It's possible that you might find a used low hr. commercial mower at a reasonable price. It may take some searching, but there are plenty available.

Then again, there's much to know when buying used. Your question is a hard one because there are so many variables.

 

Yeah, you can do that but they're not designed for that and won't hold up in the long run. You might want to consider a used commercial walk-behind instead. Ransomes-BobCat, Scag, Exmark etc. Good starter machines and they're plentiful on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. You can add a sulky to ride for the bigger lawns.

 

Get a entry level commercial. A decent down payment and your payment would $100 a month or less. Wright stander b , can be had for about $6k.

 

I had a Hustler raptor I got for free from a friend with 35 hours on it. It had clutch problems from before I got and for the time I had it. It put about 100hrs on it. Replaced the clutch. Bought a scag and sold the hustler to my brother this spring. He used it for his yard a few times, and clutch stopped. Replaced clutch under warranty. Used it twice. Said yesterday blades failed to come on. Has 190 hrs on it. Clutch stopping has jammed me up a few times while mowing my dozen yards. That's why I upgraded to a scag Tiger Cat 2. A Scag Patriot is about the lowest grade mower I'd go with.

 

Secondly, I'm doing 16 yards nights and weekends outside of my M-F 730-4 career. I wanted something that is reliable and faster than a residential mower. One of my easiest accounts is flat and open in the back, roughly 8-10,000 sq ft. I could run flat out with my Hustler. The first time running my scag, I shaved 18 or so minutes off. Same 52" deck size. As a solo with limited time, being fast as possible is important.

 

Could you? Maybe.

I had a residential Cub ztr that I used for a part time machine. Maybe 10 lawns or so at that time. By the 2nd year, there was plenty of issues popping up causing problems. The mower is just not built to be used much.

After buying my 1st commercial walk behind I sped up my work. As the cut was far better and I could go faster leaving better results(was a 50" ztr vs 48" wb)

My current Ferris WB i bought as a leftover for 5k. I think I put 2k down, and was supposed to pay $78 a month for 48 months, 0 interest. I paid extra and paid off early. I have had no issues with stuff breaking in the 4 yrs I've run it, and fully trust when I go out mowing, it will work.

 

Buy a used commercial mower for $2,000-$4,000 or so. Think brand name eXmark, Scag, Bobcat, Gravely, etc...

If you're on the cheap, go the walk-behind route. They're slower, but cheap, and everywhere.

 

Thank you all for chiming in, I appreciate it! I think I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a used commercial walk behind with a sulky as I think it may fit the best with the kinds of yards I typically do. Thanks so much!

 

I highly recommend looking for a scag swz or older swzu they are probably the most reliable used machines you can get… the mowers tend to outlast peoples business lol
Used commercial zero turns are ok but I wouldn't buy anything with thousands of hours unless the engine or other major parts have been replaced. Also don't buy anything without trying it out for yourself to make sure everything works properly. And ask the seller why exactly he is selling it, you don't want them to pass on a curse to you should the machine have a bad defect that your now stuck with. If it's someone who is downsizing their business or is replacing it for a better machine your probably in the clear.
You don't want to buy the machine, and then a week later the hydros give out and you have to pay thousand for repairs

 

Eh...doable, but if you’re anticipating ramping up to that many yards you’ll inevitably put a little bit of a beating on it regardless of how careful you are. Find a good dealer who is close and can fix the machine. Bobcat, as just one of many examples, makes what I think would be a commercial enough mower for someone like yourself for around $6500. I put 600
Hours on a Hustler Fastrak with almost zero issue. Belts and a spindle. No big deal.

 

Could you? Maybe.

I had a residential Cub ztr that I used for a part time machine. Maybe 10 lawns or so at that time. By the 2nd year, there was plenty of issues popping up causing problems. The mower is just not built to be used much.

See a lot trying to do this around here.. there are few i have not seen in a while.. hmmm wonder why..

 

I started with a mid grade Gravely HD, it worked for a while, but do yourself a favor and spend the money now rather than buy 2 mowers later.

 

I started with a timecutter, total residential mower. Put 300 hours on it and then sold it to my cousin who still uses it for his 2 acres.

I then went to a hustler raptor sd. Put 200 hours of commercial use on it before i switched to standers entirely.

Both of those mowers are residential and both of them did fine for 15-20 lawns a year or so. I would say if you're just getting started it would be fine, you have to start somewhere and then find out how it's going for your business. At that point, you can start to search for the better built equipment.

 

Just because someone can afford something doesn't mean they need/require it. To pay for college, I started cutting grass with a (used) Wizard 46" 18hp rider and (couple months later) upgraded to a used Exmark 36 belt drive. When I finished Grad. school in 01 I had the same 36" belt drive, 48" belt drive and a 48" hydro - all purchased used.
"Do everything in your power to stay out of debt". Warren Buffett

 

"Do everything in your power to stay out of debt". Warren Buffett

I definitely agree with this type of statement, but if manged properly debt can be a real asset as well.

I bought my WB for 5k. I needed a mower now, as I already had a client list, and my old mower blew out the transmission and was not worth fixing.
Should I have bought a cheap push mower and gotten that 5k slowly to pay in cash(and likely lose most of my client list because I didn't have time to service them all anymore) or take the 0% interest loan available and buy the mower?

Seems pretty obvious to me personally.

I am not saying be stupid and ring up debt like crazy.

 

Like I said. I wasn't second guessing your decision.

What if you had that money invested earning money until it's time to buy a machine instead of borrowing it from the bank?

 

Getting my Deere at 0% was like a rocket for my business. Granted I push mowed with a 21” through my first year and was confident things were heading quickly in the right direction. One weekly account paid the payment and allowed me to not only service many many more yards, it made me look the part much better than the Turfmaster did. I could often tell a difference when meeting a potential client with a professional looking mower vs a big push mower that I always left the bag on to make it look bigger.

 

I did the same too. When I moved cross country I wasn't even planning on starting a business. Decided to and borrowed my girlfriends push (not even self propelled lol) mower to get started. Got a few jobs going and borrowed $5k from my dad to buy a used Q36 and some better tools and it also transformed my business into a semi legit operation

That said, after getting going, had I been more diligent about investing early on instead of spending like a lawn guy with a pocket full of cash, I wouldn't need to be cutting grass at this point

 

@scratch123

What are the sizes of you typical yard? I don't quite have sq footage like the back of my hand but like an acre, 1/8 acre, 100 acres lol? What I'm getting at is maybe, just a thought, would a Ferris fw15 be something that would allow you to have a full commercial machine that is small, lightish, versatile and moderately inexpensive?
I'm still on the bandwagon as I just bought one for soft rain soaked yards but so far it's a good mower. Has reverse and decent power, it's about 10 minutes slower than my 36" stander, I'm thinking because I have to trim less. I would have died to have it last year instead of my 21 Honda and I kinda wish I just bought it outright instead of getting a used Turfmaster and restoring it, even though it was fun working on it.
Just a thought.

 

Snapper sw15 is the same thing

 

Which Charleston OP?

 

It's all up to one's goals in business.. I've been at this game for 6 yrs, and am in no way a source for all your answers. As you can see in my title pic, my color of choice was initially determined by what the previous owner of my business owned- JD.
No matter the reason, one of the major factors in buying new, buying larger, updating machinery is parts and service. My friend has a small lawn care business with a top name brand zt but it's a residential level,(with 350 hrs) and his belts are yearly breaking, the lift arms for the deck have bent and needed replacing, the muffler manifold system broke apart. And his dealership is 2-3 miles from home, his dealer has been of little help to service him quickly, and they don't even carry deck belts for his machine. For me, if I break down I need to get fixed that day, if not I need a loaner,...if I need parts,I need them that day. If my machine is down longer than 24 hrs they send me home with a new loaner till mine is fixed. I find it very important to have good parts and service, and residential machines just don't have the longevity of even used commercial machines. And like previous posters have started, with 0-1% financing why not get machine the fits your application.
Myself, I'd rather see a commercial cutter buy a used commercial unit than a new residential one. And your back will thank you for the gain in ride comfort

 

Hey scratch! In the early 2000's mowing was beer money for me. Unfortunately i got laid off in 2011 and got thrust into it and here i am. Started back up with a exmark metro 36-48 with sulkys. 20 yr old machines still run great. Let neighbor hold onto the 36 and my 48 is used every Friday for a gentlemen who only wants his yard walked. No riders.
Gave you the back story because walk behinds last forever. Not sure how big your yards are but in the 6-15k sq/ft range a 48 will be just fine. Second is that just say it takes off, belt drive walk behinds are very simple machines to work on maintenance wise. And a new one is very affordable. Lastly if your goal is 15 total lawns which is just about a mortgage payment a month and it does keep growing, you will learn how to to get faster without mowing faster. By that i mean trim route, bundling lawns into your trim route abd not getting any grass in hard surfaces. Which will seriously improve your speed when you do upgrade to a full hydro floating deck.
in closing my opinion is that residential z's are just that, meant for one cut a week.
good luck to you sir!
Ps. Since you're a musician check out "sweet Jane" live 10/31/98 Thomas and Mack center. It won't disappoint!

 

Bought a John Deere Z920M (heavy but solid) and put 975 hours on it. The Kawasaki FX730V-AS20R engine just cratered. So, buying a heavy duty machine isn't the whole answer. The engine choice is critical. Read the forums before deciding upon the engine and find good dealer support for it. Kawasaki had a great reputation but that has been smeared heavily by the large number of failures and lack of warranty support for the FX line. That motor breaks valves which wipe out engines every time. A $2500 engine replacement every 1000 hours is totally unacceptable. So, I'll replace it with a Vanguard 810 and hope to get better life from that one.

 

who’s the closest dealer to you( think John Deere, scag, toro, etc)? Go build a relationship with them. They might have some used commercial equipment for a decent price. I have been running John Deere since I started because I have a great relationship with the dealer and they are close by my house. They really help me out when the $&3t hits the fan. And they love seeing me become a better lco. If you can find something similar to where you are, that would be the best thing.

 

I've run Walkers for years, after year 3 **** starts to break down and add up. We run 3, hard, and am in the process of getting another one. Supply chain and price increases are making this difficult.

 

If you're handy with maintenance and simple repairs, I wouldn't hesitate to get a used commercial WB or ZT. Belt driven walk behinds are pretty easy to work on compared to ZT's. Look into parts availability for the Brand/Model; if something does go wrong you can consider repairing yourself....most jobs, and even some difficult ones can be done in a weekend if you have all your parts and tools ready to go.

I'm a DIY guy when when it comes to things, so when I was shopping for a mower, I looked at how easy it was to replace or repair things like spindles, oil, belts, blades, etc...(I went w/SCAG)

 

this is why i like walk behinds so much because everything is open and reachable, making repairs a breeze.
some brands make their ZTs and standers easy to work on but i see a lot of them just cramming all the wires, battery, hydros, and filters into super hard to get places.