MOWERS/POWER EQUIPMENT: Stand and Deliver

Landscape contractor John Hill replaced his entire mower fleet with stand-on units about five years ago after realizing how much more productive his employees were compared with when they operated riding mowers. Since making the move, Hill, owner of San Antonio, Texas-based Hill Horticulture says he has achieved significant savings, which he attributes to crewmembers who are less fatigued because they can now remain in one position while mowing and have improved maneuverability.

“The guys just don’t get as fatigued standing up,” Hill says. “When a guy has to sit down and then stand up to pick up debris or whatever and he’s on that mower four or five times a day, then that can be fatiguing. A stand-on mower is less fatiguing to them because they have a good standing rest position and a better line of sight than on sit-down mowers. I think having to get up and off that mower is where the fatigue part comes in, so I think that’s the biggest difference.”

Stand-on mower manufacturers are hoping more contractors, such as Hill, will realize the benefits of these units. Currently, few mower manufacturers produce stand-on units, which comprise less than 5 percent of the total mower market, says Bill Wright, president, Wright Manufacturing, Frederick, Md. But every year more contractors are purchasing stand-on mowers because of their affordability and productivity potential. Sales for Wright Manufacturing’s stand-on units have increased 25 to 40 percent in each of the last five years, according to Wright. At Great Dane Power Equipment, 2005 stand-on sales are expected to increase 30 percent from 2004, says Ken Taylor, business manager, Great Dane Power Equipment, Cary, N.C. The company’s 2004 sales were up about 25 percent over the previous year, Taylor adds.

Wright says he expects that trend to continue. “The additional growth in our industry has been with riders,” he explains. “The reason they’ve picked up so much speed is because they’re becoming smaller, lighter and more agile. That trend is what gets people off of a walk-behind and onto a rider.”

Taylor agrees that the stand-on market should pick up as contractors become more aware of their benefits, such as the ability to more easily load and unload the units from trailers because of their compactness. “It’s a learning curve, and perception is reality,” Taylor says. “I’ve had people say, ‘I don’t want to stand all day. That has to be more tiring than sitting down.’ And I come back and say that’s a true statement if you’re truly sitting all day and cutting for five or six hours, then there’s no question a sit-down machine is better. But if a crew is highly mobile and constantly loading and unloading the machine, then I would question that statement.”
 
THE STAND-UP ADVANTAGE. Why stand when you can sit all day? Price is one reason. Many contractors and manufacturers consider stand-on mowers a go-between for walk-behind and riding mowers. Although more expensive than a walk-behind mower, stand-on mowers provide some of the same compactness and maneuverability as a mid-mount zero-turn mower at a lower cost. A stand-on mower costs about 10 percent less than a zero-turn riding mower and about 10 percent more than a walk-behind mower, Taylor says. Wright estimates a stand-on mower costs $1,000 to $1,500 less than a zero-turn rider.

Stand-on units can provide better visibility than riding mowers as contractors maneuver around obstacles because they’re standing over the mower deck, says Wes Freeman, brand manager, John Deere Commercial Mowing, Cary, N.C. Adding to the maneuverability is the deck design, which is much like a mid-mount zero-turn riding mower. “By definition, it’s a mid-mount in deck design, and it’s also much more compact than a zero-turn riding mower because you are standing on it, and because of that, you take up less room on a trailer and it can be less fatiguing to the operator,” Freeman says.

The improved visibility has resulted in less maintenance and a longer lifespan for Hill’s mowers. With the riding mowers, Hill’s crews would often bend the mower’s yokes after hitting curbs they couldn’t see. “Most people I compete with here are replacing their mowers every two to three years,” he explains. “We’re in our fifth year, and I guarantee that I get two more years out of them, and my acquisition cost goes way down.”

The stand-on mower’s design also makes slopes easier to handle than riding mowers because they have a low center of gravity,” Wright adds. With a stand-on mower, the operator is only a few inches off the ground, as opposed to 30 inches or more above the ground with a rider. This lower center of gravity allows contractors to mow steeper hills with less likelihood of tipping, he says.

In many cases, stand-on mowers are replacing walk-behind mowers because they reduce operator fatigue and can maneuver around tight areas. “Typically, it seems like the stand-on units are being used as replacements for commercial walk-behinds because that’s the easiest application for commercial contractors to see the benefits,” Freeman says. “If I get a stand-on where I’m actually standing and riding on the machine I can mow faster, increase productivity in highly landscaped areas where I’m doing a lot of trimming or mowing smaller footprint properties.” But stand-on mowers aren’t limited to cutting just residential properties, Free man notes. They’re effective on certain commercial lots, such as cemeteries, where highly detailed work is required.

In other instances, contractors are trading their zero-turn riding mowers for stand-on mowers. In fact, stand-on units are actually zero-turn mowers, Freeman says. “It is a true zero-turning machine and has what we refer to as loop controls,” he explains. “And basically, the operation of those controls is exactly the same as on a ride-on zero-turn mower, so you push the lever forward and it will control that side’s drive tire. If you pull it back toward you, it would put that drive tire in reverse.”

Landscape contractor Andreas Dambakakis switched about two years ago to almost entirely stand-on mowers. His Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company, Yards By Us, made the move because of customer demands. “The reason we went with them is because we’re 95 percent residential,” he explains. “So anybody who cuts grass knows that a walk-behind will give a prettier cut than a zero-turn mower. It allows you to stripe the yard and make it look good. Other mowers have bigger tires and leave wider tracks. The smaller the cut, the lighter the mower, the prettier the cut.”

Dambakakis adds that riding mowers are often too heavy for residential yards, resulting in complaints from homeowners who say the mower has torn away turf or left tracks in the lawn. “Most customers, if they had their way, would like us to use a 21-inch push mower, but we can’t be efficient that way,” Dambakakis says. “So how can we be efficient and still offer the quality of cut that a 21-inch mower provides? That’s where these stand-on units come in.”

PRODUCTION POINTS. Many contractors who have realized success with stand-on mowers say reduced labor and equipment costs and increased productivity are the top reasons they’ve stuck with the machines. Labor typically accounts for 35 to 40 percent of a contractor’s costs, and equipment and service comprise 10 to 15 percent of a contractor’s overhead, Taylor says. So contractors can potentially reduce costs with labor-saving equipment, such as stand-on mowers. Taylor estimates stand-on mowers can save a contractor 30 percent in labor costs.

Yards By Us purchased 12 stand-on mowers two years ago for $7,000 per unit. The company has raised worker productivity 50 percent since switching to stand-on mowers and is cutting with one-man crews instead of two, Dambakakis says. The stand-on mowers are less physically demanding so employees can work longer days, he adds. “Our main thing was to be productive and make sure employees are not tired from walking behind a mower,” he explains. “In my opinion, this is where mowers are going in the future.”

Hill says his company loses some speed with the stand-on mowers but makes up for that with the improved mobility and the ability to fit an additional mower on his trailers. Hill estimates that has increased productivity by 25 percent with the stand-on mowers and has switched from a five-day workweek to a four-day week, saving him more than $100,000 in payroll in the first year. “The fact is they’re on the mowers less now than before because they can see where they’re going and it’s easier to maneuver around trees and buildings,” he says.

Contractor Daryl Zeka agrees that speed isn’t the most important factor to consider when purchasing a mower. Zeka, a partner with Boynton Beach, Fla.-based Palm Beach-Broward Landscaping, replaced many of his riding mowers with stand-on machines because the additional speed wasn’t necessary. The company runs three or four mowers per crew with at least two being stand-ons, Zeka says. With smaller zero-lot line properties, maneuverability is more critical, he says, adding, “I can get the same work done with a more maneuverable $6,000 machine than with a $9,000 machine, so that’s the direction we went to with the crews that maintain those type of properties, and some of those properties do have large turf areas, so we’ll put two stand-ons on a crew with another sit-down model.”