Does it make sense to mow your lawn yourself or hire someone?

[thedevilyoulove]

The zero turn thread got me thinking about this, rather than threadjack I'll start new:

I have a zero turn Toro that is 10 years old, has 500 hours on it. I got it new for about $5K-$6K and prolly put $1K is misc repairs into it since I've owned it (mostly to the deck, the spindles wore out). I really don't need to replace it, but I when I took the blades to get them sharpened, I saw a new Grasshopper (the kind with the trail wheels in the back) and I LOVE it. I am thinking about upgrading to it, but for the $10K that it costs, I am wondering if it makes sense to hire someone to cut my grass. Even if the GH lasts 10 years, that's $1K a year plus fuel, maint, repairs and my time which is valuable. It might be cheaper to hire someone to cut my lawn for me (at least until President Trump builds his wall, LOL).

Even if each cut costs me $100 and I get it cut once a week for three months, that is $1,200/year with no costs for fuel, repairs or my time. Not sure I can cut my lawn myself any cheaper than that.

What say OTT? Have you guys compared costs of cutting your lawn yourself vs. hiring someone to do it? What did you decide?

 

[aarolar]

Buy a cheaper mower, you don't need a 10k dollar mower to cut your grass once a week during the growing season.

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[Daren Todd]

For me, it's more economical to do it my self.

When I lived in a neighborhood I hired the neighbors kid to do it for $30 a pop. Kid only wanted $10 to mow the 3/4 of an acre, trim and blow off the driveway. I handed him $30 and told him not to short himself

I have a thirty plus year old tractor, with a $1,000 60" finish mower. At your rates above, it paid for itself in a year We have around a 6 to 8 month mowing season. And mow about 2 acres. I use a $100 push mower to get the areas I can't get with the finish mower. With weed eating and edging it takes me 4 hours. Weed eating and edging only need to be done about every 2 to three weeks. Mowing the rest of the time is between 2 and 3 hours. Tractor costs about $5 in diesel to mow and $20 an oil and fuel filter change. And around 5$ in gas for the rest of the equipment per mowing


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[Diydave]

THat 3rd set of wheels, can be a real kidney puncher, on rough ground. Been mowing lawns commercially, for about 25+ years, the go to standard mower is a 5' wide, 25+HP gas motor. The dixie chopper I'm running now, has over 2100 hrs on it, all put on by me. New, its prolly 12 grand, right now, has the Kohler 28EFI motor on it. Lets see if I can remember all I have put on it, maintenance wise:

Had a Tbox (right angle drive) go under warranty my cost $250.
Muffler, cost, IDK.
Electric Fuel pump, $150
lots of primary fuel filters, about $15-20
lots of oil filters, $7
lots of deck drive belts, $10
Had a oil gasket go, on the motor, $250ish
2 sets of rear tires, @169 ea
1 set ATV knobby tires @75 ea
4-5 batteries $20-25 ea
1 deck spindle belt $10
2 engine drive belts $10 ea
1 set front tires, replaced with new solid filled tires $150 ea

That's all I remember for the 8 years I've had it...

THe mower it replaced, a gravely promaster 200 with 3000 hrs on it, got to eating hyd drive motors, to the tune of 1 $900 motor a year (300 if rebuildable), but the damn things had some kind of experimental lock nut, that would break, and sometimes bugger the shaft and keyway and hub, too.

I like the way that DC keeps everything pretty simple...

 

[Fro65]

I have a 2006 grasshopper I purchased new for right at $10,000. Amortized over the past 10 years, obviously cost me $1000 per year. Other than blades, fluids and filters, have had no major maintenance expenditures with it (my third grasshopper).

Last week I got three estimates from lawn services to mow my yard for me while I am out of town next month. Cheapest estimate was $320 per mowing. I usually have to mow every fourth or fifth day. Typically mow around 50 times a year.

This means the cheapest lawn service would cost me $16,000 for the year.
Shoot, for that kind of money, I could get a new Kubota powered grasshopper each year.

I think I'll keep mowing it myself whenever possible.

 

[Daren Todd]

Gone are the days of getting the neighbors kid to come over and do it

 

[Tooljunkie]

The 3 grasshoppers i looked after do an average of 100 hours per year for each machine. All are 10 plus years old. Had one hydrostatic drive go on one side. Otherwise the usual, blades belts and service items. Some cracks on decks from ramming stuff. Put a leaf spring on one that would flip out to drag picnic tables,raise deck and leaf would hook bench and drag it. Saved getting off machine in the picnic grounds. Add a trash basket and trimmer mount and it rocked!!

At home I mow 9 acres once every two weeks, with a single 48" husqvarna mower took 8 hours and minimum 5 gals gas. 100 hrs/year.
Kubota with 60" three point mower does it faster and on less fuel.

A grasshopper up here is 17 to 22 thousand to buy new. 72" mower would be my weapon of choice.

 

[forceten]

I moved here 10 years ago - 2 acres. First year I had a lawn service. $75 a cut. We have a lawn cutting need from april till sometimes october. About 25 cuts if they do every 10 days

$1,875


Bought a used 60" zero turn bobcat in great shape, I think $3,000

First two years paid for itself, and I still have the machine. been 10 years now. We can get the 2 flat acres cut in just about an hour so we put 25-30 hours a year on it which is nothing for a commercial mower. Saved over $18,000 - granted we have to do the work ourselves but we do a better job anyway. Only had two repairs so far - pto switch - $60 - one of the three spindles started making some noise - new spindle for something like $120 (with pully)

With the hours on the zero turn I bet I could sell it for the $3k still. I could go buy a kubota zero turn if I wanted for $5-$6k and still come out ahead in a few years.


Just dont get a $10k machine and it will be worth it a lot sooner. Your season is very short though? 10 cuts?

 

[dmbe]

For me, the biggest factor is quality. Many of my neighbors have a lawn service and I just do a better job than they can do. I will keep cutting mine as long as I am able to do it. The difference in cost is negligible.

 

[TripleR]

It would be much cheaper for us, but we prefer to do it ourselves, beats sitting on the couch etc.

 

[car compulsive]

Some of my neighbors use lawn services and the quality is lacking: scalped spots, bald sections from zero-turns, poor trimming, don't bother with treed areas they can't get a 60" deck into, don't mow all the way to the property lines, etc. Plus, where would I go for my weekly tractor therapy session in the summer?

 

[Dr Honda]

All depends where you live I guess.


When I lived in SoCal... the yards were small, and you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting 10 different lawn services. SO... $60 month would get you weekly mowings, and basic landscaping.

In Pittsburgh... they want +$60 per mowing, and NO real clean-up. Heck... last time I checked... they wanted almost $300 just to trim up my hedges. Now... couple that with any fall leaves, and the extra I mow for a green space behind my house... and my original $800 tractor paid for itself in the first year !!!!!!!! (it lasted 9 years with only a few minor issues)


My Kubota is a "Luxury" to me. I didn't need a $12k tractor to mow... but it does a great job, and has made heavy work easy. (I also have a FEL)

I enjoy mowing, and running my tractor. So... just like with my truck... I don't try to justify the price tag, other than knowing I have a tractor that could go 10 years without anything other than normal maintenance. (and go 20 years with basic repairs)


Do you think a "Service" would keep a yard like this nice????

 

[OBKubota]

I just could not pay someone else to have all my fun!


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[chieffan]

I never gave comparing cost a thought. May a lawn service about 2 miles from me. We mow about 3A on an as needed basis. Have my own equipment. JDf5215 with front off set deck. Rough riding till I put a MTD spring seat on it. 48? deck and fits between trees, shrubs, etc nice. Not a ZTR but will cut around an 8" tree. Have more mowers than I need but not sure which ones I want to sell. 60" Kubota is open area only pretty much. Cub with a 38" deck will probably the one to go. By mowing my own lawn I can get it done when I want ti done, not when somebody else fits it in. If we have a rainy spell you either get it mowed when it is to wet or a week late. I think I will do it my self.
aarolar was right on. Don't need no $10K mower for your own lawn. Unless you have more $$$ than you know what to do with and then stay with a 48. The larger you go the more uneven the cut unless you have a perfectly level lawn.