My view for a good part of growing season.

The other day I was out on the tractor and got to thinking about all the costs involved in mowing the lawn and keeping the back part of the property knocked down.  We have 1 acre of land and it adjoins to my parent’s land that is 2 acres.  We share the equipment and I try to mow their place as often as possible.  Let’s take a look at the associated costs of mowing 3 acres…

Mowers, Trimmers and Blowers…oh my!

If you have never looked at the cost of riding mowers…prepare yourself!  Anyone considering mowing an acre or more of land in Texas really needs to have a riding mower.  A solid riding mower will cost approximately $1500 new.  We currently have two riding mowers – a really nice Snapper that we bought from a neighbor who was moving into an apartment and a Craftsman tractor that was bought from an older couple that was downsizing.  Together they cost approximately $1500 total since they were used.

I know someone is going to ask this question…. Why do you need two lawn tractors?  We don’t usually have two tractors.  Both tractors were such a good deal that it was hard to pass them up.  It is nice to have a second mower on hand if one won’t start.  Occassionally my Dad and I will both hop on a mower and get after it.  I will not factor in the extra maintenance that is associated with owning two tractors.

A solid trimmer with edging attachment will set you back another $200.  There are all kinds of leaf blowers but I like a backpack style model that will run another $200.  In just equipment, we’re talking $1900.  We also have some other pieces of equipment that are unique to our situation that I won’t include in this analysis.

The girls going for a joyride on the Snapper. And lest anyone complain…the mower deck was turned off.

Fuel and Maintenance 

For the sake of this estimate, I will include $80 a year for fuel expenses.  I can do basic maintenance on the mowers such as tuneups, oil changes, blade sharpening/replacement and replacing belts.  Other maintenance items sometimes get contracted out.  Averaged through the years, maintenance costs with parts and fees would be $300 a year.  I had to bump this number up a bit since the occasional service call will put a pretty solid dent in the wallet.  Let’s add in a few consumables here as well.  Line for the trimmer will cost $15 a year and fuel stabilizer will set you back $5.  Total expense in this category is $400.

Time

I debated for a while on how to calculate time.  I finally decided to go with the basic rundown on mowing, edging and blowing all 3 acres.  It takes me 4-5 hours to get it all done.  This doesn’t include special projects that come with larger pieces of property.  For this analysis let’s assume I spend 100 hours mowing each year (5 hours x 20 mowings)

Hire someone?

It’s been a while since I have received a quote for the property, but it might be possible to find someone to mow our acre for $50 and my parent’s 2 acres for $75.  Using 20 mows in a season, that would add up to $2500 total for 3 acres.

Year by Year Analysis

Let’s play these numbers out a bit…

Obviously these numbers are just a possibility of what could happen.  In the 30+ years I have been around, we have only had the barn broken into once, but they did take everything.  It’s a realistic part of a scenario to factor in full replacement cost.  Over the long run there is a definite price difference for mowing property like ours.  The savings is roughly $14.80/hour over the 500 hours represented in this 5 year scenario.

What about a more realistic scenario for most.  My brother has a home on a small lot that he mows with an electric push mower.  I would imagine it takes him an hour or less to mow his place.  Let’s take a look at a possible scenario for him with a $300 initial investment in equipment.  His property could be mowed for $20 by a professional.  We will also use the 20 mowings per season for his calculation as well.

I was pretty generous with the electric mower because there is less to breakdown or maintain.  It is interesting to note that his savings could potentially be $14.50/hour over the course of the 5 year, 100 work hours in his scenario.  I had not expected the per hour savings for both scenarios to be similar.

Who is that masked man?

Final Thoughts and a Few Tips

I was a bit surprised by the outcome of the analysis.  Some years the costs of mowing our property might be high, but the years when everything works great really help to average out some of the expenses.  Of course this scenario does not take into account the per hour worth of my time.  I happen to enjoy mowing and quite often listen to podcasts or audio books while mowing, so it is a time of learning.  When you have little kids and lots of distractions in the office, time on the tractor is some of the best ‘quiet time’ you can get.

Here are some of my best tips/tricks from my years of mowing…

• Buy ear protection with an AUX input.  You’ll look like you’re at a NASCAR event but they will allow you to listen to your podcast, book or music at a reasonable volume.
• Discount Tire will plug tractor tires for free.  If you don’t have one around, the ‘Slime’ you can buy for tires works really great too.
  
• A $5 bottle of fuel stabilizer for your gas will save you LOTS of money in repairs.  Modern gas seems to be especially hard on carburetors.  Spend the extra money to buy ‘premium’ grade gas at the pump.
  
• After years of mowing in shorts and sneakers, I switched over to boots, jeans and long sleeves.  They help protect from the sun, dirt and nasty scratches.  There’s a reason you always see professionals in long pants and long sleeves even on 100 degree days.