Toronto Landscape Congress

[cantoo]

Any Ontario guys going to the really big shew in Toronto this week? Landscape Congress 2001 by the Airport. We went there last year, lots of info and stuff to see.

[kermit]

We always go to Congress, lots of seminars,meet with friends and see the latest and greatest. Tell me when you're going and we'll get together for a beer. The tailgate party is always a blast.We go all three days.

[Lawnnorder]

Yes I am planning to attend. Hope to get a good deal on a 32" Exmark. Went to the trade show last week by the airport and was very disappointed. Unless you wanted to buy a very large commercial mower there was little selection. Only Walker and Scag had one mower available. No representation from Exmark at all. Toro had nothing below a 72" displayed. Steiner had several tractors but at $18K they were way out of reach for me.

[cutntrim]

My partner and I are planning to go on Thursday. It'll be the first time we've gone. We'll probably sit in on a seminar before/after checking out the booths. Wouldn't be worth the drive to just walk around aimlessly.

[pcs]

What time does it start?

[Lawnnorder]

Check http://www.landscapeontario. All the info is there for you.

[LawnMonkeySoftware]

If you guys want free passes we've got a bunch of them here at the office.

We're at Don Mills and Lawrence in T.O. 1262 Don Mills Rd. Suite 77.

Give us a call for directions 416-640-6029

[cutntrim]

Lawnmonkey Guy,

I called you on-route to the show from my cell on Thursday but got the recorded mssg. saying you'd be out of the office during the show days. I'm guessing you only had trade show passes, and not on-site passes including seminars anyway.

Trade show was pretty cool. Saw some area dealers from Burlington/Oakville that we know and deal with. Found out that Toro is no longer offering their 0% financing deal on equipment. That closes the door on Toro for us. I prefer Exmark machines when interest rates are evenly matched.

Checked out an interesting plow design. The Blizzard Plow built by the Boss Plow guy's son. It hydraulically extends from eight feet to ten feet via two wings. The wings can be left straight, or angled forward like add-on wings on a regular straight blade.

My partner and I also sat in on Charles VanderKoi's seminar about Estimating and Bidding. Thought we might pick up some useful information. Nope. The guy is a freak. Kind of like a snake oil selling, televangelist, that suffers from Tourettes Syndrome. Buddy is walking around SCREAMING for two full hours. The only reason we didn't leave is that we'd already paid $50 EACH for the day. Should have just gone to the Trade Show and saved the extra money that the freakshow cost us.

Has anyone else seen/heard this guy? He ends his tirade by hawking his book for $45CDN (CASH), says he can't take checks and that he'll mark down those that pay and send them a copy later. Uh, yeah, right.

[kermit]

Saw vanderkoii and thought he was a blast. He is coming to Ottawa in Feb to the L.O. chapter. If you didn't hear something to help you make more money you wern't paying attention. Sure the guy's shpiel is weird but that's just his way of keeping our attention at the otherwise boring subject of bidding for two hours.
Most of the people at the seminar don't know how to price their work. Most Landscapers don't have a business degree and also, as vanderkoii said, we don't charge enough. You have to know your costs and most contractors don't. Why do you think there are so many fly by night opperators in this business? How many times have we seen a new company start up and not even make it through one season. One of the worst problems in this industry is low bidding,IMHO,the more people who attend seminars like vanderkoii's the better for all of us.Perhaps they will begin to see what their real costs are and stop lowering prices for those of us who need to make a profit.

[Mueller Landscape Inc]

Charles VanderKoi is one of the most well respected landscape consultants in the industry. If you didn't get anything out of what he had to say then you must have the "overhead recovery" method in your company working flawlessly.? Though many of the biggest companies around continuely tweak their numbers and methods in order to increase their bottomline. Makes you wonder if we can ever stop having to learn. I hope I never stop learning. I hope that I will be able to pick out the "nuggets" during a lecture from one of the most respected individuals in the industry. :)

John

[dylan]

I was there. I was impressed by all the new mowers. Did anyone see the kubota zturn. They sure pack a lot of stuff into that package for $14000. The front axle crank to jack the mower was great. 21hp diesel too. Not as heavy as some of the other diesels out there. I liked the fact that it did not have separate pumps and motors but rather an integrated hydro transmission. I was not sure if I liked the shaft drive. They did not know the blade speed. The hydraulic deck lift was handy.
It was my first time seeing the new exmark walkbehind with the new controls. It looked and felt good. They said they will have it on the 60" TT by may or june.
The Great dane surfer impressed me the most. I would prefer the floating deck but it was good to see it. The things I liked included: small footprint, only 65" long compared to 80" of a midmount, decent ground speed 8.5mph, light weight, 775 lbs compared to 1031 lbs for an exmark midmount both units having 60" decks and 23hp kaw engines. The price is similar to an exmark; $12000 each or $13000 for the 23hp liquid cooled kaw on the exmark.
I am going to have to demo this machine, see how it cuts and how it does on hills. I think it should do alright. Has anyone tried the mulch kit for this machine? how well does it work?
I looked at the ferris IS 4000z. 27hp kaw liquid cooled and suspension on all four wheels. It was a very big machine.
on another note, some of the people in my turf class are going to see vanderkoii when he comes to Ottawa in Feb.

[cantoo]

Sorry for missing you guys at the show, got real busy the last few days. We went on Thursday and seen alot of neat stuff. I kept telling my wife " by Fall we are going to have one of these" on every toy that was there. Spent some time at the Walker booth,, way too much money for the new hand lift for the deck, gonna just make my own. Seen the new salt spreader for the Walker, $2695 no thanks.
Anyone see the snow plow with the wings that slide straight out to make it wider, how long will that last in salt?
It was another pretty good show and got a chance to see some stuff upclose. Now I just have to find dealers within 100 miles to buy the stuff from.
We just got home from an overnight 300 mile sled ride and my a** is sore, the trails were beat to hell for the ride home, time to relax here for awhile.

[Edited by cantoo on 01-13-2001 at 08:20 PM]

[cutntrim]

Cantoo: Yeah, I saw the Blizzard plow, mentioned it in my post a couple above yours. We also saw the Walker salt spreader but didn't bother to ask the price. $2600+!!! Are you kidding me?!? No thanks.

Glad a few of you felt you got your money's worth with VanderKoi. We didn't. I don't require a song-and-dance routine delivered by a hyperkinetic Sam Kinison-Wannabe, to keep my attention where making my business more profitable is concerned. Some subjects are inherently dry to begin with and aren't conveyed as effectively to an audience when coupled with a shtick.

[AB Lawn Care]

Ya I missed that show:-(But oh well.

cutntrim-$2600 for the walker salt spreader????What a rip off!!!!My dealer can sell it to me for $1300!Where did you get that price from????

[cutntrim]

Just quoting Cantoo's price above my response. I wasn't interested in the spreader to begin with (I don't have a Walker, and if I did the spreader looks too small anyway). I didn't even bother to ask the price at the show.

[Lawnnorder]

I attended the trade show on the Thursday also. It was my intent to buy a new 32" Exmark for my residentials. I was hoping to maybe score a good financing deal or at least a free grass gobbler but the reps that were there were from the U.S. and couldn't even give me a firm CDN price. Exmark wasn't allowing on-site sales anyway so I was no further ahead. But it was great to see all the equipment and other services. Just goes to show you what kind of potential there is out there in the market.