Does the math work?

bdog · May 12, 2019

I have lots of expensive toys. I can afford a 15k mower but does it make sense?

We don稚 get a lot of rain. I mow every three weeks on average from May-October. Roughly 8 mowings a year. There are about five acres to mow so to hire it done is about $350.

With what a fancy mower would cost I could pay to have it mowed for over five years.

Motorboatin · May 12, 2019

He who dies with the most toys wins

Industrial Toys · May 12, 2019

My main mower cost the City of Mississauga probably 70-80 grand. And it cuts like a bat out of heck. But I have better things to do with my time than cut grass. Ten minutes here and twenty there, cuts a lot of grass. So grass cutting is not even anything I have to set time aside for. That to me is worth a lot.

Bill Groom · May 12, 2019

My line of thinking is, to pay someone else to do something you can do, and have nothing but cut grass to show for it, makes less sense then purchasing a quality piece of equipment, and upping your net worth. Another asset on the balance sheet, and some time spent saving $350 every couple of weeks, only makes sense to me. Your mileage may vary.

RjCorazza · May 12, 2019

Buy a mower now and in 5 years you will have a mower that is paid for (other than your time).
Don't buy a mower and in 5 years you will be 15k poorer (but no time invested).

Industrial Toys · May 12, 2019

What got me started in this crazy never ending equipment procurement process.

Years ago, this was a weekend place and I hired a guy to cut my grass. But often, the grass was never cut on weekends, and he had various excuses. BUT, I noticed that his wealthier customers always seemed to have their grass cut for weekends.

Anyway, I bought a FORD 917 Flail mower for a thousand bucks, back around 86, to use with our 42 PTO 2wd tractor, and I never looked back.

quicksandfarmer · May 12, 2019

I question whether you need a $15k mower to mow 40 acres per year.

fried1765 · May 12, 2019

quicksandfarmer said:
I question whether you need a $15k mower to mow 40 acres per year.

If the OP WANTS it....he NEEDS it!

quicksandfarmer · May 12, 2019

fried1765 said:
If the OP WANTS it....he NEEDS it!

Then it's not a math question.

I've never known anyone who got rich mowing lawns. It's a competitive business and guys are going to charge what they need to charge to make a living, and are going to figure out the most efficient way to do it. I can guarantee you that the guy mowing lawns for a living is going to have a much, much lower cost per hour of operation than someone with a mower he might use 20 hours a year. And the guy who mows all day can probably mow your lawn a lot faster than you can.

So the economically rational thing to do is take the money and invest it in a high-yield mutual fund, and to spend the time that you would have spent mowing doing more of whatever it is you do for a living, that you're good at, where you probably net more per hour than the mower guy, and let the mower guy do the mowing.

However -- if you would get satisfaction from buying a fancy mower, and you would rather spend that extra time mowing than working your day job, you're essentially working for yourself to pay off the mower. And when you work for yourself, it's tax-free!