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Life expectancy of any machine depends on so many factors its impossible to give accurate figures. But what I have found is the likes of Etesia and Honda mowers last a long long time with regular maintenance and care. Victa also last forever. Regular oil changes etc etc make a big contribution to the life of machines. Buying quality and looking after the machine makes the difference.
Putting aside the 'cost' question for a moment; there are at least 2 simple ways of overhead recovery for a piece of equipment AND opens up a much wider question - How do you account for machinery usage such that you have a plan to pay for it and plan to accrue some money for its replacement (rather than a knee jerk need to replace out of your cash in bank). The cheaper or more disposable the piece of kit, the less need there is to do this...but for a ride on, chipper etc it is vital;
1- direct recovery - where you 'expect' the machine to be a written off in accounting terms after, say 1 or 2 years. Here you take the cost of the machine, repairs, servicing etc and divide by the working hours of the machine. That gives you almost a 'hire' price that you include in your price to do a job. This way you ensure cost are recovered for each specific piece of kit. Fuel may or may not be included in this price.
So your internal quoting sheet may say;
Mow Joe Blogs Lawn
-Labour (travel)
-Labour (work)
-Machine usage
-Fuel usage
-Profit
-Overhead recovery
= Total Price for Quoted job
2 - Indirect recovery - where you lump all your business costs inc machines, service costs, repairs etc into 'one pot' and divide by 2080 hrs and that's your charge rate. Pros & cons on this - you'll be too dear on labour based jobs or too cheap on machine intensive jobs.
The reality is that most will (by accident or specifically) do a combination of both.
This is a great subject for anyone who really wants to run an efficient business and ensure they can recover ALL their costs logically by simply quoting correctly for a job.
There are some great books and methodologies out there for those that are interested.
Now back to the OP.
We "write down/off" all our pedestrian mowers after 12 -18 months. If they last longer that's a positive. We have little hour meters/rev counters fitted to each machine (cost ~£10 on ebay - highly recommended), so we know hours used, service intervals etc. Old mowers get ebay'd.
One thing I've noted is a much longer mowing year over the last 5 years. The pattern has changed. We can mow 11-12 months a year (subject to snow,frosts & floods).
Service kits and oil costs are available from a good dealer or again on Ebay (hours between oil changes :50-100)
I would say 20-25% of cost of machibe in spares & repairs (exc servicing) is reasonable if you look after your gear. Fatcor in loading/unloading, employees, rough ground and that can rise to nearer 100%. There is no one answer...its a guesstimate...
New engines often cheaper than strip downs (esp if via a dealer). By the time you've stripped down, found fault, bought spares, gaskets, suffered oil leaks, down time. Cost to replace an engine can be negligible - don't over look this.
Example - I've just blown an engine on a Belle mini compactor we use for running block paving repairs at business parks. Great machine, cost £500. Sounded like blown engine.,took plug out and clearly something major wrong. Easiest solution, bought a new replacement Loncin engine ready to drop in £65 inc var + del. 4 Bolts, one pulley and belt swapped and machine back in use. Subsequently one the guys took the head off last week and barrel/piston wrecked.
my thinking on this
new mower cost say 1000
spares repairs servicing costs 250
fuel usage per hour at say a 1.50 per hour
750 hours life
resale price 200
cost to business 2.90 per hour
my account is telling me to write off costs in the first year at the moment this is about operating costs