Mowers On The Move: Mowing Survey

The same could be said for lawn mowing. The idea of mowing is so simple that literally thousands of contractors have launched their landscape companies behind the controls of a trusty grass-cutting machine. At the same time, consumers across the country often resist paying contractors’ desired prices because they see lawn maintenance as something the 16-year-old down the street can do just as well as a so-called "professional."

The truth is, however, that the sheer number of landscape firms built around the core service of mowing doesn’t mean contractors necessarily understand this service and everything that influences it on the broadest scale. Lawn & Landscape set out to uncover the hidden truths about this simple service by surveying 1,000 of its readers and gathering their feedback about mowers. Here is a summary of their responses.

THE BASICS. Not surprisingly, more than 89 percent of the survey respondents provide mowing services. Of these companies, more than two-thirds are full-service landscape contractors while the remaining 31 percent defined themselves lawn maintenance companies. (Of those companies that don’t currently offer mowing services, only 13.3 percent of them said they expect to offer mowing services in the next two years.)

The respondents’ annual sales breaks down as follows:

• About 53 percent generate less than $100,000 in yearly revenue
• 21 percent bring in between $100,000 and $250,000
• 13 percent have sales between $250,000 and $500,000
• 7 percent have sales between $500,000 and $1 million
• 6 percent of the respondents’ annual sales figures tops $1 million

We expected to find that mowing work is critical to contractors’ businesses, especially given the revenue breakdown above – smaller companies tend to focus on simpler services first, such as mowing, and move into the more technically demanding services like irrigation and lawn care as they grow.

Indeed, mowing matters to these survey respondents (see Mowing Machines, bottom of this page). In fact, mowing work accounts for at least 60 percent of the annual sales in more than half of the respondents’ businesses. However, that doesn’t mean these contractors operate their mowers on a year-round basis.

About 25 percent of the respondents said their mowing season only runs between 20 and 24 weeks, while the same number of respondents mow between 30 and 34 weeks, making these the most common season lengths among respondents. The next most common seasons were between 25 and 29 weeks and 45 weeks or more, both of which can be found in almost 17 percent of the respondents’ markets.

More than two-thirds of the respondents indicated that single-family residential properties represent the bulk of their maintenance clientele, which was not a surprise given the fewer demands on residential contractors. On average, these contractors mow about 40 acres each week.

While the commercial properties aren’t an area of emphasis for as many contractors, more than half of the respondents do mow some of these larger accounts. On average, our survey respondents that do mow commercial turf manage the same amount of acreage each week as the residentially focused companies mow, further demonstrating how few contractors are able to successfully enter the commercial maintenance market and build their business around these customers. Those companies who succeed in this arena typically maintain significantly more acreage each week.

THE MACHINES. A mower means everything to a mowing contractor. Contractors that use efficient, durable machines can grow their businesses aggressively and maximize profits, while those companies choosing not to use the latest technology or that continue trying to get one more month out of a dying mower doom themselves to spending more time to do the same amount of work as their competitors.

Reports from the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, Old Town Alexandria, Va., have highlighted the trends from gear-drive to hydrostatic mowers and from walk-behind machine to riding units, both of which are driven largely by contractors pursuing productivity. However, our survey found that gear-drive, walk-behind mowers still represent the most prevalent category of machines in contractors’ fleets, although the competition is intensifying. More than 41 percent of respondents indicated they have more gear-drive, walk-behind machines in their garages than they do hydrostatic drive, walk-behind mowers (most common in 26.6 percent of respondents’ businesses) or hydrostatic drive riding mowers (36.3 percent).

Surprisingly, the respondents indicated that they keep their gear-drive, walk-behind mowers for just about the same length of time as they do their hydrostatic, riding mowers – 5.3 years, which explains the presence of so many gear-drive, walk-behind mowers despite the climbing sales of newer models. These contractors said they keep their hydrostatic-drive, walk-behind counterparts for about six months less – an average of 4.7 years.

Obviously, such extended mower life mandates considerable and ongoing maintenance. For many contractors, that means going as far as replacing the engines. In fact, more than 54 percent of the survey respondents indicate they keep running machines after having the engines replaced. Almost 45 percent of these mowing contractors have their own in-house personnel who replaces the engines, which is somewhat surprising given the aforementioned revenue breakdowns. Clearly, this indicates that in a number of small landscape firms the owner or a similar key employee handles the equipment maintenance as well.

Meanwhile, about 55 percent of the respondents said they rely on an independent repair shop or their servicing dealer for engine work.

While mowers all essentially function the same way, there are some variations as to how they are used by different contractors. This is especially true regarding the treatment of grass clippings on customers’ properties. Slightly more than 63 percent of respondents said they discharged the clippings back onto the lawn this year, while about 30 percent said they are committed to bagging turf clippings and removing them from clients’ properties.

Of course, because of their dependence on these machines, the product purchasing decision can make or break a year for mowing-oriented contractors. Almost 63 percent of the respondents said they make mower purchases or purchase decisions in the first six months of the year, while another 30 percent said they purchase mowers throughout the year. And contractors weigh a number of different criteria before selecting their new mower.

When asked to name the different factors that have the greatest impact on their mower purchasing decision, contractors identified the following:

• Quality of cut (48 percent)
• Ease of maintenance (42 percent)
• Price (38 percent)
• Productivity (33 percent)
• Parts availability (31 percent)
• Service/support (31 percent)

The importance of being able to obtain parts immediately and get a machine serviced in a timely manner, which means right away for contractors, speaks to the critical role power equipment dealers play in the product purchasing decision.

Lastly, we asked these 1,000 contractors to tell us which features will be on the next mower they purchase. About 56 percent of the respondents noted that their next mower purchase would be a walk-behind mower, most likely in the 40- to 54-inch category. This mower will generally have mulching capabilities (65 percent) and hydrostatic transmission (83 percent). Air-cooled (83 percent), gas engines (92 percent) continue to dominate the market.

Riding mower customers like bigger decks for increased productivity (92 percent will buy a mower larger than 44 inches), while dual-hydrostatic transmissions are almost a given anymore (94 percent). Mulching capabilities are popular here (56 percent), while water-cooled (40 percent) and diesel engines (17 percent) are slightly more common with the bigger mowers.

IN THEIR WORDS. We also asked respondents to identify the most important mower feature for manufacturers to improve. Obviously, different contractors have their own pet peeves about mowers, but some commonalities can be found in their remarks.

The most heavily targeted areas for improvement were serviceability and parts availability for mowers. Some of the contractors’ frustration in this area undoubtedly stems from challenges they encounter with equipment dealers and not manufacturers, but the truth is that most contractors hold the manufacturer responsible for any problems they have with their mower.

"A lift for the front end that would help someone work under the mower with ease would be great," observed one respondent.

"Dealers need to give mechanics a decent wage so that I’m not looking at a new face every six months," added another.

"I’d love to see more durable blades and simpler maintenance like sealed spindles that don’t need grease," commented another mower user.

The other common concern voiced by respondents was deck performance and construction. "On floating decks, make scalping wheels pivot so they won’t cut the ground on turns," requested one respondent.

"Simpler cutting height adjustment on walk-behinds would be nice," added another contractor.

Other commonly mentioned areas for improvements centered on bolstering operator comfort, developing flat-resistant tires and enhancing mowers’ breaking performance. "I’d like a mower that could slow down better without tearing the grass," related one contractor obviously interested in being able to mow as quickly as possible.

And, of course, a number of contractors recommended that manufacturers simply improve the overall quality of the mowers they build and lower the price for these machines at the same time. We didn’t ask a question about this, but we expect that all survey respondents would like that.