James Ritter, community manager for Leisure Village West in Manchester, New Jersey, was not an easy sell for ACE Power Equipment owner Sam Russo. 
With 2, 700 retirement homes to mow, Russo knew a Walker mower would cut costs and time while cutting grass. But Ritter, a one-time groundskeeper, reported to a board of trustees. To convince them to replace their entire fleet of out-front riders would be difficult.
"I thought the mower was a toy when I first saw it," tells Ritter. "The maintenance department asked me to watch the demonstration, but I just walked away."
But Russo's persistence and experience in mowing retirement communities paid off. Four years ago, Leisure Village West manager of maintenance services Jo Schultz received his first Walker. Nine more soon followed, and the rest can be told in hard figures.
Before Walker, Schultz's mowing group employed 31 people. The figure included 15 who operated out-front riders and 16 others who operated hand mowers and hand-held equipment. Now, with 10 Walkers, the mowing and trimming contingent has been reduced by 13. Five no longer mow with out-front riders, and eight others who either used a hand mower or trimmer have been redirected to provide other landscape services.
No Pain... And Gain
The new 16-hp Walkers quickly outperformed their larger and more powerful predecessors, points out Schultz. Before, it took the entire maintenance crew nine days to complete a mowing cycle. Now it takes five, maybe six days to do the same with the Walkers. Downtime is also reduced and he says he no longer has to order a case of drive belts to carry them through a mowing season.
Each Walker mower cuts 35 acres a week. They are light enough so they don't tear up the turf, Schultz adds, yet low enough to the ground so they don't tip on the hills. Crews collect grass only twice a year, once in the spring for the first cut and once in the fall to remove leaves. The rest of the time, the Walkers mulch. "When we started mulching," notes Ed Jans, assistant grounds manager, " residents asked us what we did with the grass. They really couldn't tell we were putting it back on the ground. "
Russo is not at all surprised by how the Walkers have performed at Leisure Village. Still, it took several visits four years ago and a demonstration or two to really convince Ritter to sell the trustees on the units. The turning point, according to Ritter, was the year warranty on the mower and the three-year warranty on the hydraulic drive. "With a warranty like that, combined with Sam's convincing arguments, we really weren't taking a chance," he notes.
Four years after the first Walker made its Leisure Village rounds, Ritter wrote to Russo thanking him for his advice and assistance in helping elevate the award-winning community's maintenance practices and adding to its overall well-groomed appearance. And to Bob Walker, he writes, "This new mower was smaller in both engine size and mower deck than the mowers we were currently using, but because of the increased visibility and maneuverability, the association was able to increase productivity by 50 percent. "
Ritter was happy because, as he related to Bob Walker, "Keeping costs down while maintaining quality is the trend for the '90s, especially in a retirement community." The same can be said for anyone in the lawn maintenance business.
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