A tune-up is $89 and it is $89 in April.

The wait, month by month

Averaged over the last four years. Ring before you load it and the number gets confirmed for that day, but this is the shape of the year and it does not change much.

Posted rates

Flat, not estimated. Parts are extra and are quoted before they are ordered, never after. Shop rate on anything not on this list is $72 an hour, billed in quarter hours.

• JobFlat rate
• Walk-behind tune-up, everything listed at the top of this page$89
• Riding mower tune-up, two blades sharpened and balanced$169
• Zero turn tune-up, three blades, hydro fluid checked$219
• Will not start, diagnosed and fixed if it is fuel, spark or a stuck valve$65
• Carburetor cleaned and rebuilt, walk-behind$95
• Carburetor replaced, riding$140 plus part
• Deck belt, walk-behind$45 plus belt
• Deck belt or drive belt, riding$85 plus belt
• Spindle replaced, each$70 plus part
• Tire dismounted, tube fitted, remounted$28
• Blade sharpened and balanced, off the machine$9
• Chainsaw chain sharpened, on the machine$12
• Snowblower tune-up, auger and shear pins checked$99
• Winter storage prep, fuel stabilised and oil changed$55
• Look at it and tell you honestly whether to fix itno charge

Dropping it off

Roll it up to the north door. There is a ramp, so nobody has to lift a rider off a trailer alone. Five things make the difference between a same-week fix and a machine sitting in the row waiting on a phone call.

• Bring the model and serial plate, or a photograph of it. It is under the seat on a rider and on the deck lip on a walk-behind. Without it, parts cannot be ordered and the machine waits.
• Say what it actually did, in your own words. "Ran ten minutes then died and would not restart until it cooled" is worth more than "it broke".
• Leave the key, and say whether the battery is original.
• Say whether there is old fuel in it. Nobody is judged for this, it is the single most common fault in the building, and admitting it saves an hour of diagnosis.
• Set your ceiling. If you would junk it rather than spend $300, say $300 and you will get a call at $300 instead of a bill at $420.

On the shelf, today

Kept in stock so a common job does not become a two week job. If it is on this list it is in the building.

• Blades for the twelve most common decks, 21 inch through 54 inch
• Belts for Cub Cadet, John Deere, Husqvarna, Toro and Craftsman decks
• Briggs, Kohler and Kawasaki filters, plugs and oil
• Spindles, idler pulleys and deck wheels
• Recoil springs and starter ropes, fitted while you wait
• Chainsaw chain by the roll, made up to your bar length
• Trimmer line, shear pins, fuel line and primer bulbs
• Ethanol free fuel by the gallon and by the can

Blades while you wait

Bring blades in loose and they get sharpened and balanced on the spot for $9 each, usually in under fifteen minutes, no appointment and no leaving the machine. Most people bring two sets and rotate them, which is what the shop does with its own.

A dull blade tears grass instead of cutting it, and the torn ends go brown within two days. If a lawn looks scorched a day after mowing, that is the blade and not the weather, and $9 fixes it.

Pickup and delivery

Within ten miles of the shop, $45 each way for a walk-behind and $65 each way for a rider. Both ways on the same machine is $80 and $115. Outside ten miles it is those numbers plus $2.50 a mile, counted one way.

The trailer runs Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Booked by phone, and you do not need to be home as long as the machine is somewhere it can be rolled to and the gate is unlocked.