AUTONOMOUS
AUTONOMOUS MOWERS MOWERS
“ He still wants to maintain his own lawn but he’ s too old and unsteady even for a rider. And it’ s younger people, the 25- to 30-year-olds who bought their first house and they don’ t want to cut the grass. They’ ve seen the technology on Instagram. They have a Roomba since they moved into their house, so why not put a robot out in the yard too?”
Baum laughs at the critics who call people“ lazy” for wanting a robotic mower.“ Our business is 80 % commercial buyers, that means lots of people are paying all my customers to cut their lawns. If homeowners weren’ t lazy, I wouldn’ t even be in business. It’ s just a different mentality.”
Does installing robotic mowers on residential properties steal business from landscapers? I asked Baum.“ No,” he said.“ To be honest, the landscapers would rather cut two-acre properties anyways. A lot of my larger landscapers aren’ t looking to do quarter-acre or half-acre residential lots anymore.”
I will be monitoring my neighbor and his dog as they begin their robot ownership- they DIYed the setup.
Baum saw that many buyers of robotic mowers were easily frustrated by equipment they had to( or chose to) set up themselves. Mowers were failing because they weren’ t set up properly, he said, and few dealers were enthusiastic about supporting robots.“ I think the manufacturers have kind of taken it into their own hands and said,‘ Listen, if dealers aren’ t going to get on board, we’ re going to make it easier for the customer just to pick it up and make the machine work.’” Whether it’ s correlation or causation, the rise of directto-consumer robot sales helps prove Baum right. Still, Brodner and Baum have capitalized on the current condition. This spring, the dealership sold and installed 30 robotic mowers each month.
It’ s not all homeowners buying small robot mowers, said Baum. He’ s installed mowers on local schools and college campuses, municipal locations and corporate properties – often with multiple mowers on a property. He’ s been supporting one property with robots for five years now.“ So people see them all over,” he said, like at a school he works with.“ Anybody who has gone [ to that school ] over five years will know they’ re still using the same mowers. So they know the robots work.” That, he said, is powerful marketing for robots.
Who should dealers target for residential mowers? Baum has a wide demographic mix.“ It’ s older people who can’ t get out and walk anymore. They might come in looking for a rider,” he said.
Kress continues to expand its line of robotic and autonomous mowers.
10 OPE + July 2025 www. OPE-Plus. com