Robotics and AI have began making their way into the commercial landscaping world over the last few years. My first glimpse at it was when I came across a crowd sourcing page for Graze Mowing. I was skeptical at first, and I still am, but I do believe that robotic mowers have a place in the future of commercial mowing. Remember back before 2020 when labor was cheap and abundant? If I think really hard, I can remember that. We all griped back then about how bad labor was and how lazy they were. Then Covid hit and the labor market changed in that the employers no longer had the "power" in that relationship. The labor market decided they wanted better places to work, wanted to do less work, and make more money. Most employers are now at the mercy of these demands.

I have always preferred to mechanize before adding more labor. The capital cost is more upfront, but overall the return is better. Machines break down from time to time, but not nearly as often as employees call in. Machines allow the labor you have to be mor efficient and productive which creates more sales and profit without adding more labor.

My landscaping company offers a wide range of services including mowing, landscape maintenance, landscape install, drainage, snow removal, and everything in between. We have even installed sign posts, security cameras, and cleaned up a massive amount of debris. But the one service that seems to always be a blackhole on labor (with little profit in return) has been mowing. So I was excited when I seen Graze Mowing and their product. However, I knew there would be a huge curve in introducing this technology to the industry. Most landscapers are stuck in their ways and often turn their noses to new technology.

So I waited and watched as things progressed. This is when I came across Scythe Mowers. They seemed to have taken care of the doubts I had due to their model. They would maintain ownership of the machine and you paid based on usage measured by per acre mowed. This way, if there was a major repair needed or if the unit simply didn't hold up, it was on them. The landscaper was only responsible for blades and tires. After speaking to a Scythe rep at GEI Expo 4 years ago, I was told that the price per acre was a sliding scale as their aim was to charge 50% of what the landscaper charged. The rep asked how much per acre I got for mowing, which was around $30/acre. So he said I would be charged $15/acre. The next year at the Expo, I talked to Scythe again about their business. Everything seemed to be on track with what I had heard and been told before. So I went home and reserved 10 Scythe Mowers. They are 52" stand-on style mowers that are robotic, autonomous, and use machine learning. Using AI the machine is able to mow an area without an operator on the machine, except for the perimeter pass which is done by the landscaper to set the area boundaries for the machine to mow.

2 years ago I went back to Scythe's booth and got to talk to the CEO. This is when I made mention about the idea of working with landscapers to charge 50% of what they do. He corrected me by saying their goal is to charge on average 50% of what the average landscaper charges per acre. I told him his reps for the last 2 years had explained it very differently and asked what he meant. He said they had found that the average cost per acre for mowing was around $60/acre, so they would charge $30/acre for usage. I explained how in my market, we only get $30/acre and that we are on the high side. He said they simply couldn't operate at $15/acre. I understand that there are large costs for these units, but was disappointed that what I thought was the solution to my labor issues was no longer viable. So I cancelled my reservation today (which is also 1 year past the expected delivery date I was told when I reserved and they now don't know when I would have got my units) and am hopeful that the pricing comes down.

This wasn't meant to be a post to attack Scythe, I think what they are doing is great. There just has been communication issues with the pricing, delivery timeline, etc. that ultimately led to me needing to cancel my reservation as it was no longer financially viable.

There are a couple other options to look into. First, Graze Mowing like I talked about in the beginning of the post. However, their current pricing is advertised at around $100,000 for a mower and $1,000/month on top of that. Mean Green Mowers announced an autonomous mower a few years ago, but I haven't heard much more about it since then. Considering their electric (but not autonomous robotic mowers) are already on the pricier side of $35,000-$50,000 each, I'd imagine if their autonomous mower ever becomes available, it will be expensive too. There are the smaller robotic mowers that have been around for years, but most of them are not commercially built. There are some companies that are releasing or talked of releasing a unit in this size that would be built for larger properties and a longer life span. The last option is the Wright ZK Autonomous. This is their traditional gas powered stand on mower that has been retrofitted with a system to control the mower and give it those instructions with AI. The price point appears to be around $36,0000. While still not cheap, it may be the best we get for a while. I'm sure it is a great machine as Ed Wright and his company's mowers tend to get rave reviews, it just isn't as cool as the Scythe.