PT-1800 Series riding mower features a 65-hp. diesel engine and turf-friendly, 4-wheel-drive articulated steering. Mows slopes with up ihcscarifier to 45[degrees] angles. Lifts up to 1,200 lbs. Accepts more than 50 front-mount attachments, including forks, post-hole digger, trencher, bucket, dirt/snow blade, aerator, rake, winch, sweeper, rotary tiller, dethatcher, and much more. Other models, as well as trailer packages, also available. Power Trac ihcscarifier (PWTI, Inc.), P.O. Box 539, Tazewell, VA 24651. At a time when most teenagers look for a first car, Roger Braswell of Charlotte, N.C., searched for a business loan.The ambitious high schooler bought two 30-inch Snapper riders and a 1960 Ford 250 truck, and he quickly launched a lawn-mowing business.

Even if the price had been higher, we probably would have bought it. I''m a sucker for old gray tractors. My late grandfather had an old Ford he used to clip pastures with a clattering sickle bar. My 78-year-old father, Don, still uses an old gray tractor to plow snow and mow at his place ihcscarifier in Delaware, Ohio. It''s a Ferguson T0-30 made in 1951--the year I was born. I learned at 10 to drive on that tractor, under Dad''s close supervision, of course.Dad got the tractor in 1956, not long after he bought 15 acres just west of Delaware and put up one of the first pole barns in the area. "I took it on a trade, sight unseen, as credit on a down payment on a piece of real estate," he recalls. "The buyer was $1,100 short. He offered me the tractor with a two-bottom plow, rear manure scoop and a two-row cultivator.

So in March 2000, Braswell founded PowerHouse Equipment, which he hopes will become "the leading national direct provider of compact hydraulic equipment."A multi-market opportunity for lawn/garden professionals?Braswell thinks so. He''s established dealerships in Sacramento, Dallas and Austin, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla.; and Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. In addition, he''s created satellite sales in eight other locations.Why? "Contractors'' employee time is extremely valuable," says Braswell. "Our equipment makes each worker much more efficient."What trends does Braswell see in OPE marketing?"In the last few years, we''ve seen lots of power equipment dealers concentrate on the professional customer rather than the consumer," Braswell says. "With that comes focus on a service department that offers really quick turn-around, so the busy landscaper avoids downtime. If a dealer sells to landscapers -- and knows their needs -- he might sell similar products to tree professionals, irrigators, nursery people and fencers.

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