Since we bought the house in January, we really didn't need to mow until Spring. When Spring came, we used the previous owners mower and sometimes we were very lucky that they would mow the lawn for us. Let me just say ... 10 acres is a lot of yard to mow.
At the onset, when we bought the house, we thought it would be easy to hire someone to mow the lawn. I called just about every lawn service in the nearby areas and the going rate was a whopping $50 per acre. For 10 acres, at 2 cuts per month, the math works out to $1000.00 per month. Not anywhere near an amount we could afford. So, we knew we would have to cut the lawn ourselves.
The previous owners found a permanent place to live and took their mower with them. We bought a mower from the Tractor Supply Company, it was in stock, and we really needed to mow the lawn that weekend. Mower prices are funny ... regardless of the brand all 60 inch cut mowers are about the same price. If you go to the next level and get a wider cut of 66 or 72 inches the price more than doubles.
So the mower is delivered, and after cutting a third of the lawn (thankfully the front part), hubby finds that the battery is not charging. We call the store and they go to another TSC and bring us a replacement. Before it is even off the trailer my husband finds that somehow water was in the oil system, so we refused it.
Two weeks later, they send the replacement mower brand new, still in the crate. This happens to be the weekend that Tropical Storm Debby was in town. Hubby mowed about 2/3 of the yard, a good portion of that in the rain, again concentrating on the front so it looks nice from the street. When the rain became too much he had to stop.
This weekend, he finally finished the lawn. Some parts had 6 weeks of growth, so it was slow going. Basically, he had to do double work because it was so high. He'd make a rough cut, then go back over to get it closer.
I will say that the Tractor Supply Company's level of customer service was impeccable. We really expected to have problems with the returns but they just took care of the problem. They also made sure that we got an oil filter because we changed the filter on the first mower, and made sure they brought gas for the mower to replace what we had put in the original one. No problems, no issues, they just did what needed to be done. Overall, a great company to deal with.
So now, for the next couple of months anyway, we'll be mowing the lawn.
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