arrrg... i have to help out a friend, means moving clients around

[mike lane lawn care]

I got a call from a guy i know whom is a teacher at our school and does landscaping, the drive belt on his JD commercial 48" WB mower broke, and he can't replace it himself and the dealer will take a few days to get to it. He says he needs me to help him out with mowing, so i tell him that tomorrow i am booked solid but thurs and fri i might have some time. So in order for me to have time on thurs and fri, i need to move an extra client to tomorrow which puts me mowing until well after dark. What would you guys do? i am calling the clients now and informing them of the change for this week. also this is the same guy i mentioned a while ago who is having me take over after his child is born.

[1MajorTom]

whose "business" and I use the term loosely, is more important to you? yours or his? I say when you get your work done, THEN you can help him, I would not shift around our clients to help out someone elses business.

[MMLawn]

Sounds like one of the two below to me.

a) he is a dork that can't even turn a very basic wrench, because replacing the drive belt on a JD 48" WB is a 3 minute job and absolutely couldn't be much simpler.

or

b) he is using you?????

[HOOLIE]

Your teacher friend sounds like a very odd man.....

[Rhett]

Did not see friend or money in the post. Would help out a friend. Would help out anther lawn care company for a few bucks, time allowing. Naw I'm lying

[mike lane lawn care]

well, he is going to pay me for my work of course, but i won't be making as much as my regular rate. I called the guy that i needed to move and he told me no problem his grass had grown a lot because he had put down an organic fertilizer, so it was a plus for him. and MM the corect answer is A, he probably didn't even read the manual for this thing, and he wouldn't try to do it himself anyway. but The lawn i have scheduled to do tomorrow is a HUGE farm with 2.5 hours of trimming and such, so it makes me work harder.

and HOOLIE he is an odd person, but very nice. so i've now got things theoreticaly planned correctly but the weather is supposed to suck for the next few days.

here i another question, it saves me the PITA if he justs takes the broadmoor, and uses it himself, as he can pick it right up from the clients for the next few days. but I would BE REALLY nervous about this guy who has never used a rider before to take it by hime self, so i think i just answered my own question.

thanks for the comments and sorry for this novel of a reply

[Jay Ray]

So the guys a teacher who can't do even basic repairs and he has no backup mower? Tell him he needs to get him a b/u mower so you don't get asked to do this again.

[jmurphy]

Why dont you just offer to help him put a new belt on the mower if you know how.

[DLCS]

Why dont you just offer to help him put a new belt on the mower if you know how.


Ding Ding Ding...we have a winner folks.:clapping:


How's that old saying go, give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish you feed him for life. If you don't know how to change the belt then I would hope that both of you could figure it out together.

Anyone in this business needs to know how to do the basic repairs on there equipment. Changing a belt is about as basic as you can get.

[mike lane lawn care]

well here is the thing, he has already dropped it off at the local deere dealer for a few days, i had mentioned i can probably figure it out, and then he told me it was already sent out. thanks though.

I am thinking of giving him my old murray tractor i have sitting burried in the shed, with 12hp and 39" cutting deck(yes 39") he'd be moving then. lol, but it cuts good, so this might end up being an option if he's desperate and i'm busy.

[brucec32]

Why not teach the teacher a lesson? Like it's a good idea to stock spare parts and know how to do basic repairs before going into "business".

He should have a spare mower, and he can't manage to have even spare belts?

Why isn't he out there with you doing all your trimming so you can catch up enough to do his lawns w/o having to work past dark?

Let me guess. He's probably "too busy" for that.

Someone's playing you for a sucker.

[mike lane lawn care]

wow, i just remembered something, on the large farm i am doing tomorrow, i won't have to do the trimming that usualy takes about 2.5-3 hrs. i went there on monday and the owner went around with me for 3 hrs and showed me what how everything needed to be trimmed and where everything was (there is a lot of obsticals for a 7 acre property) so i will have a lot less work to do, which means that i won't actualy have to work at night, just in the rain. so even with this mix up because the guy does not have a back up or spare parts, i will still come out on top.

there is always a silver lining to everything., even though this one is thin.

[HOOLIE]

When I said he's odd, I was meaning this is an odd little relationship for a teacher and student...seems like he relies on you to bail him out quite a bit.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but you never can tell with people these days...

[DLCS]

When I said he's odd, I was meaning this is an odd little relationship for a teacher and student...seems like he relies on you to bail him out quite a bit.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but you never can tell with people these days...



I think this whole "story" is a little odd.:dizzy:

[PaulJ]

Just take him with you and have him help you finish you and his lawns in a timely manner.

[mike lane lawn care]

When I said he's odd, I was meaning this is an odd little relationship for a teacher and student...seems like he relies on you to bail him out quite a bit.

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but you never can tell with people these days...
the teacher is 22, fresh out of college. He and my brother run an outdoors club for the middle school, so he is always calling with plans for the next trip. I get referals from him and give referals to him, so it is a very professional type of friendship. but he is an ok person in my book.

[Sandgropher]

The teacher dropped the mower of to the local dealer for a few days, hope they are up to the task it sounds a very complicated job, they will ring next week to say head office sent out the wrong part and it will take another couple of weeks ha ha :rolleyes: