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Always taken my mowers for an oil and filter change annually and I will get the blades sharpened as required which is a priority for me personally
I don't really have the time to do these jobs myself so I don't mind paying for the service and it's a business expense .
The tools earn money so I don't really worry .
I paid £165 plus vat for a mower serviced with blade sharpened . And this also included a petrol Stihl combi engine serviced and carb cleaning .
Battery hedge trimmers may require the gears lubricating and sap cleaning off the blades , maybe blade sharpening .
I can grease gears and clean sap but leave blade sharpening to the experts .
What is there to service on a stihl kombi? Change the spark plug, pull cord, grease the attachments?
For the lawnmower buy a oil transfer pump to drain the oil £25.00, new filters are a doddle to fit. Buy a new blade, keep your old blade on till the end of spring so you don't wreck your fresh blade on all the twigs that dropped over winter
I service my own stuff. Can be time consuming, It's relatively simple, plenty of videos on the interweb. Its worth understanding basic maintenance In case you have a breakdown that's often a quick fix. The valves on stihl 4mix engines need to be adjusted or at least checked ever year or they die.
You can soon be into a lot of expense and TBH we regard aspects a rip off. So what do we have serviced professionally? Our Hayter 56 pro's are as failing roller bearings can lead to expensive repairs but having said that failing to do so invalidates the 2yr pro warranty but after 3 years the roller bearings have not needed replacing, so we are paying for an air filter, spark plug, blade sharpen and oil and carb check whatever that is! Our last bill was just under £100 inc vat, blade replacement we do. I suppose the oil , air filter, plug could be bought for under £30?
The Honda 537 HRX's are over 3 years old and have never been serviced we just replace blades every year and are running fine.
Blowers, hedgecutters and strimmers never serviced.
Toro ride ons we replace belts when they fail, replace deck wheels and blades as needed but do have an engine service which if we had more time could as its only oil and air filter plugs and oil think the last bill was around £100 plus vat.
So to summarise we after 40 years have saved a lot of money by taking the view we will fix it when it breaks or won't start, so yes you can pay out a lot for very little or no benefit.
New kit will have to be professionally serviced to keep the warranty going... that said it doesnt last very long.
I just take things to the dealer for servicing when they break.
We do a combination. We service our mowers ourselves as they are so easy to do - oil, plug, filter, blade sharpen, clean down, check and grease cables. We find that as two stroke stuff can be a little more temperamental, that we get these serviced by a local dealer so as to eliminate starting issues etc. It is a necessary expense if you want them to last you years, which they should do. Of course those costs should be reflected in your pricing.
For me; Stihl equipment, strimmers, blowers, kombis, hedgetrimmers, I service myself. It's easy as pie. Filter and plug. All done annually with stuff from L and S Engineers, Brownhills. Grease any blades/ heads and clean and check over frequently.
Mowers. You can always find a local independant that will service, repair and sharpen the blades for you. I do most of this myself. Servicing is straightforward. Once a year and make sure the oil is changed if nothing else. Get an extra blade and switch regularly, sharpening both.
Anything more, i.e. carb issues etc, then use your local dealer. Personally I've always found the machines tend to last a lot longer as a one man operator than the larger firms where with even the best will in the world, the machines are often not handled or looked after quite so well. Hope this helps.
Its a con in my opinion. £130 to service the mower? What do they actually do? I'm still using a 20 year old Masport on the original spark plug. air filter I blow out with compressed air once a year and thats pretty much it. . Also a 20 year old Kaaz in a similar situation though I did check the valve clearances last year and they were still ok. You might need a fivers worth of oil Sharpen the blade with an angle grinder....Check condition of any belts and cables. All really simple stuff 30 minutes and you'll save all that money. Stihl stuff I've never "serviced"........... it doesn't need it in my opinion (apart from the 4 stroke valve clearances and check tthe air filter)...... just repair when a problem arises which is pretty rare.
As my post Graham in total agreement, it's difficult to see value for money, our hedgecutters,blowers and strimmers are never serviced along with the Honda HRX's all run fine. Just fix any issues as they arise.
If it's new gear you'll have to for warranty if not I do my own unless something expensive like my iseki
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