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I have been asked to quote for a 9.5 acre playing field, a couple of football pitches and a play park. I would like to take on the contract but can only afford a 48" ride on. Would this be viable? i can mulch the grass and have been to my local dealers and they advised me to go for a john deere x165 for £2900.

The clients would like me to do around 26 cuts per year as that is what the last contractors billed them for. The previous guys were using five gang mowers, but i can not afford one of these unless i buy a old one with problems, prefer to buy new and take longer if possible. No idea what to charge for 20 acres or how long it would take.

Any advice would be very welcome

Many thanks Gareth

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  • PRO

    81k square metres with 48in? The JD site says that an x165 can do 6000 square metres an hour which I assume is counted as straight line mowing so lets say 5.5k an hour That's 14.7 hours mowing.

    I'd personally get a tractor with a trailed mower. Older tractors can be very simple and reliable as long as you dont get a dog. Especially as newer equipment will have more electrical stuff to go wrong whereas a basic old one will have far less to go wrong and won't have sealed for life joints but proper ones with grease points.

    Also the 165 is a Domestic machine isn't it? I don't think it would stand up to 2 days mowing 26 times a year.

  • PRO

    Somewhere on the internet, there is a 'mowing time calculator' that was uploaded by Toro machinery (sure someone will correct me if I am wrong). We run a set of just under 7ft cut compact tractor gangs which in good going and at decent forward speed are capable of 2.5 - 3 acres an hour (depending on circumstances).

    Trying to do that job with the John Deere mentioned will A. wear the machine out VERY quickly, B. be mind numbingly boring and C. Be highly unlikely to be cost effective for you or the client.

    Playing fields and sports pitches are usually 'cut and let fly' with the cylinder gang mowers as the is the fastest, most cost effective way of doing it.

    The John Deere you have linked to appears to be a 'homeowner' grade machine, certainly not something I would want to cut 20 acres with ONCE, let alone all season - possibly not what you wanted to hear I fear.

  • Thanks for all the advice, yes it is a home use mower. I have nowhere to store a tractor and can't afford more than a few thousand. I have two lads that work with me, so we could do a day each. I don't know what kind of money I could charge for this, I only pay my lads £60 a day. Could there still be a profit in this? I will look into a bigger mower if the money is in it.
    The guys that we're doing it before have been charging for visits that they have not done, so the client is looking for someone else.
    Thanks again Gareth
    • I am a bit scared to get a old cylinder gang mower, I am guessing they are hard to maintain. Can anyone suggest a mower for the job that would fit on a 8x5 trailer?
      Thanks Gareth
      • Still have no idea what I should be charging for 20 acres?
        Thanks again
        • PRO

          Gareth, I suspect few will give you a firm price - it's really hard.

          You need to first calculate your cost base including what you need to earn. Then you need to estimate the time & costs to perform that job using size & machine capabilities as metrics.

          With those two factors known, you can quote 'your price'. For small jobs you can 'borrow' someones else's prices, because if it's slightly wrong, the impact is small. On a large job like this, being out a few %points will hurt if locked into a contract.

          I know that maybe not what you want to hear, but there are some great posts on LJN discussing calculating your costs, hence internal charge rates (and/or ask more specific question in the B.O.G.)

          • I guess your right, everyone has different overheads. What is BOG?
            Thanks
            • PRO

              BOG - Business Objectives Group - you will need to upgrade from 'Free' to 'Premium' to access it - theres a 'Go Premium' link at the top of the page.

              I will echo what Gary says about pricing above - I think you need to seriously consider why the last contractor was using a 5 gang mower - its quicker, easier and more cost efficient than spending two days doing the same job.

              Put it this way - a Ransomes Parkway spec says it will cut 2.3h/a an hour at 12 kph forward speed - that's approximately 5.6 acres per hour and that's only a 3 gang machine.

              A tractor mounted hydraulic 7 gang set will chop its way through 12 acres an hour at 7.5 mph forward speed....  

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