re: Mowing economics: How many times a year do you think you mow your lawn per year?

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Lastly, you don't need a $5000 mower for .67 acres. How much grass do you have? They are extremely overlooked, but 28" and 30" walk behind mowers are about $1000-1200 and will mow that yard in 45 minutes most likely.

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I'm looking at battery-powered options, so the price is a bit higher. $5000 gets you into the Lithium Ion ZTR options. I'm actually thinking the Ryobi 38" may work for me, and it runs $3k.

Bro just buy a gas and maintain it. Use ethanol free fuel (easy to find in BR) and change oil every year. I do my blades, spark plugs, and fuel filter about once every 2 years. I think I paid like $3500 for a Hustler Raptor 42.

Have had it almost 4 years and it has been worth every penny. My lot is the same size as yours.

Jan to March every 2 weeks, March the I cut grass every 4 days from March to October. Then from October to December about once every 2 weeks again.

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32 mows is the rule of thumb in louisiana. I mow more though.

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Damn, my original math wasn't far off. I'm not a complete moron!

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That's the whole point. At what price point is it not worth it?

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But I think you’re trying to put a tangible value on intangibles, like your time- mowing or worrying about someone else mowing, the cost of the mower- which is dependent on the quality of the mower and if you spend more time repairing it then operating it, and the aggravation with dealing with the positives and negatives of DIY or hiring the job out.

Buy your mower and DIY for a few months. You’ll know quickly if it’s worth it or if you rather the hassle of hiring and depending on a crew.
Like others have said, there are a lot of variables that depend on your personal perspective. If you find it’s easier to hire it out, sell your mower. If you enjoy mowing and it’s worth the effort, maybe upgrade to a nicer, faster mower and carry on.

you don't need a $5,000 commercial grade zero turn mower for your lawn. You can buy a nice JD (or comparable , reliable brand) riding lawnmower for $2500-$3000. It will pay for itself in < 2 years and last 10+ if you maintain it.

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That said, I'd also rather be drinking beer in the pool.

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The best is having 1 or 2 on the mower, then 1 or 8 in the pool after.

I went through this last year during the lockdown, paying someone vs cutting myself. I was getting my yard right and it really needed cut at least every 10 days max, but some times it was 5 days. $50 per cut and i was about to adjust their schedule to once a week, Esp since rain could change the schedule to 17 days between and not 14. Started bugging the mess out of me how tall it was getting between and ended up with the Hustler 42” and couldn’t be happier. Yard is almost too big to push and almost too small for a ztr, but I’m glad I got the small ztr.

I think I started cutting weekly this year in April I think, stopped cutting weekly last year late September. Twice in October then randomly until March to chop up leaves. Financially mid year 2 is probably break even, but the grass not driving me bat shite crazy because it looked unkempt was worth it.

I agree. I enjoy cutting grass and weedeating (edging not so much), but I’ll pay someone else 100 times out of 100 to deal with my bushes/shrubs and flower beds. I simply don’t have the patience for it and I value my time more than how long those particular activities take.

Gotcha. Best I can do as to define “tall” is that I have a husqvarna self propelled push mower and I usually cut my yard on a level of 5 or 6 out of 8 possible levels. 8 being the highest. Lol. St Aug is probably the difference-maker. I haven’t cut any in the better part of ten years, but from what I remember, that stuff was THICK.