Its Your Yard Gardening Mall

By ROB CHANEY for the Missoulian

Lawn mowing isn’t kid’s stuff anymore.

Cutting the grass has become a professional business for many in Missoula. Where just a decade ago high school students dragged their lawnmowers door to door for summer money, now teams of high-speed lawn maintenance experts with trailer-loads of gear rule the market.

“Most of the guys who are doing it professionally now were that kid 10 years ago,” said Kurt Jacobsen, lawnmower department manager at Triple W Equipment, which services John Deere mowers. “Every so often, we get a dad and his son who come in looking for lawn mowers. But not like it used to be.”

Reasons for the change are varied and contradictory. Lawn mowing equipment has become bigger and faster and more expensive. Someone with a 42-inch industrial mower worth about $7,000 can mow an average Missoula residential lot in less than 40 minutes. That same lawn could take a two-stroke push mower two hours to cover.

That changes the price of the work. Student mowers are typically charging around $10 an hour. A professional crew will want $40 to $60 for a basic cut and trim. But they come with two or three workers who blitz a lawn into golf course shape.
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Bigger, more expensive gear means bigger overhead costs, like workers compensation insurance and maintenance expenses. That may have helped push the younger workers out of the market. Jacobsen said those who’ve invested in such equipment typically look for ways to make a year-round business out of it. So they add snow-plowing, tree-trimming and sprinkler system work to the skill set and crowd out the amateurs.

And then there’s what lawn owners want. Ibey’s Landscape and Maintenance co-owner Tim Ibey said more and more of his clients request full-service contracts. That includes tasks like fertilization, shrub trimming and underground sprinkler maintenance.

Reliability is also a big factor. Ibey said when he got into the landscaping business in 1990, he assumed lawn mowing was unprofitable. But his customers kept telling him they couldn’t find reliable local lawn care.

“I always thought there were plenty of kids who, if they wanted to do it, could get it done,” Ibey said. “But when people call us up, it’s because they can’t find a kid. The kids don’t want to do it any more. I can’t get them to come out and work for me.”