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Thread: Things that make me grumpy

  1. #4741
    Senior Member GardeningSolutions's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by ASTRO View Post
    Studying at TAFE turf culture + management certificate would be an advantage.

    With a business small business management certificate.
    14 yrs ago as an adult student I spent approx 3k Studying the Horticulture course specializing in turf at Urbrae Agriculture College in Adelaide. Money well spent I believe. Not only increased avenues to increase income, the knowledge gave me the confidence in selling my abilities to the customer resulting in continual word of mouth referrals.

    It SH*TS me to see guys that put in no investment blatantly bullsh*tting the customer and performing poor quality work. I have spoken to some BOB'S over the years and they don't even know what type of grass they're looking after. One guy even sprayed 300m2 of lawn with roundup to get rid of some clover. Killed the lawn. There's some fools out there, got a mower whippersnipper Duh, I'll mow lawns for money.

  2. #4742
    Senior Member Bluey's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    I was doing a hort course at tafe but i was so busy with the landscaping and getting home so tired i stopped going,just concentrated on the business growing.These days just walking in circles is ok.

    Circles? But I hear you about just concentrating on the business
    Cheers

    Bluey
    Adelaide Home & Garden Solutions
    http://www.ahgs.com.au


    "Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when everyone is watching."

  3. #4743
    Senior Member BeetleJuice's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Bluey View Post
    Circles? But I hear you about just concentrating on the business
    Lawn mowing in circles

  4. #4744
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by GardeningSolutions View Post
    14 yrs ago as an adult student I spent approx 3k Studying the Horticulture course specializing in turf at Urbrae Agriculture College in Adelaide. Money well spent I believe. Not only increased avenues to increase income, the knowledge gave me the confidence in selling my abilities to the customer resulting in continual word of mouth referrals.

    It SH*TS me to see guys that put in no investment blatantly bullsh*tting the customer and performing poor quality work. I have spoken to some BOB'S over the years and they don't even know what type of grass they're looking after. One guy even sprayed 300m2 of lawn with roundup to get rid of some clover. Killed the lawn. There's some fools out there, got a mower whippersnipper Duh, I'll mow lawns for money.
    Yep, today turned up to a job where the lady told me the last "gardener" had sown grass seed in her garden beds.
    He told her it would be easier to maintain as it would help keep the weeds down ............ WOW !!!!

    Cheers Fred.

  5. #4745
    MEMBER Fred's mowing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    $60 have a look at the rounds for sale sections on line and see just how many people out there are trying to sell rounds with the listing saying well priced at $45 p/h I think this is more like the price these people are basing their pricing on or the service websites that advertise people from $30-$35 if they are basing it on anything .Last I heard Jims were at $88 and that was a year or 2 ago and as I have said before I would prefer someone to know i charge $80-90 p/h and undercut me at $60 p/h than think I charge $45p/h and under cut me at $30.
    Seen todays ?

    Cheers Fred.

  6. #4746
    Senior Member Chris B's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    Seen todays ?

    Cheers Fred.
    No wonder it's for sale!

  7. #4747
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by brett73 View Post
    When your 3.5yr old Colorado ****s itself at 10:30am and you have to cancel the rest of the day and possibly some of next week, right when things are starting to grow


    Got the Colly back. Final cost $1100. New flywheel and clutch kit. Not sure of the exact reason for the issue but the flywheel was the cause. Clutch kit was put in due to the amount of km's I've done.

  8. #4748

    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    Yep, today turned up to a job where the lady told me the last "gardener" had sown grass seed in her garden beds.
    He told her it would be easier to maintain as it would help keep the weeds down ............ WOW !!!!

    Cheers Fred.
    Maybe he refers his friends to weeding jobs! Probably seeded couch!!!!

  9. #4749
    Member of forum ASTRO's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred's mowing View Post
    Yep, today turned up to a job where the lady told me the last "gardener" had sown grass seed in her garden beds.
    He told her it would be easier to maintain as it would help keep the weeds down ............ WOW !!!!

    Cheers Fred.
    Reminds me of a bloke who was doing the rounds top mulching customers garden beds with horse manure which he sourced for free.

    The result was their gardens were taken over be patterson's curse/thistle/rye grass/sour sob/black berry.


  10. #4750
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by brett73 View Post
    Got the Colly back. Final cost $1100. New flywheel and clutch kit. Not sure of the exact reason for the issue but the flywheel was the cause. Clutch kit was put in due to the amount of km's I've done.
    In a paid app well known caravan forum. A chap with 2015 Colorado with 60,000 km up at his service have found metal filing particles in the diff.
    One to watch maybe.
    Holden replaced oil and will check at next service to see if anymore metal fillings appear before acting.
    Cheers Garry

  11. #4751
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Quote Originally Posted by BeetleJuice View Post
    Lawn mowing in circles
    Which strangely enough is the way some manufactures recommend you mow ,they say to mow in an anti clockwise direction when using the mulching function
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

  12. #4752
    Senior Member NLALM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Done 4 hrs hedging for a client on tuesday , wife sent invoice last night, after I told her how much , she said I'm not charging enough and yes it was a bit cheap but this guy gets me to do a fair bit of work , and I have put a bit of work into his lawns and have them coming on well. I won't say how much I charged as you guys would give me serve and tell me to wake up. But I will say I didn't add anything to get rid of the green waste , which is stupid, and I sprayed his weeds a week ago and didn't charge him, wish I had of.

    Anyway a bit about the guy, late 60s multi million dollar house , holiday home at nelson bay , owns a block of units where I have done work for him , owns several rental properties, told me he is building a new development ,drives a merc , you know typical aussie doing it tough.

    So got a text off my wife this morning saying he sent an email saying he wasn't happy with the price and could I give him a breakdown of what I charged him for. I thought you must be kidding, well it played on my mind all day, I don't need this crap off any client if your not happy with my price get someone else. So I just couldn't help it on my way home I went to his place to front him, I can't stand these spineless people who are so tough behind their keyboard. I asked what the problem was and he said he was shocked by the price , I explained what I charged and let him know what he got for free. I told him he got a very good deal and being polite which is unlike me in these situations, I told him I will no longer do any work for him, as this has soured the relationship.

    The thing that really gets me is that this guy has had his own business, he must know what it costs to run a business. I should of asked him what he thought a fair hourly rate would be for a qualified tradesman with 35 years experience would be. Let me tell you the hedges were trimmed to perfection , the place always shines , I used to get comments from people walking past all the time, it just feels like a real kick in the guts , Im just about ready to give this crap away, sorry for the rant guys

  13. #4753
    Senior Member steveo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    sorry to hear about your experience NLALM. He probably pays less tax than you too and in a few years he'll be draining the health system or whats left of it.

    He just sees the world as something for him to exploit. Well karma comes around my friend and one day he'll be holed up as a frail old vulnerable man at the whim of whatever low paid multinational owned worker that might have to wipe his arse.

    I look down upon people with Mercs and Beemers. They represent whats gone wrong with this country.

  14. #4754
    Senior Member RSM-Gazza's Avatar
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    Mark,
    Your not alone. I have a few customers that I do a bit more for that may not get invoiced at times. Because we care so much and are not lazy and do a little extra at times.
    I too have multi multi millionaires and one lets me down across and out of winter most years. But my wife never understands why it bites me so much when you have it rubbed in your face from any customer you have cared for.

    You know your top long term operator, let the steam off like "Milton the Monster" (Google it). We do get treated like Sheit some times by people.
    I had a house five houses away in my street, we called it the Picture Theatre House - it is a designer home. He belittled me a fair bit during the quote process and looked down on me, patting my back, offering full control. This was full Garden/Lawn care. They had two huge Beammer Suv's
    I rang him before starting and told to him to find someone else. I was as happy as ever after doing that. The recent new owner of the house has asked me to work there too me, but I've lost interest in the house and my heart would not be in it.

    So, I Gazza, hereby authorise you to down a couple of Newcastles finest ale's and hold your head up high.
    Cheers Garry

  15. #4755
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    Default Re: Things that make me grumpy

    and he'll be saying to the next guy but the last guy only charged me $xx can you do it for that,hopefully everyone he says this to says sorry cant match that get the last guy out again
    Also nothing better than driving past these places and seeing them go to the sh*t
    Anything Ian says may or may not be garbage, it may also be his own opinion or it may not be his opinion at all, it may just be something he felt like stating anyone following his advice does so at their own risk and may be doing something Ian would actually advise against.
    And if you don't like what Ian has to say use the ignore function if you don't know how ask i will gladly tell you

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