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  Seth Burgess January 15, 2015 at 5:12pm

  Is this a different contract to your last thread?

  http://landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/cutting-20-acres-on-a...

  Pretty unanimous decision that you need to use a gang mower.
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  David Cox January 15, 2015 at 6:48pm

  Depends on the ground, grades, weather, only you know what your machine can do in your hands - from experience how long would a 300sqm lawn take you? you should know these figures from experience, and so extrapolate out cutting width, speed and exp vs area.... you should work it out....
  If i was to cut 18 acres with a decent 90hp tractor - it would take me an hour or so... a ride on mower, maybe 2 days? It all depends on YOU.

  Do not want to sound dismissive, but it sounds like you may be jumping in at the deepend of contracting, and to be honest, you could get burnt for a alot of money and damaged name - this is compounded by the fact you appear to advertise as a General handyman, being good at household trades IE carpentry, as well as landscaping and grounds maintenance. talking in acres is a humongous scale up from just dabbling in garden maintenance - and as such the risks go from a few pounds and a lost customer, to thousands for breach of contract, witheld payments, and lost work due to under pricing / cocking it up.
  
  
  
  Perhaps focusing on smaller contracts and sites for a year or two before jumping up would help you, you would then be able to quickly say "ahh 18 ac would take me 9x longer than my 2 ac site down the road, and another few hours for those extra flower beds etc"
  
  Jumping in at this scale so quickly, for what reading your site etc appears to be someone entering this trade from another general trade, IMO will be very risky and could lead to tears.....
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  matt evans January 15, 2015 at 8:34pm

  2/3 days constant 8 hours per day - if the machie lasts that long. You need a big ride on such as a 3 gang ride on or a outfront ride on and you would do it in 6 hours no probs. 
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  Benedict Simmons January 15, 2015 at 10:09pm

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cwwf8WYRpo&feature=gp-n-o&...

  This is a 2 acre site I mow with a Kubota g2160 with a 52 inch mulching deck. The mowing part takes about 2.5 hours and as you can see its a big open area.
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  Mitchel ingham January 15, 2015 at 11:15pm

  Please take a picture of you mower in the middle of the area your mowing when you doing this. Even i dont know nothing about this sort of work but common sense says it needs a gang mower
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    Benedict Simmons > Mitchel ingham January 16, 2015 at 12:35am

    Was that a reply to my comment Mitchel? I'm not sure how that photo would help?
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  David Cox January 16, 2015 at 2:47am

  another way of looking at it is your cutting about 72,000- 73,000 square meters with a machine with a 1.25M cutting width, so in otherwords..........

  
  You have to drive 70kilometers or 43.5 miles....

  So assuming no turning, totally flat, no stopping you could possibly do it in 10 hours or so.
  
  SO in short the answer is you probabbly need a bigger mower to be comppetative.........
  To give you an insight I should not really share on apublic area of a forum....
  
  For commercial grass cutting ON THAT SCALE you need a gang mower or a topper mower, and should be done in 3-4 hours (with an 8foot trailed gang mower at 5mph or so). It could be done in 2 with a flail/topper mower.
  
  I would recommend something in the 50-90hp range for this and most contractors covering those size sites I know would charge £200-250 for that area on that set up, for those 2-4 hours work.
  
  I would seriously consider renting kit in......... or starting small rather than jumping in at this end.
  
  This mower is quite cheap for what it is, and would let you get done in 4-5 hours on a good dry day, which may be a way of working it.
  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Hayter-T424-5-Gang-Cylinder-Diesel-r...
  
  
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  Benedict Simmons January 16, 2015 at 8:55am

  David has made some very good comments, i would be taking his advice.
  
  The only other way I can think of to increase the amount you can mow with current equipment is to use a self powered tow behind mower. You would have to offset it from the kubota deck. Not sure how this would work as I haven't put it to practice.
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  gardener January 17, 2015 at 9:01am

  What you need is a roller mower way cheaper to run than a cylinder and do a very good job.

  we can blast a foot ball pitch of in 10 mins with a jd 3520 with a 6 foot major roller mower.
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    Gareth Morris > gardener January 17, 2015 at 10:28am

    Hi all and thanks for all the advise, i was supposed to have had my tender in yesterday, looks like it might now be possible on the budget.

    I have looked into this and am very surprised how quickly a compact tractor and pto driven roller deck will do the job, also the low maintenance involved. the contract is only worth about 10k including bridleways a park and quite a bit of striming. I'm glad to have found a set up that can easily do 20 acres a day. 

    I was only hoping to spend a few grand, do you think this is to smaller budget for a tractor and roller mower?

    Any advise on a cheap tractor and roller deck for the job? It is only 20 days use a year.

    Thanks again Gareth