Hi Ironbark,
I was discussing this with another mate who mows lawns and he has a full mix of mowers from a 24,Ariens,Hondas a Deutscher self propelled and a couple of 18 inch Victas and that is for the reason you said, no one mower covers all jobs. He tries to plan his days so he takes the right mowers/slashers for the jobs he is doing that day. Believe it or not he is in McKinnon in inner Melb, he only works very local and he has 7 customers where he uses his 24