5 Acre Home Site

[Loosestrife]

Need a little help here. We are not in the primary business of cutting lawns, so, I need a little help on the time that would be required for this job.

Specs:

5 Acres of maintained turf, relativly level, split rail fence along perimiter, fertilized turf, non irrigated, low to moderate srting trimming(other than along fence, minimal to no edging.

Lawn area is to be cut and trimmed once per week.

A price per cutting is required.

Can anyone give me times required for cutting this piece of property with the following types of machinery?

36" walk behind with sulky.

60" Ztr

48" J.D. Conventional riding mower.

As I said, our primary business is not cutting grass, and currently, our largest commercial mower is the 36" walk behind. We do own the JD tractor, however, I don't know that that machine is a good choice for this job.

I would not be bothered spending the money on the larger ZTR machine, IF I knew that we would be on the jobsite for a long enough time to justify the purchase.

My plan is to cut it for a month with the 36" machine, to get a feel for the property and customer, then evaulate the situation. At that point, I will either finish out the season with the 36", and not renew for next season, or will make the upgrade to the ZTR.

I've got my own numbers in my mind, but would like to hear from others on what they think.

[Eric ELM]

It is hard to give a time on something without seeing it, this is why I never give a price over the phone.

I would say it would take 4.5 hours with the JD.
3.5 hours with the 36".
1.5 hours with the 60" ZTR.

Trim time is even harder to figure unless you can see it, but would say 1 hour with an experianced trimmer should cover it, since you said low to moderate trimming.
I hope this helps. :)

[racerdave]

I agree with Eric's times
still have variables such as operator's speed
and mower ground speed
David

[awm]

not sure that one job would justify a ztr. of course u could let the job pay for the z and you are ready for anything.later

[MOW ED]

Are you going to mow it solo or do you have someone else to help? What is your Primary business?

A thought is to upgrade the deck on the 36" to a 48, 52or 60 if the engine can handle it. You then will shave a little time off of your total to somewhere around 2.5 hours or less with some experience if the mower can cut that fast.
Good Luck.

[grassyfras]

So if you have a 36" deck can you put a 48" on there? I was thinking about upgrading with my Exmark but didn't know if it would work. How much would this be around?

[bam]

Usually the deck is up to half the cost of a new machine...With that in mind why wouldn't you go out and buy a new machine.

We "retire" our mowers when the deck is no longer usuable. Engines can be repaired, usually for a minimal cost, but over time, once the deck has been welded so many times, and the cut becomes poor, it is more cost effective to spend the cash on a new mower.

[Lawn-Scapes]

IMO, 3.5 hours would be an impressive time to cut 5 acres, with a 36" WB...

I'm thinking you will be there cutting for at least 5 hours with a 36".

[cp]

If you are anywhere close to upgrading the 60" will be a lifesaver for that size prop. And just because it looks level doesn't mean that you will be able to mow at full speed.

[lawrence stone]

Originally posted by TSG
IMO, 3.5 hours would be an impressive time to cut 5 acres, with a 36" WB...

I'm thinking you will be there cutting for at least 5 hours with a 36".

I figure 35K per hour walking or 6+ hour’s +trimming time.

Which is a completely ridiculous IMHO to mow a 217K site.

[watatrp]

I also have a five acre site that I mow. I mow the front half every week and the "back 40" every two weeks. I have two 52" riders and it takes me and my partner about an hour to get the front half done. Two and a half hours if we do the whole thing. When I first started out I used a 36" walk-behind. I had a two acre property that took me about 3.5 hours to get done including trimming. I would say a five acre property would take you 6-7 hours or maybe more. I don't think you would enjoy that many hours with a 36".

My pricing is based on $45 per hour per man.

[Loosestrife]

Thank you for the help. I was in the neighborhood of about 6 hours of mow time, plus trimming, clean up, load... So, basically, it is an all day job for one person.

Our agreement will be written that after a one month probation period, a contract will be signed, and we can justify the purchase of the larger machine.

As I said, our primary business is not mowing grass, but rather landscape and Formal Garden installation and maintenance. We do a little mowing, and the larger machine would be helpful on a slight few other jobs, but we cannot justify that purchase without a larger need for it.

[mowingmachine]

Keep in mind this lot is probably fairly open and you would have nothing to gain from a WB or a ZTR except ground speed and turns on the end. A 36" WB would take every bit of 6-7 hours to mow with on 5 acres. I wouldn't even think about mowing an account that size without the proper equipment. Just a thought.

mowingmachine