Our Equipment over the years...

[Chevy z71]

Lawn looks sweet.

[deere615]

Nice idea with the color coded tools! kinda an odd question but do you know the brand and where you got the blue painted aluminum coal/scoop shovel? I have been looking for a nice fiberglass handled one like that and can never find them.

[PR0 TURF]

Nice idea with the color coded tools! kinda an odd question but do you know the brand and where you got the blue painted aluminum coal/scoop shovel? I have been looking for a nice fiberglass handled one like that and can never find them.

Deere...we get those scoop shovels at Sears. We have a ton of them...they work great!

[deere615]

Deere...we get those scoop shovels at Sears. We have a ton of them...they work great!

Thanks, Yeah I have a few they are so efficient for mulch etc

[Graveslawncare]

Man, that yard came in awesome! Although, if I was that homeowner, I would have had the lot graded in a way that didn't make the house like something out of Alice in Wonderland lol. I'm sure the house is level and the weird grades make it look crooked and sideways, but it looks the other way around lol.

That's a brilliant idea for keeping tools with the right crews. I'm working on starting a second crew, so I just may have to steal that from you :rolleyes:

[ny scaper]

Wow man! Just found this thread and you do some impressive work! Keep it up and the pics coming!

[Graveslawncare]

Hey man, are you going to the trade show in Louisville, KY next week? I'm gonna be there and would love to meet up with you if you're going to be there.

[a&jlandscaping]

Hey pro turf where you been need some new pics and updates

[TriCityLawnCareLLC]

I was actually thinking of bumping this thread myself...

[Chevy z71]

Let's bump it for new pictures.

[scotts lawn care]

bump for snow equipment pics :)

[PR0 TURF]

It's that time of year again...back to LawnSite! Hope everyone had a good season out there. We had a good season here...learned alot to say the least!

Here are a few pics of a project we are finishing up right now. We are making some changes at our storage yard...opening up the area a bit & building a salt dome. Here are a few of the pics...

[PR0 TURF]

Few more pics of our salt dome going up...

:clapping:

[Swampy]

How is that canopy attached to the top of the block?

[Puddle of Oil]

The blocks look kinda weak standing there. Why didn't you off set the blocks to lock them in with each other? Just curious.

Stuff looks great BTW, I've been following this thread for years but never posted.

[jrmikka]

where did you get the canopy? looks great.

[TriCityLawnCareLLC]

Welcome back, man. Bring on the pics!

[FinerCutslawnCare]

Love seeing your pics! I am also curious as to why you didn't offset the bricks?

[LawnMan19]

Thank goodness your Finlay back.:)

[P.Services]

pouring a concret floor in it?

[mulchmaster]

Alright, I have a question. Great thread BTW! Where do you get your company pants? I buy all ours from wally world, but they dont hold up real well.

Thanks for keeping this great thread alive! Andrew

[P.Services]

i wana know to, your butt looks incredible in them ;)

[mattfromNY]

Bump to the top. More pictures! More pictures. I know you dont have any/ much snow yet, post more pics in all your free time!!! lol

[alexschultz1]

The blocks look kinda weak standing there. Why didn't you off set the blocks to lock them in with each other? Just curious.

Stuff looks great BTW, I've been following this thread for years but never posted.

those blocks are solid, it would take a tornado to start to blow them over

[P.Services]

those blocks are solid, it would take a tornado to start to blow them over

i would be willing to bet a tornado wouldnt blow them over, but a load scooping salt or topsoil will. I understand they are up against the walls of the hill so i know they wont get pushed over but they will get pushed at angles if a numb nut operator isnt thinking straight.

My bins are all staggered with inter locking corners...... experience taught me this....

[alexschultz1]

oh yeah... forgot about the whole "large equipment" equation:laugh:

[PR0 TURF]

How is that canopy attached to the top of the block?

Nothing too fancy...we just anchor them directly into the block.

[PR0 TURF]

The blocks look kinda weak standing there. Why didn't you off set the blocks to lock them in with each other? Just curious

We don't have a particular reason as to why we did not stagger the blocks on the side walls. We have built numerous bins for our landscape materials over the last few years and this is how we've always done it & it has worked out fine for us. We stagger the back walls that we are pushing up against with the force of the loader/bobcat, but the side walls we have never bothered to stagger. I will not try to say the way we do it is better for this reason or that reason...it's just how we've always done it. I do agree that the walls would be stronger if they were staggered...perhaps for the next one!

[PR0 TURF]

where did you get the canopy? looks great.

We got the canopy from Shelters of New England in New Hampshire. It is a "ShelterLogic" canopy...not sure if that is the brand, make or model? This was about $800 less than a ClearSpan (which is the cream of the crop for canopies). We ordered it with the "heavy duty" tarp & made sure to put some vents in the rear so it doesn't blow away on us! Overall we are pleased with the purchase.

The company did send us the wrong assembly instructions, which wasted about half of a day's labor & required us to rent that man lift for an additional day. Took us quite a while to figure out what was going on...at first it looked like they shorted us a bunch of tubing & hardware but after a few hours we go to the bottom of it. That was the only negative part of the experience.

:hammerhead:

[PR0 TURF]

pouring a concret floor in it?

No concrete...we are using RAP. (Reprocessed Asphalt)...basically the asphalt that comes off the grinder when they are re-doing roads. We use that in all of our bins with good results. Concrete would be nicer...but we need to save some $$ somehwere!

[PR0 TURF]

Alright, I have a question. Great thread BTW! Where do you get your company pants? I buy all ours from wally world, but they dont hold up real well.

We get them from Dickies.com They are the "Original 874 Work Pant, Olive Green" I can't speak highly enough of these pants...they are AWESOME. They can take a beating...they always look sharp & do not absorb the dirt much at all. They typically cost $25 per pair. They had an awesome deal on Black Friday and they were $15 each so we stocked up on them. You will not be disappointed!

:clapping:

[PR0 TURF]

Thank goodness your Finlay back.:)

Thanks for the Welcome Back from everyone...it's great to be back on here! I'll be posting a few questions/ideas in the coming weeks that I'd love to discuss. Until then here are a few random pics from today...

Moving around some rocks at our yard...

Did one of our last sprinkler blowouts of the season...some people sure wait till the last minute!

A pic of our dome at night...we put 2 flood lights outside of the dome to light up that area & one inside the dome to light up the interior. Everything runs off a motion sensor...now we just need to get our salt in there!

[PR0 TURF]

One last pic tonight. We purchased one of the "Z-Rator" aerators this season. Do any of you run them? What are your thoughts on them?

:walking:

[Elks]

One last pic tonight. We purchased one of the "Z-Rator" aerators this season. Do any of you run them? What are your thoughts on them?

:walking:

Looks cool. Does it work good?
Posted via Mobile Device

[deere615]

Nice idea with the salt dome lights I take it those are solar powered?

[DLONGLANDSCAPING]

havent seen you much on here lately. Its good that your back. I miss this thread.

Keep posting pictures your business is what i model mine around a lot!

[CriderLawn09]

Hey Pro Turf glad to see your back, Salt bin looks great, and will your skid steer handle them concrete blocks ok or you prolly used your front end loader i assume, I'm putting them just one block high around my salt bin and wondered if I could slide them with it, Ive never used them before but i poured a concrete pad for my bin Tuesday so that would prolly make it easier for me to slide them, right? Thanks man and as always keep the pics and post coming you have taught me alot!

[bigirish320]

very impressive business you have

[CriderLawn09]

Pro Turf, I had another question for you, how do you run your employee's shifts for snow removal? I went back through the thread and couldn't find it sorry if you have answered this before, but do you run a night shift like have your guys come in at like midnight to like 10 am ? I have the worst problems with getting some of my guys to show up at 3am when its snowing so I thought i would work a night shift at the shop to insure that they are there. We took on a resturant chain with another 9 lots that serve breakfast early so being late is not an option. We also added another 2 trucks to make up for the increase in work so I'm jumping the gun with 7 trucks now, when we have had five for a while, also I know you use fisher plows do you know an online dealer that stocks fisher parts? i just bought a fisher stainless vbox and i'm new to them, it is two years old but i got it a good price so brand doesn't bother me lol. Thanks!!

[A&Jlandscapingllc]

Nice to see your back i had to mack a new profile but im back also.

[PR0 TURF]

Looks cool. Does it work good?
Posted via Mobile Device

Yes the Z-Rator works good. Works the best in open spaces. The tighter the area the less efficient it becomes. Overall we are very pleased with it.

[PR0 TURF]

Nice idea with the salt dome lights I take it those are solar powered?

They're not solar powered...regular 110v flood lights set up on a motion detector. Now we just need some snow to put everything to work...

:dizzy:

[PR0 TURF]

Hey Pro Turf glad to see your back, Salt bin looks great, and will your skid steer handle them concrete blocks ok or you prolly used your front end loader i assume

I don't think our skid steer would handle those very easily. Our A300 has an operating load of 3,000 lbs & a tipping load of 6,000 lbs I believe. I'm not sure what those blocks weigh, but they certainly are not light! We use our front end loader or an excavator to stack them typically.

[PR0 TURF]

Pro Turf, I had another question for you, how do you run your employee's shifts for snow removal? do you know an online dealer that stocks fisher parts?

Every storm is different on when we start, but typically we do not have much of an issue getting people to show up. We do not run separate night/day shifts. We take breaks as needed & make sure everyone is rested on the longer storms. We do not get any of our parts online for our snow equipment...we just have a few dealers in the area that are reasonably priced.

[PR0 TURF]

Here are a few random pics of us finishing up our yard.

Also a pic of getting a load of salt delivered. Time for some snow!!!

[PR0 TURF]

Few pics of cleaning up the mowers before we put them away for winter.

We are not running any Exmark Lazers next season...we are planning on running all Exmark Turf Tracers.

We will be selling all of our Exmark Lazers if anyone is interested...they are all 60" Lazer XS with 31hp Briggs & Triple bag Ultra Vac setups.

:usflag:

[DLONGLANDSCAPING]

I am sure i am not the only one interested to know this but why the change from lazers to tt's?

I did the same this year and was very pleased with the results, besides the guys getting a little fatigued earlier in the day on the bigger yards.

Why are you changing and what do you have in mind for better productivity?

[PR0 TURF]

Someone please send some snow our way!

:hammerhead:

[LawnMan19]

You have one of the nicest shop/yard out there.And those Lazers look good,and your rigs look awesome.:cool2:

[bigirish320]

PRO TURF: what are your thoughts on the fisher Xtreme V? I went to the dealer ready to buy one that day but he starting telling me how they have gone downhill over the last couple years and everything is cheaper like the steel and the pumps wear out so much quicker. He was swearing by boss over fisher and days that boss is better made. My question to you is do you think this is true? Since you are running a few of them how do you like them and have you had any issues? Thanks
Posted via Mobile Device

[mowing4rlife]

Not sure what I'm gonna post here...just a bunch of pics I have floating around from over the last few years...


This is what I started with in 2001...two Scags and a landscape trailer...I had been mowing lawns in the neighborhood with a Craftsman rider since I was twelve...2001 was when i first started to get the ball rolling...

Just curious on how you went from small operation to having a fleet of machines and worker to go with it? I know you could probably write a book about you business life story, i would just like some insite on things that work for you. Why do you like to use exmark, scag, and walker mowers? Did you finance every machine or did you just save up and pay cash for every thing?
:)

This would help alot of us on lawnsite get a better understanding of the lawncare industry to help us improve for 2012.:weightlifter:

[TriCityLawnCareLLC]

Just curious on how you went from small operation to having a fleet of machines and worker to go with it? I know you could probably write a book about you business life story, i would just like some insite on things that work for you. Why do you like to use exmark, scag, and walker mowers? Did you finance every machine or did you just save up and pay cash for every thing?
:)

This would help alot of us on lawnsite get a better understanding of the lawncare industry to help us improve for 2012.:weightlifter:

He talked about this earlier in the thread. He said he bought most of his equipment used and was able to save up tons of money by living at home for a while, and having good credit was important...

[PR0 TURF]

I am sure i am not the only one interested to know this but why the change from lazers to tt's?

I did the same this year and was very pleased with the results, besides the guys getting a little fatigued earlier in the day on the bigger yards.

Why are you changing and what do you have in mind for better productivity?

We are changing for a few different reasons. The biggest reason would have to be maintenance expenses. Constantly rebuilding UltraVacs, putting on new catcher bags, new tires, Ultra Vac belts...the list goes on & on. Everything for a Lazer is more expensive than on a Turf Tracer.

If you put a Turf Tracer & a Lazer side by side to mow the average yard then the Lazer would be more efficient is most cases. However we expect to save a significant amount of money on maintenance & repairs by making the switch. If I was an owner/operator and out in the field every day running the Lazer, then YES I would definitely keep them! When you have crews running the equipment every day you will experience alot more wear & tear. They do not care for the equipment like you care for your own equipment. We believe the Turf Tracer will save a significant amount of money for us & still keep our productivity up to a reasonable level. We plan on running velkes on all of the TT's.

A few other things...we can carry 3 TT's in our trailer, but only 2 Lazers.

Also, the cost difference from a TT to a Lazer...

The overall weight of the Lazer's...they're a very heavy machine & we have received feedback from customers over the years that the machines are "too big" for their properties.

I love the Lazers, and like I said, if I was an owner/operator I would still be running a Lazer & a Walker GHS, but the maintenance costs are my biggest reason for the change.

:usflag:

[SharperImage]

Nice salt dome and yard you have now. Hope you do well in 2012

[srl28]

How did the hydroseeder and bark blower work out for you this year?

Any changes or new things this season?

[highlander316]

how are you gonna deal with the difference in bagging abilities? Those side baggers fill up fast, the time difference might be huge depending on the size of your properties?

[normower]

How will you manage without the lazers for spring and fall cleanups to vac up leaves and thatch?

[mowing4rlife]

We are changing for a few different reasons. The biggest reason would have to be maintenance expenses. Constantly rebuilding UltraVacs, putting on new catcher bags, new tires, Ultra Vac belts...the list goes on & on. Everything for a Lazer is more expensive than on a Turf Tracer.

If you put a Turf Tracer & a Lazer side by side to mow the average yard then the Lazer would be more efficient is most cases. However we expect to save a significant amount of money on maintenance & repairs by making the switch. If I was an owner/operator and out in the field every day running the Lazer, then YES I would definitely keep them! When you have crews running the equipment every day you will experience alot more wear & tear. They do not care for the equipment like you care for your own equipment. We believe the Turf Tracer will save a significant amount of money for us & still keep our productivity up to a reasonable level. We plan on running velkes on all of the TT's.

A few other things...we can carry 3 TT's in our trailer, but only 2 Lazers.

Also, the cost difference from a TT to a Lazer...

The overall weight of the Lazer's...they're a very heavy machine & we have received feedback from customers over the years that the machines are "too big" for their properties.

I love the Lazers, and like I said, if I was an owner/operator I would still be running a Lazer & a Walker GHS, but the maintenance costs are my biggest reason for the change.

:usflag:

What mowers do you use for the residential propeties? Did i also miss something some where, your not using any ztr sit down type mower?:confused:

[normower]

I am very interested in purchasing one of your lazer-z mowers. Could you provide details with a price on each machine for sale?

[PR0 TURF]

PRO TURF: what are your thoughts on the fisher Xtreme V? I went to the dealer ready to buy one that day but he starting telling me how they have gone downhill over the last couple years and everything is cheaper like the steel and the pumps wear out so much quicker. He was swearing by boss over fisher and days that boss is better made. My question to you is do you think this is true? Since you are running a few of them how do you like them and have you had any issues? Thanks
Posted via Mobile Device

BigIrish...we LOVE the Xtreme Vs...once you use one for a few storms you can never go back to a regular straight blade. They significantly increase productivity for what we do (mostly parking lots). We have been running them since 2009 & wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Fisher puts out a great product & we have no plans on changing from them anytime soon.

My one complaint about the Xtreme is the factory cutting edge is very thin. You wear through it very quickly. Replacement factory edges are pretty expensive. We ended up making our own from 5/8" steel which last MUCH longer than the factory edges & were less expensive than the factory edges. We still use the factory curved center pieces, but make our own straight edges.

I do not have any experience with BOSS plows so I can't give much of an opinion there. Fisher dominates our market area (MA & NH)

:walking:

[PR0 TURF]

Just curious on how you went from small operation to having a fleet of machines and worker to go with it? I know you could probably write a book about you business life story, i would just like some insite on things that work for you. Why do you like to use exmark, scag, and walker mowers? Did you finance every machine or did you just save up and pay cash for every thing?
:)

This would help alot of us on lawnsite get a better understanding of the lawncare industry to help us improve for 2012.:weightlifter:

Mowing4rlife...Tri-City pretty much summed it up. Just about all of that info is in the thread already (alot of reading, i know). After looking back through the thread a bit if you still have any questions be sure to ask.

Not sure if we ever got into the financing or not? Some stuff was financed, some stuff was paid cash. Depended on what piece of equipment it was & our financial situation at the time. Same thing we all deal with when looking to purchase equipment.

[PR0 TURF]

How did the hydroseeder and bark blower work out for you this year?

Any changes or new things this season?

The hydroseeder worked out great. We kept the machine very busy for the majority of the season which was all we were hoping for!

The bark blower gave us some maintenance issues. We had to put a new diesel injection pump on the blower & also had to put in a new conveyor chain, both expensive repairs. Overall, besides that, things went well.

Anything new this season? Changing over to walk behinds from ZTR's, which is going to be a pretty significant change for us. Besides that nothing too major. We made quite a few changes/upgrades etc in 2011 & plan on just implementing those further in 2012.

How about yourself...anything new planned for 2012?

:usflag:

[PR0 TURF]

how are you gonna deal with the difference in bagging abilities? Those side baggers fill up fast, the time difference might be huge depending on the size of your properties?

We are hoping this leads to us doing less bagging overall. We are well aware there are going to be some challenges with making this change, but we believe the positives far out weigh the negatives. Ya don't know if you don't try though. I may very well be back here a year from now saying it was a terrible idea & we are buying ZTR's again.

A couple of the BIG companies in our area run all walk behinds. I always thought they were crazy for doing that & didn't know what they were doing. Well I finally realized why they do that & completely agree with the idea.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation, making the switch from ZTR to walk behind??

:cool2:

[PR0 TURF]

What mowers do you use for the residential propeties? Did i also miss something some where, your not using any ztr sit down type mower?:confused:

We have been running all 60" Lazers for all of our properties for the past 3-4 years.

[PR0 TURF]

I am very interested in purchasing one of your lazer-z mowers. Could you provide details with a price on each machine for sale?

I will have all of the info put together by the end of the week on the machines.

We'll touch base then...

[roeslandscaping]

How do you like the Ditch Witch? Seems like that's the preferred pipe puller up that way.

that is untill you watch a vid. of the new castle pipe puller, holy crap they are amazing

[MLI]

Owner operator ztr's are one thing, but if you have employees forget it. We had Walkers in the past. I love them, but as they get older and need repair in the field it kills the day (probably the same with other brands). The walkbehinds are pretty much bulletproof. The cost of the ztr's is ridiculous! You can put more walkbehinds into the field for that money. Less tear up on turns with walkbehinds, less bagging,less trips to the dump. Down side is fall ,and leaf pickup, but we used the leaf plow this year, and it worked well. People cost the most money over equipment anyday, so theres an argument with the ztrs' to produce double work for less guys in the field. I think it depends on property sizes you maintain. If under an acre go with walkbehinds, if larger... have a ztr remain in your fleet!

[PR0 TURF]

that is untill you watch a vid. of the new castle pipe puller, holy crap they are amazing

Please post this video! Very interested..............

:clapping::clapping::clapping:

[PR0 TURF]

Owner operator ztr's are one thing, but if you have employees forget it. We had Walkers in the past. I love them, but as they get older and need repair in the field it kills the day (probably the same with other brands). The walkbehinds are pretty much bulletproof. The cost of the ztr's is ridiculous! You can put more walkbehinds into the field for that money. Less tear up on turns with walkbehinds, less bagging,less trips to the dump. Down side is fall ,and leaf pickup, but we used the leaf plow this year, and it worked well. People cost the most money over equipment anyday, so theres an argument with the ztrs' to produce double work for less guys in the field. I think it depends on property sizes you maintain. If under an acre go with walkbehinds, if larger... have a ztr remain in your fleet!

MLI...your feedback is good to hear. I feel the same way with employee's running the ZTR's...I was going into the poor house this past season keeping up with maintenance/repairs. We plan on keeping one or two ZTR's in our fleet for this season, in case we start having our regrets.

[jrmikka]

The hydroseeder worked out great. We kept the machine very busy for the majority of the season which was all we were hoping for!

The bark blower gave us some maintenance issues. We had to put a new diesel injection pump on the blower & also had to put in a new conveyor chain, both expensive repairs. Overall, besides that, things went well.

Anything new this season? Changing over to walk behinds from ZTR's, which is going to be a pretty significant change for us. Besides that nothing too major. We made quite a few changes/upgrades etc in 2011 & plan on just implementing those further in 2012.

How about yourself...anything new planned for 2012?

:usflag:

were just starting hydroseeding a couple years ago, we have a 750 gal turbo turf and we did about 300,000 sf last year...dont know if we should move to a bigger machine...how much did you do with your new machine? and when did you know how to make the jump to bigger thanks.

[PR0 TURF]

were just starting hydroseeding a couple years ago, we have a 750 gal turbo turf and we did about 300,000 sf last year...dont know if we should move to a bigger machine...how much did you do with your new machine? and when did you know how to make the jump to bigger thanks.

Jrmikka...We have no regrets making the jump to a bigger machine. We had definitely outgrown our other one. I don't have a formula for when it is the right time to make the step up to a bigger machine...I think you'll just know. 750 gallon is a reasonable sized machine...you should be able to utilize that for quite some time. We did around 50-60 acres of hydroseed this year if I had to guess. I'd have to go back & do some research to come up with an exact number. That's not very much compared to the big guys...but it's definitely good for us! We are trying to increase that year by year.

Here are a few pics from a job we did this year. We had the machine floating out on a barge shooting all of the river banks.

[supercuts]

hows that newer ford doing and is it a gas or diesel ? i finally got rid of my 08' 6.4, it was a joke. it was enough to start phasing out the fords. my new dodges sees about a 25-30% fuel increase.

no deflectors on the plows to cut back on coating the windsheild? we do a few private roads and they are a must for us.

looks good, keep up the pics

[LawnMan19]

That's a cool project you did with the hydroseeder.:cool2:

[bigirish320]

Thanks for answering my question about the Xtreme V plows. Fisher was all you saw where I am until a couple years ago when Boss started coming around and all the fisher dealers are now carrying Boss plows and selling more of them but i was just curious how you like it.

[xclusive]

BigIrish...we LOVE the Xtreme Vs...once you use one for a few storms you can never go back to a regular straight blade. They significantly increase productivity for what we do (mostly parking lots). We have been running them since 2009 & wouldn't hesitate to buy another. Fisher puts out a great product & we have no plans on changing from them anytime soon.

My one complaint about the Xtreme is the factory cutting edge is very thin. You wear through it very quickly. Replacement factory edges are pretty expensive. We ended up making our own from 5/8" steel which last MUCH longer than the factory edges & were less expensive than the factory edges. We still use the factory curved center pieces, but make our own straight edges.

I do not have any experience with BOSS plows so I can't give much of an opinion there. Fisher dominates our market area (MA & NH)

:walking:

I agree with Pro-Turf. I had a straight blade on my dump and when I bought my pick up I purchased an Xtreme V and never looked back. This year when I got rid of my old dump I also sold the straight blade and bought another Xtreme V. They save a lot of time and to me are worth the extra money.

[supercuts]

Thanks for answering my question about the Xtreme V plows. Fisher was all you saw where I am until a couple years ago when Boss started coming around and all the fisher dealers are now carrying Boss plows and selling more of them but i was just curious how you like it.

same here in CT, boss is taking over but im bias....western is growing too but its part of fisher. meyer is all but extinct thankfully. even though their dealer locator still lists some dealers in CT most have stopped selling them.

[PORTER 05]

i love this post , how many plow trucks are you up to? you still have the FL60?

[jrmikka]

Jrmikka...We have no regrets making the jump to a bigger machine. We had definitely outgrown our other one. I don't have a formula for when it is the right time to make the step up to a bigger machine...I think you'll just know. 750 gallon is a reasonable sized machine...you should be able to utilize that for quite some time. We did around 50-60 acres of hydroseed this year if I had to guess. I'd have to go back & do some research to come up with an exact number. That's not very much compared to the big guys...but it's definitely good for us! We are trying to increase that year by year.

Here are a few pics from a job we did this year. We had the machine floating out on a barge shooting all of the river banks.

WOW..looks great...thanks for the info... im sure you dont bid that job by the sy do you? whos the big guys btw? great help thanks

[lawnpropm]

Proturf just like MLI said guys don't take care of equipment like it was there own. I also asked a dealer why would a company like Brickman for instance run walkbehinds with the size of the properties they mow when ztrs are faster. I was told the same thing you're thinking less maintenance and less cost upfront. Also I have heard they cut down on the amount of trimming you have to do. One question I know you mentioned overall cost being a factor but have you thought about the standers like the exmark vantage? Im not sure but they may be priced cheaper than a ztr but more productive than a walkbehind. Worth a look see maybe??
Posted via Mobile Device

[M RASCOE&SONS]

Someone please send some snow our way!

:hammerhead:

if i send the snow mojo your way i need you to send it back lol.i washed and waxed the truck in shorts the other day,put a coat of fluid film on the plow and my wife thought i was crazy for doing it all in shorts .i told her if mother nature saw me in summer mode she would dump some snow on us but nothing in the forecast :dizzy:

[Swampy]

Another thing to think about if you keep a ZTR for fall cleanups, and not just a back up but when your crew starts to fall behind (weather, down time, etc) It would be a nice catch up mower.

Boss pretty much wrote the book on Vee plows, though I like fisher just as much especially their stainless blades. Can you short chain a fisher vee like the old straight blade fisher/western if problems arise?

[P.Services]

better look into standers!! scag and exmark make a nice one. I think scag has a sweet price and a nice machine.

[bigirish320]

better look into standers!! scag and exmark make a nice one. I think scag has a sweet price and a nice machine.

Once a year Scag gives fleet pricing for individual units so i got mine for a great price

[CriderLawn09]

Pro turf, 9 walk behinds and two ztr's and both of my ztr's are for sell lol if that tells you anything. Where we are in a very hilly region in eastern ky, so walkbehinds have been custom for us for some time, you just can't get a zturn on alot of our properties and our walkbehinds will go anywhere, some one said less trimming with a walkbehind, i would have to agree you can get a walkbehind much closer to objects especially under low trees and such. Also, i would say that walkbehinds are easier to train guys to run properly and they seem to pick up on striping alot quicker bc the walkbehind pulls its self straight and zturn you have to hold the levers right, walkbehinds are def. safer to by far if one gets away from you, you simply just step off the sulkey and let the mower go, if you flip a zero turn there's a workers comp bill i don't want to pay lol. I think you get a better cut quality as well bc you not running as fast and when turning and mowing when its wet you don't rut the turf up near as bad bc the wiegh so much less. I think you will be very pleased with the switch and beside leaf removal you won't have any regets. Good luck and we are getting an 1-2 inches of that white stuff tonite wooo hooo watch out for the blizzard haha..

[mowing4rlife]

We are changing for a few different reasons. The biggest reason would have to be maintenance expenses. Constantly rebuilding UltraVacs, putting on new catcher bags, new tires, Ultra Vac belts...the list goes on & on. Everything for a Lazer is more expensive than on a Turf Tracer.

If you put a Turf Tracer & a Lazer side by side to mow the average yard then the Lazer would be more efficient is most cases. However we expect to save a significant amount of money on maintenance & repairs by making the switch. If I was an owner/operator and out in the field every day running the Lazer, then YES I would definitely keep them! When you have crews running the equipment every day you will experience alot more wear & tear. They do not care for the equipment like you care for your own equipment. We believe the Turf Tracer will save a significant amount of money for us & still keep our productivity up to a reasonable level. We plan on running velkes on all of the TT's.

A few other things...we can carry 3 TT's in our trailer, but only 2 Lazers.

Also, the cost difference from a TT to a Lazer...

The overall weight of the Lazer's...they're a very heavy machine & we have received feedback from customers over the years that the machines are "too big" for their properties.

I love the Lazers, and like I said, if I was an owner/operator I would still be running a Lazer & a Walker GHS, but the maintenance costs are my biggest reason for the change.

:usflag:

I was looking at the exmark for my next ztr or walkbehind. Any advice on purchasing used or new equipment. What exmark turf tracer are you looking to buy? S-series or X-series turf tracer?

[PORTER 05]

ya walkbehinds def leave a better cut and leave less damage on turf , but are slower running from truck and lawn etc , a lot of our customers tell us they would like us to cut with the walkbehinds rather than the stander , also the walkbehinds leave a nicer stripe. Everyone though in our area runs walkers.

[Kelly's Landscaping]

Are your employees cool with the switch from lazers to walk-behinds? I know my partner and I as well as most of our employees would quit in a second if that was forced on any of us. Make no mistake about it riding is significantly less fatiguing then standing behind a walk-behind on a wheel or 2. Also if your going to go that rout get the velke out of your mind its crap. Exmark makes their own and tapered roller bearings are the way to go plus it locks in place when up with no swing all the velkes iv ever seen hung by a chain.

[oakwdman]

Go with pro slides behind the turf tracers. I have them on all my TT's, would never go back to any other kind of sulky
Posted via Mobile Device

[mattfromNY]

I second the pro-slides, my employee(s) love them.

[PR0 TURF]

Go with pro slides behind the turf tracers. I have them on all my TT's, would never go back to any other kind of sulky
Posted via Mobile Device

Does anyone have any pictures of the Pro-Slides? I've heard of them but am unfamiliar with them. What is the approximate cost for them? Does Exmark manufacture them?

:clapping:

[LawnMan19]

I don't have pictures of them,but exmark does not manufacture them.And there are 2 models of them the one is the Proslide XT which is $380.00 and the GoSlide which is $150.00.

[srl28]

googled it quick and found this. Exmark does not make one but there are some other versions out there. I'm personally not a fan of these, but to each their own.

Not sure on price but I wanna say about $225.00 plus?

[mowing4rlife]

Does anyone have any pictures of the Pro-Slides? I've heard of them but am unfamiliar with them. What is the approximate cost for them? Does Exmark manufacture them?

:clapping:


checkout this link below:
http://www.novaeope.com/proslide.aspx

I personally don't have this type of sulky, but i am really good at finding imformation i need online.

[supercuts]

pro-turf...im curious what assets beyond the bussiness you have. a house? other properties? do you plan on doing anything beyond landscaping such as rental properties or other aspects of landscaping and or different services all together?

Also, have you notice a size of your business (in number of employees) that had the highest net profit? any time profit was noticeably lower?

I ask as a comparison, I went from reinvesting nearly all income back into the business to simply grow as fast as possible up until about the time I got married, to keeping the business about the same size each year since. i always wonder if I made the right choice or should have kept re-investing. Right now I have alot of equity in my house and have a 2nd property. things work good now, but wonder if they could have been great. I always look up houses on realtor.com and wonder about buying rentals.

any thoughts appreciated

[P.Services]

dang thats a really good question! look forward to reading that answer!

[srl28]

haha same^

Something I think everyone who gets their business to a certain point starts to think about. Some make an ok decision, some a wrong one, and others make a really good move and are pretty well set.

[M RASCOE&SONS]

haha same^

Something I think everyone who gets their business to a certain point starts to think about. Some make an ok decision, some a wrong one, and others make a really good move and are pretty well set.

well said!! its never too late either .:drinkup:

[mattfromNY]

I'm following and waiting for the answer to the above ? as well. Every successful business owner I know around here has income properties. I figure there must be something to it. In talking to them, they all have their opinion on whether the actual rent makes them any money, or the tenants are PITA's (some I am sure depends on the individuals' work ethic), but they all agree that the equity is nice.

[newtostone]

pro slides work well, Just have to have a hydro unit, and if the grass is wet youll notice some matting of it. But nothing is better due to the ability to have it pull up and walk or ride the unit. You'll go through the slide pad quickly, at least once a season. Also keep an I on the slide pads, when they wear out and the guys keep using it you'll mess up the diamond plate you stand on.

As far as buying homes for income. If you have to spend 200k to make a return on 20k that's 10% at most per year, Now if the renter doesn't pay and its takes 30 days to get an order to kick them out you're now two months back on rent. Do you have the money to buy it outright? or float that mortgage for 6 months? If not there are better places for ROI.

[A&Jlandscapingllc]

Pro Turf let us know when your ready to sell those mowers we are looking to buy 2 more riders

[mattfromNY]

Like Newtostone said, the pads wear out, as do the ends on the hydraulic cylinders that lift the proslide. We've run velkes, sulkies and pro-slides, and my guys like the pro-slides better. I can deal with some matted down grass, but could never deal with ruts that the velkes and sulkies left in some lawns, especially on side hills.

[grassman177]

We used proslides. Really liked them too, but it will lay down the grass espeically on tall cut turf. Seemd like we were also replacing the lifts on them too. Pads dont wear out if you dont use them on concrete

[jbell36]

ProTurf, a few things...i've been through the walk-behind/stander/ztr thing within the last 3 years so i know exactly where you are coming from...and i think you are making a huge mistake!...i understand the big machine idea on a little property doesn't make sense especially when it can scare off customers...walk-behinds are a thing of the past, the stander made them obsolete, especially the vantage/grandstand because you can use them in walk-behind mode even though they suck as a walk-behind...we have two grandstands, two laser z's, two john deere walk-behinds and a toro 36" walk-behind...from my experience the standers for mowing is by far the way to go, they are quick and in between the weight of a ztr and walk-behind...bagging sucks with them due to low bagging capacity, same as the walk-behind...we bought a business this year that came with the two ztr's so since we had them we used them, and for bagging they are far superior than anything i have tried in the past, i was going to buy a leaf vac for the back of a truck but now i doubt it...the ultra-vac is a great bagging system...i feel you on the repairs, but that comes with any machine...if i were you i would either upgrade to all new laser z's or keep a few and get standers for the main part of the mowing season...you will miss your bagging capability when it's gone

also, i did a lot of research on sulkies and pro slides about 5 years ago and would definitely go with a pro slide if i had to make the decision...they retract once you step off therefore no jack-knifing and they also lay a nice stripe, they are right inside the wheels so you have a stripe from wheel to wheel...that's if you DO decide to go with walk-behinds

[P.Services]

i bet i spend less then a half of a percent of my gross on mower repairs. I train guys good, i change oil, i grease the snot out of them, i buy scags. When they do break i fix them myself real quick and go. A walk behind is gona break to.

[lawnpropm]

I've read some good points here on ztrs, walkbehinds, and standers. I guess it all boils down to personal preferences, price, and region. I think all still have their place in the industry as each mower will perform better and have advantages on certain types of properties. The only way I could think of getting to the bottom of this decision would be to contact some dealers and demo potential equipment on current customers properties and see what works best for you and your company (keep your guys in mind as well) the are the heartbeat of the company. Just my .2¢
Posted via Mobile Device

[LawnBoy89]

Does anyone have any pictures of the Pro-Slides? I've heard of them but am unfamiliar with them. What is the approximate cost for them? Does Exmark manufacture them?

:clapping:

A brand new Pro-slide XT retails for $399 brand new. I personally prefer them over any other type of riding system. Your guys are going to be lazy and ride them on the pavement is the only problem and cause the plastic wear plates on the bottom to wear fast. I think they are around $50 to replace. Other than that they are very efficient and the striping feature is nice.

[jschevelle69]

nice setup love the way the trailer is setup for irrgation

[jplawnmaint]

If you are gonna go with walkbehinds why not go with Ferris? I think they will hold up to operator abuse more than a tt. I don't know what the price difference is but Granz was selling them for $5400 with a velke this past season. As far as the proslide go I would not bye one. You can not use them on pavement and the guys will be lazy and not get off them. Is the back of the salt bin built in to the side of the hill? If so you are probably gonna get water flowing in to the salt. Send me a pm I would be interested in 1 or 2 of the lazers.
Posted via Mobile Device

[jschevelle69]

i like the way the irrigation trailer is setup very nice and organized. what type of trailers do use? im looking into the homsteader hercules and the carmate

[PR0 TURF]

i love this post , how many plow trucks are you up to? you still have the FL60?

Porter...we run 6 plow trucks. We also subcontract a few plow trucks as well. We still have the FL60 too, put a new tailgate sander on that truck this season...looking forward to testing it out once we get some snow!

[PR0 TURF]

WOW..looks great...thanks for the info... im sure you dont bid that job by the sy do you? whos the big guys btw? great help thanks

Jrmikka...that job was definitely not your average job that you could simply price by the sq/ft or sq/yd. The big guys...there are a handful of them that seem to have all the big jobs that the rest of us want. You're gonna see that type of competition in just about any market/industry. There's always a few companies out there that seem to have their game plan together & make everything look easy. No one really knows what goes on within those companies when we just look on from the outside, so don't be fooled, the grass is always greener on the other side.

Not sure if that rambling answered your question or not...

[PR0 TURF]

One question I know you mentioned overall cost being a factor but have you thought about the standers like the exmark vantage? Im not sure but they may be priced cheaper than a ztr but more productive than a walkbehind. Worth a look see maybe??
Posted via Mobile Device

LawnPro...we have definitely considered the Standers, but have yet to do much research on them. We have one Turf Tracer right now and we love it...that is why we are leaning towards them the most at the current time. I was checking out TriCity's thread today on the Exmark Vantage this morning...looks like a decent machine...might be something for us to consider?

Do the Standers come with 60" decks? The only ones I am familiar with are the 48 or 52" decks...

[PR0 TURF]

Another thing to think about if you keep a ZTR for fall cleanups, and not just a back up but when your crew starts to fall behind (weather, down time, etc) It would be a nice catch up mower.

Can you short chain a fisher vee like the old straight blade fisher/western if problems arise?

Swampy...yes after alot of going back & forth on keeping or selling the ZTRs we are planning on keeping at least one, maybe 2 of them for the reasons you have mentioned. We may get the Turf Tracers and totally regret it...so keeping 1 or 2 is probably the safe bet.

As far as the Xtreme V...I am 99% sure that you can short chain them...we have never had to do that yet (knock on wood)

:clapping:

[burnsyscapes]

like what i see.

saw you posted about the standers, ive looked into them too but did not see a true reason to fork over the extra 2k. exmark does not make 60 inch decks but toro does. same exact model i noticed when i was looking at them side by side.

[PR0 TURF]

I was looking at the exmark for my next ztr or walkbehind. Any advice on purchasing used or new equipment. What exmark turf tracer are you looking to buy? S-series or X-series turf tracer?

We buy quite a bit of our equipment used. It usually works out just fine for us, but we have also had some bad luck over the years. If you know where the equipment has come from & have a copy of the maintenance records then that is a BIG plus. You can tell alot about how a piece of equipment was treated just by looking around the shop/operation of the person selling the equipment. If the place is a mess, old broken equipment every where, very unorganized etc, then chances are they weren't too strict with oil changes, air filters & greasing. If the place is clean & tidy, the seller has maintenance records, and appears organized overall then chances are they also took the time to care for the equipment. It's always a risk that you take when buying used equipment, but that's the reason you are getting it for a cheaper price than brand new from the dealer.

We are hoping to purchase our Turf Tracers used...so we will see what we can find...

:walking:

[PR0 TURF]

Are your employees cool with the switch from lazers to walk-behinds? I know my partner and I as well as most of our employees would quit in a second if that was forced on any of us. Make no mistake about it riding is significantly less fatiguing then standing behind a walk-behind on a wheel or 2. Also if your going to go that rout get the velke out of your mind its crap. Exmark makes their own and tapered roller bearings are the way to go plus it locks in place when up with no swing all the velkes iv ever seen hung by a chain.

Kelly's...our employees are not thrilled about the switch, some of them still don't believe that we're actually going to follow through with it. As long as they have a velke or something equivalent, then I expect them to be ok with it. I have talked with them about pros & cons of making the switch & they seem to understand why we are doing it. I'm sure there will be some moaning & groaning, but you're always going to get that with employees regardless of what type of equipment they are using.

:usflag:

[srl28]

Really like all the new websites you have now. Great idea spreading them out into different domain names too. Did you do them yourselves or hire a web designer?

[PR0 TURF]

pro-turf...im curious what assets beyond the bussiness you have. a house? other properties? do you plan on doing anything beyond landscaping such as rental properties or other aspects of landscaping and or different services all together?

Also, have you notice a size of your business (in number of employees) that had the highest net profit? any time profit was noticeably lower?

I ask as a comparison, I went from reinvesting nearly all income back into the business to simply grow as fast as possible up until about the time I got married, to keeping the business about the same size each year since. i always wonder if I made the right choice or should have kept re-investing. Right now I have alot of equity in my house and have a 2nd property. things work good now, but wonder if they could have been great. I always look up houses on realtor.com and wonder about buying rentals.

any thoughts appreciated

Supercuts...very good question. I do have one rental property that I bought in 2009. It's a pretty straight forward deal, the tenants are good, covers the mortgage & has been a pretty headache free endeavor so far. However, I am not the one to give advice on real estate investments. I do not know the ins & outs of that industry at all. I've always heard that real estate/rental properties are a great place to invest in. In 2009 I decided to invest in a rental property & so far it has been a pleasant experience overall. I'm hoping that the property builds equity over the years & creates some opportunities that I would not have had if i hadn't purchased it. I do not have any plans for the immediate future to buy any additional real estate.

I have been investing most of my money into my Roth IRA, SEP fund, life insurance, stocks & mutual funds. I have been putting money away since I was 20. If I could go back 10 years (I'm 30 now) I would have put ALOT more money into these investments & not purchased so much landscape equipment. If any of you younger guys out there are reading this...take my advice...save some of your money!!! You do not need to be the next BIG company overnight...take it slow...save some money for the future. The power of compounding interest is awesome. The younger you are when you start saving money for your future the better off you will be. Even if you are saving $50 a week, or even a month...ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING!!! Let me make it very clear, I am NOT a professional on where & how you should invest your money. My only strong opinion is that you really should save some money for your future.

As far as getting into anything different, I do not have any immediate plans for that. My Dad always gave me some simple advice saying "Find out what you're good at doing, and do ALOT of it!" There is no need to be the jack of all trades, master of none. Find out what makes you the most money & you enjoy doing & capitalize on it. Over the years we have offered many different services that we no longer offer. We tried them out, realized they did not fit our company's profile & we moved on. For now we are just going to focus on all of our main services, maybe add a crew or two, and overall focus on becoming more efficient across the board.

As far as business size compared to profit. It's always a financial strain when you grow to the next level (whatever level that may be). You typically need to invest in advertising, additional equipment, additional employees, training, trucks, office support, insurance etc. If you do not have a full workload to support that additional crew it becomes even more of a strain until you get things up to speed. Our profits have always been best when we run our leanest. When we have an adequate workload able to support our employees without the need to find "busy work" for them. I don't really have a solid answer such as "we had the highest net profit with 9 employees, but it went down considerably with 11 employees" etc. I just reccommend running lean & trying to be as efficient as possible to achieve your best profitability.

Good question Supercuts...:clapping:

[PR0 TURF]

ProTurf, a few things...i've been through the walk-behind/stander/ztr thing within the last 3 years so i know exactly where you are coming from...and i think you are making a huge mistake!...i understand the big machine idea on a little property doesn't make sense especially when it can scare off customers...walk-behinds are a thing of the past, the stander made them obsolete, especially the vantage/grandstand because you can use them in walk-behind mode even though they suck as a walk-behind...we have two grandstands, two laser z's, two john deere walk-behinds and a toro 36" walk-behind...from my experience the standers for mowing is by far the way to go, they are quick and in between the weight of a ztr and walk-behind...bagging sucks with them due to low bagging capacity, same as the walk-behind...we bought a business this year that came with the two ztr's so since we had them we used them, and for bagging they are far superior than anything i have tried in the past, i was going to buy a leaf vac for the back of a truck but now i doubt it...the ultra-vac is a great bagging system...i feel you on the repairs, but that comes with any machine...if i were you i would either upgrade to all new laser z's or keep a few and get standers for the main part of the mowing season...you will miss your bagging capability when it's gone

also, i did a lot of research on sulkies and pro slides about 5 years ago and would definitely go with a pro slide if i had to make the decision...they retract once you step off therefore no jack-knifing and they also lay a nice stripe, they are right inside the wheels so you have a stripe from wheel to wheel...that's if you DO decide to go with walk-behinds

Jbell...thank you for your input...I find it very valuable hearing both sides of this topic. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is the Pro-Slide. I was very unfamiliar with the ProSlides until we started talking about them a few weeks ago here.

[PR0 TURF]

If you are gonna go with walkbehinds why not go with Ferris? I think they will hold up to operator abuse more than a tt. I don't know what the price difference is but Granz was selling them for $5400 with a velke this past season. As far as the proslide go I would not bye one. You can not use them on pavement and the guys will be lazy and not get off them. Is the back of the salt bin built in to the side of the hill? If so you are probably gonna get water flowing in to the salt. Send me a pm I would be interested in 1 or 2 of the lazers.
Posted via Mobile Device

JP...I have not looked into the Ferris units at all. I've been an Exmark guy for quite a few years, so that's why I"m leaning towards the TT.

Can you adjust/fabricate the Pro-Slide to ride above the pavement?

Yes the salt bin is built into the hill. So far we have not had any water issues, probably because we haven't had any rain or snow...uggh!! We'll be keeping an eye on the water as time goes on.

[PR0 TURF]

i like the way the irrigation trailer is setup very nice and organized. what type of trailers do use? im looking into the homsteader hercules and the carmate

We have 3 enclosed trailers. Haulmark, Pace & I believe a CargoMate? We have had the worst luck with the Pace trailer, but we are also hardest on the Pace trailer. We haven't purchased an enclosed trailer since 2006 so I am pretty unfamiliar with what is out there right now.

[LawnMan19]

Do the Standers come with 60" decks? The only ones I am familiar with are the 48 or 52" decks...

If you're looking at Standers I would try Wright they make a great mower, and they can have a 61'' deck.

[PR0 TURF]

We just installed this wood stove in our shop this winter. It has a fan on the back that kicks on & off at a certain temperature to move the heat. The unit works AWESOME!!!

[PR0 TURF]

Really like all the new websites you have now. Great idea spreading them out into different domain names too. Did you do them yourselves or hire a web designer?

Thanks Will...we did all of the websites in house. We did them all through GoDaddy, they offer a good "do it yourself" application. We have plans to do 1 or 2 more sites this winter.

[PR0 TURF]

Here are some of our random irrigation pics from this season...

[lawnpropm]

We have 3 enclosed trailers. Haulmark, Pace & I believe a CargoMate? We have had the worst luck with the Pace trailer, but we are also hardest on the Pace trailer. We haven't purchased an enclosed trailer since 2006 so I am pretty unfamiliar with what is out there right now.

What problems have you had with the Pace trailers? I thought they were one of the best.. Is the Pace the trailer with the irrigation set up inside?
Posted via Mobile Device

[PR0 TURF]

I posted this in the Commerical Lawn forum, but thought it was pretty good so I would share it with everyone on this thread as well..


At this time every year I sit down for a few hours and reflect on the past season. I make a list of the following:

All of the positive things that happened:
Some examples are, equipment purchases, new customers, things I've learned, new employees, improvements to current systems, snowy winter, built a salt dome at our yard, get my CDL, become more DOT compliant

All of the negative things that happened:
Some examples are: Losing customers/contracts, equipment damage, losing a good employee, a Snow-less winter, keeping a bad employee around too long, had X amount of workers comp claims,

My predictions for the upcoming season, things I want to focus on, make changes to, get better at etc:
Some examples are, invoice on a weekly basis, not monthly. Email more invoices, start accepting credit cards, build a new website, take a vacation, improve our employee handbook, put out more job signs, update the business facebook page more often, take more before & after pics, focus on raising employee morale, take a company deep sea fishing trip, keep trucks/trailers washed & clean more often, put GPS units in all trucks

Then I do a follow up on the previous year's predictions.
So I list my thoughts on last year's predictions...did they go as planned? Did they totally get pushed to the side & forgotten about? There are some things that have been on my list for years to try & change and they never get done!


This is one of my favorite things to do each year so I thought I would share it with everyone. I have been doing it since 2004. It is interesting to go back a few years and see what things I used to worry about etc. It also helps you see the strides you've made year to year.

The examples I gave are not my actual 2012 list, but they have all been on my list at one time or another throughout the years. I just wanted to give some random examples.

[bigirish320]

PRO TURF- I am blown away at this thread everytime I read it. Your post on your rental property and investing was awesome and hit home with me cause I'm at the age where I can still do something about investing and saving before its too late. I also enjoyed reading your last post about your goals. Glad people like you are on this site
Posted via Mobile Device

[TopNotchLawnCare]

Question: What type of camera do you use for all of your pictures?

[deerewashed]

what model stove is that...i think i have the same one sitting in my shop next to the 2 propane ones that i picked up free.

[jplawnmaint]

JP...I have not looked into the Ferris units at all. I've been an Exmark guy for quite a few years, so that's why I"m leaning towards the TT.

Can you adjust/fabricate the Pro-Slide to ride above the pavement?

Yes the salt bin is built into the hill. So far we have not had any water issues, probably because we haven't had any rain or snow...uggh!! We'll be keeping an eye on the water as time goes on.


We run walker, exmark lazers and ferris walkbehinds. IMO the ferris dd hydro is by far the most rugged mower around. I have a 52" that is atleast 14 yrs old. But if your comfortable with the exmark tt then stick with it. As far as the proslide goes it works by dragging u around on the skid. So I don't think you could use it like a platform held off the ground.

We have a salt bin that is butted up to a hill and had about 10 yds of mix wash out in the middle of winter during one of those freak rain storms. What a pain. Had to dig the hill away and put a drain in. Fixed the problem for now. Just waiting on snow now.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mowing4rlife]

:clapping:We buy quite a bit of our equipment used. It usually works out just fine for us, but we have also had some bad luck over the years. If you know where the equipment has come from & have a copy of the maintenance records then that is a BIG plus. You can tell alot about how a piece of equipment was treated just by looking around the shop/operation of the person selling the equipment. If the place is a mess, old broken equipment every where, very unorganized etc, then chances are they weren't too strict with oil changes, air filters & greasing. If the place is clean & tidy, the seller has maintenance records, and appears organized overall then chances are they also took the time to care for the equipment. It's always a risk that you take when buying used equipment, but that's the reason you are getting it for a cheaper price than brand new from the dealer.

We are hoping to purchase our Turf Tracers used...so we will see what we can find...

:walking:
How many acres did you mow with the zero turns during the growing season? making the switch to the Turf Tracers i guess you plan to still do the same amount of acres? At this time i am a small operation, but i am thinking of trying out the same Turf Tracer to mow bigger properties, since there cheaper and easier to find used. What your advise?

[mattfromNY]

My guys will ride the proslides across sidewalks, driveways or short sections of black top. They got pretty crafty for long stretches of blacktop, and actually stand on the back of the walk-behind and 'ride' it, as not to wear out the wear-plate of the pro slide. We've been able to make the wear plates last an entire season. Not much of a pain to replace (4 bolts) and not really a big expense, when compared to replacing tires on a velke or sulky (we had rocks get stuck in between the tire and housing, run over nails or sharp objects, etc). And, no greasy hands/ clothes from hanging a velke on a chain.

[PR0 TURF]

What problems have you had with the Pace trailers? I thought they were one of the best.. Is the Pace the trailer with the irrigation set up inside?
Posted via Mobile Device

The frame was poorly built...quite a few broken welds at the joints. We had to pull out the floor of the trailer & reinforce quite a bit of the frame. Our Pace has quite a few miles on it from the last 6 years, but I still expected it to hold up better than it has. I took quite a few pics of the poor workmanship, if I can dig up the pics I will post them. I would not buy another Pace trailer.

:wall

[PR0 TURF]

PRO TURF- I am blown away at this thread everytime I read it. Your post on your rental property and investing was awesome and hit home with me cause I'm at the age where I can still do something about investing and saving before its too late. I also enjoyed reading your last post about your goals. Glad people like you are on this site
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks alot for the kudos BigIrish!! :drinkup:

[PR0 TURF]

Question: What type of camera do you use for all of your pictures?

Nothing fancy...mostly my cell phone or a Canon SD750

[PR0 TURF]

what model stove is that...i think i have the same one sitting in my shop next to the 2 propane ones that i picked up free.

It is an Englander 3,000 sq/ft wood burning stove. Works awesome...very pleased with it..

[PR0 TURF]

:clapping:
How many acres did you mow with the zero turns during the growing season? making the switch to the Turf Tracers i guess you plan to still do the same amount of acres? At this time i am a small operation, but i am thinking of trying out the same Turf Tracer to mow bigger properties, since there cheaper and easier to find used. What your advise?

I have never done the measurements to figure out the acreage that we do on a weekly basis. We still plan on doing the same amount of properties with the TT's that we were doing with the Lazers. I can't give you much advice on what will treat you better with the TT/Lazer because we have yet to put the TT's to the test. I think you would be very pleased with either machine though, Exmark puts out a great machine overall.

[PR0 TURF]

My guys will ride the proslides across sidewalks, driveways or short sections of black top. They got pretty crafty for long stretches of blacktop, and actually stand on the back of the walk-behind and 'ride' it, as not to wear out the wear-plate of the pro slide. We've been able to make the wear plates last an entire season. Not much of a pain to replace (4 bolts) and not really a big expense, when compared to replacing tires on a velke or sulky (we had rocks get stuck in between the tire and housing, run over nails or sharp objects, etc). And, no greasy hands/ clothes from hanging a velke on a chain.

What is the wear plate made of? Has anyone made their own wear plate out of a different material that they found to last longer or be more cost effective?

[srl28]

The wear plate is a hard plastic. Had a local guy try to make one out of a heavy gauge tin basically and it worked ok for a while.

Why no sulkies? Could get some 2 wheel sulkies that would maintain a decent stripe.
Sorry if you have already answered that

[PR0 TURF]

The wear plate is a hard plastic. Had a local guy try to make one out of a heavy gauge tin basically and it worked ok for a while.

Why no sulkies? Could get some 2 wheel sulkies that would maintain a decent stripe.
Sorry if you have already answered that

We have always used the one or two wheeled sulkies on our w/b's over the years. I was unfamiliar with the ProSlides until we got to talking about them a few weeks ago...so now I'm curious. They sound like the way to go, or at least something worth trying.

[lawnpropm]

The frame was poorly built...quite a few broken welds at the joints. We had to pull out the floor of the trailer & reinforce quite a bit of the frame. Our Pace has quite a few miles on it from the last 6 years, but I still expected it to hold up better than it has. I took quite a few pics of the poor workmanship, if I can dig up the pics I will post them. I would not buy another Pace trailer.

:wall

Ill keep that in mind! I thought Pace were high dollar trailers? Oh well that reminds me of the saying a happy customer well tell 10 people about you, an unhappy one will tell 100!
Posted via Mobile Device

[teamgreendude]

I got my Eagle at 15. Had to get it done before High School go too busy. Scouts has obviously given me the most worthwhile experiences of my life.

I've been to Sea Base in the Bahamas and Philmont. I've met lifelong friends and have learned leadership skills I'll use for the rest of my life. I'm sure glad I stuck with it.

I wish i had gone to sea base, I also went to philmont and got the 100 year anniversary belt buckle! All of my troop looks to me if they need help with landscaping or tree care on there home or our 300 acre camp ground.

[rusty_keg_3]

Im an Eagle Scout too, Ive also been to Philmont, and the 05 National Jamboree.

[GQLL]

Ill keep that in mind! I thought Pace were high dollar trailers? Oh well that reminds me of the saying a happy customer well tell 10 people about you, an unhappy one will tell 100!
Posted via Mobile Device

You wont have to worry about pace trailer any more they are out of business

[PR0 TURF]

Here are a few pics of one of our snow pushers that was in much need of sandblast & paint. All cleaned up now, ready to push some snow.

[bigirish320]

finished product looks good!

[jbell36]

do you guys paint your stuff in-house?

[CSPM, LLC]

Pusher turned out great! Nice work

[CriderLawn09]

Pro Turf i have a question about the mini skid steers, I think i seen somewhere in your thread you have a bobcat, I'm looking at the MT52 i'm set up to do a demo this week if the rain ever stops, but how effeceint are they when doing landscaping, i have a small 453 bobcat that i use in the shop and in my salt bin loading trucks, its really small and will just about fit in the bed of a pickup lol, but it being small works great, but small tires no tracks and it gets stuck on wet blacktop:dizzy: and i always thought that the compact size would be great for landscape maint., how do they do as far as going on turf without damage? and i see guys all the time using them, my bobcat dealer says that it will replace most of our wheelbarrow use? Any truth in that? Also we dont do very much hardscaping at all maybe some pavers or something its mostly just maintenance, does the attachments work good like the augers and such we plant alot so that looks like it would be great, also any maintenance issues with yours? I'm a bobcat man but i have looked at toro and vemeer, but will probably stay white and orange. Thanks man!!

[LawnMan19]

That pusher turned out great.:cool2:

[noahb195]

Love your uniforms! That 20ft haulmark is PUUURRRRRTTTTY!!!! What year was that old service body? That thing was beautiful!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Z-master man]

Quick question PRO-TURF, who manufactures the dump bodies that you have on the smaller dumps?

[MDLawn]

We have always used the one or two wheeled sulkies on our w/b's over the years. I was unfamiliar with the ProSlides until we got to talking about them a few weeks ago...so now I'm curious. They sound like the way to go, or at least something worth trying.

I've used a proslide for about 7 years and they are great and don't leave extra wheel marks. I think that just like tracks help spreads the weight of a skidsteer better the proslide spread the weight better than on or two wheeled unit. I'm in 240lb (thankfully good weight) range and would sink the wheeled one a friend of mine had. If guys can stay off the pavement the wear plate should last a season. I've noticed that when new sometimes the edges can dig into the ground on turning (very infequent but has happened) until the wear plate starts to curl up, which is normal. Then its fine. Or if I turned by the edge of the sidewalk the plate would ride the sidewalk and catch the turf/soil on the other side and slice it up a little. This happened especially near trees or gound that was higher than the sidewalk. These were minor and infrequent things but did happen. Also, and this could be because of my weight, the mower frequently lifts the front end which is probably caused by some of the drag and me weighing it down. So on hills I needed to pull up on the handles to keep the deck down. Maybe the weights offered for the front end on my turf tracer would have helped. Wouldn't choose anything different but those are some things I noticed. I also like how when you step off it immediately gets up and out of the way when you need to a walk the mower.

Great informative thread you've got going here.

[bigirish320]

Hey PRO TURF- This months issue of Turf Magazine has some info about the Proslide, just thought id let you know.

[trt01]

Hey Pro Turf,
Its taken me a few days to get through this whole forum. I have been educated. I am wondering if you have any more info on Service Autopilot? You mentioned it earlier and just wondering what your experience was. Or are you still using Groundskeeper Pro? Thanks

[roeslandscaping]

Please post this video! Very interested..............

:clapping::clapping::clapping:

Sorry it took so long, forgot about this thread! lol

I like your equip. by the way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BZtsAAfXxc
New Castle Pipe Puller

[roeslandscaping]

It is an Englander 3,000 sq/ft wood burning stove. Works awesome...very pleased with it..

sq/ft or cubic feet?

[burnsyscapes]

question for you. . . how did you learn how to do irrigation? took some classes or are you self taught?

[APLUS LAWN CARE]

I have been reading through this thread for the last few days and I am impressed! You have a nice operation.

[A.T.T.]

Pro Turf! I meant to ask how your snow season has been going. Hope all is well.

[scotts lawn care]

Howdy pro turf, just saying hi and nice pics of the pusher blast and paint job! You sure do a great job of keeping your equipment looking new and clean! Keep up the good work. Hows your snow season going? Here in WI its been a little slow. Oh well, maybe we'll have an early spring.

[stockie]

Hey man

Saw your rig at NE Grows. Pretty sweet set up. Do you get many calls from that from other contractors?

[bigirish320]

Hey man

Saw your rig at NE Grows. Pretty sweet set up. Do you get many calls from that from other contractors?

Yeah the hydro seeder looks really good at the show!

[lukemelo216]

I agree with you on using the tt's over the ztr's besides the reduction in maintenance expenses etc your really not going to be losing any productivity especially since your using the velkes. On the bigger sites yes you will, but on the midsized properties I noticed a huge difference. I was doing a 35k property and it took a 2 man crew about 1.5 hours to mow, trim and collect trash/weed the beds each week using 1 ztr. I switched it to a 3 man crew using 2 wbs and we were in and out in 45-50 minutes consistantly each week. The two guys did all the mowing in about 40 minutes and the other did the trimming, checked for weeds and all 3 blew the property at the end. Now weekly it doesnt add up to much, but I figured it this way at a cost of $25/man hour it saved me on average $15.00/week, which over a 28 week season saves me about $420 on that account, and this crew was running 10 accounts per week in which they were only using wb's. I did that A as an experiment to test it, and b I only utilized them on the properties that it made sense, 2 acres and under. Since I did this middle of the season I wasnt able to acutually see the true savings over the entire season, but theoretically it would have saved me $4000.00 in labor. Secondly, you will notice a nice savings in fuel. We were using about 15 gal of gas per day using two wb's which at my prices here is about $50/day. Using the ztrs your talking about a full tank per day which on the new ones is about 24 gal between 2 mowers, on the older two tank units about 20 gal a day, average was about $25.00/day for me which would save me about $3000.00 for the season in fuel. Right there for me I figured $7000.00 in savings alone for the season.

Frankly I told my guys yes it was harder work but it was the way we were moving. Most of them like you said were not happy initially, but then they actually enjoyed it becasue they were getting a little more exercise each day so they felt better and realized it was what was needed to keep their jobs. I was out there on days with them walking right along with them on a wb mower. I was never the type of owner that said im only riding the zero turn or skid loader or what ever. I dont like that management technique. Now that im a manager for another company, I am the same way. Some weeeks Im out on the jobsites inspecting the work thats being done by my crew, and the next week Ill be out there pulling weeds or trimming the grass or turning over the mulch. It earns the respect of your employees and when I did that, the guys were not complaining anymore about the walk behinds.

[A.T.T.]

lukemelo216- really good write up on the comparison of wb's to z-turns, definitely something to consider! The projected savings in fuel, let alone maintenance, is staggering.
Posted via Mobile Device

[PR0 TURF]

Hey there...I'll be back on sometime next week to update things etc. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything for the last 2 weeks with the Patriots in the Superbowl...yeehaaa!!

Here's a quick pic of 5 Turf Tracers we picked up this week...we've officially made the switch!!

:clapping::cool2::usflag:

[scotts lawn care]

Sweet Pro Turf! They look new. You will be ready to go once we get to spring.

[LawnMan19]

They look great, are they new or used ?

[PR0 TURF]

They look great, are they new or used ?

They're all used...2010 units with approx 800 hrs...I'm too cheap to buy new!

[LawnMan19]

Hey, I don't blame you for not buying new whenever you can get used ones that look that good.

[LawnMan19]

Where did you get all 5 together ?

[oakwdman]

Sound like brickman machines!
I've had a number of old brickman units, very few complaints

[A.T.T.]

Sweet! Nothing like a trailer of exmarks! I hope the switch turns out how you want it!

[LawnMan19]

Sound like brickman machines!
I've had a number of old brickman units, very few complaints

I thought they might be, but I thought the keep them longer.Plus these ones look really really clean, the ones I've seen all look dirtier.

[jplawnmaint]

They're all used...2010 units with approx 800 hrs...I'm too cheap to buy new!

Hey Chris. Are those the ones from NY? If so they look awesome.
Posted via Mobile Device

[M RASCOE&SONS]

send me a pm when you got numbers in mind for the zero turns that will be for sale!im thinking i could shoot up one morning if you were not busy and check out how things are done and maybe trade some ideas for the new yr.i want to see how the new bow tie does on a trip,maybe mark from supercuts will go for the ride.

[Puddle of Oil]

Brickman gets new mowers every other year. They also have an unlimited warranty with exmark that never expires so they should be in pretty good condition assuming he did get them from Brickman.

[P.Services]

what was the price on them?

[P.Services]

They're all used...2010 units with approx 800 hrs...I'm too cheap to buy new!

you do understand this statement may be related to the fact that you experience a lot of break-downs right?

[stockie]

How the hell did you find five machines only 2 yrs old?

[jplawnmaint]

How the hell did you find five machines only 2 yrs old?

A little bird told him. Lol
Posted via Mobile Device

[joef450snowplow]

Hey there...I'll be back on sometime next week to update things etc. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything for the last 2 weeks with the Patriots in the Superbowl...yeehaaa!!

Here's a quick pic of 5 Turf Tracers we picked up this week...we've officially made the switch!!

:clapping::cool2::usflag:

Nice mowers, but to bad the GIANTS are going to kick there a$$ today

[scotts lawn care]

Since the packers lost, i dont really care which team wins the bowl. ^^^^ lol!

[Earthlinklandscaping]

Is thtt a hydro seeder bhind the dumo truck??

[syzer]

We have always used the one or two wheeled sulkies on our w/b's over the years. I was unfamiliar with the ProSlides until we got to talking about them a few weeks ago...so now I'm curious. They sound like the way to go, or at least something worth trying.

We use pro-slides for all of our WB's and will never go back. They are expensive to keep up, but when you ride on one for the first time its like being on a cloud. They smooth out all the bumps and holes so its a lot easier on your guys knees. They also play a huge part in a nice stripe!

[dtriv89]

I haven't been able to concentrate on anything for the last 2 weeks with the Patriots in the Superbowl...yeehaaa!!

About that.... lol

[A.T.T.]

About that.... lol

Don't break it to him...

[PR0 TURF]

do you guys paint your stuff in-house?

Jbell...we prob 80% of our stuff in house. When we have something that needs sandblasting we always send that out because we're not equipped for that type of work. If it's just a piece of equipment or a trailer we will usually paint it ourselves, if it's something we want to be a bit more presentable for the long haul we will send it out.

:walking:

[PR0 TURF]

Pro Turf i have a question about the mini skid steers, I think i seen somewhere in your thread you have a bobcat, I'm looking at the MT52 i'm set up to do a demo this week if the rain ever stops, but how effeceint are they when doing landscaping, i have a small 453 bobcat that i use in the shop and in my salt bin loading trucks, its really small and will just about fit in the bed of a pickup lol, but it being small works great, but small tires no tracks and it gets stuck on wet blacktop:dizzy: and i always thought that the compact size would be great for landscape maint., how do they do as far as going on turf without damage? and i see guys all the time using them, my bobcat dealer says that it will replace most of our wheelbarrow use? Any truth in that? Also we dont do very much hardscaping at all maybe some pavers or something its mostly just maintenance, does the attachments work good like the augers and such we plant alot so that looks like it would be great, also any maintenance issues with yours? I'm a bobcat man but i have looked at toro and vemeer, but will probably stay white and orange. Thanks man!!

Crider...we had an MT50 for a few years. That was our first machine from the Bobcat/skid steer family. Prior to purchasing that machine we did all of our work by hand/wheelbarrow. The MT50 made things MUCH nicer & definitely cut down on labor compared to doing it all by hand. It is a tracked machine, so you can easily damage turf when making turns if you are not very careful. We used that for about a year then bought a Bobcat 873...then eventually our A300. Once we stepped up to a full sized machine we rarely used our MT50 anymore. We kept it around for a few years for the occasional job that it would come in handy with, but eventually sold it due to lack of use. We did not have any maintenance issues with it, but the machine we had only had about 500 hrs on it so it was barely even broken in. So to summarize...an MT50 will be a night & day difference from the old wheelbarrow method, but we found a full sized skid steer to be night & day to the MT50.

Good luck :usflag:

[PR0 TURF]

Love your uniforms! That 20ft haulmark is PUUURRRRRTTTTY!!!! What year was that old service body? That thing was beautiful!!
Posted via Mobile Device

Noah...the GMC utility body we had a while back was a 1992...had the 6.5 diesel...I loved that truck! It had over 200k miles on it & eventually we scrapped it I believe.

:dizzy:

[PR0 TURF]

Quick question PRO-TURF, who manufactures the dump bodies that you have on the smaller dumps?

We have an Iroquois body on our F-350 & a Smith body on our F-550. I absolutely love the stainless bodies. They're bullet proof, year after year they never show signs of aging. We plan on keeping the bodies and transferring them from truck to truck as we sell the older trucks. The bodies last forever...our Smith body is 12 years old & looks good as new.

:clapping::usflag:

[PR0 TURF]

Hey Pro Turf,
Its taken me a few days to get through this whole forum. I have been educated. I am wondering if you have any more info on Service Autopilot? You mentioned it earlier and just wondering what your experience was. Or are you still using Groundskeeper Pro? Thanks

Trt01...we no longer use Groundskeeper. Groundskeeper treated us well & I definitely recommend it for someone starting out due to the low cost & ease of use etc. We eventually out grew GKeeper & switched to SAP. I love SAP. It's not perfect, but for what we do it's great. The company is also great to deal with...their technical support team is very helpful whenever you have a question. If you have any specific questions about it just let me know and I'll try to answer them.

:usflag:

[PR0 TURF]

sq/ft or cubic feet?

It's listed as square feet. Here is the link for the same stove that we have...http://www.homedepot.com/buy/building-materials/fireplace-hearth/englander/3-000-sq-ft-satin-black-wood-burning-addon-furnace-65532.html

Thanks for posting the video of the New Castle puller...definitely going to try one of those out this year.

:drinkup:

[PR0 TURF]

question for you. . . how did you learn how to do irrigation? took some classes or are you self taught?

Burnsy...I had a friend who was in the irrigation business teach me the ropes. He let me work with him on the weekends one summer so I could learn hands on. He then came out & helped on our first few systems until we were good to go. His knowledge & teaching was very valuable. It would have been difficult trying to learn everything from a book. I still occasionally call him when I'm in a jam on a job and need some input. Learning hands on out in the field is the way to do it if you have the opportunity. I was hesitant to jump into irrigation back then, but looking back it was definitely one of the best business decisions I've ever made. Irrigation is a very big part of our business nowadays.

:usflag:

[PR0 TURF]

Pro Turf! I meant to ask how your snow season has been going. Hope all is well.

Smokey...our snow season has been non-existent this year! Since December we have had 7" of snow...at this time last year we had over 70"...uggghhh! How's Mother Nature treating you up in Ontario??

[PR0 TURF]

Hey man

Saw your rig at NE Grows. Pretty sweet set up. Do you get many calls from that from other contractors?

Stockie...thank you! It was nice having the machine in the show this year. We do get quite a few calls from other contractors. We do a fair share of sub-contracting work for companies that do not own hydroseeders.

:walking:

[CriderLawn09]

Pro-Turf ,
Thanks for the info on the mini, I demoed one and I think it will be a must have this year! I found a used vermeer, i think im gonna go pick up, i'm a bobcat man but the price of this one is pretty good along with no one around rents bobcat attachments but they do rent dingo and ditch witch and that all fits vermeer. But, anyway i feel you on the snow we have had 4inches this year last year i think we were around 30inches, we dont get as much as you guys. And as for the superbowl sorry bout the patriots:cry: i really know nothing about football but i do know that the BUD SHOOT OUT is next sunday!!! Boooga-dee, Boooga-dee,Boooga-dee!! Lets go racing boys!!

[PR0 TURF]

I agree with you on using the tt's over the ztr's besides the reduction in maintenance expenses etc your really not going to be losing any productivity especially since your using the velkes. On the bigger sites yes you will, but on the midsized properties I noticed a huge difference. I was doing a 35k property and it took a 2 man crew about 1.5 hours to mow, trim and collect trash/weed the beds each week using 1 ztr. I switched it to a 3 man crew using 2 wbs and we were in and out in 45-50 minutes consistantly each week. The two guys did all the mowing in about 40 minutes and the other did the trimming, checked for weeds and all 3 blew the property at the end. Now weekly it doesnt add up to much, but I figured it this way at a cost of $25/man hour it saved me on average $15.00/week, which over a 28 week season saves me about $420 on that account, and this crew was running 10 accounts per week in which they were only using wb's. I did that A as an experiment to test it, and b I only utilized them on the properties that it made sense, 2 acres and under. Since I did this middle of the season I wasnt able to acutually see the true savings over the entire season, but theoretically it would have saved me $4000.00 in labor. Secondly, you will notice a nice savings in fuel. We were using about 15 gal of gas per day using two wb's which at my prices here is about $50/day. Using the ztrs your talking about a full tank per day which on the new ones is about 24 gal between 2 mowers, on the older two tank units about 20 gal a day, average was about $25.00/day for me which would save me about $3000.00 for the season in fuel. Right there for me I figured $7000.00 in savings alone for the season.

Frankly I told my guys yes it was harder work but it was the way we were moving. Most of them like you said were not happy initially, but then they actually enjoyed it becasue they were getting a little more exercise each day so they felt better and realized it was what was needed to keep their jobs. I was out there on days with them walking right along with them on a wb mower. I was never the type of owner that said im only riding the zero turn or skid loader or what ever. I dont like that management technique. Now that im a manager for another company, I am the same way. Some weeeks Im out week Ill be out there pulling weeds or trimming the grass or turning over the mulch. It earns the respect of your employees and when I did that, the guys were not complaining anymore about the walk behinds.

Luke...GREAT write up for the debate of walk behind vs. ZTR. I am very much looking forward to the fuel savings. Our new mowers have 20hp Kohler engines...our ZTR's had 31 & 35hp Briggs. Should be a noticeable change in fuel consumption. Great write up...thanks for your two cents...

:clapping::clapping::clapping:

[PR0 TURF]

Is thtt a hydro seeder bhind the dumo truck??

Im not sure which picture you're asking about...but if I'm thinking of the right picture, that is a Finn Bark Blower in the background.

[PR0 TURF]

Here are a few random bark blowing pics from this past season...

:dancing:

[CriderLawn09]

pro-turf is that colored mulch you are blowing on the hillside? What color do you guys call that ? One of my suppliers he called his blend hardwood cypress, it was really light brown, but he stopped carrying it this year and no one else knows what i'm talking about i have a bunch of jobs that i used that on, just looking to see what you guys may call it.

[A.T.T.]

Smokey...our snow season has been non-existent this year! Since December we have had 7" of snow...at this time last year we had over 70"...uggghhh! How's Mother Nature treating you up in Ontario??

I hear ya man, we've maybe done a little better than you. Maybe 8 or 9" total. We just got around 3 or 4" yesterday and that was the biggest storm so far this season. At least we got to push a little snow. I hope things chance for you though, and all of us for that matter.

[PR0 TURF]

pro-turf is that colored mulch you are blowing on the hillside? What color do you guys call that ? One of my suppliers he called his blend hardwood cypress, it was really light brown, but he stopped carrying it this year and no one else knows what i'm talking about i have a bunch of jobs that i used that on, just looking to see what you guys may call it.

That color is called Hemlock...or a Hemlock blend in this area. It is the most popular mulch we use.

Here's another pic of it...

[LawnMan19]

Really like the pics, I hope to get a bark blower someday.

[FinerCutslawnCare]

Love the mulch blower.

[tyjohnso]

Hey man, I really like your irrigation trailer... I am in process of trying to get my box truck loaded out with shelving and products.... can you tell me if you made those bins and shelves yourselft? didnt know if you had the sizes or more info i could get from you.... Also do you have a product list that you have for your workers that includes produts that are on trailer... thanks man
ty

[PR0 TURF]

Hey man, I really like your irrigation trailer... I am in process of trying to get my box truck loaded out with shelving and products.... can you tell me if you made those bins and shelves yourselft? didnt know if you had the sizes or more info i could get from you.... Also do you have a product list that you have for your workers that includes produts that are on trailer... thanks man
ty

We designed them & had a friend build the shelving about 6 years ago. I do not know the exact dimensions. We laid out all of the boxes & product we typically would want to carry with us & designed the shelves around those measurements. We don't have an actual product list printed out that we use on a regular basis...every part in our trailer has it's part # on the bin so we know exactly what to order etc. It was alot of work designing & building it...but well worth the time & effort.

:clapping:

[tyjohnso]

cool man, thanks for the reply... Any info on a trencher would be good... buy Used or New? V Blade? What are your thoughts... price range too?

[PR0 TURF]

cool man, thanks for the reply... Any info on a trencher would be good... buy Used or New? V Blade? What are your thoughts... price range too?

Do you have any experience with any pipe pullers? We have always used a Dtich Witch 255...we have considered moving up to a 410, but every time we think about doing so there is always something else that needs to be purchased. We have not run many trenchers in our day...just a handful of times...and we've always rented them, so I do not have much feedback for you on those.

As far as used or new and the price range that all depends on your financial situation. I'd love to run all brand new equipment...but my budget does not allow that to happen.

[PR0 TURF]

I know these aren't very exciting pics...but without any snow & not having any landscape jobs going on all we've been doing is shop work. Better than nothing I guess...

:hammerhead:

[CriderLawn09]

I bet the new skins on the dump truck weren't cheap:cry: and also what is going on with the hub off bearings? And man no snow is the truth but i thought you said you had 7inches this year...thats a blizzard LOL compared to us :hammerhead:

[CriderLawn09]

I just started running recaps on the back of my 450 and im a little nervous, but with new tires around $180.00 each for straight tread cheapos, i thought what the heck:drinkup:

[LawnMan19]

With nothing else to do why not put in some good shop time. What dump truck is in the pics ?

[A.T.T.]

With nothing else to do why not put in some good shop time. What dump truck is in the pics ?

I believe that is the FL60?

Cool pics Pro Turf always good to get some shop time! How do you haul the mini-ex around?

[LawnMan19]

I believe that is the FL60?

Cool pics Pro Turf always good to get some shop time! How do you haul the mini-ex around?

I always forget about the Freightliner, I think you're right.
Thanks.

[Wright48]

Do you guys do hardscaping and concrete as well or just irrigation main. and design

[old oak lawn]

Pictures look good. Wish i had a shop like that to work in, hope to some day. I know them dump truck tires had to hurt. I bought some radials last year for the front of mine and they were $300 each installed.:cry:

[MLAWCARE]

Alot of money being spent in the off season always sucks but its the only time you actually have the time to do it and makes your life easier during the normal season plus less breakdowns!!

[scotts lawn care]

Thanks for the pics PRO TURF. You got the nice shop for doing your own repairs. :weightlifter:

[lawnpropm]

That color is called Hemlock...or a Hemlock blend in this area. It is the most popular mulch we use.

Here's another pic of it...
Hey Proturf when you guys are doing the mulch blowing jobs, is that mulch triple processed/hammered or is there like an impaler on the truck that makes it that fine?
Posted via Mobile Device

[normower]

Do you still have mowers for sale?

[PR0 TURF]

Do you still have mowers for sale?

Yes...we have 4 machines for sale

-60" Exmark Lazer XS with the Triton deck
-31hp Briggs & Stratton Engine on each...(one of them has the 35hp Briggs)
-Each have triple bagger UltraVac systems
-The 4 machines have the following hours: 1,000, 1,500, 1700 & 2,600
-We have full maintenance records on each of the machines.
-Each machine has been maintained exceptionally well.
-Spare blades for each
-Each has been recently tuned up & all fluids changed.
-All tires are in good condition...some are new tires
-Catcher bags are all in good condition as well.
-These machines are $13k new (as you all know)

They are priced $4,400-$6,500.

I have included a few pics of the machine which has 2,600hrs.

Any questions let me know...

:usflag:

[Swampy]

Nice idea with the oil change label.

[KE-llc]

pretty mint for that many hours.

any hints or insight you'd like to say about running maintenance crews? i know its hard to keep the mowers in good shape running them 5 days a week

[P.Services]

what gizmo do you use for making those labels?

[LawnMan19]

That mower looks like it is in really good shape especially with the hours on it, and I really like the idea of the oil change label.

[PR0 TURF]

what gizmo do you use for making those labels?

We use a P-Touch label maker. They work great. You can pick them up for under $30 i believe. We label all of our trucks & equipment with oil change/service memos.

[PR0 TURF]

With nothing else to do why not put in some good shop time. What dump truck is in the pics ?

That is our Freightliner FL60...

[PR0 TURF]

Do you guys do hardscaping and concrete as well or just irrigation main. and design

We do not do any hardscaping. We primarily do irrigation, property maintenance, hydroseeding, lawn installs, commercial snow...and a few other odds & ends.

:usflag:

[srl28]

Curious as to why no Hardscaping? Owe ya an email I apologize, caught up in trying to get Spring things going.

Those mowers look great for almost 3k hours! Thats some serious maintenance right there.

[PR0 TURF]

Hey Proturf when you guys are doing the mulch blowing jobs, is that mulch triple processed/hammered or is there like an impaler on the truck that makes it that fine?
Posted via Mobile Device

There is nothing on the machine that makes the mulch any finer that it already is. I am not sure if they consider the mulch triple processed...but it is pretty fine in general.

:hammerhead:

[M RASCOE&SONS]

We use a P-Touch label maker. They work great. You can pick them up for under $30 i believe. We label all of our trucks & equipment with oil change/service memos.

man i was at staples today,i should of picked someting like that up..i sent you a pm about mowers

[keepoffthegrass]

So whats the NOS going on? Boss' truck or one of the mowers?

[PR0 TURF]

Curious as to why no Hardscaping? Owe ya an email I apologize, caught up in trying to get Spring things going.

Those mowers look great for almost 3k hours! Thats some serious maintenance right there.

We were doing hardscaping for a few years but felt as though we had a few too many "stirrers in the pot". We were becoming a jack of all trades, master of none. We try to focus on what we are good at & try to do alot of it. We may eventually get back into it but at this point it's not on our radar.

:weightlifter:

[PR0 TURF]

So whats the NOS going on? Boss' truck or one of the mowers?

Haaa...we are actually putting a flame thrower on my bike. It's going to inject fuel into the exhaust pipes & shoot flames if all goes as planned. Heading down to Daytona Bike Week in March so we're trying to get it wrapped up soon to work the bugs out.

:drinkup:

[jbell36]

proturf, do you guys install your own plows or do you just have the dealers do the install?

[PR0 TURF]

proturf, do you guys install your own plows or do you just have the dealers do the install?

When we buy them used we install them ourselves in our shop. When we get them new from the dealer we have them install em. We run all Fisher Xtreme V's

[LawnMan19]

That is our Freightliner FL60...

Thanks! for some reason I always forget about the Freightliner.

[A.T.T.]

When we buy them used we install them ourselves in our shop. When we get them new from the dealer we have them install em. We run all Fisher Xtreme V's

I bet you've gotten pretty darn good at installing Fisher Xtreme V's!

[scotts lawn care]

Sick bike Pro Turf! What size v twin?

[PR0 TURF]

Sick bike Pro Turf! What size v twin?

Thank you Scott! It's a 113 S&S...it goes like a raped ape & screams like one too!

:clapping:

[PR0 TURF]

Here is an example of the maintenance records that we keep on our equipment.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? I am always looking for new ideas to improve on this...

:dizzy:

[nepatsfan]

Here is an example of the maintenance records that we keep on our equipment.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? I am always looking for new ideas to improve on this...

:dizzy:

That is nice.....I am going to steal that...lol. We just put down write our services on a piece of plywood on the wall of the shop. Each mower has a column and we put the hours on it. I am going to start doing it the way you do it though.
You go quite a few hours on some of those oil changes....almost 200 hours from 5/10 to 8/17

[lawnpropm]

Here is an example of the maintenance records that we keep on our equipment.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? I am always looking for new ideas to improve on this...

:dizzy:
Is that something you created in excel also I wanted to say you have a killer nice office I can't remember what page its on but what is the sq footage. For the office not the shop. Thanks
Posted via Mobile Device

[stockie]

Here is an example of the maintenance records that we keep on our equipment.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? I am always looking for new ideas to improve on this...

:dizzy:

So do you print out a new sheet after every maint. or keep it in computer and print at end of year? I guess Im asking why not just keep it on the computer?

[merrimacmill]

Here is an example of the maintenance records that we keep on our equipment.

Does anyone have any examples of their own? I am always looking for new ideas to improve on this...

:dizzy:

I have a pretty in depth equipment maintenance procedure that I'll touch on briefly here. We use a system of one mechanic's binder, and several numbered files for the paperwork.

Preventative maintenance is handled using a monthly inspection procedure. We have 3 preventative maintenance forms in the binder, trucks, trailers, and one general form for all other types of equipment. These are set up in check list form, covering every possible inspection point or topic on the equipment to ensure nothing is missed. Issues found are repaired at this time, any required fluid changes are performed as well. We use a numbering system, each piece of equip (everything, trucks to wheel barrows) has a number attached to it. There is also sheet in the binder that has all the equip numbers down the side, and all 12 months across the top. Each time a preventative maintenance inspection is performed, that equip number and current month, get a check. This keeps track of the inspections, which are performed on a continued basis throughout the duration of the month. We also have seasonal scheduling of on and off season equipment inspections factored into this as well using color coding on this sheet (no point inspecting plows each month all summer!).

For repairs, or if something breaks down in the field, a supervisor of that particular crew will fill out what we call a ERO, or equipment repair order sheet. This is then received by the mechanic, and he will schedule and perform the repair. He will then fill out a "Equipment Service Record Sheet" for the repair. This sheet tracks all specifics of the repair, from labor time and parts, to issues and notes. This is stapled to the initial Repair Order that generated this repair, and put in that equipment's file.

This all might sound complex for repairs, but I use a very basic system of a single 1" binder complete with blank forms, instructions on the system, and a flow chart to better understand the system, along with several numbered, wall hung files to make the flow of information as easy as possible for the crew. Each different form has a number on it that corresponds to file that paper goes in once its filled out (when laying this out I needed to remember I'm dealing with landscapers, not filing clerks).

Even though it might take more time than a more basic system, it helps ensure equipment will arrive on site free of defect each and every time. I got so sick of bringing a piece of equipment to a site, only to find out there is a mechanical issue that will effect our efficiency on the job (it would have been nice to take care of that last week when we weren't using it) Or we bring out 2 wheel barrows, only to find out the bolts have been loosening up for 2 months and no one said or did anything, so now the wheel comes loose in the middle of a production work day, and we loose efficiency and production (just old examples that come to mind).

At the end of the month, all the paperwork generated for equip maintenance is loaded into a neat desk scanner, digitized into PDF, and automatically filed in the computer system. From there, I use the information for budgeting purposes, and to track maintenance and repair expenditures to make more accurate decisions when purchasing new equip, or deciding to swap out older equip, etc.

If interested, I can take a few pictures of the binders, etc...

[eco.lawns]

Your websites look good proturf. Im currently building mine with website tonight as well so its nice to get some inspiration. Keep up the good work!

[keepoffthegrass]

Mine are very simple compared to what im seeing but it works for us (7 mowers, 4 trucks)

There is one for mowers and equipment such as skidsteer/tractor and a seperate one for trucks. They are spreadsheet form. We fill in the hours service was preformed and any special stuff "rebuilt transmission" goes in the Notes section at bottom.
Blade sharpening and grease are done so often I left them out of the sheets.

Im going to go through my system next winter to better track the maintenance of all the handhelds, push mowers, trailers, etc. Hard to believe winters almost gone! I had plans to do alot of "organizing and system building" this winter. Alot will have to wait.

Our logs:
240990

[Dotens]

I have a pretty in depth equipment maintenance procedure that I'll touch on briefly here. We use a system of one mechanic's binder, and several numbered files for the paperwork.

Preventative maintenance is handled using a monthly inspection procedure. We have 3 preventative maintenance forms in the binder, trucks, trailers, and one general form for all other types of equipment. These are set up in check list form, covering every possible inspection point or topic on the equipment to ensure nothing is missed. Issues found are repaired at this time, any required fluid changes are performed as well. We use a numbering system, each piece of equip (everything, trucks to wheel barrows) has a number attached to it. There is also sheet in the binder that has all the equip numbers down the side, and all 12 months across the top. Each time a preventative maintenance inspection is performed, that equip number and current month, get a check. This keeps track of the inspections, which are performed on a continued basis throughout the duration of the month. We also have seasonal scheduling of on and off season equipment inspections factored into this as well using color coding on this sheet (no point inspecting plows each month all summer!).

For repairs, or if something breaks down in the field, a supervisor of that particular crew will fill out what we call a ERO, or equipment repair order sheet. This is then received by the mechanic, and he will schedule and perform the repair. He will then fill out a "Equipment Service Record Sheet" for the repair. This sheet tracks all specifics of the repair, from labor time and parts, to issues and notes. This is stapled to the initial Repair Order that generated this repair, and put in that equipment's file.

This all might sound complex for repairs, but I use a very basic system of a single 1" binder complete with blank forms, instructions on the system, and a flow chart to better understand the system, along with several numbered, wall hung files to make the flow of information as easy as possible for the crew. Each different form has a number on it that corresponds to file that paper goes in once its filled out (when laying this out I needed to remember I'm dealing with landscapers, not filing clerks).

Even though it might take more time than a more basic system, it helps ensure equipment will arrive on site free of defect each and every time. I got so sick of bringing a piece of equipment to a site, only to find out there is a mechanical issue that will effect our efficiency on the job (it would have been nice to take care of that last week when we weren't using it) Or we bring out 2 wheel barrows, only to find out the bolts have been loosening up for 2 months and no one said or did anything, so now the wheel comes loose in the middle of a production work day, and we loose efficiency and production (just old examples that come to mind).

At the end of the month, all the paperwork generated for equip maintenance is loaded into a neat desk scanner, digitized into PDF, and automatically filed in the computer system. From there, I use the information for budgeting purposes, and to track maintenance and repair expenditures to make more accurate decisions when purchasing new equip, or deciding to swap out older equip, etc.

If interested, I can take a few pictures of the binders, etc...

I like your set up! I would love to see some pics. Also how in depth do you go with numbering equipment? For example do you number shovels etc. And how do you label them? Marker or Special tags? Thanks