Ever do a drive by....

[Grateful11]

Ever do a drive by and just keep on gettin' it? I did one the other day. I put an ad on an online classified and got a call. The lady wanted some bed work. So I was in the area and found the house, she wasn't expecting me, we took a look at it and sped up. It was rough and I mean rough. I need work just like the rest of you but I have to draw the line somewhere.

[bob]

Been there, done it , and got the t-shirt! I agree, a lawn has to be pretty bad to be able to reject it from the inside of your truck! Who knows what hidden treasures your mower will find while cutting their jungle.

[lawnboy82]

yeah, best bet in a case like that would be sell the lawn under the condition that she has some severe work done. go and sell other stuff first. if she doesnt wanna go for it then price yourself out of the job. if she goes for it then you will be happy.

[Ducky]

Um...one thing to be careful w/ "drive bys" is if you have signs on your truck, the actual customer may not be home, but if a neighbor sees your truck, it could get back to the customer. Also, the customer may have known it would be a tough job, and may have been more than willing to pay for it! Any time someone calls me for an estimate, I take the time to stop and look at it and talk to the customer. If they seem concerned about the price I give for a "pain in the...." job, I simply explain everything that needs to be done to get the results they're expecting. If I get the job and it's a real mess at the start, I take a before, during, and after picture. They're happy with the work, and I usally get great referals from these! Sometimes it pays to take the seemingly crappy jobs, or at least give the estimate. I've even gotten referals when I didn't get the origional job! Good luck!


[Edited by Ducky on 04-05-2001 at 10:37 PM]

[Nathan]

Had plenty of those, but heres a new one. The other day a lady called from a fairly ritzy neighborhood. She wanted full maintenance except mowing because they pay their daughter allowance for mowing the grass. I started getting a hint of snob from a few things she said, and then she told me she didn't want any chemicals used on the yard because of the environment, etc. Anyhow, she wanted references, which we give upon request. Everyone we use for references keep us in touch, so when we heard back from the two we had given out I was surprised. Both customers said that the lady had acted very snotty "A *****" in one customers words. Both of them said that we should be informed that the lady didn't seem like a reasonable customer.
We thanked both our references and told them that we had turned her down(which actually made her want to use us even more). We don't let our customers tell us who to do business with but a red flag popped up when both of these respected clients had basically the same thing to say.

[yardsmith]

If you drive by & the nosy neighbor DOES see it & tell the prospective customer, simply inform them it didn't look like they were home & wanted to stop when you thought they were home. Or if it wasn't right time, then you want to come when you said you'd come. Not way before.

[DMC300]

Correct me if I'm wrong,but would it have taken just a short time to actually do a walkaround and give a bid for this job?
Sometimes you find GOLDMINES inthe strangest places!
Especially after you're already there.
Can't say I haven't done the same though.

[Fantasy Lawns]

"just like running thru a red light ....no point in looking behing you now" ;->

[Island Lawn]

One Of mY first call was to a lady's house/landfill

There was probably a ton of debris. Rotting doors, windows, cocrete, even a refrigerator!!
That is what I could identify under the 5+ years of growth covering the pile/yard.

I told her it was over my head and ran.

I fielt sorry for her, but I can't help wondering how things were allowed to get to landfill status. I'm SURE it took a few years of dedication and collection!

[Twotoros]

I do it all the time . I am tired of Crappy lawns. I have never met an owner of a run down property that wants it renovated so I just keep cruis'n now.

[LJ lawn]

just did a drive by today,but in the car.it was a person who i had done a very ass busting leaf job for 2 years ago.i gave them what i now know is a lowball price and they even complained about it being too much at that time.the rest of the property is a pain,40 degree hill,tons of shade (no lawn) small gate,pool etc.you get the picture.i don't know about everyone else,but i keep a book on everyone who calls me over the years for estimates. it's pretty amusing when the same person you estimated calls you back year after year not knowing they already spoke to you last season,because they are just going down the list of all the landscapers in the phone book.saves me from wasting my time.these are the same type of people who give you that "well just leave the estimete in the mailbox" crap.But i will say it is almost mandatory to scope out a new account thoroughly.get out and walk every foot of the yard. you never know how deep those leaves are from 50 yards away,or if they have any holes or metal pipes sticking out of the ground,which is always fun to hit at full speed on the mower.