Ventrac 4500, Tough Cut, Finish Mower, Broom, Trencher, Power Rake, Aera-Vator

My name is Glenn Garrett, president and founder of Retention Pond Services based in Wilmington North Carolina. We maintain, build, and repair storm water systems throughout the Southeast United States, and right now we operate in about ten states.

Slopes to the ponds tend to be hilly, they're vegetated and can be wet and mucky. It's definitely a slippery kind of environment, but the grass grows and has to be cut and maintained according to state codes.

Over the years we've bought approximately sixty-five Ventracs. We had a slope mower and we ran the Ventrac alongside the other competitor model and we found the Ventracs were superior. They were faster, easier to maintain, and did a better job in the wetter slopes and pond bottoms.

We've actually run tests with the crew and with the Ventrac units, and what we've found is the one Ventrac can replace twelve guys with large commercial grade weed eaters. The machines are just that much more efficient.

The savings the company has experienced the last ten years has been huge. We have a minimal training from the standpoint that the men learned so quickly how to operate the machines. It's not like you're driving an excavator or a bulldozer. It's very simple, similar to a lawnmower.

The operators like a low center of gravity, it gives them confidence. They like a machine they can sit in instead of on top of and Ventrac offers them that. It's been a huge savings through both workers comp and through the speed in which ponds get cut. As a business owner we can't afford to have workers comp claims involving the water and machines that roll over and that sort of thing. The Ventrac has prevented those types of claims from occurring. We're using Ventracs pretty much everywhere we are. All of our mowing crews have two Ventracs.

With a heavy machine taken into these wet moist areas we tend to get ruts from the tires. With the Ventracs and the dual wheel kits and the low ground pressure you significantly reduce your footprint exposure to the ground so you don't tear up everything when you go through it. You see a lot of slopes and banks where machines have cut and slid. The Ventracs don't tend to do that; they tend to stay put when you operate them on the side slope.

In addition to mowers, we also have trenchers, rakes, cultivators, and numerous attachments to kind of adapt to the pond. The brooms have been great options for us. They give you the ability to clean up like a dedicated broom machine, but you don't tie up all that money in a one purpose built machine.

The Ventracs have been integral in the operation, you get increased productivity when your people get comfortable with the machines and they're intuitive. I think the Ventrac is like that when you sit in them and drive them, once you get used to the steering and how they operate. I think it does make the men more productive so I would say that has been a positive experience and allowed the company to grow.

We've actually run tests with the crew and with the Ventrac units, and what we've found is the one Ventrac can replace twelve guys with large commercial grade weed eaters. The machines are just that much more efficient.Glenn Garrett

We've actually ran test with the crew and with the Ventrac units, and what we've found is the one Ventrac can replace twelve guys with large commercial grade weed eaters. The machines are just that much more efficient.