What's the worst lawn you've taken on?

[DBM]

I've been cutting a lawn weekly now which is owned by a physically handicapped woman. It's horrible, when I went to
give the estimate the grass was an honest 10 inches high, full of pot holes from the dog, but the first thing I saw was a knucklebone (cow femur) sticking a foot out of the ground! She cleaned it up for me but I still managed to step in dog crap a couple of times, ran over a couple of squeeky toys, and fell into some blackberry bushes. Another problem with this property is it's smack dab in the middle of an agricultural area so it's been growing 6" a week. I cut this lawn because I need all the work I can get and the job pays very well.
Has anyone taken on similar accounts or is it just me.

Doug

[KirbysLawn]

Did a lawn for a friend (stupid), his boxer had dug large holes, crap everywhere, toys and more toys, then a tennis ball thru the slideing glass door. Due the the size of the holes the mower bottomed out several times destroying a good set of blades, luckly rocks did not hit something.

That was the one and ONLY time I mowed that lawn. Friends don't mow friends lawns. ;)

[crs]

Sounds pretty bad!!

If the job pays well just suck it up and do it. Maybe you can talk her into letting you do some improvements to her turf areas. Also, get a rider so you won't be gettin' any of that "stuff" on your shoes.

Good Luck!!

[beck]

today I was helping a friend get caught up. We cut one yard together (4 acre) then he sent me to three others on my own as he and his worker went to others. He said they were small so they shouldnt be to hard for me to knock out rather quickly. The first one had branches starting at 3 feet high around all of the trees with grass underneath that was not that bad but the third one he sent me to had a back yard that had three terraces to it that were too steep to mow then all of the trees had roots sticking out of the ground. I ended using the trimmer on 50% of the yard.

[CLARKE]

I have this place for two years, this lady has 10
great dames, they dig holes they crap witch don't get
cleaned up by any one but my lawn mower tirers, I have
to back in off a busy road i have to call 15 min"s before i
get there.the only good thing is she pays me when i get there,Iv"e mowed most of my places 4 time now and i have"n
heard from her this year yet sofar. I think that a good thing. If shes calls now i will tell her i have to much work
and can"t do her any more.

[TJLC]

I did mow one with 3 dogs. Besides the holes dug by the dogs,the piles, and an electric fence, (ouch) they would chase me around while I mowed. It was also out of my way to do. The good thing was as far as paying, she was never late. I have one now that takes me as long to trim as it does to mow, plus hoses in the yard to move, dog piles etc... But he is a very good paying customer, so I just deal with it. Money is money, I guess.

[MOW ED]

My first year in business I worked for a dentist that has a large yard on a hillside. The lawn usually took over an hour to do with my Toro lawn tractor and craftsman mower (first year remember). They re-landscaped in the back and I couldn't cut it until they told me to(about 10,000 sq). Then I couldnt ride, I had to push and bag. 3.5 hours later I was whipped and very p.o'ed but I stuck it out until the end of the season because there was no Lawnsite to go home to and vent on.
Since then I have noticed a new LCO at this property every year for the past 5 in a row.

[KD'sLawns]

I have mowed some pretty awful lawns, but I turned down one that would take the blue ribbon of worst lawns.
This lady calls me up and says, Im so and so's friend and I was wanting you to mow my yard. So, I told her that I would come by and look at it, while she was at work. As I drove up to the house, I looked at the front yard. Overgrown, about 12" tall and some stuff scattered in the yard. Thought, this won't be too bad. Walked around to the back yard and there was thick grass about 24" tall or higher. This was all going to be with a 21" (gates not even 30" wide). Thought I was in a nightmare, but didn't wake up only got worse. I started walking though the yard to see what I had to contend with. Clothes scattered all about the yard, shoes, and trash. Found some metal pipes sticking out of the ground(perfect height for my blades to hit). Apparently this lady has had some plumbing trouble because she had a 3" PVC line coming from her house into the middle of the yard. I think it was drainage for her washing machine. I thought NO WAY!!! I walked a diferent route coming out of the yard. There were three dead half decomposed cats lying there on the ground that I could see. No telling how many were buried in all the tall grass.
I left and called her that night to tell her no. She kept trying to talk me into doing it. Then she said that if I decided to do it to make sure that I wore a mask, because the people in that area had just found out that there were toxic amounts of chromium VI found on the ground that had come from some cooling towers at a nearby gas plant, (the reason for the dead cats). I told her there was no way I would ever cut that!!! She can find some school kid to do that job. It was something straight out of Stephen King's mind.

[Grassman]

Holy Cow! That yard shouldn't be mowed, it should be bulldozed! Russ

[CSRA Landscaping]

Mine wasn't that bad but it was fairly messed up. A lady had me come by and look at her yard and when I looked at it, I wasn't sure if I was at a house or a flea market. Junk everywhere. In fact, it was so bad, that I removed three bamboo canes that had just been laid down in the yard, figuring it was trash and she called me wanting to know where her three fishing poles were later in the week.
Anyway, there were vines everywhere, a couple blades of grass, mostly weeds, which she called grass. Other weeds were flowers. I way overpriced myself b/c I didn't want it but she took it! So I cut it one time and she called me back to get something that I hadn't gotten. I told her it had been cut and she got all irrational on me. When I tried to calm her down, she started ranting and raving about how I needed to be more like this guy that was there, cleaning up her flower beds for her. She was standing over him, dictating his every move. So I told her 'bye' and promised to see that she got another LCO. Put an ad in the paper =-).
That yard was so messed up, hoses everywhere, one got caught in the blades, buried in the vines. MAN! I was glad to be rid of her yard.

[Twotoros]

Ditto everyone. I used to take on a lot of nightmares. Seemms alot of these folk just want the place cleaned up. After I would get a handle on these kinds they would usually get rid of me. I now won't even think of trying to do a job like that any longer. Just got a call on one last week. It was some sort of biz, I got out and took a few steps inside this nightmare and knew it was horrid.They could see me inside the office. I looked at them , waved and drove off.

[KD'sLawns]

It's pretty amazing how some people can live. Then they get a grand idea to have it cleaned up. Thus, the LCO comes into play! I have cleaned up plenty of these properties and there is good money in it because they won't do it themselves. But there have been a few I have passed on. But none as bad as the one I wrote about already.

[65hoss]

http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=13934

The above is a link to the post MikeLT1Z28 put up. We did this one last week. This is probably the worst one this year. But it doesn't compare to the HUD houses we did last spring. :(

[Turfcouncil]

Seems like I always get the bad ones right when it gets over 110 degrees and nobody wants to work in that kink of heat. The thing that pisses me of the most is dog doo.
I have one that has 5 chows and never picks up. I can smell it on my shoes the rest of the day.

[ETturfman]

I was going to post a couple of my bad experiences until I read KD'sLAWNS post about the dead cats and chromium. That's the best one I've seen so far!

[kutnkru]

Wosrt lawn I mowed was the other day.

Received a call from the code enforcement officer, and the homeowner agreed to the price. Here lawn was 10 inches high if it was 2 feet tall.

Anyhow asked her about the dog and she said he would be inside. I had to psuh down on the handle bars to get thru it the first of three times.

Came around the back of the garage and for whatever reason she had let her pomeranian out to use the lawn and I plum shredded her puppy to smitheranes.

Didnt see him in the grass, let alone anticipate that he would be out there after she had just assured us that he would be inside as we inspected her lawn for beer bottles, cans, toys, car parts etc.

Thats the worst lawn to date for me. I offered to replace her pooch but she refused. I can understand her point about not being able to replace the family puppy. :(

Kris

[1MajorTom]

Kris

That is simply awful. The worst I ever did was run over a baby rabbit, and I felt really bad about that for a very long time. Now every time we go to that yard, I still think about it.
Don't know how I would handle running over a dog.

[Holloway Lawns]

I did one the other day that was waste high mostly thick weeds uneven ground, lots of trash 5 large bags full, and big rocks and I did not make what I should have but I did take the job so I am sucking it up.:confused:

[Lawn DOG]

Nothing is sweeter than running a weed eater wide open and hitting a fresh dog doo! Taste like ****! We have all had a nasty one before. Take it, learn from it, grow from it, then pass it to someone else. You have to crawl before you can walk. Good luck. Hang in there.

[DBM]

Kris,

Man, I must be a horrible person 'cause I darn near peed my pants I was laughing so hard. I personally feel for both you and the homeowner but my wife and I worked in the pet industry for many years and loath pomeranians.
The second thing that came to my mind was "are you joking?", but the first thing I was thinking was "1 down, 5 million to go".

Doug

[65hoss]

My neighbors got some little yapping thing. Can you come to Memphis and take care of it. I'll pay you. :D

[JimLewis]

Damn, I thought I had mowed some bad lawns in my day but I can't beat the ones with the dead cats and running over the puppy. Damn...

Anyway, I guess the worst one we did (Well, I didn't actually do any of it. My employees did.) was one that was about 2 feet high. Not uncommon this time of year. We get these every week or two. The only thing that made this one unique was the spiders. There was a total infestation of spiders in the lawn. Everywhere I peeled the grass away so I could see below there were literally hundreds of spiders. You could walk a foot away and peel the grass apart and see another hundred spiders. It was crazy. This was about a 6000 sq. ft. lawn. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were tens of thousands of spiders living in there.

[sgreanbean]

the worst one!
last year we had a condo assc. to mow. that was untill some of the homeowners i learned were scitzos! and 1 had altimers!
this one would come out after we mowed her lawn and tell us we didnt! then the others would follows us around, i dont mean on the property i mean thru town! it payed well and we did a good job but they were really bothering me and my guys so i let them go

[KD'sLawns]

Kris,

That's too bad about the dog. I bet if she replaces the dog that next time she keeps him in.


The yard that I referred to earlier, I still do not think that anyone has cleaned it up. But I do think that the homeowner got someone to dispose of the cats. If I get a chance sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll sneak out there and get a picture of it!!!

[CSRA Landscaping]

Originally posted by kutnkru
... I plum shredded her puppy to smitheranes.


Yes, your honor, we saw our cousin meet the mower-man. (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/ViewPhoto?u=1679080&a=12880209&p=48236357&f=0)

[AB Lawn Care]

:D nice photo!

I have to say or worst lawn is an average size residential lawn of ours......with over 90 trees in it!!!!I'm not kidding!This lady is a nature freak(you know the type) and has planted a forest!!!!I counted them 1 day and it was over 90.....that was 2 years ago!!!!Who knows maybe its over 100 now!

And you know how many times I got smashed in the face with a pine branch????It was like one of the three stooges cutting a lawn!

[Ground Master]

If I have a lawn with a lot of dog grap, I simply explain to the customer that they must clean it up. Now, I know they can't get it all, but the must make an effort.

Over the years I have had to drop several lawns because of this.

I simply will not drive around with that lingering smell on my shoes, mowers and inside the truck. Its a matter of respect. If they don't care about cleaning it up, then I don't care to mow their property.

[SLS]

I was refered by a client last year (who has a beautiful lawn) to a friend of his who had lost their lawn service.

When I showed up the front lawn was about 18 inches tall...uhh ohh...

As I use a 60" Lazer I knew that the overabundance of lawn ornaments, bird feeders, tiki torches, and junk did not bode well but I got out and waded in to have a look anyway.

The back yard was twice as high and there were about 8 abandoned cars back there...uhh ohh again.

The kicker was that there were auto parts buried everywhere in the tall grass. Cylinder heads, water pumps, rims, crankshafts...you name it..it was there...somewhere....along with several 7" tall thistles. :eek:

The lady saw me out there and came out (oops, didn't get away in time!) and said "so...how much?"

I played along and asked how often she wanted it mowed and she said "Oh, about every 3 or 4 weeks". Yeah, right......

When I told here that I must decline placing a bid due to the, err, "objects" lying about she went BONKERS!

"What do you mean you won't cut my grass??" she snarled. "The last guy didn't have any problem mowing it! We'll I'll just have to tell Mr. (my client) that you wont take care of me!" Then she went on about how I must not be a professionial if I were going to turn down her property! God, was she hateful! :angry:

Well, that took the cake. I asked what happened to her last guy and she said "He went out of business...said he wasn't making enough money..." to which I replied "Well, it is obvious to me as to why. It would cost me more to repair my equipment after mowing this pile of metal than I can afford also. You cannot reasonably expect someone to come in here and run a $10,000 machine over this scrapyard". Her jaw dropped and she was stammering for words as I recommended that she hire a 'trash clean-up service' before her neighbors got wise and called the Health Department on her.

This was the only time a client of potential has ever gotten under my skin this way. I felt sorta bad about it, but hey, someone had to tell her like it is.

Anyway, after explaining the situation to my refering client, he said "Don't worry about it...she's crazy as a loon!" and that's the last I ever heard about it. :D

[Remsen1]

Did you know that in my area there is a company that is a dog poo cleanup service? Not the nicest line of business, but it is obviously something that people don't like to do (or should I say "doo").

I have thought about charging to have dog doo removed on a weekly basis and hire the dog doo guy come and do the cleanup on the day before I arrive to do the lawn for some places.

[LAWNS AND MOWER]

Worst yard I've ever taken on???? Would have to be my own. Hilly, push mowing only, roots, pot holes, kids toys. Thank God I don't own a dog!!!!

LAWNS AND MOWER

[awm]

if they got enough cash they can get me on just about any job.
its just work ,and i do mean cash . and no sir i wont be able to mow it once a month.UNLESS U GOT THAT MUCH CASH.
NO CHECKS.:rolleyes:

[Ray&Christine]

When we first started out we had a customer that was nuts. she used to get us to do stuff that was beyond the call of duty for no extra money. 1) she used to shake rug then get us to pick up fluffy lint off grass. 2)cannot use blower they are for lazy people but every blade of grass must be removed from cracks in sidewalk. 3)remove down pipe each time so grass clipping don't stain the paint. 4)shoot clipping onto neightbours lawn when cutting. 5) all maple keys to be picked up 6) calls twice a week about down pipe came off when we weren't there etc..We learned quickly to replace these customers as they are impossible to please and not worth the headaches.

Ray and christine

[Twotoros]

One that pays too little. A lawn that pays good is good, one that pays even more is best.

[jaybird24]

Heres an idea- a buddy of mine in the business decided to open a doggy doodoo service also- he shows up charges $25 to pick up @#$ then charges to mow the lawn- heck I think he makes like $400 a week cash on non mow customers also for about 4 hours of work a week. He hates doing it but 4 ben franklins eases his pain.