Tiger Cat or V-Ride? Help!

[esmit108]

I am in the need of a new scag mower and am going to use the 48 months no interest program through Sheffield. All of the mowing I do requires the grass to be picked up. The TC has a 16 bushel capacity but will cost me about $2,800 (rough estimate) more than a v-ride. V-ride comes out to like 3.2 bushel. Either way I'm going to get a 52 inch deck with a kaw. I just dont know what mower to get, any input would be nice. I mow lawns after work on Thursdays and Fridays. Most of them are in an older person trailer park and I get $11 a lawn then about 5 other normal size yards. Picking up the leaves this fall has been a little rough so I was leaning towards the TC. I need a new mower to help me get done faster as my customer base is growing due them liking my work and consistency. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[MJ Services]

$11 per yard? man and I thought I was cheap.....if you're only getting 11 bucks per yard they gotta be tiny tiny lawns. kinda hard to justify an $8000 Z for a postage stamp size lawn, no? maybe I'm missing something. Go buy a craftsman 21" push mower. it'll be way cheaper than a Scag

[esmit108]

In the summer I can get 4-5 done in an hour with a toro 21 inch push mower. Trim, mow and blow. But in the fall with the leaves it takes double the time. I'm looking to pick up more customers and I only wanna mow Thursdays and Fridays after work, leaving Saturdays incase it rains. So I would need a bigger and faster machine

[Puddle of Oil]

bump your price up to $25 per cut and see how many lawns you still have left. For 11 bucks they probably only want your price and not so much your quality.

[MJ Services]

I agree, 11 bucks is insane. If you still think you need a better mower, get a belt driven walk behind. then you can get one of those catchers that dumps into a trash can that rides on the front of the mower. I'd say a 36" WB would suit you fine if you're currently doing it with a 21"

[Puddle of Oil]

11 bucks wont come close to covering an oil change. lol

[Brules]

He is mowing trailer park size yards......they are half the size or less than a real yard, with I guess no fences.....

Maybe something along these lines.....a TC with bagger would cut an entire trailer park in 30 minutes lol.

[esmit108]

It's a park with 1,600 units. 50 and older gated community. I work at a place doing maintenance m-f 40 hours a week at $11 an hour, gonna graduate from college in may. I would say getting 4 lawns done an hour with a push mower is good money for someone like me. Thanks for the great advice tho. There are multiple big lco's that do work in the park

[MJ Services]

well if I were you, and I'm not, I'd really look in to a good, used belt drive WB and get a velke for it. Save up and pay cash. If you're doing 4 lawns per hour with a 21" pusher, you outta triple it with a 36" or 48" WB. If you can stand on a wheel and let it pull you around, you can go in 5th gear and fly. No matter what you use, you outta be getting more than 11 bucks a yard tho. 44/hr might seem like good $, but if you charge even $15/yard, that jumps to 60/hr. If you can be more productive, you can do more yards in the same amt of time. So say even if you double productivity with a bigger mower, you're now at 8 yards per hour @15 per yard. Now you're at 120/hr minus the cost of the mower, fuel, and of course INSURANCE, LICENSING & TAXES. But I'm sure those last 3 aren't an issue. if u don't have insurance, you can find a cheap 1 mil policy for about 500 bucks a year. post back and let us know what u decide.

[Rvldesign]

I have a 36" vride and 36" exmark metro wb which also has a grass catcher. Sounds like a used walk behind with a grass catcher would be better suited for you but that being said you asked about the vride and you should at least triple your production from a 21" push mower too even a 36" vride. I used to only use a 21" mower and up graded to the 36" vride and tripled my production afTer using the vride for a short period. I would think you could do 12-15 yards a hour in the park with a 52" vride if you can fit it into all the small places between trailers.