Quick Clips: Mower Productivity

But then, some things are simply too good to be true.

"One product to handle every job - it’s really not there," admitted Peter Whurr, vice president of product management, Textron Turf Care and Specialty Products, Racine, Wis. "The long and short of it is you have to look at the application, and the products are designed to meet those applications."

Contractors inevitably confront more than one application on a service route - one property might require a high-speed riding mower, while another could call for a compact walk-behind. Pairing proper equipment with a property’s characteristics means multiple mowers. And operating mowers efficiently means considering labor, organization and estimating.

When productivity is the bottom line, machine downtime, careless operation, negligent maintenance and faulty estimates drag down a company’s efficiency.

PURCHASE POWER. Marc Scaggs is a power shopper. He wants speed - movement to push him through full schedules and position him ahead of his competitors. "You need to be as efficient as possible," he remarked. "The competition is trying to be as efficient as possible, too. That’s what everyone is striving for, and that’s why you see higher horsepower engines on mowers in the last couple of years."

When purchasing equipment, horsepower is a key consideration for Scaggs, owner, Scaggs Lawn Care, Martinsville, Ind., and he will buy the most power he can find, he said. "In our area, a lot of times in the spring and early summer, places might need to be cut twice a week, so you need all the help you can get," he explained. "If you have the horsepower, you’ll keep your blade tip speed up, which will allow you to keep up the quality of your cut."

More contractors today are "horsepower hungry," Whurr observed. In addition, more contractors consider comfort. Long hours on rough mowers can grate on operators. "To some degree, contractors are looking at better environmental conditions for their operators," he said. "They are looking after the creature comfort side. They also don’t want to break the bank, so they want something cost effective. But at the end of the day, the key is, ‘Am I going to make money?’"

Those who answer yes probably keep up with equipment advancements and purchase up-to-date mowers to replace older, less efficient models, added Bill Trimmer, owner, Professional Grounds, Lorton, Va. Making money - keeping that bottom-line buffer - requires learning about new products.

"What used to be state-of-the-art, just isn’t state-of-the-art anymore," Trimmer said. "If you’re not buying the latest thing out there, you’re losing ground. I guess you could say that you’re losing productivity by not keeping up with the new equipment out there."

Trimmer eased his company into new equipment five years ago when he purchased zero-turn mowers, which are more maneuverable and quicker than his out-front mowers. "I’ve got two 62-inch, out-front mowers, and I’ve got them up for sale," he admitted. He also switched from belt-driven to hydrostatic walk-behind mowers, which also increases tight-space turning, he said. However, he avoids equipment that has been on the market for less than a year, not knowing their quality track record, and looks for mowers with available parts.

"Many manufacturers offer overnight service for parts," he noticed. "If you’ve got a $10,000 riding mower sitting because it’s missing a $3 part and you can’t get it for three days, it’s a huge issue."

A machine with missing parts represents the No. 1 productivity killer for most contractors: downtime. For companies that rely on their mowers to operate 20 to 25 hours a week, like DeWayne King, landscape division manager, Hy-Tech Parking Maintenance, Richmond, Va., time out means money lost. "Downtime is one of the major keys that costs companies money," he said. "That’s why you want parts that are easily attainable. We’d rather our full-time mechanics work on our trucks than our mowers. We’d rather have our crewmembers fix the mowers on site. We’d rather take a part off, turn to a local store, put the part on and then continue without any downtime."

Preventing downtime also means avoiding the temptation to price shop when purchasing equipment, Whurr added. Longevity and reliability are more important than dollars and cents. "The mower has to put up with a lot of abuse," he said. "It is not treated with kid gloves. It’s out there to do a job. It’s out there to make money for the contractor. And if that product malfunctions, it’s killing his productivity."

Avoiding downtime can be as simple as adhering to a maintenance plan, which includes sharpening blades, changing oil and greasing necessary parts. Or, it could mean keeping a spare mower in case one in the fleet fails, Trimmer said. Most of all, maximizing "uptime" and eliminating downtime starts with educated buying, King stressed.

"You want to use the mower for a lot of different properties, not just one," he said. "You want a mower that you’ve heard of, that is going to be dependable. You want the largest mower you can use on the most properties without hurting the operator."

Personalize the purchase, in other words. A "super mower" for one company can represent a productivity nightmare for another.

CREW COORDINATION. No two properties present the same terrain challenges. Large properties are easy to mow - if they don’t have a number of obstacles that "cut up" the area. Beds, curbs and slopes require special attention. Ideally, a mower would skim through these areas without stopping the productivity clock, however, this possibility is but a pipe dream.

Instead, contractors must tailor the mower to the surface - and match the technician to the terrain.

"For us, there are so many different terrains out there, and to get the right piece of equipment on that terrain can be tough at times," Trimmer commented. "A lot of companies can’t own every mower that would suit every one of their needs. The mower itself might not be designed for what it is supposed to be accomplishing."

This is why Trimmer tours each new property with his crew, pointing out challenges, identifying tricky typography and noting which piece of equipment will best finish the job. The foreman, who visits the property on a weekly basis, plays a key role in mapping out the ground, he said.

"After we make the proper selection of the crew size and match the equipment to that crew, the foreman lays out the area for the laborers and they take it from there," Trimmer explained.

Ideally, each technician will finish their assigned task on a property - whether it be trimming, mowing or blowing - at the same time, so they can regroup, leave the job and move to the next account without wasting time, Trimmer said. Assigning proper equipment and allocating tasks so everyone finishes in tandem enhances efficiency.

Scaggs echoed the importance of delegating specific tasks to each crewmember, and not only dedicates duties to his employees, but also holds them accountable for completing their job on time and maintaining the condition of their assigned equipment. Familiarity improves efficiency, he figured.

"I try to have my guys do the same areas each week, so if there is a big hole in one area, they know where that hole is," he compared.

Besides assigning crewmembers to a property so they are acquainted with its nooks and crannies, Trimmer said he keeps his crews small. This way, he finds better luck pairing technicians with tools, he said.

"A three- or four-man crew is more efficient than a seven- or eight-man crew," he figured. "If you send the larger crew out, they will get done before the smaller crew, but if you total those hours spent on the job, the total hours will be less with the smaller crew. The larger crew might get back a little earlier, but not enough to offset the labor costs of extra workers."

In essence, cutting out man-hours parallels the importance of maintaining an efficient workforce, Trimmer said.

"Your biggest expense in ground maintenance is labor, and you have to find ways to cut down," he noted. "If you can send out a three-man crew with the right equipment rather than the four-man crew, you can save a lot of money."

King said property details, such as mowing unnecessary patterns, can soak up time if crewmembers aren’t trained to manage the area efficiently. Communication among employees while mowing a property is important, he stressed.

"If two guys are on the same property and they get away from each other, they aren’t watching what each other mows," he explained. "You see duplicated mowing areas. I have caught guys wanting to mow a pattern, which if you have it budgeted is wonderful. But if that’s not how the property is supposed to be done, it can cost you time if it takes him 30 minutes to do the extra mow and he does four of them."

Labor-saving concerns also play into equipment purchases. Riding mowers spare operator fatigue and can trim down the number of technicians needed on a job, noted Bill Cox, president, Lawn Management Company, Houston, Texas. After purchasing a fleet of 13 riding mowers - an admittedly large investment - he noticed labor costs dropping nearly 5 percent, he said. However, he still keeps one walk-behind mower on hand for smaller areas or when a riding mower breaks down.

RECORD TIME. Productivity starts with accurate estimates, and jobs that lose money are those that siphon valuable time out of the daily work schedule. These lost hours cannot be replaced and can quickly pull dollars from the bottom line.

Trimmer tracks man-hours for each property by having crewmembers sign in and out, and entering that data in the company’s computers, he explained. At year’s end, these totals uncover inaccurate estimates and reveal productivity pitfalls, so properties can be reevaluated for the next year’s renewal.

However, to avoid too many property reconsiderations at the end of the year, communicating estimated man-hours for a property with the foreman is essential, King added.

"The foreman may ruin the budget for the property for the year because he is mowing it opposite of how I priced it," he explained. "If he is using a different mower size or if a crew is going to the site with fewer or too many men than the property needs, then the company could see a lot of money lost in labor hours and inefficiency."

To ensure his preliminary man-hour goals are met, King also checks in with crewmembers with a route sheet every morning, which records the technicians assigned to a job, necessary equipment and the start/stop time. "You have to find out what the problem is - is it taking more or less time than expected?" he noted. "Are you doing the job the way it was set up to be done? Were there any breakdowns? Did all of the men show up? If it is taking longer than expected, maybe they are not using the right equipment."

With these records, King then makes equipment decisions for various properties.

Scaggs jots down daily notes, documenting incidents from cutting accidents to invariable weather. This way, he can review his observations and determine why a job was lagging. Commercial cutting consumes 90 percent of his business, so identifying efficiency slowdowns is important to the company’s financial health, he added.

Looking back on records, Scaggs noticed that even Mother Nature can hold the cards in the productivity game. "One of our biggest productivity problems is weather," he cited.

No matter the forecast, contractors must make property predictions that will surge their productivity.

When tracking time, money, efficiency and profit, contractors should strive for a balance of these elements, Trimmer noted. "It’s that fine line between quality control and being efficient," he described. "We can all go out and do a quality job, but if you are not efficient, you will price yourself out of the market. You need to find out where that line is and make it work."