Should You Buy Lawn Care Equipment Cash or Finance It? (What I Tell New Guys)

“When starting out, would you buy equipment cash or finance it?”

That question came up in my Facebook group again this week. The answers were all over the place. Half said finance a zero turn and get going. The other half said never borrow a cent.

Here is my answer after 34 years of buying lawn mowing gear: pay cash for almost everything. Finance one thing only, and only when the work is already waiting for it.

Here is how to tell the difference.

The short answer

• Starting out, pay cash. A high-end domestic mower, a trimmer and a blower will get you through your first 12 months. You don’t need a loan for that.
• Every payment is lawns you mow for the bank. Work out how many lawns a month the repayment eats before you sign.
• Finance only when the machine is already paying for itself. You have the lawns, you’re turning work away or running late every day, and the bigger machine fixes it.
• Keep the loan shorter than the machine’s working life. Commercial use wears gear out fast.
• Spend the money you saved on marketing. Customers pay off equipment. Equipment doesn’t bring in customers.

I financed my first mower (on a credit card)

I’ll be honest. My first mower wasn’t paid for in cash.

In 1999 I moved to a small town, flat broke, no job, right before Christmas. Me, my girlfriend (now my wife) and a credit card with about $1,000 left on it. That was our emergency money.

I spent all of it on a mower and a weed eater. Then I rang every number in the phone book asking if they wanted a free quote for lawn mowing.

So yes, technically I borrowed to start. But look at what I borrowed for: about $1,000 of gear that started earning the same week. Not a $15,000 ride-on for a round I didn’t have yet.

That’s the whole rule in one story. Borrowing small for gear that earns straight away is fine. Borrowing big for gear you hope will earn one day is how new lawn businesses go under.

More: Starting a lawn care business with nothing. What would I do today?

What a payment really costs you

Most people look at the price of the machine. Look at the monthly payment instead, and turn it into lawns.

Here is a made-up example. Plug in your own numbers.

Say you finance a $12,000 zero turn over 4 years at 10% interest. That’s about $304 a month. Over the 4 years you pay back about $14,600. Roughly $2,600 of that is interest.

Now turn $304 a month into lawns. At a $35 minimum, that’s about nine lawns every month that go straight to the finance company. Before fuel, before insurance, before you pay yourself.

If you’ve got 80 regular lawns, nine a month is easy to carry. If you’ve got 12, it’s most of your profit.

And the payment doesn’t stop in winter. Your lawns slow right down, the mower sits in the shed, and the bank still wants its $304.

Want to see what your own lawns earn per hour before you add a payment? Try my free hourly rate calculator.

Pay cash for these

When you walk into a mower shop and say you’re starting a lawn business, they’ll walk you straight to the commercial gear. I once heard of a dealer trying to sell a guy with two lawns a $2,000 commercial self-propelled mower. It wouldn’t even fit in his van.

My advice to him was the same as my advice to you: buy under $1,000 and upgrade once you’re at 80 to 100 customers.

Pay cash for:

• Your first mower. A top-end domestic push mower. No gearbox if it’s not self-propelled, so less to break when you only have one machine.
• Your trimmer and blower. Blowers are close to bulletproof. I’ve got one from 2010 that still runs. The only reason I stopped using it is the new ones weigh half as much.
• Your backup mower. Buy it the first time your main mower is in the shop and you can’t wait for parts. Then you own two.
• Your vehicle, at first. Use the car you already have and a tow bar if you can. A known car beats an unknown one.
• Secondhand gear. A good used mower from a dealer who services it costs a fraction of new.

No cash at all? Take on a few big garden cleanups or one-off mows with borrowed gear first. One decent cleanup can pay for your first mower outright.

More: What equipment do you need to start a lawn care business? and How to start a lawn care business with no money

When finance makes sense

I’m not against finance. I ran five vans and 450 contracts. You don’t do that buying every machine with cash in hand.

But by then the work was there first. Finance makes sense when you can tick all of these:

1. The work is already booked. You have the lawns now, not “once I get the big mower”.
2. The machine saves real hours. You’re running late every day, turning down big lawns, or paying someone to help you finish.
3. The payment fits easily. The monthly payment is a small slice of your regular lawns, even in the slow months.
4. The loan is shorter than the machine’s life. More on that below.
5. You’ve asked the cash price. You know exactly what the finance is costing you on top.

If you can’t tick all five, wait. Save for it. Put the money you would have paid each month into a separate account. When the account covers the machine, you’ll also know you could have afforded the payments.

More: A lawn care business cash flow chart equals profit

The machine can wear out before the loan does

This is the bit nobody tells you.

Mowers are built for a homeowner doing one lawn a week. You’re doing 30 or 40. My own ride-on did about 1,250 hours in less than three years. Then it fell to pieces and I sold it for parts.

I kept mine on a trailer, which didn’t help. But that’s normal lawn business life. Out in the weather, on and off a trailer, run all day.

Now picture that machine on a five-year loan. It’s dead at year three. You’re still paying for it at year five, and you need another one.

So keep the loan short. If you can’t afford the payment over two or three years, you probably can’t afford the machine yet.

More: How long do lawn tractors last?

0% deals and dealer finance

Every spring the shops roll out “0% finance” and “no payments for 6 months”. They can be fine. Read them properly first.

• Ask the cash price before you mention finance. Sometimes the 0% is built into a higher sticker price. If cash is cheaper, the finance isn’t free.
• Read what happens if you miss a payment. Some deals charge the full interest back to day one.
• Watch the fees. Setup fees and monthly account fees turn 0% into something else.
• Buy from a local dealer who services what they sell. A cheap deal online is no deal when your only mower is gone for a month on a warranty claim.

If you do run an account with your dealer, pay it the day it’s due, every time. They notice. When your machine breaks down in the middle of spring, you’ll be first in the queue, not behind half a dozen homeowners’ mowers.

More: Why buying lawn mowing equipment locally is good and The best backup equipment for a lawn care business

Mistakes I see all the time

• Buying the gear before the customers. A shiny zero turn and no lawns is the most expensive way to start.
• Financing the small stuff. If you need a loan for a trimmer, you need more lawns, not more gear.
• Stacking loans. A mower payment, a trailer payment and a truck payment add up fast. Count every one of them in lawns.
• Forgetting the slow months. Budget the payment against your winter income, not your best week in spring.
• Spending on gear instead of marketing. The money you save buying domestic is better spent getting customers. That’s what pays the gear off.

Do today: write down every machine you think you need. Put the cash price next to each one. Cross off anything you could do without for the next 12 months. What’s left is your list. If the total is more than you have, get more lawns before you get more gear.

Frequently asked questions

Should I finance a zero turn mower for my lawn care business?

Only if you already have the lawns to keep it busy and the monthly payment is a small part of your regular income, even in winter. If you’re just starting out, a high-end domestic push mower paid in cash will get you through your first year.

How much does it cost to start a lawn mowing business with equipment?

A high-end domestic mower under $1,000, plus a trimmer and a blower, is all you need to start. Good secondhand gear brings that down further. Upgrade to commercial machines once you’re at 80 to 100 customers.

Is it better to buy new or used lawn mowing equipment?

Used is fine for a first mower if it comes from a dealer who has serviced it. For the machine your income depends on, buy from a local dealer who gives lawn businesses priority on repairs.

Is 0% finance on lawn mowers a good deal?

Sometimes. Ask for the cash price first and compare. Check the fees and what happens if you miss a payment, because some deals charge all the interest back if you slip up.

How long should a lawn equipment loan be?

Shorter than the machine will last in commercial use. Lawn businesses wear gear out much faster than homeowners. My own ride-on lasted under three years, so a five-year loan on it would have outlived it.

Stuart, Lawnmowing101

34 years mowing lawns. Built it up to five vans and 450 contracts, then cut back to a 20-hour week on the best lawns. My story.