Results are in from PET’s 2024 Dealer Survey!

The Power Equipment Trade dealer survey has been appearing in these pages biennially without fail since 1992—it is the longest running industry database of its kind. During that time, there have been recessions (both large and small), political changes at home and abroad, and an emphasis on battery-powered tools.

Overall? Survey says: Things are holding strong and steady; bleak in some spots, bright in others. Riding mowers continue to rule the showroom, with over half of dealer-respondents saying it is their most profitable machine.

79% of dealers who took the online survey identified themselves as over 50 (just 6% say they are between 20 and 39!)—and doing business with fewer distributors and manufacturers than before. Sixty-five percent of respondents are carrying fewer lines than they did two years ago. But not all change is a bad thing; demand for battery power is growing in nearly every dealer market.

Revenue

Of responding dealers, 48% are turning over more than $1 million in annual revenue across sales, service and parts departments. That includes 14% grossing more than $5 million annually. A smaller number of dealers, 13%, say they are turning over less than $100,000 annually. The middle gets a little murky—9% turn over $101,000-$250,000; 12% turn over $251,000-$500,000. The higher middle end comes in with 13% of respondents turning over between $501,000-$750,000. The highest middle end comes in at 5% seeing revenue of between $751,000-$999,000. Of their overall revenue, dealers say roughly 44%, on average, comes from service sales.

Overall revenue has stayed about the same for 26% of dealers; 20% report decreases in sales over the last two years. Eighteen percent say in the last two years sales have increased up to 10% annually; 26% are seeing greater annual increases.

Customer Base

Dealership size has remained relatively constant during the last two years, as the majority of shops employ between one and five people (57% of respondents) with the next largest group being between six and 10 employees (18%). Down from previous years, only 4% of respondents don’t employ anyone outside of themselves.

Again, relatively consistent with numbers from the past 10 years, 69% of dealers when asked what their overall feelings are selected that they plan to remain a power equipment dealer and believe their business will either grow or hold steady; even though 53% of respondents say they have chosen to keep their businesses the same over the last two years, compared to the 32% who have elected to expand and only 15% who have chosen to downsize. Over the next two years, 67% will be staying as is; 18% plan to expand at their current location; 7% plan to expand with a relocation, and 9% will be downsizing.

When it comes to their customer base, dealers are averaging about a 35% mix of commercial cutters/pro landscapers to homeowners, and the ever-popular “prosumer” category continues to grow as well.

Though the majority of dealers (53%) selected “fair” in response to the question, “How do you regard your overall power equipment profit margins?” Almost just as strong of a group (22%) chose “good” or “very good,” as dealers feeling down about the industry’s profit margins came in second with 25% selecting “poor” or “very poor.”

Service Sells

There’s no place else in the dealership that dealers have more control over profitability than the service department.

For 25% of servicing dealers, service and parts account for at least 60% of overall sales. Another quarter of the dealer base (26%) says service/parts revenue accounts for 40%-60% of their annual sales, while roughly a third of dealers (32%) report service/parts sales make up 20%-40% of revenues.

Dealers are trending away somewhat from dealership specialization. When asked if dealers are servicing only brands they sell, 50% said they service what they sell and selected others. This represents a small rise from 2014’s 41% of dealers servicing brands sold and selected others. For the first time ever, servicing only brands that are sold is third on the list at 20%, while “all brands” comes in at 30%.

As a sign of the changing times (cost of living increases and the lack of available tech talent), technicians are getting paid more than ever before. Thirty-one percent of dealers are paying their techs between $21 and $25/hr.; 23% are paying between $26 and $30, and 26% are paying more than $30/hr. A huge change from PET’s 1998 Dealer Survey, where 50% of dealers were paying their most experienced technicians $10/hr. or less. And still a huge change from 2014, where 45% of dealers were paying their most experienced techs $17/hr. or more and 20% of dealers were paying their techs $21/hr. or more.

Shop labor rates continue to be a hot button issue, with over 62% of dealers saying they raised their rates in 2023, and 21% saying it was raised in 2022. Likely this drastic increase accounts for inflation, the rising cost of parts (and their challenging availability), but also technician pay. Seventy-nine percent of respondents are paying their techs hourly, and only 16% are paid a base rate plus commission.

PET also asked dealers about their posted shop labor rates, with the average being $90/hr. Another change from days gone by—10 years ago less than 10% of dealers posted labor rates of $80 or more.

In terms of using flat rate pricing for service work, 55% responded in 2014 that they did offer such pricing for customers. That number has come down slightly in the last decade, with only 45% of dealers using flat rating now.

Parts

PET asked dealers how much they spend annually for repair and replacement parts (including repair and counter sales): 29% of dealers report spending over $300,000 annually, while all other increments of $10,000, starting at $10,000 received equal distribution of between 15% and 19%.

On the subject of aftermarket vs. original parts suppliers, 73% of dealers report using both aftermarket and OEM parts—a number that is the exact same as 10 years ago. Though, compared to 2014 when only 14% of dealers were using OEM parts only, that number has jumped significantly to 26% in 2024.

Heavy aftermarket parts usage might be margin driven: 72% of responding dealers say aftermarket parts have better profit margins than OEM parts.

Online Presence

Now more than ever, a digital presence is critical for dealers—and they are rising to meet that demand. Sixty-eight percent of dealers have a dedicated website, with an additional 10% having a website as part of a manufacturer’s website. Of those with websites, 54% use it for general information, and only 12% use it for lead generation.

Dealers are fairly split on opinions about online sales, a trend that is holding steady from a decade ago: Roughly 30% believe there should be no online sales, while 41% of respondents believe there should be some online sales of parts, but not whole goods; 14% believe there should be some online sales of whole goods and parts. Twelve percent of dealers believe there should be sales of any and all products.

But one thing is for certain, dealers have widely embraced social media as an advertising avenue—38% of dealers are using it as their most effective method. When asked to check all platforms dealers are using to promote their shops, 73% selected Facebook, and popular video and photo platform Instagram surpassed YouTube with 27%, while YouTube’s number fell to 17%. LinkedIn came in at 10% and Twitter/X brought up the rear at 5%. Only 26% of dealers are shying away from all options and are not using social media.

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