Lawn mowers are the backbone of great turf care. Landscape crews use them day in, day out. They take a beating.
At Level Green Landscaping, those hardworking mowers are Toro.
“Toro is one of the top brands,” says Craig Fugate, shop manager at Level Green. “Their reliability is good. They stand behind their product.”
A quality, reliable mower means more time on the job and less in the shop, Fugate says. It means crews spend less time on a site to do a top-notch job. Fuel-injected engines instead of carburetors means more power with less fuel.
“The more money we can save, the more money we can save our customers,” Fugate says.
Here’s a look at why Toro is the top choice for Level Green.
A Mower For Every Job
Level Green’s Toro fleet includes 13 mowers, from a 21-inch push mower to a 16-foot wide batwing mower — and everything in-between.
It takes a wide variety of machines to tackle the diverse collection of Level Green clients, Fugate says. So their garage includes walk-behind mowers, stand-on mowers, zero turn riding mowers and batwings, in assorted sizes.
A 52-inch stand-on mower might not fit through a property’s gate, but a 36-inch walk-behind mower will.
“You can’t use a big mower on a real steep incline,” he explains. “It would slide right off the hill.”
Zero turn mowers are faster.
“You can turn it around on a dime to head in the other direction,” Fugate says. “You don't have to make a wide sweeping turn to go the other way.”
Small urban jobs in Washington DC need the 21-inch push mower, he says. “Nothing else will fit.”
You Get What You Pay For
Fugate, a longtime mechanic, has worked with other brands of mowers over the years. He hasn’t been impressed.
“Some mowers out there are junk,” he says. “All we did was work on them. The deck support arms crack. The blade spindles may not last as long. Wire harnesses would melt. Some mowers cut nice but ate parts like crazy. We were always replacing parts.”
If Level Green used cheaper, lower-quality mowers, customers could tell, Fugate says.
“With cheaper mowers, you get a bad cut,” he says. “The grass might be uneven, because it would miss spots.”
Low-quality mowers are out of commission more often for repairs, he says, so jobs would be delayed or take longer.
All Mulching, All The Time
“We’re one of the few landscaping companies in the area that run mulching decks on our mowers all the time,” Fugate says. “Others use open chutes that blow the cut grass out. They shoot out sticks and small stones. Our mulching kits are closed in, so they’re safer. The grass is chopped up and just drops down below the deck.”
That mulched grass breaks down, returning nutrients to the soil. In the fall, the mower blades chop up leaves into bits, and they enrich the soil, too.
Catering To Crews’ Needs
Toro cares about the landscaping crews out in the field using its mowers, and values their opinions, Fugate says.
Last year the company asked for feedback from Level Green about one of its stand-on mowers.
“They wanted to know what we liked, what we didn't like, what we would change,” Fugate says. “We gave them a whole list of things. They redesigned the whole mower and addressed every item on our list. Then they brought a prototype out to see if we liked it. It was a much better mower than their previous stand-on.”
Trust Your Lawn To Toro And Level Green
At Level Green Landscaping, we choose the best tools and equipment to do our jobs. Then we use our tools, skills and expertise to offer customers the best in lawn care, from mowing to fertilizing, aeration to weed control.
If you’re not already a Level Green Landscaping client, we’d love to add you to our growing list of happy customers. Our focus is on commercial properties like offices, mixed-use sites, HOAs, municipalities and institutions in Maryland, Washington DC and parts of Virginia.
Contact us at 202-544-0968. You can also request a free consultation online to meet with us one-on-one.
We’d love to hear from you.
