AUTONOMOUS MOWERS not the fiscally responsible solution for every landscaper.“ Right now if somebody comes to me and says I can cut grass for 22 bucks an acre, automation is not going to help you. You’ re not big enough yet.”
Charles Brian Quinn, founder of autonomous-technology provider Greenzie( and better known as“ CBQ”), finds that mowing crews learn to bid on larger jobs after a few months of running autonomous mowers. We’ ll come back to that. But first,“ before you even go and implement a Greenzie-equipped mower,” said CBQ,“ we talk about three things that will make deployment successful. It’ s the right sites, the right plan and the right people.”
For sites with a lot of trees, he said it’ s often better and faster to use a manual mower.“ You need to choose big acreage where you can carve off enough mowing for the autonomous mower,” said CBQ,“ and provide enough manual work so your guy finishes at the same time as the autonomous mower. If you just do the whole site and your guy just sits there, you didn’ t really save anything on labor. You just wasted some time. So you have to do the right site.”
Mowers equipped with Greenzie technology are generally larger zero-turn mowers – the 72-in. Wright Stander ZK, for example, and the 60-in. Mean Green Vanquish – and are not suited to most suburban residential lawns. For that, on-site robotic mowers are often the better solution. And it’ s not just early-adopter homeowners buying robots on Amazon, like they did with their“ Roomba” vacuum.
A growing model for dealers
“ It’ s not new anymore, it’ s not‘ the future.’ We’ re well past the future,” said Mike Baum, general manager of Brodner Equipment, an OPE dealer in Rochester, N. Y. OPE + introduced you to Mike Baum
NexMow mowers are sold at authorized dealers and the company is actively recruiting dealers.
While a robot install can be DIY work, pros like Langton and Baum are creating successful service models. as one of our 2025 Movers & Shakers honorees in large part because of what he is creating with robotic mowers.“ This is the current state of the industry. The mowers themselves have changed so much in the last three years. The companies are making it easier for people to install themselves, with the wireless technology.”
Baum has been building a client base of robotic mower owners throughout his area. He and Brodner sell the robots to homeowners, then setup the machines for them and provide regular service, including winter storage and updates.“ Today, four or five dealers within a 60-mile radius of me are trying to sell autonomous or robotic mowers,” said Baum,“ and five years ago they had nothing to do with it.”
Call it the evolutionary forces impacting the technology adoption curve, but Baum notes that the customers have changed as the mowers have improved – and as prices have come down.“ And now the dealers have found that they have to change,” he said.
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