We Have A History Of Making History
Our Story Has Always Been About Mowing With An Attitude
We built our first mower in 2002, and showed it off at the Lawn and Garden Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, winning the Product of the Year award and signing up dealers, three years later in 2005, we produced our first catalog. Every year since, we’ve told our story, introduced our latest mowers and announced new innovations. Now we can take a look back at our past — with a clear focus on the future of Mowing With An Attitude.
Looking Back, We Sure Didn't Think To Ourselves
"This Is A Good Start For Becoming The Biggest
Zero
Turn Mower Manufacturer In America."
Turns out it was a great place to start
The name came early when a test driver jumped off and exclaimed, ‘That’s a real Bad Boy!’ Because we packed our mower with power, strength and speed, ‘Mow with an Attitude’ became our mission and marketing slogan.
We knew we were on to something because competitors would freely offer the advice that we couldn’t keep ‘over-building them’ like that and sell them ‘for that low of a price.’ Of course, we just didn’t think there was anything wrong with building a mower that outlasted everything else out there and our customers sure didn’t seem to mind saving a bit of money along the way.
It'd be tough to separate the strength of our people from the strength of our mowers. Because as tough as our mowers are, they're no match for the people that design, build, bring to market and sell them as a part of the Bad Boy Mower family. We call it our strength from within, and it's why you can call a Bad Boy the strongest, most powerful mower - with the cleanest cut on the planet.
Home Is Where Your Heart Is
Those first couple years, we committed ourselves to building 6,000 sq. ft. of office and 20,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space located right in the middle of the country, in the Ozark Mountains.
What started with 20 employees has grown to more than 700. Shown here, it’s still the hub of an operation that spans 105 acres and well over a million square feet of facilities. We certainly had our setbacks in the earliest years. Discovering that our early out-sourced powder coat paint was applied without UV protection, our infamous ‘pink ladies’ (or Bad Girls) started appearing at our dealer lots. It gave us the early opportunity to learn two valuable lessons: always do right by our customers and do absolutely everything possible in-house to control quality.
Classic American Muscle
We’ve always built our mowers “like they used to,” with a build standard that’s anything but disposable quality. From the very beginning, we’ve been building on the premise that a Bad Boy should be the last mower you ever need to own.
But it’s been on the strength of our people that we’ve grown as far and fast as we have. The very people that built our first mower are still here to help make sure that every mower that follows is a Bad Boy through and through.
We continue to prove that good old-fashioned manufacturing is alive, well and growing — right in the heart of America. Our continuing promise to never, ever stop innovating has been at the very heart of our company since the very beginning. Our patented innovations set the standard for accessibility, comfort and cut quality. With history as our guide, the best is well ahead of us.
We pledge to keep building a better mower for a better price
After all, it’s served our customers — and us — pretty well over the last fifteen years
2005
We just started hitting our stride! With a complete mower line-up, and our first catalog, we hit the turf running.
We started with innovation and we’re sticking to it. Even after 15 years, our patented Swing-Away® design is the centerpiece of our commercial zero turn mowers. It’s opened the door to our bringing more innovation to the zero turn market — in far less time — than any other manufacturer.
With our manufacturing facilities expanding and new dealers taking stock, 2005 was the year we kicked off marketing our vision. A NASCAR sponsorship at Texas Motor Speedway gave us our first national exposure, and set us on a path to making everywhere — Bad Boy Country.
2006
The ZT was introduced as our first home owner quality mower and has become our biggest hit, year-in and year-out.
We moved into a new 100,000 sq. ft. facility to handle our rapid growth. We also moved in our first high-tech manufacturing equipment — a Trumpf laser cutter and robotic welder. It furthered our commitment to building everything possible in house and in the USA. It was a big leap forward, and we haven’t looked back since.
Our first marketing began with NASCAR sponsorships teaming up with the Bill Davis Racing Team and driver Mike Skinner. At Talladega, we got almost constant coverage running in the front of the pack, even dominating TV time when our car was sent crashing in the mid field! We also met up with Monster Garage TV personality Brett 'Big Schwag' Wagner, and he’s been the booming voice of Bad Boy ever since!
2007
Just five short years in and we’re growing faster than we can meet demand.
Quickly adding manufacturing capability, we installed multiple lasers and robotic welders. Our emphasis on manufacturing capabilities is equaled only by our emphasis on innovation and building better mowers.
For the Lawn & Garden show, we built a custom ‘Monster Garage’ edition dragster mower with the crew from the hit TV show. Built behind closed curtains at the event, the mower was unveiled to thousands of people. Firing it up for the first time, the roar of the flame-throwing engine not only got the crowd’s attention, but a little unwanted attention from the fire marshal, as well. Lesson learned!
2008
Saw our growth multiply rapidly. We added over 300,000 sq. ft. and over 45 acres, more than doubling our manufacturing footprint.
With the addition of several new laser cutters, robot welders and benders, the sheer quantity of parts—cut, bent and welded — required a brand new paint system. Our new powder-paint system — one of the most advanced anywhere — was instrumental in our ability to keep up with the doubling of our sales during this year of incredible growth.
Now stretching across three manufacturing and warehouse facilities, we were able to keep up a record number of mower shipments to a record number of dealers across the country.
2009
2009 showcased our huge growth, our expanding product lineup and our facilities to match.
An exciting year shaped up for us beginning with the search for our Bad Boy spokesperson. Kelly was the stand-out favorite, representing Bad Boy Mowers for the next seven years, across the country at dealer’s locations and in our television advertising.
A HUGE opportunity came our way when Willie Nelson suggested a Bad Boy/Bad Girl Mower Race in his town of Luck, Texas, for a new music video he was working on. Willie brought in a few of his friends—Jessica Simpson, Woody Harrelson, Ray Price, Luke and Owen Wilson, Dan Rather and a host of others to participate—and we supplied the mowers. Featured everywhere from E-News to CMT, it proved to be an incredible opportunity to associate the Bad Boy Mower brand to some of the biggest names in the entertainment business. It was an honor to work with Willie and his crew—and even better to have some of our new friends as Bad Boy Mower owners! Check out the video on our website at www.badboymowers.com!
2010
We put the industry on it’s ear, introducing the MZ, and bringing commercial-grade build construction to the residential zero-turn market for under $3,000.
The dedication and determination of every employee to build the very best mower for the best price has been with us from the beginning. It’s a legacy and work ethic that’s built right into the folks around here that bleed Bad Boy orange. At our core is the same great team of people that have been with Bad Boy Mowers since our very first mower, and we couldn’t wait to introduce many of them to you in our 2010 catalog. Expanding our company family from the first 20 to now over 700, more than ever, we’re committed to building the best mower for the best value around.
2011
We introduced the Outlaw for the first time and it became an instant classic addition to the Bad Boy Mower line up.
Our five-point advantage in delivering more strength, access, power, durability and comfort has been the foundation of our promise to customers. And we’ve delivered them all at a far superior price than comparable zero-turn mowers. More mower for a better value!
This was a year of ‘firsts’ for Bad Boy. From sponsoring the PBR and #1 Ranked Bullrider Austin Meier to adding Zac Brown to our stable of country music artists and owners. We weren’t just building better mowers, we were building our brand name with world-class owners and spokesmen.
2012
The ArmorTek5 deck was introduced, setting a new standard for cut quality and deck durability.
Just ten years old and we took our first look back. It still amazes us to see the growth of Bad Boy Mowers. But it’s even more amazing to see how far we’ve advanced the zero-turn mower industry with our patented innovations and improvements.
The ArmorTek5 deck raised the standards for cut quality from front to chute. Its variable front plate allows for different grass varieties. An improved baffling system for handling huge volumes of grass and ensuring more velocity for cleaner blade cut also disperses more evenly at discharge. It was a big step forward in decks, and it’s only on a Bad Boy.
2013
We began our push into social media marketing, registering 6,500 likes to our Facebook page. Today, there are over 80,000!
World-class automation allowed us to bring even more manufacturing expertise in house. We continue to build everything right here in America. It’s our continuing promise to deliver the best mower available, made right here in America.
Growth in 2013 was nothing short of amazing. Our mowers were featured hard at work on SeaWorld and Busch Gardens properties. We moved our annual dealer meeting because of our explosive growth to Branson, Missouri, the first outside of our hometown of Batesville, Arkansas. It’s a great time to celebrate our dealer’s success. Merle Haggard performed and set us on course for our biggest year yet.
2014
The strength of Bad Boy comes from within. It’s a reflection of who we are, with the determination to build the best mower on the planet.
Tucked away in the Ozark Mountains, we believe the best things are still made in America. Every one that works here takes pride in their contribution to building a better mower. From our front office to our shipping department and every place in between, our strength truly does come from within each and every one of us here at Bad Boy Mowers.
We brought on-line an all-new, automated 100,000 sq. ft. parts department. Our very own trucking department grew from one 5th wheel trailer to 23 tractors and 50 trailers. We even design and build our well-known ‘Willie’ trailers ourselves so that we can roll our mowers right on — and right off — ready to cut.
2015
The Outlaw line-up was completely upgraded with new innovations from top to bottom.
Our research and development team took the already industry-leading Outlaw class mowers to a completely new level for zero-turn mowers. The result was a revolutionary success in performance, aesthetics and ergonomics. We introduced more features in this one model than all of our mowers since our beginning.
We continued as the official mower of beautiful SeaWorld® and Busch Gardens® parks. Outlaw country legends Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard both have performed for our expanding dealer base at our annual dealer meetings. It’s a time we all get together in order to build a stronger dealer network for you.
2016
We launched the revolutionary Maverick and created a whole new yardstick for comfort, cut and value.
We once again proved to be the innovation leader in the zero-turn mower industry with the Maverick by engineering our patented EZ-Ride® System into an integrated drive-train mower. Never before had a ride this comfortable been available on a mower for less than $6000. It’s another first and an example of our promise to never, ever stop leading.
Our second — and even more advanced — powder-coat system and additional manufacturing space were added in an effort to keep up with the demand for our mowers. Even with our growth, we never forget that it all comes back to the basics of building on strength, power and performance.
2017
We celebrated our 15th year building the best value in zero-turn mowers and delivered huge improvements to our MZ, MZ Magnum and ZT Elite models.
2017 delivered huge improvements in our most popular—and affordable—lineup of MZ, MZ Magnum and ZT Elite models. Not only did add more innovation and comfort to these always popular models, we did it without raising the price one dime. And the improvements paid off bigtime, with these models breaking sales records across the board!
On top of it all, we celebrated our 15th year building the best value in zero-turn mowers, anywhere. We brought our dealers to ‘Mowtown’ and our home state of Arkansas to celebrate the milestone—even closing down a main corridor bridge for a city-first, 70’s themed party!
We finished the year brand-strong, sponsoring the prestigious pre-season NCAA ‘Battle for Atlantis’ tournament and the all-new ESPN College Football ‘Gasparilla Bowl’ to our marketing lineup.
No other mower manufacturer has brought more patented-leading innovation to our industry over these last 15 years, and we’re on pace to make even more exciting gains in the future!
2018
Our record-breaking growth continued on pace, adding more dealers and selling more mowers than ever before!
In order to keep up with the increasing demand, we invested heavily in next-generation manufacturing technology, including a completely automated robot deck bender. We developed and improved functionality with our integrated manufacturing software and shipping companion programs. This software, developed in-house, tracks every mower made from the very beginning and pre-sorts trailer loads for efficient delivery across the country on our fleet of specially designed tractor-trailers.
Our annual Dealer Meeting, held in Biloxi, Mississippi at the fantastic Beau Rivage gave us the opportunity to not only thank our growing dealer network for a great year, but also allowed us the opportunity to give a sneak peek at the all-new Outlaw lineup coming in 2019.
Marketing remained aggressive as we once again sponsored the prestigious pre-season NCAA ‘Battle for Atlantis’ tournament and the ESPN College Football Gasparilla Bowl. Both were huge marketing hits, producing tremendous national name recognition and exposure. We even rolled out our new corporate logo on our annual catalog for the first time.
2018 proved to be a great year and we’re ramped up for an even bigger, more exciting 2019!
2019
2019 was a HUGE launch year for Bad Boy Mowers as we unveiled our completely redesigned Outlaw class of mowers!
We introduced the ground-up re-design of our Outlaw class mowers, with revolutionary improvements from top to bottom. The all-new 3-Link Trailing Arm Suspension set a new standard for suspension performance and the innovation and improvements didn’t stop there. We re-designed our decks for an even cleaner cut, without sacrificing a single ounce of build strength we’re know for.
We hosted our dealers from across the country in Dallas, Texas for our annual Dealer Meeting at the incredible Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center. We sneaked peek updates to our ZT and MZ lineups, as well as Wlak-Behind and Stand-On models.
We continued to sponsor both the prestigious pre-season NCAA ‘Battle for Atlantis’ tournament and the ESPN College Football Gasparilla Bowl. Both garnered huge audience viewership for the events.
We also expanded our production capabilities with more robotic benders and welders, allowing Bad Boy Mowers to cap off another record-breaking year for units built and sold.
