial lawn mower

You will probably want to look locally and online for good used mowers. The advantage of a local purchase is you can easily see it, inspect it and test drive it. Those are very big advantages. This is a big purchase and I really like to kick the tires myself, not virtually.

If you want to shop online, and you can get extremely good deals by doing so, be very careful about the seller, the site’s return and refund policies and protect yourself as much as possible because you may not be able to see the mower until it arrives on your doorstep.

Here is a list of points to check on any used mower you are considering:

• Return and refund policy
• Do you want a ride-on, stand-on or walk-behind model?
• Cut width. You have to choose based on the majority of lawns you will be cutting. Residential mowing requires a smaller cut width than a golf course.
• Terrain handling. Will you be mowing mostly flat residential lawns or challenging terrains?
• Deck position (front or center)
• Ease of use, easy to handle controls
• Engine condition. Does the previous owner have maintenance records you can look through?
• Is the engine leaking oil?
• Is the hydraulic system leaking fluid?
• Blade and shaft condition. Have the blades been maintained? is the blade shaft straight? Does the blade run at full design speed?
• Is the deck bent severely? Scratches and small dents are to be expected, this is a commercial, outdoor piece of equipment, but severe damage is a warning sign.
• What condition are the controls in?
• Is the seat in good condition or is it worn out and needs to be replaced?
• What is the condition of the belts? Do they need to be replaced? Do they squeal?
• What type of fuel do you want to use? Gasoline, propane, diesel fuel? I recommend against diesel because it is currently over $1/gallon more expensive than gasoline.
• Do your customers require grass bagging or can you strictly mulch?
• Is the mower you are considering in use currently or has it been sitting idle for some amount of time? If it has been sitting idle, does it still run well? What maintenance or repairs will be required to get it back up and running?

After you assess the condition of the mower, is the asking price reasonable for what you are getting? If you are doing a private sale, always negotiate on price. Most people are willing to negotiate.

Remember that new mowers can be purchased for $3,500 – $10,000 depending on size and features. Make sure you are not paying too much for a used mower. Once you find a suitable used mower, it is an absolute must that you know what the price of that mower is new or the new price of it’s closest make and model. If there is a comparable new model, you should be able to pay at least 20% less than a dealer’s wholesale price plus any extras they add. That would mean the used mower is nearly new and hardly shows any wear. It should be in like-new condition. If a seller won’t go down to at least the 20% below dealer’s cost, I recommend finding another seller.

If you are buying a mower off of an auction site, such as eBay, is the mower close enough to you that you can inspect it in person before you make a decision to buy? Is the seller highly rated? Does the seller have his or her own store? That means there is another layer of protection for you, the buyer, because eBay won’t allow just anyone to set up a store. A seller must meet some strict criteria before being allowed to open an eBay store.

Where to look for commercial lawn mowers locally

• Newspaper classified ads
• Lawn mower repair shops. Sometimes people bring a mower in for repair and never come back to get it. To pay for the cost of repairs after the mower is certainly abandoned, a shop owner will usually sell it to recover the cost of repairs.
• Craigslist
• Local lawn and commercial equipment dealers that take trade-ins
• Equipment rental stores that rent commercial lawn mowers. They have sales occasionally.

It is also wise to move up in equipment gradually and only buy what you need and can afford now. As you earn more and learn to work more efficiently, you will also learn what equipment you really need. This approach will also give you the time you need to save cash for future equipment purchases out of your profits.

Remember, what you need starting out on your own is not necessarily what a business that has 20 employees and 10 trucks out on the job every day needs. Give yourself some time to figure out what equipment works best for you. To find out more about what equipment you will need to start out, I recommend reading How to Make Big Money Mowing Small Lawns.

Please leave any questions in the comments and I will do my best to answer them or get someone who knows better than I do to answer them.

Technorati Tags: buying used commercial lawn mower, how to buy, how to buy a used commercial lawn mower, used commercial lawn mowers, used commercial mower