New or Used ?????

[FiremanDud]

I'm about to start up soon and was wondering should I buy used or new. I can get 1 new riding lawn mower or I can get one walk behind and one rider if it's used. I like that fact of the warranty of the new, but I like that I can get more for the money with the used. What should I do??"??

[ToroLandscaper]

Go with a barely used one.....with a warrant still with it one with less than 450 hours

[mad_wrestler]

I too had that same dilemma. I was trying to find something reasonable that wasn't very old. I tried to find something with low hours. What I found was that a machine puts 200 or more hours per season. That is a lot of wear and tear on the hydros and such. Then you don't know if routine maintenance was done properly. A lot of different variables could have you hemmed up. You don't want to have equipment issues on start up. There are gonna be other obstacles that will require your time. One of my mentors here in town said that his advice was for me to grow into my equipment. I decided to buy new. He said that if you buy used, that you would just be turning around and buying a new one once the business started to do well. Hence spending more money in the long run. I bought an Exmark Lazer Hp 48" 19 hp. Wish I would've got the 21 hp. But it still does just fine. Believe in yourself and know that you are going to build a great profitable business. If you do this then you aren't going to have the woes or worries of making the payment. I got a small business interest only loan for three years. I kept my overhead down this way. But you have got to pay your equipment. That is how I have paid mine off this summer already. If you need me to clarify what I have said, just PM me. We all started out one day. This is my first year. But I have learned a great deal from these folks on here. Good luck, you can do it.

[FiremanDud]

Thanks for the advice mad wrestler. I'm leaning towards new equipment because of the fact equipment comes with 2 year warr. Used you don't know were it's been and what it's been through. Were did you get a small business loan from? Can you have a co signer with that type of loan. If you can email or Pm that would be great thanks. I tried to PM you but it said I don't have access to it.

[mad_wrestler]

You can but I would not recommend it. Unless it is your wife. Or maybe a business partner that you have formed an LLC with and the partnership and the application of loans are well defined. I got my Loan through Bank of America. Hope this helps. If you have more questions just post them and I will reply.

[topsites]

I recommend v.much NO loan but if a loan then you HAVE the money saved and IF you get a NO interest / NO payment loan for a year then that is a good deal but you HAVE the money to pay for it now that is +++.

I mean I got No interest + no payment 3,300 loan and now owe 1.5k on it and have until May06 to pay it off AND I have 5.5k in the bank but 5k is to survive winter so things are a bit tight but it will be ok since I got work until Xmas AND April the money starts coming in again (see January-March is 0 income).

Figure this my 4th year I grossed 21k by end of August and it's my BEST year and that's the truth and not some estimate or then a LOT of business owners talk a little too much, we're ALL guilty of it but this is the truth.

Now I can get 10 thousand dollar loan at the bank (oh they want me to sign very badly cuz the cute teller NO that is a dumb idea) see the interest is 15% so pay $12,000 in the end +2k is work ALL of July for FREE a whole MONTH just to pay the interest is a BAD deal even more so for a new business thou the cute teller doth tempt oh yeth look, a straight head on the shoulders is a requirement, temptation will do you in so you want to survive and be successful then you do not let temptation lead your way, be it greed or lust one must be careful.

So don't go in debt because your first year is very HARD financially (I really mean it) it is much better NO debt and NO loans, the payments kill you they repo your stuff when you don't go NO money man... Look around the forum, you will see Lco's complaining how slow things get and is not many of them cauz a LOT of us are embarrassed to admit this.

In that sense buy what you can afford and used is not a bad idea even IF you gotta buy another one your 2nd year, I didn't buy a new wb until this my 4th year and I got a loan of sorts thou I CAN pay it off right now so it's a 'I dont need a loan type of loan'

[The Ripper]

Hey Firemandud

If you need any help I work in seminole county, and I also do a lot of county mowing in Orlando. I would be happy to help if you need any type of assistance.

[nobagger]

We started out with our main mower being probably 10yrs old. If you were to buy a used mower try looking for a llc selling used mowers. Yeah they are probably well used but they have been serviced on a regular schedule. We bought our's for 1k its a 48" Exmark it came with a bagger, 3 sets of blades, 2 sets of belts, owners manual, parts manual, and a Velkie (hardly used). Yeah its nice to have a warrany but if you run over something -not covered, flat tires-not covered and there isn't much to a mower engine and components once you break it down.

[FiremanDud]

Thanks guys this site is great, Ripper where do you work?

[The Ripper]

I own a full service Landscape and Landscape maintenance company. HHLC, Inc. is the name of it. You can email me at hhlawncare@hotmail.com.

[GreenUtah]

Start with the right equipment for the jobs you have. If that is residentials and small commercial and the average size is say, 5k, then what exactly would you be doing with a large Z? Equipment follows sales, matching the most efficient piece to the properties under contract. I had clients that exceeded 800 acres of property, but there was still a need for walkbehinds in many, many areas, so there was no concern about never needing a piece once again as you grew larger. Used is fine if you ask a load of questions and inspect it thoroughly, looking for cracks on frames, smoke from an engine, cracked belts or hoses, dirty oil or air filters, etc. This will give you an idea of how a machine has been maintained. For the record, a maintained Z can easily take over 4000 hours of run time, hardly at the end of it's lifespan at 200, 400 or 2000 hours. Skip the debt, get what you need to do the job that you have, whether that's a minivan with a 21" or a semi carrying a 16 foot range mower. The key is to be efficient and incur the least amount of expense to maximize profits on the accounts you can currently do, which will give you cash for expansion and growth later.