Just saw my first $80,000 lawnmower

[walnutman]

What’s crazy isn’t spending 80k on a mower to make money. Crazy is spending 6+k on a mower and wasting tons of life cutting large lawns at home.

A lot of people enjoy it. I have about 3 acres of our 4 acre property that needs mowing. I enjoy it but if we get regular rains I do start to dread it.

 

[walnutman]

I test mowed a nice Ferris Zero Turn at my nearby NH dealership. When I asked about the 0% financing option they told me "you can do that a for an 8% premium on the purchase price"! - LOL!, WTH?
Made me reconsider my relationship with them. (It is where I bought an NH compact utility tractor, years ago.)

That's standard, Been like that forever. Auto dealerships do the same. The nice thing about the 8% markup is if you pay the 8% as a downpayment, you are no longer paying the bank interest for how ever many years.

 

[Paystar]

It's an Exmark Lazer Z 37hp diesel. No fancy cab with AC. Looks more or less like any other zero-turn I've seen.

I'm hoping someone who knows more about these things can answer a question for me. Is there ever an actual business case to be made for a mower that costs as much as my 75hp tractor? I just can't make sense of it.

People that are dumb enough to buy them and pay that price, LOL

 

[walnutman]

Apparently the OP has his numbers out of wack
First of all its a 96" cut and costs $54k.

LZS88CDYM96RW0 by Exmark - Lazer Z Diesel with 37 HP** Yanmar 3TNV88C Diesel Engine and 96" UltraCut Rear Discharge Deck | Western Auto LZS88CDYM96RW0 by Exmark - Lazer Z Diesel with 37 HP** Yanmar 3TNV88C Diesel Engine and 96" UltraCut Rear Discharge Deck | Western Auto

 

[stevem5215]

5 year warranty. Don't see any exclusion for commercial use so those guys would benefit I'd guess from beating it to the ground.

 

[walnutman]

5 year warranty. Don't see any exclusion for commercial use so those guys would benefit I'd guess from beating it to the ground.

I would say this is a commercial mower out of the gate.

 

[grsthegreat]

The site points out that theres a 130” diesel unit for over 80k. I know a few rich and stupid homeowners here that would probably buy one. One guy has a brand new skid steer , glass cab, rubber high track for clearing his 30’ driveway in the winter. Resides in new covered overhang rest of the time.

 

[walnutman]

The site points out that theres a 130” diesel unit for over 80k. I know a few rich and stupid homeowners here that would probably buy one. One guy has a brand new skid steer , glass cab, rubber high track for clearing his 30’ driveway in the winter. Resides in new covered overhang rest of the time.

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These are commercial mowers. Geared more towards pristine sprawling acreage. I dont see understand the OP's point.

 

[Fixastuff]

These are commercial mowers. Geared more towards pristine sprawling acreage. I dont see understand the OP's point.

The point is, “I couldn’t use this or make money with it, so that must mean no one else can, therefore it scares me and I must ridicule it”.

 

[KennyG]

Commercial work in general doesn't care about the capital costs, it's all about availability, efficiency and utilization. The internet says commercial mowing costs $30 to $150 per acre depending on size and location. The mowers being talked about mow about 10 acres an hour. If the operator is $30 per hour and the mowers burn a gallon to two an hour, the operating cost is a small fraction of the total cost. If you assume $50 an acre for mowing, you only have to mow less than 2000 acres to pay for the $80,000 mower. The mower is paid off in 200 hours of mowing.

It looks like a real bargain to me.