M&H Equipment has grown from working inside Patrick Howell's Volkswagen Jetta to 2 successful locations in Connecticut. While the expansion of the Rural Lifestyle Dealer's 2026 Dealership of the Year is a result of identifying customer needs, it also led them to new markets.

Introduction to Altoz

Co-Owners Howell and Neil Mongeau first discovered Altoz at the GIE Expo in Louisville, Ky. Many customers already had strong opinions about established equipment brands. Altoz offered a different opportunity for M&H, Howell says. 

“Some people just have opinions of brands, whether they’ve owned them or not. This was a brand that was new and nobody could say, ‘I don’t like that,’” he explains.

What initially started as a new product for their customers to try turned into a product that brought in a whole new segment of customers. 

At first, M&H only sold Altoz wheeled mowers. When Howell and Mongeau were introduced to their track mower, the partnership then became transformative. Mongeau and Howell realized that the track mower would be perfect for a specific market, solar farms. Through changing their advertisement towards solar farm management companies in 2020, they started to see the exponential growth in the machinery. 

Conquering the Solar Farm Challenge

Solar farms present many environmental hurdles that can make standard mowing machinery futile. The panels are built on bad terrain, and to pack in as many panels as possible, the rows are often very narrow. The property also only gets mowed 1 to3 times a year, so there are times where there is 8-foot grass that needs to be cut.

Solar farms are generally owned by energy companies, where they buy or lease the land. The majority of the maintenance is sublet to a local electrical or management company. Initially energy companies were hiring local landscape contractors to mow, but due to the difficult land contour it proved to be difficult. 

“You need specialized equipment to be competitive,” Howell says. 

The track mower provides that, and has a unique system beneficial for solar sites. The continuous tracks distribute the machine weight to achieve low ground pressure and strong traction, allowing operators to safely navigate wet and muddy ground, ditches and steep inclines. 

In addition, the track mowers have zero-turn maneuverability and heavy-duty, all-terrain cutting decks. Because the panels create tightly spaced rows and low-hanging panel edges, these units are able to easily maneuver under and around obstacles. It is replacing machinery such as track loaders with brush hogs. 

“It’s doing the same work that those tools do for a fraction of the price with very low operator training,” Howell says. 

Altoz also recognized the capabilities of their equipment, and the newest model, the TFX, is focused specifically on the solar farm market. 

Today, solar farm maintenance serves as a core business driver for M&H Equipment. The dealership now supports solar and site operators across New England, New York and Pennsylvania, helping to service thousands of acres.