On Your Mark, Get Set, Mow!: Mower Performance

Landscape contractors also find themselves faced with the dilemma of speed vs. performance when shopping for mowing equipment. A lawn mower that moves fast but doesn’t cut properly is as inefficient as one that moves too slowly. The only way contractors can determine which is the most efficient mower is to actually take them out in the field and run time trial tests.

PRESSED FOR TIME. “We have to measure straight out productivity with our operators running the machines on our parcels of land,” said Kurt Kluznik, president, Yardmaster, Painesville, Ohio. “You cannot go by what the manufacturer says in its brochure because those numbers are based on ideal conditions and maximum speeds.

“Instead, we try to take a job site and divide it into three identically sized areas. We will run a different machine on each area and keep track of the time it takes to cut each,” Kluznik continued. “But there are other things to consider as well, such as quality of the cut. For instance, a riding mower may be faster, but because it is heavier it can rut.

“You must also look at how a mower dispenses grass clippings,” he said. “Saving five minutes cutting, while adding 10 minutes sweeping only adds to the labor cost involved.”

Evaluating equipment means more than simply adding up the total time involved in the cutting process and using a logarithm to determine cost. “Factor in the cost of the machine and the cost of labor. Then you can figure out the cost-benefit ratio for the equipment in question,” Kluznik said. “From there, you can determine if a more expensive, faster machine is more cost-efficient than a less expensive mower that requires more labor.

“Then you look at the quality of the job,” Kluznik added. “Look at the equipment that gives you the better quality cut and factor that in as well.

“This is not an exact science,” he admitted. “But it gives the contractor something solid to base his purchase decision on.”

DRIVE TIME, TOO. While Kluznik uses equipment cost-labor and cost-quality ratings as the barometer for his decisionmaking, other contractors have other gauges to determine the most productive machines for their operations. For Ed Watters, president, Watters and Chatham Landscape, Rome, Ga., service and dependability are more crucial than saving five minutes on a job.

“Sure, we have run some tests on the walk-behind mowers we use,” Watters noted. “And they all have their pros and cons. But the time we need to factor in is the service time.”

Rome is approximately 60 miles from Atlanta, said Watters, and it is a drive of approximately 40 minutes each way for service. Factor in the time that mower is out of commission, and you realize just how important dependability is to Watters.

“Five minutes here and five minutes there will save us a bit, but the majority of our work is residential,” Watters related, “and whether you gain five minutes or not isn’t as crucial on them. On the large, open places, yes there will be some savings. But our biggest mowing job is eight to 10 acres, and it is not a lot of wide open space, so we cannot evaluate performance that way.

“Instead, we look at track records of the equipment we have been using and make judgements based on them,” Watters added. “Our company is only 5 years old, and I usually give all equipment one chance. We have had a lot of different equipment with a goal of consolidating to the most productive and efficient equipment possible.”

Unfortunately, making that determination can be costly. “When I have to put a driver in a truck to drop off a piece of equipment and then come back, it takes an hour and a half,” Watters said. “Then I have to repeat that process for the pickup of the equipment. Almost three hours of downtime in travel just to get one mower. An extra five minutes of speed will not make up for that.”

He added, “I look at which products are performing best overall and continue using those. If we can depend on good service and performance, we will continue to use those products. We have dropped some equipment because it did not live up to the levels of other brands.”

WHO KNOWS BEST? For some contractors, testing equipment is not a long, drawn out, expensive process. John Chiarella, owner, Ultimate Services, Waterbury, Conn., receives calls from dealers offering him test equipment.

This is when foremen play a major role in product selection. “We give the test machines to our best foremen and they take them right out onto the jobs,” said Chiarella. “They know how the previous machines have been performing and can judge the trial equipment against a known factor.

“These guys have been here 10 to 15 years and they understand the needs of each individual job,” Chiarella added. “So we don’t have a scientific test method, but we just go with what the foremen like best.”

However, Chiarella does expect tangible proof of the equipment’s performance. “We try the new machines for a few weeks and then look at the time sheets for comparison,” he said. “The foremen get a feel for the quickness of the machines, and we can corroborate that with the timesheets. It may not be an exact science, but it gives us some numbers to verify what they believe.”

Chiarella added that weather conditions have an effect on tests as well. “We found that some mowers perform better in the rain than other mowers, so we bought six of those for those days we need to cut in the rain. This way we are able to stay open even during inclement weather.”

Working during the rain may not make for an ecstatic work force, but it does make for a productive work force. Chuck Rogers, operations manager, Texascapes, Austin, Texas, tries to achieve both in his selection of equipment. “I look at price, durability and performance when I select mowers,” he said. “But I also put a lot of stock in what my technicians think of the equipment.”

Rogers said a typical testing method at Texascapes is to allow a crew to take the equipment out and work it out. “Ideally, we would like to have the equipment for an entire season, but we have yet to find a dealer that will allow us to do that,” he noted. “So we do as best as we can with what they allow.

“I really listen to the operators,” Rogers said. “If an operator says the equipment is uncomfortable during the test, chances are that equipment will be uncomfortable when it is in the field for real.

“If I buy a piece of equipment that my men do not like to operate, I am not doing any good. They are as much a deciding factor as are price and durability,” he added.

“I can’t have eight guys saying, ‘I want to string trim and use the blower today. I don’t want to ride that mower again,’” he said.

Rogers estimated that operators’ opinions count for about 40 percent of his purchase decisions.

Trial Time

For Kurt Kluznik, president, Yardmaster, Painesville, Ohio, testing equipment in time trials provides his operation an added benefit – reliable estimates. “We can take the data we gather during the time trials and apply that to our estimators’ formulas and get an idea for the cost of a job when it goes to bid,” he said. “So we have a head start on our bidding process.” He added, “We know how fast all of our machines operate, so we can be reasonably sure of our estimates when we make them. That is important in any business that sells labor. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. Sponsored Content Lawn and Landscape Marketing on a Budget Digital marketing can feel overwhelming when you’re working with a limited budget. Websites, SEO, social media, and paid ads can quickly add up, but you don’t need to do everything to see results. By focusing on cost-effective strategies, you can still make a big impact without overspending. “Those guys that just hold their thumbs in the air and make a guess are asking for trouble,” he said. “If our estimators are doing their jobs, they will come in within 10 percent of each other on the same job. We have confidence in that, and can schedule labor accordingly.” – Dave Clancy

Comfort and safety are also important to Tom Hopkins, operations manager, Spring Gardens, Ijam, Md. “Our operators must be comfortable with the equipment before we buy it,” he said. “It is such a morale booster for them to have a new piece of equipment that they are happy with.”

Regardless of operator comfort, Hopkins said the equipment must meet certain criteria before it is considered. “We research all equipment very carefully from literature, trade shows and manufacturers’ references. We speak with users and mechanics and other contractors. From there we narrow our choices down.”

Hopkins said testing all equipment would be too cumbersome, but by focusing on two or three pieces each year, Spring Gardens can make educated decisions. After narrowing the choices to a manageable level, the company tests the equipment with one or two crews and then asks for recommendations.

Hopkins said that this year technician input led the company to purchase a higher priced mower. “They liked the mowers and the mechanics loved them, so we decided to spend the extra money. In the long run they are paying off because of the increased productivity and morale among the operators,” he added.

Rogers warned against focusing too much on a mower’s speed. “We tested a mower that had a 10 mile per hour cruise speed,” he said. “And it looked like a 10 mile per hour cut. We had to slow the machine down to get a quality cut, and that negated the time savings the manufacturer promised us.”

And Rogers added another concern for landscape contractors who are determined to speed up their mowing rates: “Some of the parks we cut have a very rough terrain, so a high speed cut is rough on the mower. Even the lower speeds require us to have extra strength bolts holding the mowing deck in place. Otherwise the mowers will be damaged by the terrain.”

Testing equipment for durability unfortunately requires more than a simple one-hour test, said Richard Fadal, president, Texascapes. “It almost takes a full year for those tests, but try getting a dealer to give you a mower to test for a year.

“That is where durability over time over terrain comes in,” he added. “I wish there was a quicker test to determine durability, but there is none. So we just make do with what we can. Sometimes we have been fooled and have regretted buying a piece of equipment.”

One thing contractors agree on is that there is no one litmus test for ensuring safe, efficient, reliable equipment purchases. Whether a test is run by trusted employees, foremen, mechanics or the owner, and whether that test lasts one hour or two weeks, there is no test that is 100 percent reliable. Contractors must simply test, evaluate and make decisions based on the input they are given.