I was doing this block of flats the other day and one of the tenants had their washing on the line and they weren't home, I didn't mow the area near the clothes so that I wouldn't throw grass or dirt on their clothes (been there - done that !). Today I get an email from the Real Estate saying that I had missed an area of lawn and it wasn't up to standard.
W.T.F. am I supposed to do? You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
F- -king Real Estates!! I know lawnies who won't touch them, and I'm starting to get that way myself.
I took down 3 trees today; 2 of them were entrenched in power lines worked like a Trojan to get them down. Had to park the Ute on NE road with witches hats getting nudged by every 2nd car. I felt safer in the cage diving with white sharks at Pt Lincoln. Also dug up 4-5 overgrown rose bushes with suckers 7-8' high. No lunch, no smoko, legs like jelly at the end of the day. The lady of the house asked if the price would be less than quoted coz I got more done than I thought I would have done today? Far out Brussel sprout! Would you have paid me more than I quoted if it took me longer to do? Me grumpy? YOU BET!
Quoted price is quoted price. It's a legal document. I had builders try that on me :
"Oh it's gonna be a bit more than I thought because of materials blah blah blah and my subbie is a bit more than I thought".
email back the estate agent telling them that the tenant hadn't cleared the area in question so you were unable to mow it but in future you would be happy to mow this area but will take no responsibility for any damage that maybe caused put it back in there court they are just going on what the tenant has told them and most likely they haven't said that the area in question was blocked by there clothes
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
when you send the email ask them to tell you if they want you to in future mow even if damage may result also having reread your post the tenant in question may have removed the washing and someone else has complained not knowing there was a reason you hadn't mow this area just thinking you aren't doing the job properly
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
Be pro-active. If your invoice stated that the area immediately under the clothes line was missed this time and why, and that you will be sure to get next time. then you may not have even heard from the agent...
David
Mr Sparkle Car Spa
See, the thing is I have had problems in the past with accidentally throwing grass on tenants washing and getting hauled through the coals for that. I could have mentioned it on the Invoice, good idea, but how far does one person have to go really !!
If they knew I was coming and they hang washing on the line I do my best to spray as much crap on their clothes as possible. Teach them a lesson for being so stupid. If I turn up out of the blue and there is washing on the line I ask if its ok. If they are not home I try not to get any on the clothes if possible. Never had a complaint either way but most of my clients are not too bad
Jason Forrest
Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
0407 435 642
fairdinkumlawns.com.au
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How far? Depends on your client.
Offer your client some options and let them decide.
1. You tell them a day before you will attend, and they can contact all the tenants to advise you are attending
2. You will avoid lines when clothes are hanging
3. You will do under lines even when clothes are hanging
You might mention that options 2 and 3 have been unsatisfactory in the past, so they need to follow thru on option 1.
You've shown yourself reasonable and it's back on them!
David
Mr Sparkle Car Spa
Part 1. Did a lawn for this young lady a couple of months ago. Was a $1mil+ house on a corner block with a 50m footpath on one side....overgrown. Front yard is raised behind a retaining wall with a white pebble garden with a few weeds here n there. To get the mower up onto the lawn I had to lift it over a 1m wall. The lawn leaf was maybe 10cm long and was heavily thatched....the honda stopped on the highest level. So it ended up being a 2.5hr slash, mow, mow and 7 full chaff bags. Also they had a leaky pipe out the front and the grass was 2 feet long in one section. And the 15msq back yard was up a steep flight of stairs which i had to carry the mower up. This was a referral from a regular of mine. I gave her an extremely good price and she complained "oh but you do hers for $?? and I have less grass." She also asked if I could pull out the weeds. I said no but I can spray them and I said no charge because it won't take me long. Anyway I did the job. it was a bit white in places because it had been laid on uneven ground. But it looked bloody good I reckon, especially the edges.
Jason Forrest
Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
0407 435 642
fairdinkumlawns.com.au
facebook page
Part 2. I was doin the lawn across the road the next day and the woman's husband comes across and starts havin a go at me. "You missed a bit." Which i noticed when I got there and agreed to do it. "You got grass all over my wall and you didn't hose it off! I had to hose it myself." WTF??? "And don't blow grass all over the road!" ....I had actually spent a good 20 min blowing grass off the road onto the lawn from his feral f...king edges. Oh I forgot to mention that it also started raining while i was mowing so a few crumbs stuck to the road which most people would understand...but it was only really fine and not much.....Anyway his snobby arrogant attitude really pissed me off so i went and finished the bit I missed...5msq on the other side of the drive way....2ft long...slash, mow, blow ....all over his upper class f...cking road.
Jason Forrest
Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
0407 435 642
fairdinkumlawns.com.au
facebook page
Part 3. She called me mid january and left a message "I just want to book you in to do my lawns this week. bla bla bla." Being flat out at the time I totally forgot to reply. And when I did her neighbour lawn a couple of weeks later, hers had been done so I didn't worry about it. Today she calls and starts abusing me and threatening to spread bad words about my business and calling fair trading if I don't refund the money. She's telling me I agreed to spray the weeds which was included in the price which I didn't do...when actually I said I would spray the weeds no charge next time I am there. She also reckons I mulched the lawn which killed it.....(not the 40 degree heat and no rain). I don't think I even had a mulch plug at the time. Anyway this pissed me off no end. Sure you blokes have been through similar situations before. It's a pissant amount of money. But I refuse to refund it. Should I just ignore the situation
Jason Forrest
Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
0407 435 642
fairdinkumlawns.com.au
facebook page
yeh i would.
who is she going bad mouth you to she wouldnt have any freinds and no one would listen to her anyway. you did the job and did it well by the sounds of it.
yeah I reckon if her friends are anything like her I would pay her to bad mouth me to them hehehe.
Jason Forrest
Fair Dinkum Lawn & Garden Care
Servicing St Clair, Erskine Park, Colyton, South St Marys
0407 435 642
fairdinkumlawns.com.au
facebook page