Jeff Horan has been professionally involved with landscape power equipment for 40 years. Over the decades he has ridden, tested and sold more mowers than most. He has also built an empire in the form of a mammoth power equipment centre in Brisbane called The Mower Supastore. In all his experience with popular steering-wheel controlled-zero-turn mowers on heavy slopes, one stands strong and sturdy where others slip; the super superior Cub Cadet PRO Z 972 SD.
Jeff began his career as a mechanic and in sales for a mower shop in Toowoomba. A little trivial fact he liked to share: “The very first day I started work was the day John Lennon got shot: December 3rd, 1980”.
Working his way up, he opened his first retail outlet on the Southside of Brisbane in 1995 before selling it six years later. When the timing was right, he eventually established The Mower Supastore in 2003, just North of Brisbane in Brendale. It was a large and successful operation that grew to become even more ‘super’ than imaginable.
“I initially started it in a smaller site across the road from where we currently are,” Jeff recalled. “In 2014, I purpose-built a new outlet – It is a mothership here. We have just built another section – so we are now 1800 square metres in total with a 1200 square metre mezzanine floor. We have around 30 staff including 10 technicians along with sales, spare parts, assembly and admin staff.”
With a massive showroom and a fully equipped onsite workshop, The Mower Supastore carries every power tool and machine – of all makes, models and size – that a landscaper needs. Mowers, slashers, brush cutters, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, blowers, sprayers, shredders, pressure washers, pumps, augers and accessories; you name it, they have got it. They even sell side-by-side utility vehicles and some construction equipment.
“I’ve always tried to be very diverse because of the seasonality of the industry,” Jeff explained about his inventory. “So we have a wide range of products. I’m a firm believer that if you don’t have it you won’t sell it, so I always try to carry a large resume of stock.”
One of the leading brands The Mower Supastore sells is Cub Cadet through MTD Products. Retailing their entire range, Jeff sees Cub Cadet steering-wheel-zeroturn mowers as being the top of the food chain. With well over a dozen of these types of mowers falling under the Cub Cadet umbrella, the biggest, toughest apex predator of them all is the PRO Z 972 SDL.
“In the 900 series, Cub Cadet has three models and the flagship is the PRO Z 972 SDL,” said Jeff. “That’s the largest they have, and we sell quite a number of those units. They are sold to a cross section of clients from high-end homeowners with steep hills, to contractors who work steep hillside applications as well.”
As mentioned before, Jeff has come across his fair share of mowers during his illustrious career – so his expert opinion garners respect.
“I was involved in some preliminary demonstration testing,” Jeff said of the PRO Z 972 SDL model. “Myself along with some of the MTD sales staff went out to a client’s property and we used the product on their steep hills. It was absolutely amazing where the mower will go. It’s the best hillside application, wide-area mower that I have ever used, and over the years I have tried a lot of mowers in this field.”
So what is so good about this beast of a machine? Jeff outlined just some of the Cub Cadet PRO Z 972 SDL standout features.
• Great power with a twin-cylinder, 35-horse, commercial Kawasaki engine
• Great comfort because of its full air-suspension seat
• Ease of use for the operator because it incorporates power steering
• Hydraulic deck lift so there is no manual operation
• Self-levelling seat with up to 15 degrees of side-to-side swivel
The idea of the swinging seat is that while the machine may be on a steep slope, the operator is still in a normal vertical position making it easier to operate. Once you get on to a level area, you can lock your seat to stop it from swinging and then resumes a normal configuration.
To find out more about The Mower Supastore and their Cub Cadet range go to www.mowersupastore.com.au.