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TreeHouser
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
999
Location
Eastern PA
Took down 12 trees yesterday and the lady loves us. she buys lunch. Today we move the wood. no more lunches. she was very concerned about her lawn, which was covered in mats. and very concerned about her dirty driveway, which will be cleaned, and very very concerned about what the neighbors will say about the dirty road. some people just don't get what goes into moving 12 trees from the woods and moving them thru funky terrain and tight spaces. I can't float them. strong with the force I am, but not that strong. Oh well, she'll get over it.
 
I try to make folks aware on messy jobs beforehand that it'll get worse before it gets better. If the street gets messy, even with just lumps of dirt, throw a cone out by it. It shows that its a work in progress and is being acknowledged.

If those methods don't suffice, then its not your problem, its the HOs and they will have to get over it.
 
I find that a simple explanation at the beginning of the work day usually calms some uptight folks down. But in the end if you are doing a superb cleanup then that is what will stick in their mind.
 
I have never had anyone complain about a mess while the job is in progress, I think if folks are a bit bothered, it's more a wait and see thing for them in these parts. Still, it occurs that mentioning it beforehand is an excellent idea. I have worked some jobs where I want to complain to the homeowner about their mess. I somehow restrain myself.
 
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I find that a simple explanation at the beginning of the work day usually calms some uptight folks down. But in the end if you are doing a superb cleanup then that is what will stick in their mind.

Yup, thats how we do it, and it usually turns out just fine. Some people you just can't please. The place looked good when we left so like you said, that's what they'll remember.
 
Some people are just overly picky. Ive had to go back and clean saw dust out of someone's flower garden before. Not a pile of saw dust, but a light scattering of it. Funny thing was, it was an impossible task. I just used a blower and blew them into a less noticeable area. Ive worked for some very picky people.
 
I was cleaning up a trail a HO wanted me to clean up. It is basically a trail, made up of three, he wants cleaned up and widened in places. He lives both here and in Tucson AZ. I bill him for the first day of clean up. E mail him saying we started just below the house and started working our way down the trail from there only doing clean up of the storm damage and burn the slash piles from last year. Mind you in the start and direction he and I walked it together the day I took the job. I get an e mail back... Where on the trail?? :roll: I email him back and try to describe it. I apologise that our camera is not working currently and I need to buy a new one to send him pictures. He chastises me in the next e mail about no pictures, sends me two asking if I got past that point, which I had already described as no, we did not get that far. So now being pissed about having to deal with this nonsense, I write him a long, detailed (almost down to how many paces between points of interest) snooty letter describing everything all again... He finally gets it, and can't find our address to send a check. :roll: Again I respond snooty that he can Google it or just use the self addressed stamped envelope I provided for him that came with the invoice. It took two weeks to get paid. GAWWD people can get irritating. This guy is some high up professor as well at a college. :roll: Idiot.
 
I used to write on my bids "haul all debris". Turned out to not be as good a way to put it as I thought. Now my bids say "haul brush and wood", the nice clean up is just icing on the cake after that
 
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