ughh...customers....

[mike lane lawn care]

question for ya'll, does anyone here have customers that actually understand when you tell them you can't do something. i have had this client for over 3 years, he has a massive poison ivy field in the woods. he wants me to mow it with my mower(yea, take a $5k machine into the woods), i told him i can't as i have a serious allergy to poison ivy. he then tells me that i don't, and that i wouldn't be touching it anyways. i explained to him that as soon as i hit the first plant, i'm covered in it, as well as my mower. he then tells me that he'll use my mower to mow the poison ivy as he isn't allergic, to which i tell him no, for safety reasons. you would think that when you tell someone you will get pretty dang sick from mowing an acre of poison ivy, that they'd understand, but no. i recommended several companies that will come and spray it, but he's cheap. mind you this is a 10 acre property worth well over 4 million. I'm on the verge of losing an account that is a big part of my income, but i'm not going to get sick for it. this guy is a pain in the a$$.

[nlminc]

Stand your ground with him. No one else in their right mind will mow it. Reminds me of the wealthy azz clients I had when I lived up there. When I learned to stand my ground I gained their respect.

[Isobel]

yea i would stand your ground on this.

A possible solution I could think to this is to get a really crappy mower, even like a rental--and have one of your workers do it. Or maybe just find a sub contractor who will go in and do this one job. At least that way you're solving his problem, and not losing the client.

I can totally understand this type of problem, when I started landscaping I had no allergy. Now, I'll get it even if i'm in the vicinity. I can still take on poison ivy removal jobs, but now i'm head to toe in disposable Tyvek.

but I can also understand that once you hit that with a mower or brush cutter all the oil is getting all over your equipment, and that can plague you for months down the road.

[capetan]

just politely tell him, you don't do that type of work, and cutting wouldnt solve the problem it would just grow back next week, refer to a company that can chemically spray ivy ..... and leave it that, he wont drop you, hes just giving you a hard time
*remember he hired you to cut grass, not to remove ivy .....

[procut]

I don't understand what good mowing it will do, won't it just come back? Maybe try to explain this to him.

[mike lane lawn care]

I don't understand what good mowing it will do, won't it just come back? Maybe try to explain this to him.

oh no, he wants it mowed weekly to keep it looking green:dizzy::dizzy::dizzy:

i'm throwing a black tarp over sections at a time hoping that will kill it off in the areas near where i regularly am. i'll try ad get a pic of this nightmare

[White Gardens]

TELL HIM NOT TO MOW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you breath in the poison ivy then you can get an internal infection that can be life threatening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then you have to take massive amounts of steriods that can ravage your body.

Same goes if you burn it and breath the smoke.

Lots of Brush Killer, or Round-Up, and do it over two seasons to get a complete kill.

Take some pics of it too, there is a couple of heirloom Ivies that have been mistaken for poison ivy.

[mike lane lawn care]

TELL HIM NOT TO MOW IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you breath in the poison ivy then you can get an internal infection that can be life threatening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then you have to take massive amounts of steriods that can ravage your body.

Same goes if you burn it and breath the smoke.

Lots of Brush Killer, or Round-Up, and do it over two seasons to get a complete kill.

Take some pics of it too, there is a couple of heirloom Ivies that have been mistaken for poison ivy.

this is for sure poison ivy, i got into it last year and ended up in the ER cause my arms and legs had swelled to the point of cutting off circulation.

[Stillwater]

question for ya'll, does anyone here have customers that actually understand when you tell them you can't do something. i have had this client for over 3 years, he has a massive poison ivy field in the woods. he wants me to mow it with my mower(yea, take a $5k machine into the woods), i told him i can't as i have a serious allergy to poison ivy. he then tells me that i don't, and that i wouldn't be touching it anyways. i explained to him that as soon as i hit the first plant, i'm covered in it, as well as my mower. he then tells me that he'll use my mower to mow the poison ivy as he isn't allergic, to which i tell him no, for safety reasons. you would think that when you tell someone you will get pretty dang sick from mowing an acre of poison ivy, that they'd understand, but no. i recommended several companies that will come and spray it, but he's cheap. mind you this is a 10 acre property worth well over 4 million. I'm on the verge of losing an account that is a big part of my income, but i'm not going to get sick for it. this guy is a pain in the a$$.

If I wasn't on the island I would send a guy over to do it. Lenox is that near Lynn?

[mike lane lawn care]

If I wasn't on the island I would send a guy over to do it. Lenox is that near Lynn?

Lol, no, i'm a good 3 hours west of that. i'm about as far west in the state as it gets.

[DiyDave]

No, not the mechanical one, the one with 4 legs! Seriously, Goats love weeds and poison ivy, will eat grass last! Fence a few in with an electric fence, and they will eat out the p.i. and weeds!:laugh:

[Harley-D]

Mowing this stuff is a real bad idea. You gotta spray it. Tell him the advatages to spraying the stuff gone and how it compete's with the good grass anyhow.

[Lawn-Sharks]

I was always taught that No means No or its rape!...dont let him diddle ya!......lol just kidding, stick to your guns bro!

[Dean of Green]

"i told him i can't as i have a serious allergy to poison ivy. he then tells me that i don't, and that i wouldn't be touching it anyways."



There is another issue here. Did I misread this? The customer thinks you are a liar. I see this as a lack of character on his part. But nonetheless you have a real problem here. If he does not trust you he will just as soon drop you for the first lowballer that comes along(You have already made the point that he is a cheapskate). If he doesn't drop you then you will resent working for him. This is a no win situation. You can't regain his trust. It was probably never there. He has a character flaw of some sort and major trust issues.

So what do you do now. Well there are many approaches to take. I will just let you know what my approach would be. You have established that he would like that area to be green and cut. Sounds like maybe not manicured but green. I would find someone that can give you a price to kill the ivy and prep the area to be mower friendly. At that point you could seed it with a hardy grass seed suited for that area. I would get these estimates together and package it as one price to the customer. Add whatever percentage to the subcontracted work you see fit. Present all of this to the customer. He has a problem and you are giving him the solution. All he has to do is sign on the dotted line and problem solved. Also don't forget to increase your rate for this property accordingly with the new area to maintain.

I have been in the same situation with a customer that has trust issues or just thinks he is better than everyone else or just an arse, who knows. But my attitude is that life is too short for that kind of stuff. I understand that he is a big income maker for you. Continue to do your best work for him. But when you can replace him. You will be much happier in the long run.
Good luck and keep us posted
Dean

[shovelracer]

Not sure if this will work for your situation, but here's my story. Im allegic but not as bad as some. 3 years ago we had a client that wanted 1/4 overgrown acre cleaned out. It was a PI nightmare. We went in with brush cutters and cut everything down to the ground, removed any limbs and rocks and went in with the ZTR at the highest setting and garbage blades. slowly cut it down. The brush died off, but the PI remained in the grass somewhat. When we where done we washed everything down with hot water pressure washer. I found that over the course of a year or two of constant mowing the PI went away in the lawn. It still is present at the edges, but they dont get touched. We wore disposable body suits and masks at first. I did get it, but it was very minimal compared to other times of much less exposure. You might want to see if you can get someone to cut it down low for you than take it after there. If you are real allergic than I probably wouldnt bother though. You might need to find someone who isnt allergic to take care of it for you.

[mybowtie]

Lol, no, i'm a good 3 hours west of that. i'm about as far west in the state as it gets.

Im just over the hill from ya...Lebanon Valley area. No I dont want the job...lol. Good luck.

[Stillwater]

Me personally, I would not blink a eye at it. We are full service landscapers if you are a good customer, oh hell even if you are a cold caller wanting the ivy out we will do it without excuse. I would be embarrassed to say nope. A Landscaper unwilling to deal with a ivy issue? that is ******ed. (But I do realize some hear are just cutters)

Even if you are adamant about not doing it this should not cause a conflict with your customer I would simply say to the customer sure no problem I will see that it gets done then sub the job out and keep 15% of the gross total for doing nothing but making 1 phone call their should be no conflict whatsoever

[mike lane lawn care]

Me personally, I would not blink a eye at it. We are full service landscapers if you are a good customer, oh hell even if you are a cold caller wanting the ivy out we will do it without excuse. I would be embarrassed to say nope. A Landscaper unwilling to deal with a ivy issue? that is ******ed. (But I do realize some hear are just cutters)

Even if you are adamant about not doing it this should not cause a conflict with your customer I would simply say to the customer sure no problem I will see that it gets done then sub the job out and keep 15% of the gross total for doing nothing but making 1 phone call their should be no conflict whatsoever

it's not that i'm saying it can't be done, it's that i am unequipped to handle that large of an area of PI. I gave him a price quote from a friend who is licensed to apply the proper chemical, but he wanted no part of the price tag.

[Stillwater]

1 man, 1 hour spraying ivy die should be 100.00 or less if he can't or is unwilling to pay that then he simply can be told in a polite,sensitive and professional way that when he wants to invest in that service toss you a call. rate jacking the price as a means to not have to do a job is disrespect full and disingenuous to the customer (I am not saying this is what you did) Mowing will make the issue worse what was your buddies price?

[grass2cash]

Why not provide literature on ivy to the customer, and if that does not work just sub it out to someone who is more familiar with how to rid his yard of it. While offering the information on the ivy also include the allergic affects it has to those working in and around areas with the planting. Next year you may want to add a clause in your contract that relieves you from maintaining such plantings for health and safety reasons.