Landscaper Delima

Captain

Captain

Final Approach
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So, I had a guy do the yard trimming. I mowed but he did the rest up until a month ago or so. He up and left town without a word and gave the account to a friend. We only knew the old guy left because the new guy showed up. All without a word to us.

Okay, I'll play ball. I had asked the old guy for a quote to remove two planters and sod over the area. One of the planters had a stump in it that needed to be ground out. We never got the quote from the last guy so I asked the new guy for the quote.

So my wife drives home today and sees the new guy grinding away on the stump. We never got a quote. She asks him what he's doing and he says I told him to do it and it's only $50.

So what would you do? I never asked for anything but a quote and now he's going to want to be paid for his work. As a labourer he should be paid, but as a customer I should get a choice.
 
$50 seems like a reasonable deal to me, but I'd sure let him know not to do anything without authorization again. Sounds like he got word from the original guy and somehow thought you had already OK'd it.
 
I'm with Matthew. I'd pay him, and be sure he understands that the next time you ask for an estimate, if he does work without authorization, he's not getting paid. If he was asking an exhorbitant amount of money, I'd rethink this, though.
 
Agreed, for $50 I'd let him do it - but tell him next time he does it without asking first it's free.

The lying to my wife part would straight up get his butt whipped if it were me - but that's up to you.
 
Being Im in the business I won't even drive my Truck out for less than $50.00 let alone grind a stump. You got a great price, pay him be happy but I would have a talk about you not giving him the go ahead to do the work.

Mike
 
I'm with the others, pay him, thank him, and say "I guess there was some confusion. In the future, unless I tell you to do something specifically, please don't do it. I won't pay for it if you do".
 
airguy said:
Agreed, for $50 I'd let him do it - but tell him next time he does it without asking first it's free.

The lying to my wife part would straight up get his butt whipped if it were me - but that's up to you.
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Yeah, I must have missed the lying to the wife part. I wouldn't be happy about it, but on the other hand, he's doing the work, so it is possible that it was an honest misunderstanding and he really did think you told him to do it. Without being there, I can't know. I'd just make sure that he knows that he'd better be clear next time, or it's bye bye landscaper.
 
Haha very funny Captain. I get the title joke. Es su jardinero Manuel Labor?
 
It's most likely just a misunderstanding. Pay him and make sure he understands not to do it again.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
 
1) Stumps grinding here ranges from $30 to $50. I'm with the others that say pay him for the work especially if you would have paid that amount .

2) Where I differ is I would confront him about the lie to your wife and I'd have her there. The lie would have me seriously considering telling the guy not to come back.
 
on the other hand (how many hands are there now in this 'is this landscaper a jerk' thread?) :) maybe he didn't lie ... maybe the misunderstanding starting with Landscaper A verbally passing down to Landscaper B that the job was approved ...
:dunno:
 
Dunno about the "lying to the wife" aspect. I'd tend to give him the benefit of the doubt - once. He ground the stump and said you had OK'd it. Maybe that's what he really thought? Taking over clients from the previous guy probably meant some communications fell through the cracks, even verbal requests you had given him specifically.
 
Lying to the wife needs to be left to the experts. Annuals only cost about $300 year, airplanes rarely need expensive maintenance, after I get current I'll only fly an hour per month.....
 
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