you want a zero-radius turn? or one of those tiny tractor looking things? Exmark, Ferris, Kubota, and John Deere are some of the big names I usually come across.
Here is a scenario I'd like you to read. Jason and Alex both want to start their own lawn mowing business. Alex wants to buy a riding lawnmower for his business. Jason, on the other hand, is planning on using his already existing self propelled push mower. Initial investment: Alex - $1200 (cheapest riding lawn mower I could find) Jason - $0 Jason starts off by charging 30 dollars per yard. He gets 6 people that wish to have him mow their lawns all season. (32 weeks) He mows each lawn once a week. 6 x $30 = $180 per week. Alex does the same, 30 per yard. He also gets 6 customers. Same scenario, once a week. 6 x $30 = 180 per week. But Alex also realized that the riding lawnmower is extremely difficult to maneuver around small lawns and landscaping. He must tow a push mower along with his edger. The mower takes forever to arrive at the customer sites because riding lawnmowers only do about 5mph. At the end of the season, both Jason and Alex have been paid: $180 x 32 = $5760.00. So, the profits so far: Jason $5760.00 Alex $5760.00 - $1200 = $4560.00 At the end of the first season, Jason has 1200 more dollars than Alex. Season two comes and goes. Again, Jason still has 1200 more dollars than Alex has made. Jason picked up no new customers because it is too far to walk a mower any further than he already does...and Alex wont take on any longer distance customers because it costs him too much in gas and takes forever to get there on his riding lawn mower. Season three comes along, Jason is still up 1200 dollars, plus probably some more since it only takes him a half gallon of fuel per yard where the riding mower takes upwards of a gallon. And Alex also must pay for fuel for the push mower to do the edge cleanup on landscaped areas. Season three ends. Alex is now out of highschool and probably working a normal job that doesn't afford him the hours to mow 6 lawns a week. He must sell his riding lawnmower because his father doesn't want it in his garage anymore. Alex sells the lawnmower, but at a loss because it has 3 seasons on it and it's motor needs rebuilt. He gets 300 for it. Now Alex is only behind Jason about a grand. Do you get the picture? You already have: A lawnmower that is self propelled An edger. You don't need anything else to do a single man operation. I could see if you had a team of two, you and someone else, but then you must split profits. But that would be the only intelligent way to go about using a riding lawnmower for residential mowing. And riding the lawnmower to the sites is silly since that costs much much more money than pushing a lawnmower or having it trailered to the site....which you can't do either because you don't have a place to park a trailer full of lawn mowing equipment.
you can come up with a better job then mowing lawns. ide rather make 5.15 hr at taco bell then mow X amount of lawns for X amount of dollars.
work at a grocery store or something. you will love the cold foods section when its hot in the summer. at least i did back in the day.
you've already got a self-propelled mower?! and that aint enough? I mowed my parent's house, 3 of my grandparent's rental properties, and the lake cabin, all through High School....all with a non-self-propelled walk-behind. and yes, any riding lawn mower that a 16 year old can afford, has a much longer wheelbase than a push mower, therefore making it very easy to scalp the ground if it's uneven. We just recently got a snapper rider up at the cabin, and you have to be really careful, or it'll just tear it down to dirt.
hes trying to say you dont need a tractor!, ive seen the lawns in your area, they dont require a tractor, unless you are a supreme lazy person. #1 how are you going to pay for it? #2 the tractor will cost more then what you will make, for all you know this summer could be total crap and everyone's grass will be dead.#3 what are you gonna do in the winter??? work at a grocery store like someone else said, they hire young, and are willing to give hours.
Investing money in a career is a good idea. But I stress "in a career." Personally, I have over $3000 invested in tools, plus the cost of a higher end laptop all invested for my work. (I'm a production electrician. lighting/audio/video for theatre, corporate, and concerts). But this is something that I'll be sticking with for years and years. It's my chosen career path, and while it may take a while to recoup the money spent, it makes me much more efficient at my job having the proper tools, and having good tools that won't break at the drop of a hat. If you're 16, you're what...a sophomore or junior in high school right? I know it can seem like a long time until you get out, but that’s only 2, maybe 3 years until you're headed out to college. Spending that kind of money doesn't really make sense, mainly because you won't really have the time to properly recoup the expense, unless you plan on doing this for a number of years. You also have to remember that with something like a riding mower, (especially a cheap one) there is a lot more to go wrong, and more than likely maintenance costs will be higher, fuel consumption will be higher, transit will be a larger PITA, and depending on the lawn, may actually take more time because of all the detail work that you'll have to do anyway. And also, (if you live in the burbs) most of the people who have lawns large enough to warrant a riding mower probably have contracts with professional lawn services. And yes it is true that you have to spend money to make money, but why spend money when you already have all the proper tools at your disposal? Why not give it a season with a self-propel, and spend the energy to walk behind it. It'll be good for you. you know, that whole exercise thing. See how things go for this season, then decide if it's worth spending all of that extra money. I'm sure that everyone here has something that they could buy that would make their jobs a little bit easier. I could spend $300+ on a FLUKE meter, but my $100 one does most of the same things, and honestly, is plenty to get the job done, and done right.
Great, but that means now you have to buy a trailer. Techy said it best, why spend money when you already have all the proper tools at your disposal?
trailer wouldnt be hard to make and if i was to buy one it wouldnt cost to much jason if u were to see one of the yards that i was to cut u would be thinking the samething as me and i was just looking at them i wasnt going to go out and buy one right now
I got myself a riding lawn mower last spring from sears for a good deal, i got i think a 1400 mower for 1199. Not bad. I didnt get it for buisness purposes though. I have a 1 acre yard i have to mow, so its more of a time saver then anything. It went from taking around 2 hours to mow my lawn, to less then an hour now.
when I was young........ I got a job making coffee for all the hot milfs in Woodbury. those were the days.
lmao if u go to the link above and to ideas for 15 and younger ... it says A PC tutor/Web site development service. Are you a whiz with computers and the Web? Well, many adults are not, and you could make a good business helping people learn to use PCs and develop Web sites for their families -- or for their businesses. thats total bs... most adults think we are stupid in pcs... im smart as hell in pc, i even put together the pc im on now but no, teachers and adults still think im stupid(exept 1) but yeah like they said dont waste money on a riding mower...
