Toro or Lesco

[mr. phil]

I need the forums help in making a very important equipment purchase. I have about 20 residential customers now and plan on expanding to about 50 next month. My funds are limited right now and I have the option of purchasing a used Lesco 32" walk behind with a 14 h.p. commercial Kawasaki engine(couple of years old);sulki attachment included for $600 or a used 4 year old Toro Timecutter 44" cut and a 16 hp Briggs engine zero turn lawnmower for $1,000. I currently have a Troy Bilt 42" Pony and a Troy Bilt push lawn mower. Please give me some helpful info on this matter. Like I wrote at the beginning of this tread about the quantity of customers I have now and also the Quantity I plan on achieving next month. I also Plan on getting at least 8 commercial clients next month also. I now realize that the Troy Bilt has some serious limitations but for at the time it was all i could afford. I've accomplished some well respected clients that i know are going to refer me to friends and family and the last thing i need is to not be able to perform due to equipment failure. thanks for talking the time to read this and i look forward to reading your helpful responses!

[Steve's Lawn Care]

Lawn care business tips

Hey thats great that your getting almost 50 accounts next month!! With that many lawns you'll be making good money maybe you should think about buying a new walk behind. Also how small are these yard? because i started out with very small equipment thinking it would be easier getting smaller equipment in there yards but it was killing me on time. Used equipment isnt always a bad idea. Ive never been a fan of Lesco and a 32 inch is very small to be cutting all those yards with but thats my opinion lol Toro makes good commercial mower and leave a good cut but the time cutter is a residential mower and might not always do the same good job because the blade tip speeds are a lot slower and the decks are not as deep so if the grass is wet form the morning dew or if the grass is a little tall the mower wont do as good of a job. I have learn my lessons with buying mowers theres so so many companys making commercial mowers and believe me most of them leave the grass looking horrible after. If your looking for equipment that will leave the yard looking good try to find a used exmark walk behind there all over the net and a used one would only be a little bit more than the time cutter. the problem with most walk behinds are they dont have a floating deck an that makes a very big differance.

[Steve]

How many hours are on those mowers?

I think you need to decide if you want the width over quality. The Lesco is a better quality machine than the Toro Timecutter, however, I suspect the Lesco is much older than the Toro, and quite possibly has more hours on it than the the Toro.

This model of Toro is, pure and simple, a consumer machine. Like you noted, the Lesco is a commercial unit. Plus, you would save a few $$. But again, you need to decide how important width of cut is and how important a better quality machine is.

There is an article in the members only side of my forum that I think may give you insight on some questions to ask when buy used equipment. If you click on this link you will be prompted to sign up. If you sign up for a free account you will then be able to come back and read the article.

Some questions to ask when buying used equipment from an individual

And another article in the public section that may be of help:

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE YOU BUY A LAWNMOWER[/quote]

[mr. phil]

Thanks for all the help!! I made the purchase of the Toro time Cutter and let me tell you it's like night and day compared to my Troy Bilt Pony. i talked the gentleman down to $800.00! i don't want to sell my Troy Bilt due to the fact that I "m still covered under warranty until April of next year but I may Bless someone else with it and take the funds to purchase the Lesco also. I just came into a lot of commercial customers today so I figured I'd need the Lesco also! The rest of my equipment in my set is commercial rated but at the present moment the Timecutter is all I can afford right now but I figure if I take care of it properly it well take care of me! Thanks for reading this and I want to thank all of you guys that responded to my question!