zero turn under $3K

[jeffyr]

Hello all,

I was at the Home Cheapo this morning and saw this for under $3,000. It is a 17 horse (B&S) and a 42" deck Ariens zero turn. The warranty for commercial use is only 90 days. No No No...I am not saying I want one.....just sharing what a homeowner may think your Walker , Chopper or Lazer may cost.

http://www.ariens.com/products/ride/

jeffyr

[Eric ELM]

I know what you mean, they don't think they cost much. I had a customer 10 years ago see my new diesel 430 JD and ask, what did that cost, about $4000? I said, $4000 will buy a new motor for it. He could not believe how much that thing cost me. The all think they cost the same as the cheap home owner specials I guess. ;)

[kutnkru]

The Home Depot has all you need to get into this biz. They have it all:
JD 21" mowers with the swivel front casters for $449 w/ 6hp (intek I think),
Echo/JD/HomeLite hand held string trimmers,
Echo Cross Fire T-Line,
Echo stick edgers,
Echo BP and hand-held blowers,
McClane 3-wheeled edgers
and the list goes on and on!!!

Oh yea I forgot. They are also carrying Lesco Fert and Seed products again this season. So now the homeowner can by their own Big-Brown(TG/LC) Lawn Care Program

H-O-R-K!!!!!!
Kris

[Edited by kutnkru on 03-13-2001 at 05:36 PM]

[Jet boater]

I've seen it and laughed as I walked by. That thing is a tinker toy.

I'm a "homeowner" and I bought a Scag Turf Tiger. Unfortunately most people can't see the diff.

[BerksLawn]

they use to sell lesco walkbehinds here and for good prices a 48" belt drive was around 2,500

[Evan528]

there was a post a while back about what people thought about home depot selling lesco fertilizer. I must admit... it really bothers me that any homeowner now has acsess to my "commercial grade" chemicals. I have heard that the lesco fertilizer in home depot is of a different as what the lesco warehouses sell. Can anybody varify this? I can no longer say to a customer "the chemicals we use are not the same stuff as you buy at a place like home depot, there professional grade that home owners dont have acsess to".

[awm]

Dont know why a company like ariens would put that thing out.A fella a HD told me they are having mega trouble
with that model

[SMB]

John Deere has started putting out a ZTR/Lawn Tractor, with some kind of linkage so that it has a steering wheel. I think that Yard Man (MTD) might have one also.

[mdb landscaping]

who came up with the name "zoom"? couldnt they be a little more creative?

[LScom Addict]

All these places are selling is CONVIENIENCE CONVIENIENCE CONVIENIENCE. And that does make my stomach turn too. You would think that with the bureaucrats chomping down on the fert issues at hand that they might want to slow the traffic of residential damage to the environment.

[eslawns]

kutnkru,

That swivel wheel is not a JD. It's made by Ariens. I've had 2, second to replace the first which was stolen :mad: and they are awesome. Absolutely effortless and infinite forward speeds to a very quick walk. They also vacuum very well.

The Lesco products at Home Cheapo are the same stuff as what we get at Lesco, but here they cost more at HD. And Lesco has a much larger line of products than you will find at HD. This is according to the sales guy at the Norfolk Lesco.

BTW, the dealer I buy from let me use one of those cheap ZTRs last summer when his loaner was out. It's not a bad mower. It's not in a class with commercial equipment, but it's as good or better than any belly mount tractor for anything near the money. Good machine for a homeowner with a 1/2 acre or more to mow.

[kutnkru]

The mowers at the Home Depot in Johnson City, NY have the John Deere 21 inch with the swivel front caster wheels. These machines are Green in color and have the name JOHN DEERE written on them.

I also understand that Ariens was one of the first to offer this feature on a walkbehind machine. But if you look out there in the wonderful world of Residential Lawn Care Equipment, you will find the swivel style casters on the yellow Cub Cadet, the Grey White, the Red Snapper and others Im sure.

If Im wrong about this too, Im sure that you will be kind enough to inform me of the corrections. ;)

Good Luck this season ES!
Kris

[Edited by kutnkru on 03-14-2001 at 07:40 PM]

[Strawbridge Lawn]

eslawns: Where is the Norfolk Lesco located?

[Strawbridge Lawn]

Simplicity has ZTR rear engine riders for around $2,500. Not commercial grade, but well built machines designed to last 10+ years residential. They stripe nice!

[eslawns]

kutnkru,

We don't have the JD's here yet, but I saw it in the brochure. I guess the Ariens was too pricey for people. If they had the name recognition of JD, maybe... I stand corrected, sir! ;) BTW, the first people to copy Ariens was Snapper, but as of last Spring the only offered the SW with a Kawi (4hp?) and on push only. Put it on a SP and that Snapper is a great machine.

Gary,

Harmony road, off Raby Rd near Military Circle. They're in the back of the white pages.

[joshua]

customers have no clue why we have to charge what we do when we buy the equipment that will get the job done time and time again. they see scubs out there charging $15 to cut a $25 lawn and think we should to, they don't know the difference and sometimes need to be explained the difference. just my opinion

[Skookum]

Everyone makes choices when running their business. Some guys want to buy only COMMERCIAL, others like the lower price of buying residential use equipment. My personal opinion is that if you have employees or you, yourself, are hard on equipment, then commercial equipment only is likely a better choice.

But, just because a guy does not use strictly commercial use equipment or paid less for "A MOWING" machine does not mean that he or his company is a SCRUB or a non-professional. All it means is that he chose a different path then the other guy. Out of the gate, a guy that bought the $3,000 machine -vs- the $10,000 machine can afford to charge less for a mowing job. It's plain economics.

Today's COMMERCIAL units are becoming just as plastic heavy (cheap) as any residential unit. All the manufacturers are trying to cut cost and boost profits while maintaining sales just like we want to also. Price or looks is not all that makes a mower.

I am sure the Arien's in question here will do what it was intended to do, "Cut Grass". That is the end goal is it not?

[Strawbridge Lawn]

Great post Skookum.
There are alot of folks out there doing this work different. You target an area, and market yourself in . Some don't care how they or there equipment looks, some sacrifice quality for speed, some over-charge.
I have targeted all of these areas, and there is lots of work.

[VLM]

Who out there owns an Ariens Z? What do you think of it? Any problems? I looked at them today and they seem well built. Big $ savings.

[turfquip]

How about the Toro timecutterZ.

Costs a little more than the Ariens, but may be a name commercial guys trust a little more.

<IMG SRC="http://www.turfquip.com/m_ex_30.jpg">

[geogunn]

my local home depot has a lightly used returned unit like the one in question for $1795. not a bad price at all for that unit, if you want that unit.

GEO

[Skookum]

That Toro TimeCutterZ looks more commercial than my 1998 Toro Commercial Zmaster 118! This is one reason Toro dropped the Z118 and Z222 line after purchasing Exmark. They were not selling them to commercial cutters due to looks mainly. The dealer even told me how the model I purchased just did not have that tough beefy look that all the Z buyers wanted. But, yet my model is in all of Toro's Professional Contractors brochures when it was a offered model for three years.

Everyone wants to look more professional than the next guy by having big heavy looking equipment on that trailer. I know that many LCO's think my Z is some sort of homeowner model when they see it on the trailer, but it is not and the quality of cut is proof of that fact. I do wish my Zmaster was better on side hills like the newer larger tired z's, but all in all it works quite well and quite fast with a very small foot print on the trailer and on the turf. My Toro Z118 is proof that looks and maybe even price are not always the true factors of commercial quality.

[jeffyr]

That Toro above looks a whole lot better than the Ariens.....but as you said Skook, beefier doesn't =better (commercial) quality. However, the fact that Ariens gives a whopping 90 day commercial warranty speaks versus.

[Greenkeepers]

I had a guy the other week think that my new bobcat 773 cost $2000.... Unbelievable :)

[Skookum]

I seen one of those Ariens Z's the other day at the local Ariens dealer. It was marked at about $2,500. That was alot of machine for $2,500! It is no tough looking mower by any means, but it I think that is mainly due to the basic design by using a tractor based frame instead of the tubular frames of the bigger commercial Z units that we are all use to today.

The deck was a stamped deck and looked like any other riding mower deck like those found on the John Deere models with the little scalp wheels on all four corners. The deck is what makes it look most cheap. If it was a beefier setup with adjustable scalp wheels, etc... They could get alittle more out of it as well as selling a few more to the low volume commercial cutter. It is most surely not setup to handle the abuse that a "Hard on equipment" employee would give it, but in the right hands, it could serve someone else needs quite well.

The principles are all there for such a low price. It makes you wonder just how much profit the big name commercial Z makers are getting on each unit they sell.

[kutnkev]

i was trying to decide what would be better a named w/b
or a ariens ,simplicity etc. cheap ztr. looks like it would be better than walking for small places like town houses and small flats. then when i move up to larger lawns i would go lazer ,chopper. what does everyone think of this use for them?

[Skookum]

I am a true believer in a midsized walk behind. I feel that it is the most versitile mower to have available in your arsenal. If riding is a true issue then maybe a z rider like the Ariens would work OK for you, but if it was your sole mower investment and you figured on having any kind of accounts in the future with slopes, uneven grounds, etc.. I would spend the $3,000 on a good WB.

It all depends on your accounts and those you intend to market yourself toward.