what's the funniest thing someone said to you after your estimate?

[joshua]

Mine happened today. I was getting gas and a beat up car pulled in and asked what my rates were. I said the rates and the lady said " what the **** you building a cathedral. " As she finished i looked up not knowing wheather to laugh or walk I away I explained that i have the costs of business insurance, truck insurance, gas, equipment costs, and taxes. To my surprise she gave me her addresse and i walked away.

Post your best ones.

[fblandscape]

I've had a lot better than that, but I cannot say what exactly they were.

[tiedeman]

customer: nobody is worth that price..are you kidding me

me: sorry sir, but those are the prices

customer: damn punk kids stealing my money, back in my day....

me: i walked away trying not to laugh

[J&R]

Most times i give a bid and they say your to high i will get someone cheaper. I tell them i hope you don't go with the lowest price if you ever need a heart transplant.

[mike9497]

alot of people think we are little mikey around the corner.people also think it doesn't take much to run a landscape operation.
they also think were stupid *sses that live on well fair.i would tell you the remarks i got just this week but i would get kicked off lawn site

[Bergbigler Lawn Care]

Bout 3 years ago i got a call from a lady that wanted a bid on mowing her yard. She stressed that she wanted it mowed every week no matter what. So I show up and give her a bid of $30.00 per cutting. She says that is WAY to HIGH and I am crazy for thinking I can charge someone that much just to mow the lawn and trim. She said thanks for coming but she was going to get other bids. She also told me as i was getting into my truck that "little Johnny" down the road use to cut it for $8.00. Well as it turned out 2 days late i got a call from this lady. She said she had 5 other bids and mine was the cheapest and she wanted me to take care of her lawn. The second time we showed up to mow she was backing out of the garage, Yep she was driving a brand new BMW, only 2 months old. She made her self look like one of the poorest people you could imagine though.

[Ray&Christine]

I took a look at a lawn and gave a price of $30 for mowing. They said that is for the whole season, right.

Ray

[yardman1]

I had one lady tell me "you joking aren't you" and I said no a walked away smiling. Got the account two weeks later.

[baddboygeorge]

damn your high !! damn rite i'm high an i feel good !! you either afford me or you dont see me!!

[65hoss]

Today was a very big surprise. I'm at a current customers home. Guy comes up to give her an estimate on siding her house. Gets out of the truck and brings me his card with his address on it. Says the guy doing it for the last 3 years got married over the winter and the new wife made him quit and sell the equipment. I tell him $35 per cut and he says will you take $40? Huh? Seems as though the last guy was getting $40 and he thinks that is very fair and happy to pay it.

Last week I picked up a new customer. She wants to know if she can pay the bill monthly. Sure. What she means is, she is paying me up front each month. Seems as though I came highly recommended and she wants to make sure I get my money up front.

Did have a female customer once ask if she could work the debt off. I don't mean cutting grass either.

[paponte]

they also think were stupid *sses that live on well fair

Isn't that the truth. I went on an estimate for a spring cleanup. The guy had a 1/2 acre, and asked if I could do a cleanup for him. He asked if we hand raked, of cource I told him no. So I told him what our hourly rates were. He says holy sh** your gonna rip me off! Can't you just run your little vacuum (a Walker) over the lawn for $50.? So I said sure, I'll go get my $10K machine off my $3K trailer, attatched to my $40K truck, and pay my 3 guys $12. an hour for $50.00. He turns to me and says well just rake them then. What a dumb@ss. I walked away after that. :rolleyes:

[crazygator]

Originally posted by 65hoss
Did have a female customer once ask if she could work the debt off. I don't mean cutting grass either.

What do you mean?.......:angel:

HAHAHA

So does that mean you got the job's?...LOL!

[Alan Bechard]

Kind of Like Paponte's

"With all that equipment it will only take you ten minutes" YUP!

A little different but we actually had several customers that wanted their grass cut every ten days, on Friday. There were actually several that we could not convince that this would not work.

Al B

[Bluesteel]

Last year, a lady asked me to estimate mowing her lawn. It was in one of the fanciest neighborhoods in town. This house is worth in excess of a million dollars, and she drives a new Jaguar convertible. Her lot wasn’t HUGE, but it bordered this showcase pond where people from all around come to oooooh and aaaaah. I thought, 2 hours with cutting in that pool and landscaping, so that’s an $80 lawn, but with the high exposure, it could lead to lots of new business, I’ll bid $75. No $70 would be attractive. $60, and its mine, LOL.

On the phone, I blurted out $55 (I just knew that was waaaay too low). Then she says, “Well, that’s much higher than the boy doing now. He’s only charging $40.”

I laughed, “Lady, I have 4 other lawns within a ½ mile from you and I was going to let you go check them out. But there’s no way that’s going to happen now. If those customers found out I just bid $55 on your lawn, I’d get fired. I compete against kids, convicts, and illegal aliens. So if you’ve got one of them tied up for 2 hours for $40, then we’re both doing great.”

She said that she didn’t understand some of the rates around here. And that she got a quote for some flower bed work, "That guy wanted $30 an hour. Well … I have a MASTER’s degree and I don’t make that kind of money.”

“Maam, that’s not his salary, that’s his business rate. He’s probably got a helper, lots of expenses, etc.”

“Well … I just know what I’m willing to pay.”

“You can drive that other poor guy into the ground, but I work for a profit.”

“You don’t have to get huffy. Goodbye.”

[lawnagent]

I was mowing one time and a neighbor came over to the job site and asked if I would look at her yard. I said sure! I walked across the street and saw that she had no back yard or side yards at all. It was all concreted over. Her front yard was about the width of the house maybe 20' long and about 10' deep. It was the smallest yard I ever saw. I stupidly said $10.00 ( this was back in 1994 long before I knew better ) She curled her nose up and said " ###%%& !!!! Ill not pay a penny over $5.00 to mow it! I was paying the other guy $3.00 but he is lazy and quit." I just walked away. I was talking around town later about it and found out that she really was paying a man $3.00 to mow it! And to make matters really sad,I knew the guy. He is a super nice guy but does not have alot of intelligence. He knows enough to care for himself but yet at 40 years old he still genuinely believes that the pro wrestling, Easter bunny and Santa Clause are real. This really burns me, even today that this woman would take advantage of his innocence like that.:angry: I had to hand it to him though. He saw me mowing a few weeks later and said that he was using his moms push mower to mow for a lady but after buying gas and pushing the mower to the yard and pushing it back home, he did not feel like he was making any money! I wanted do bad to tell him what happened and what I thought but I was afraid I would hurt his feelings.

[Phishook]

me: $150
Him: Do you want me to bend over now or after you mow so you can finish the job.
me: sorry that's not included

It's always good when the customer has a sense of humor.

[Premo Services]

I had a woman customer for about 2 years. She married this very rich man from Phenoix. In the spring, she wanted to get 20 yards of mulch dumped in her drive, and have me spread it out in beds.
I called and her husband answers the phone. I said my labor for two men to spread 20 yards of mulch would be 55.00 per hour. There is silence on the other end for about a minute and then he says, " And this will take the two of you anout an hour, right?

[rodfather]

$75 to mow, trim, and blow off the driveway and front entrance.
Are you sure?
Nope, I'm sorry, I meant $80.
Well, ok then, you can have the job.

True story...I got the job:D

[DanaMac]

Back early 90's when we charged $45 hr for sprinkler repairs, lady in the rich, posh Broadmoor neighborhood said her doctor didn't charge $45 hr. I told her she should find a new doctor.

[Gravely_Man]

There are some real winners listed here. The strangest one I ever received was “can we pay you in one lump sum.” I am thinking this will be great and I can get a new mower. I continue to talk with the client and then find out they when they want to make the one time payment. Yes you guessed it at the end of the season…when the husband gets out of prison!


Gravely_Man

[KerryB]

Gave a bid on April 1, This guy says is this an April fools joke?
I just walked away.

[AGG Lawn Maintenance]

About 4 years ago I was mowing one of my customers lawn when a man came up to me for an estimate.... He told me that his lawn guy has not showed up in 2 weeks. As I just finished giving him an estimate here comes his old lawn guy. I over heard him saying "where have you been?" The guy says I was tied up with a big landscape job. Needless to say I picked up the job and have had him ever since. Turns out the customer pays his bill on time and has tons of work done. Man that guy lost out. Travis

[J&R]

This happen about 8 years ago i was cutting a lawn this guy form across the street come over and says would you please look at my lawn and gaive a bid. I go over and tell him 30.00 per cut his next words are at that price will you bag the grass i say no if i bag 60.00 if i rake 90.00 he turns and walks away.

[crawdad]

I quoted a job at $80 for first cut, and said I would tell her afterwards if it would be different. It had obviously not been completely cut the previous year, a lot of tall brown stuff mixed with tall green stuff. Two and three quarter hours with Gravely walk-behind tractor,with dual wheels installed because it's on a hill, and the place looked good. Under the chestnut tree, there were nuts from previous year. I wondered how many flats I'd get as i cut under the tree. Flats and slow leakers take a while to show up from chestnut thorns. They also get in your shoes, and take a long time to get out of your feet.
Go to the house when i'm done, she says it took me 2 and a half hours, I corrected her. She says she'll pay me the 80 dollars as agreed, but when I came to my senses she would pay me 50 bucks per mow. Know what? I never did come to my senses. If she had just shut up, I might have given her a better price for upkeep than for the first mow, as I could have used the scag, but after that, there was no way. Drove by a couple times that year, it was usually pretty tall.
Crawdad

[Green Pastures]

I've had them tell me...."with that kind of equipment it should only take you 1/2 hour, and you want how much!?"

I just reply "yeah, half hour of actually running that $10K mower, but another 1/2 hour coming here with a $40K truck and a $7K trailer all of which is insured for $750 per month, and then of course there is the business of taxes, gas, oil, trimmer line, tires, brakes, payroll, payroll taxes, maintenance..............................by the time I get all that out I'm back in the truck driving off.

Funny thing is 7 out of 10 times they call me back and I get the job anyway.

[bobbygedd]

dont u think its rediculous that we have to justify our prices? why should we have to explain about ins, permits etc? why do i need to tell people how much my machinery costs?when i first started out, i bd a lawn at $18 per cut. the lady calls back and says the going rate is $25, if u will do it for $25, we will hire u. i said, ummmm, ok

[jeffex]

One of my favorite customers!!! Mrs. Betty. I gave her a bid of $30 per cut. She replyed" I pay $50 . I said ok. she moved last season just before I could have her cloned!

[mowing]

I bid a yard at $25 per cut they said great. After the 1st cut He asked how much. I said $25 and his wife give me a check,I never checked amount but when I put the check in the bank it was $40.
The 2nd week they asked how much I explained it was $10 because they over paid last week. again when I got to the bank the check was for $40. The 3rd week he said he didn't want to hear anything from me as long as the amount was over $25. I have mostly great customers but I wish all of them were like that couple.

[lawncare3]

Me: " $35 bag, trim and blow"


Her - "Is That for the whole year"

I just said "I appreciate you giving me the chance thank you and have a great day."

[cos]

I had a Doctor in a prominent neighborhood call and ask to stop out to plow his driveway. It was during the biggest snowfall of the year (22"). I had to literally jump like a rabbit to get to the front door. When I finally got half way and out of breath, he opened the door. He had no storm door, so all the snow was piled against his front door, and when he opened it, it was up to his waist. He said, how much to plow the drive and do the front walk? I told him $275. He said, "what?, I was told $100" I told him that was a minimum price. After I was ready to walk away, he gave in, and told me to do it. I think the demand to get to work the next day to make his living was more important and not the wear and tear on my truck. :)