I broke something today..

[Lawn-Scapes]

My customer's swing set. The thing almost came crashing down on my head.

Other than sprinkler heads (when I was in Florida) this is my second mishap in 9 years. The first being a rock through a car window.. 9 years ago.

The swing set is one of those redwood style with the clubhouse and all. I clipped one leg of the "A" frame and I guess the pressure caused the opposite leg to snap right in half. :( The thing was pretty dry and brittle. Oh well.

I was there doing a leaf clean-up and it was pretty breezy, making things difficult. So I put the chute deflector thing down to keep the leaves low. That's right.. I clipped the swing set with that deflector. :mad: This was the only time all year I put the freakin' thing down and I'm paying for it...

Just wanted to share...

What are some things that have happened to you? Anyone have a perfect record... not breaking anything.. ever?

[casey]

Broke & or damaged this year:
5 sprinkler heads-2 car windows-4 door mats-1 inflatable swimming pool-1 basement window-backyard steps(scraped)-wooden fence(destroyed)-countless plants(weed-wacked)-3 cars (scratched)-1 hose-2 electrical cords-countless tennis balls & small toys-1 gate-1 shed(ran a WB into it). Probably more will come to me.

[Eric ELM]

Casey, you have had enough bad luck for all of us. ;)

[Mgardner]

: Yes it was a stump grinder I had going, it was the third stump on these peoples lot .I was grubbin it out of a river rock bed and had raked the rock away or so I thought. The Stump grinder caught a rock or two & I heard em buonce off the siding of garage ,no big deal, then a couple of em thwapped the side of the kids trooper sittin in the drive. Just peperred it good so I didn`t say nothing about it. Then on another account I had the rpms up on a 32 walk behind because thats all you could get in the gate, and it seemed like the easy way to clean up arround the pool when the lift blades lifted the blue pool carpet up into the deck ,made a terrible sound and stalled the 14hp Kaw. just as the ladys live in body builder walked out the back door to as me my "proffesionall" advise... It was a good account till Bubba brought home a Rotweiler and penned it in the back yard. It was tough to keep it nice after that .

[BOTURF]

i m with eric on this one about casey and his bad luck sounds like he needs to slow down lol I have been mowing full time since 1993 and havent even come close to casey on hitting or breaking that many things

[casey]

I didn't personally break or damage all those items but I definately contributed to the list. Forgot about the sapling that was weed wacked into oblivion over a couple months.

[cp]

Only one to really talk about was when I was cutting back shrubs and nicked a copper gas line with my hedge clippers. Propane going everywhere! Couldn't find the tank at first, hid behind bushes and trees, but got the gas off and called the Fire Dept. just in case. Cost me $148.00 to fix the line and the homeowner laughed and said he wished he could have seen my face when that gas started flowing...All in all turned out OK...

[Flex-Deck]

I weed whacked the cable for the cable TV at our Catholic Parsonage one time, but since we did not have a Priest living there I said nothing. The next sunday I found out that Priests from the neighboring city that served our parish had meetings on Wed. nights there and when the cable TV did not work I was in deep deep doo doo.

[GLS]

cp: what in the heck was a gas line doin in the hedges?? lol

[cp]

Yea really! That's kinda what I thought, but you had to be there.:D

[Alanky]

Well I had a perfect record until today. I was cutting my own yard and hit a nice sized rock. The thing flew across my yard and into my neighbors taking out the drivers side window on his car. Well he is on vacation so he dosent know yet, but I told one of his relatives. She contacted him and to make a long story short the car is now in my garage and I have a set of keys. Guess ill go get it fixed before Tuesday (when he gets back) :blob2:

[LawnPro in NC]

Running a Brown Bed Edger, Sprinkler line 2 places, electrical wire, drain box, driveway, cable t.v and telephone all in one day. that thing finds everything. oh the cable t.v. in 2 places. claypot backed into it $14.00 Customer said not to worry about it replaced it anyway.
GOT TO BE MORE CAREFUL!!!!!!

[lawnranger44]

I was digging sod for a guy I used to work for with my cousin, and he told us to watch out for a wire, and he made orange marks where the customer said the wire was. Turned out the orange marks were about 15 feet off! here i was digging and i didn't even notice that i cut a 2 feet piece of wire off. i had dumped it in a pile without knowing. when we discovered what i had done i had to go and search through the huge pile of grass and dirt for the wire!

[kutnkru]

From the beginning I have damaged one metal dump-style catcher after it flew off the truck, spider webbed a sliding door (line trimmer and pea gravel DONT mix), broke and shot a blade into the foundation of the neigbors house, ground a rotty's ear with a deck mower when he came after me, allowed the mower to mulch the reverend flower beds because I had mud wasps flying up my shorts, ran over a small pet this year.

Hey caey wanna go for a beer and swap stories -LOL!!!

Kris

[whitleys]

posted earlier - I put a rock through the front door of a KFC from about 50' with a stick edger about a month ago.

Dropped an account a couple years ago where the rock garden in many places spilled into the lawn, the overlooking living room was full glass on three sides and the owner thought it cute to have little grandchild sonny out playing in the yard while I worked. Liability $$$$$$$$$$$$ I'd rather catch aligators in in Florida than take such liability risks! :)

[awm]

got me one o them pretty brick mailboxes . friend put it back togather for 60 bucks. thought i was looking at a couple or more thousand bucks,but the folks were nice about it. didnt even report it to insurance. some days u get lucky.

[kutnkru]

Liability is the least of your worries. I would think that many people (referring to our clients) would realize the terrible horror we would feel if anything ever happened to a client or one of their family members while we were working at their property. It always slays me how calous people can be at times.

This is exactly why I have a clause in my contract that states we WILL NOT perform any services if people are present in the areas to be maintained. They will also receive a billing for the service call in addition to their billing because I was unable to render services. I place clients on a route and adhere to that route. No exceptions allowed!!!

Kris

[MOW ED]

Oh boy, thanks for the memories.

http://www.lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=770&highlight=cutting+glass

[whitleys]

In the Mid-West it's understood that any businessperson would feel great stress and regret at the injury of a client or client's family member. (something that must have to be spelled out in NY). Liability should not the least of anyone's worries. It's part of the business and one is wise to be aware of it; operate prudently; and insured for it. If liability issues are not high on your list, you probably won't be around long.

Speaking of callous (BTW spelled with 2 -l's), how many pages must your contract be to spell out all the things you will or will not do if things aren't just right when you reach the jobsite?

We work with our customers, if we occasionally need to roll up a hose or politely ask a visitor to move a vehicle, or ask a neighbor's kid to ride their bike on the other end of the block for a while, we do it - NO CHARGE. I have worked or visited in many of our good ole United States, including your state. I am thankful to be here in the still friendly, "we'll work with you" Mid-West. Thank you!;)

[casey]

Bedliner flew out on the highway. I didn't notice. Heard on the car radio there was a 3 car collision about 80 miles back where I had come from. Put the 2 together when I got home & noticed the missing bedliner.
That was last year.

[stslawncare]

i cant imagine seeing a bed liner in the road lol, cant imagine the look on ur face when u put the two together either!!!!

[grass chaser]

One broken window because of a rock flying out of the mower. It only cost me $35.00. Luckily a friend owns a glass shop and just charged me for labor for one of his workers.

[GLS]

One of the lawns I cut has had a cable modem wire sitting on top of the grass all summer. The company claims they are coming to bury it, but it's still sitting there. Somehow I managed to remember it was there every time i went to mow...and the thing blends in pretty good with the grass. The customer said he uses the modem to receive messages from our hospital (he's some kind of doctor) so if I cut it I don't think he'd be too happy. I'm thinkin of tellin him i'll bury the damn thing for $10. I have to hook it onto a tree so I can drive under it.

[kutnkru]

Whitley

Thanks for the spelling notice. (I try to make notes so I get it right the second time around -LOL!!!)

In all seriousness, I was trying to make a point that people far too often dont stop to think about the ramifications of their actions. When I mentioned worrying about liabilities I meant that if something were to happen that because we are legitimate business people the laibility issue on paper would not even come close to the grief that one would feel. I was trying to empathize with your statement not criticize. ;)

As for the contract I was just trying to get a point across that people like to take miles when we give an inch. Thats why so many contractors on here get frazzled because we provide a qualkity service, yet many times these guys/gals have their chains yanked by clients dragging their feet because we are not some municipality or energy source with the power to make our presence known.

I wish times were more like the days of yesteryear. I also know that there are many in business who take advantage of those they can. If I were that sort of contractor I would not perform here rather just read and try to monopolize.

And yes there are many, many, many things that I do for clients that are free of charge, because although contrary to public opinion I too have a heart.

Kris

[whitleys]

Thanks Kris,

I appreciate your clarification! Your point is well taken.

Scott