for the most part I feel out the customer and how they will react, generally I just say something to the extent of "this isnt the kind of work we normally do" or "id recommend calling a different company"
had one a while back, massive storm, trees on houses, guy has a 20ft maple sitting on his roof, I could almost drag it off by hand, he thinks its an emergency and wants it down ASAP, talking to him he didnt seem to know much of whats really going on, he wants me to bill insurance, then wants me to double the price so he gets another tree down for free, keep in mind the tree he wants done for free is 10X the size of the one he thinks is an "emergency"
I never called back, eventually he called me almost yelling asking when ill come get it off his house, I just told him im too busy and his job is both not an emergency but also illegal, he hung up (seriously, that phone slamming back down on the hook hurt), I blocked his number and forgot about him, seems to work good for me
I agree with Altissimus, polite or not you MUST get the point across, NEVER let there be a question, ive had to go back and do another half day of work for a guy because he thought he wanted one thing and actually wanted another
"cut all the green pines behind my shed down and into pieces my jeep can drag" we left (he was out of town), he comes back the next day wanting another pine (dead and brown) down, and all the trees cut into firewood "because my jeep cant drag those 10ft logs"
yikes, I told him id have a contract for him along with an invoice for the work, he refused unless I gave his attorney a copy, dude almost learned what its like to shovel 15 yards of chips off his front porch
