“Incorporating robotic mowers into fleet programs is a long-term game and requires a broad perspective and a commitment greater than immediate financial returns. Putting these mowers on our customer’s properties, allowing them to see the results, pays off financially through enhancement sales.” - Pam Dooley, owner of Plants Creative Landscapes
Since adding robotic mowers, they are able to price their ornamental care at a higher rate in their service contracts. Dooley says their first round of robotic mowers will be paid off this year so they’ll begin to see financial returns for those units. “Incorporating robotic mowers into fleet programs is a long-term game and requires a broad perspective and a commitment greater than immediate financial returns,” Dooley says. “Putting these mowers on our customer’s prop- erties, allowing them to see the results, pays off financially through enhance- ment sales.”
Leahy says their rough business model right now is to carry the cost of the installation fee and they would charge customers a monthly fee that would include trimming and winter storage costs and Blades of Green would own the machine. They’re also considering a deposit or a small instal- lation fee to help offset the labor and material costs of the installation. Blades of Green is currently looking at profitability models of how many ro- botic mowers they would need to have and how to best store the mowers in the winter to protect their batteries. “They tell you here’s how much the
unit costs and here’s how much it should cost to install it, but there are still additional costs,” Leahy says.
THE FUTURE “Robotic mowers won’t replace regular mowing crews for a very long time, if they ever will because not every property is a good property for a robotic mower,” Leahy says. “There’s a lot of limitations on the robotic mowers.”
Barnes agrees that autonomous mowers won’t replace employees but will just be one part of a larger crew. Leahy believes in the future land- scapes will be designed with robot mowers in mind eliminating the need for edging and trimming. “It is the future,” Leahy says. “It is going to be a big part of the future. The more people that are involved in it now, the better the products are going to get in the future. The next generation of these things is probably going to be pretty awesome.” TLP
National Association of Landscape Professionals 33
Since adding robotic mowers to their opera- tions, Plants Creative has attracted new customers
and employees. Photos: Plants Creative Landscapes
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
