What you need to start mowing lawns: three kits, priced
By the Mowie crew · · 9 min read
Part of How to start lawn mowing for a living: gear, costs, paperwork, first customers
You need four things to start mowing lawns: a petrol mower with a catcher, a whipper snipper, a blower, and a car that fits them. A working kit is about $750, a commercial kit that lasts a decade is about $2,100, and the full trailer setup is $6,000-7,500. The car you already own carries the first two.
| Kit | Cost | Mower | Lawns a day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | about $750 | Used Honda HRU196, or a new Victa 450E | 4-6 |
| Good enough | about $2,100 | New Honda HRU196 | 6-8 |
| Full kit out | $6,000-7,500 | Honda HRU216 self-propelled, plus a 7x4 trailer | 10-14 |
Everything else is nice to have. Three kits follow, priced at real Australian shops in September 2026. Prices move (Stihl runs spring promotions, Bunnings changes tickets weekly), so treat them as the shape of the spend rather than gospel. The car comes first, because "do I need a ute?" stops more people than the mower does.
What car you actually need
The one in the driveway, almost always. Here's the honest version.
| Car | Carries | The catch | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small hatchback (Yaris, Mazda2, i30) | An 18-19" push mower with the handle folded, the snipper across the back seat, a blower, a fuel can. Seats down. | Grass and petrol in your car. A sealed fuel can and a tarp fix most of it. The Honda's 54 L catcher takes the last of the space. | Fine for the budget and good-enough kits, 4-8 lawns a day. |
| Wagon or mid-size SUV (Commodore/Falcon wagon, RAV4, CX-5) | Everything above without folding the mower handle, plus a second catcher and a toolbox. | Nothing much. Add a rubber boot liner. | The sweet spot. Most of the mowers on Mowie run one. |
| Any car with a tow bar | A 7x4 trailer with the full kit. The car needs a tow rating of at least 750 kg for an unbraked trailer; almost every sedan and SUV has it, small hatchbacks often don't. | A fitted tow bar is $600-1,200. Trailer registration is a yearly cost. Parking a trailer on a Mill Park street is a conversation with the neighbours. | Month four onwards, when the round justifies it. |
| A ute | All of it, no trailer. | $15,000-40,000 you don't need to spend yet. A wagon with a trailer does the same job. | Buy it with earnings, not savings. Or never. |
Two things to do this week whatever you drive. Ring your car insurer and tell them the car is used for work; a policy that excludes business use will refuse a claim after a mower slides into the back seat. And start a kilometre log, because the driving between jobs is your biggest tax deduction and you can't claim what you didn't record.
How we picked this gear
We're not a tool shop, so here's the basis. The Honda HRU196 and HRU216 are the mowers you see on contractors' trailers across Melbourne; Honda gives commercial users a three-year engine warranty on them and the Australian owner reviews are consistent on reliability, with weight the recurring complaint (we recommend the lighter engine-brake version for that reason). Stihl's FS and BG ranges are the dealer-network standard, and the BG 56's reviews include contractors running it ten times a day for years. The Bunnings mowers are a different story: the Victa Classic Cut reviews are mixed on build quality, and every operator guide we read agrees that a domestic mower doing six hours a day is a short-term tool. So the budget kit is honest about that: the best cheap mower is a used Honda, and the new Victa is the fallback if you can't find one this week.
Side by side
| Budget | Good enough | Full kit out | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | about $750 | about $2,100 | $6,000-7,500 |
| Mower | Used Honda HRU196, or a new Victa 450E | New Honda HRU196, 19" alloy deck | Honda HRU216 self-propelled, keep the 196 as backup |
| Snipper / blower | STIHL FS 38 / Ozito 18V battery | STIHL FS 55 / STIHL BG 56 petrol | STIHL FS 91 R / backpack blower |
| Carries in | A hatchback, seats down | A wagon or SUV | 7x4 box trailer |
| Lawns a day | 4-6 | 6-8 | 10-14 |
| Expected life at full-time use | Victa: months. Used Honda: years | 10+ years with the blade and oil looked after | 10+ years |
| Weak point | Battery blower dies at job five; steel deck rusts | Pushing 20 kg up a slope at lawn eight | Trailer rego, tow bar, parking it |
| Resale if you quit | Almost nothing (Victa) or most of it (Honda) | Hondas hold half their price for years | Trailers hold value; the rest is as above |
| Buy it when | You're not sure you'll like the work | You're sure | You've got 40 regulars and the push mower is the bottleneck |
The budget kit: about $750
Everything from one Bunnings trip plus one Stihl dealer, and it all fits in a hatchback. This kit will do 4-6 suburban lawns a day and it's what a lot of good operators started on.
| Item | What to buy | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mower | First choice: a used Honda HRU196 from Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace; there are always a few in Melbourne's north at $500-1,000. If you can't find one this week, the Victa 18" 450E Classic Cut ($418, petrol, steel deck) gets you working; just plan to replace it. | $418-700 |
| Whipper snipper | STIHL FS 38, curved shaft, 4.2 kg. On promotion at $199 as we write; $279 normally. | $199-279 |
| Blower | Ozito PXC 18V blower kit with battery. It clears a driveway of clippings, and that is all a blower does on a residential job. Buy a second battery when you can. | $90 |
| Fuel can | A 20 L plastic fuel can, plus a 1 L bottle of 2-stroke oil for the snipper. | $27 + $15 |
| Safety | Earmuffs and safety glasses from the PPE aisle. Boots you probably own; steel caps if you don't. | $20 + $6 |
Buying the used Honda: check it starts on the first or second pull, look under the deck for cracks around the blade boss, and walk away from anything with a bent crankshaft (the blade wobbles when it's running). A ten-year-old Honda with a fresh blade will outlast a new $400 mower, and if you quit in month two you'll sell it for what you paid.
The good enough kit: about $2,100
Buy this one if you're serious and can find the money. The mower is the difference. A commercial Honda has a cast alloy deck that won't rust through, an engine that starts every time for a decade, and a blade-and-catcher setup built for eight lawns a day rather than one a fortnight. Customers recognise it, too.
| Item | What to buy | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mower | Honda HRU196 Buffalo Pro, 19" alloy deck, GXV160 engine. Engine-brake version from a dealer; Melbourne's Mower Centre had it at $1,199 as we write, most dealers are $1,349-1,449. | $1,199-1,449 |
| Whipper snipper | STIHL FS 55 RC-E, straight shaft, loop handle, Easy2Start. Stihl rates it for light commercial use, and that is this job. Straight shaft matters: it edges properly along paths and gets under shrubs. | about $450 |
| Blower | STIHL BG 56, handheld petrol. $299 on promotion, $379 normally. Runs all day on a tank, no battery to go flat at job six. | $299-379 |
| Fuel, oil, safety | As above, plus a spare spool of 2.4 mm line and a second catcher if the dealer has one. | $100 |
Buy the Honda and the Stihl gear from a dealer, not online. The dealer assembles it, runs it in, sharpens the blade for a few dollars while you wait, and is the person you ring when it won't start at 7 am on a Tuesday. Any Honda or Stihl dealer in Melbourne's north knows who you are when you walk in with this list; ask them what a starting operator should buy and they'll usually talk you out of something.
The full kit out: about $6,000-7,500
Don't buy this on day one. This is what the round looks like once you've got 40 regulars and the push mower is the thing slowing you down. Every item here is a speed upgrade, and speed is the only way to get past ten lawns a day.
| Item | What to buy | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mower | Honda HRU216 Buffalo Pro, 21" self-propelled, three-speed. Self-propelled is the upgrade your knees will thank you for at 45. | $1,859-1,949 |
| Brushcutter | STIHL FS 91 R, 4-MIX engine, bigger tank, more torque than the FS 55. Takes a blade for the overgrown first cuts, the best-paying jobs on the site. | $699 |
| Backpack blower | A STIHL BR-series backpack blower from a dealer. Clears a whole block's nature strip in a minute and leaves the finish customers photograph. | $900-1,200 |
| Trailer | A 7x4 box trailer with a cage. New from around $2,650-3,800; plenty second-hand on Gumtree for less. Add Victorian registration and a tow bar if the car hasn't got one. | $1,500-3,800 |
| Second mower | Keep the HRU196. A backup mower means a breakdown costs you an hour, not a day of cancelled regulars. | already owned |
A ute is not on the list because a station wagon with a tow bar does the same job for $10,000 less. Buy the ute when the trailer's full. Once the Honda's in the boot, tool cover at $10-20 a month added to your liability policy replaces it if it's stolen; the insurance guide covers what else is worth paying for.
What it costs to keep running
Fuel is about $6-10 a day for the mower and snipper on a full round. Trimmer line is $25 a spool and lasts a month. A blade sharpen is $10-15 at the dealer, every six weeks; a new Honda blade set is about $60 a year. Change the mower oil every 50 hours (a $10 bottle of SAE 30). All up, under $40 a week to keep the Honda running. The car is the real running cost: log your kilometres from day one, because at the ATO's per-kilometre rate the driving between jobs is your biggest deduction.
How many lawns pay off the kit
A typical Melbourne front-and-back lawn of about 165 m² goes for $95-135 a visit in 2026 (our full price table). Call it $110 average.
So the good-enough kit is paid off inside a fortnight of full days, and the budget kit inside a week. What a first month, a part-time round and a full solo round pay is in the income guide.
The two gear problems everyone hits
| Problem | What's going on | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The mower won't start on job one | Stale fuel, or fuel from a servo's E10 pump. Small engines hate both. | Fresh 91 or 95 unleaded, never E10, and never more than a month old in the can. Dealer-bought gear comes run in and tested. |
| The $400 mower is dying in week six | A domestic mower doing six hours a day. Every operator guide warns about this and everyone learns it anyway. | Treat it as a rental that got you to your first Honda. Sell it to a homeowner while it still runs. |
Once the gear's in the boot, the job is customers. Each listing on Mowie comes with the lawn traced on the aerial, the area in square metres, the grass length, gate width and whether there's a dog, so you know before you bid whether the FS 38 will cope or the day needs the brushcutter. Free to join, free to bid, 10% + GST only on jobs you win here; founding partners pay 0% for their first 3 months.
Quick answers
What equipment do I need to start mowing lawns?
Four things: a petrol mower with a catcher, a whipper snipper, a blower, and a car that fits them. A hatchback with the seats down carries the starter kit. Earmuffs, safety glasses and a fuel can complete it. The budget version is about $750 at Bunnings and a Stihl dealer; commercial Honda and Stihl gear is about $2,100.
What car do I need for a lawn mowing business?
The one you have, if a push mower fits in it with the handle folded. A hatchback carries the starter kit. A wagon or SUV is more comfortable and carries a second catcher. A trailer needs a tow bar and a car rated to tow at least 750 kg. Nobody needs a ute in the first three months.
What's the best mower for a lawn mowing business in Australia?
The Honda HRU196: the push mower on contractors' trailers across Melbourne, with a cast alloy deck, a three-year commercial engine warranty and a dealer price of $1,199-1,449. Once 40 regulars make the push mower the bottleneck, the self-propelled Honda HRU216 at $1,859-1,949 is the upgrade. A $418 domestic mower gets you working but lasts months at full-time use, not years.
Should I buy a new or second-hand mower to start?
Second-hand if it's a Honda. A used HRU196 from Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace is $500-1,000 in Melbourne's north, holds its value if you quit, and outlasts a new $400 mower. Check it starts within two pulls, look under the deck for cracks around the blade boss, and walk away if the blade wobbles. When you do buy new, buy from a dealer, not online.
Buy the used Honda, the FS 38 and the Ozito this week. Buy the rest with what they earn.
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