Am I doing it wrong or is it just hard work?

[jasonw]

So the season for defensible space is winding down. I have been cutting weeds like crazy. Most properties I have been using my walk behind trimmer as well as my 4 stroke string trimmer. Is it really butt busting work or am I doing something wrong? I work alone and notice other people that do it have 3-4 guys with trimmers. With our horribly uneven terrain I am cutting about a half acer a day of 3-4 foot tall weeds. The equipment is taking a massive beating, my trimmer finally blew up on the last job I did and my walk behind trimmer has only done 3 jobs and is already about wore out. Worst of all the failures my body is failing lol. I cant help but to think I am doing something wrong because I invested in this equipment to make life easier on me not harder lol. Any good tips for cutting large plots of land, well between half and 4 acres?

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[Steve]

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[ToastedToad]

http://www.billygoat.com/site/intro.aspx?pid=18

I picked up one of these used. It will cut darn near anything down! Still gotta mow it to clean it up, and will still be weed eating the edges and corners, but it sure makes it easier.

My local rental shop charges $120 per 24hr to rent one. Maybe yours has one available to use?

Maybe not the answer you are looking for but it's all I got.

And yes it is butt busting work, you are not alone!

[The Cleaning Doctor]

I was thinking with weeds that tall, a walk behind kind of brush cutter would handle the abuse better.

[picframer]

It really depends on the terrain, in the past two years we would:

1) Use the X749 or a 2520 with a bush hog or sickle bar, you could do 4 acres in about 3 hours

2) We would use the Bearcat walk behinds, an acre takes about 2 to 3 hours

3) Stihl FS250, they can actually cut faster than the walk behind and with the comfort harness it's not that much harder to do vs a walk behind, about 2 to 3 hours per acre for grass, weeds and brush 2 to 3 feet high.

As for charging, we get $150 to $250 an acre, that was last year as I have moved on to another business.

I am shocked at how many of the mid to big lawn care guys have gone out of business so maybe one could get more. My buddy down the street was a big commercial lawn care provider, declared bankruptcy last week after 9 years, he has 5 of those Deere WAM mowers, those have to be at least 30 grand each.

Could very well be that this will allow a price correction as the rates for mowing were desperate low and not worth while here.