Hi guys my name is Lee and after 15 years of working in various aspects of horticulture I am going to start up my own garden maintenance business. I have £1200 redundancy money to buy equipment with. I know thats not a lot and I can spend a bit more if I have to but would ideally like to stay within that budget. My main problem is that initially I will be using our Ford Fiesta so the first mower needs to be light & portable. I would ideally like to go all cordless - strimmer, hedge cutter & blower will probably be cordless whether I buy them at the start or later down the line. I quite like the looks of the Viking cordless mowers and petrol wise Honda Izy looks suitable apart from not being good in the wet. Mulching would be great with my lack of van. The gardens will be small to medium, I am unsure if people will want stripes or not but to be honest I may have to forgo a roller until I can buy a second mower & van!
So my question is really should I spend most of my budget on a mower and go without some of the other kit to start with or get a cheaper mower and start out with blower, strimmer & hedge cutter? I would prefer to buy new really. Quality of cut is important to me. I am RHS qualified and hope to be able to charge towards the higher end of the spectrum when I am established.
Sorry for such a broad question, I have used the search to look at other posts. Perhaps if people could state what their ideal setup would be for starting out I could see how much extra I really need to spend.
Any advice much appreciated.
Many thanks
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Replies
You need to go see your local dealer and speak to them.
Priced off of the dealer I use this is the cheapest decent or above quality tools I can find for you.
Echo SRM 222 ESL Strimmer (straight shaft) £184
Stihl hs 45 24 inch blades £206 (18 inch blades for £7 less)
makita bhx2501 £180
Izy 18 inch SP £434
That comes to £1004 however you need more than just the tools.
You could get a cheaper Izy but who really wants to push a mower all the time? You could save £50 and get a 16 inch instead but 18 is fine for all round mowing.
This is pretty much bare minimum and still being able to do an acceptable job. Vibration will be bad on everything however and with just a small handheld hedge trimmer yoou wont be able to do large hedges.
Forget mulching for anything but weekly or high summer, even then weekly mulching isnt great unless it's a dedicated machine.
Perhaps I should have asked specifically about an all cordless set up for a new business. It's just the more I think about noisy tools are the worst thing about modern gardening - I still love using shears, edgers and a broom personally if it wasn't for the time constraints.
Although cordless is certainly coming and fast. I personally wouldn't spend the outlay on my first set of tools on cordless machines. Perhaps your replacement tools (when you have a bit of work and more money) can be cordless?
Screwfix are doing a 19" Honda powered Mountfield for £349. I bought one as a spare and my guys like it. Comes with mulching plug and works pretty good. Being Screwfix, if it breaks in the first year then they'd just replace it.
The Honda engine is not like any I've seen before, but is a genuine Honda. Presumably built in China with Honda quality control. I hope.
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