Friendly w/ competition

[Guido]

I was thinking, and that alone scared me, but see if some of you guys can help me understand this. When I was back in CT in Biz, it seemed like most of competition wasn't very friendly and never really want to talk or help each other out (until they needed something of course!!) I was always outgoing, I had no reason to fear them, they had no reason to fear me, there was enough to go around. What I don't understand is why are a lot of contractors scared to talk with others in the biz? Theres no magic secret about lawn maintenance that might leak out to me, so what do you have to hide/lose? Theres only something to gain, I think, because you can learn from others mistakes, and hopefully not have to make them all for yourself. I don't know just a thought and kind of a continuation on Homer's the next level post.<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[HOMER]

I guess that one will continue to be a mystery. It would be funny if everybody on this forum was in a 100 mile radius and then we would see how much we shared info and who would help who. I am currently &quot;coaching&quot; a guy that bought out a biz last year, it was a part time thing for the owner and he never set up any annual accounts so the new owner is dependant upon rain for income. I think he made a big mistake but he didn't know any better. It was raining when he bought it so everything looked good, when it stopped so did the income. <p>As for others in my area, we don't geehaw much either, there is one guy I talk with and sometimes we even discuss the amounts we are charging, thought about teaming up with him a time or two but have just about given up on that idea. Funny how we all seem to be able to chat about prices and work, and what we should or could do but the in town competition stays away from each other, hell, they won't even wave when you go by!<br>Maybe one day we'll all be able to get along.<p>Homer

[MOW ED]

I find that up here in cheeseland most of my &quot;counterparts&quot; are very friendly. We have a comparatively small market of 250,000 people over about a 400sq mi county. (I didnt measure it with my wheel so the numbers are close)<br>Most guys I see on the road always wave and we talk when we are at the dump. I think some of the newbies are a little apprehensive to interact because they may fear someone is gonna take their business. If they make it around for a few years they find that there is enough work to go around and I'm not looking to steal his accounts. <p>I've had guys offer to help me if I get behind and I've offered the same back. We are lucky here because growth is steady, from massive business complexes to single family homes. <br>I think it boils down to what kind of person you are, everybody really wants to be liked and over time we all find our place. Nice thought.

[Guido]

maybe it was just the snooty tooty prick city life I was coming up in?? When I retire from the AF, I'm hoping to settle down in Va, SC, NC, Floridia hopefully. We'll see, who knows whereI'll end up! I hope its a little frendliar (I know its not a word!) then city life!<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[Greenkeepers]

Guys-<p>Woulnd't it be nice to go down the road and not get shunned off by your competition. I always try to wave or speak, other than the select few they all just ignore me. If we could all be civil our prices may be able to go up :)<p>Just a thought!!<p>Mike<br>Greenkeepers

[Scraper]

Just as an experiment...last Friday I waved to every lawn crew I saw out on the road (which was many!) of which NONE waved back. I got lots of weird looks though. I think everyone views the other as a threat in my area even though there is still plenty of work for all. Attitudes definitely prevail.

[Lanelle]

I have found that participating in professional organizations helps to 'break the ice' and gets people talking on a friendlier basis. It is possible to have friends who are competitors. Just play fair and don't give away sensitive information that will cause hard feelings.<p>----------<br>Lanelle<br>

[bill phagan]

The anti-social LMO's are the losers! They lose out on good info, education and building their social skills. Too much synergy can be gained by being friendly. Let them be &quot;anti&quot; we professionals will be what the name implies.....&quot;pro&quot;<p>

[Albert]

Gentlemen,<p>First post, so please excuse any lack of courtesies that might have evolved on this forum over time.<p>I wave when I happen to notice a lawn crew, but I don't stop to chat unless I happen to bump in to one at a fueling station. At least I don't discuss my business, I worked to hard for the knowledge I posess and I don't give it away.<p>We do have a reputation in town as hard chargers, if you don't want to do your job, we'll do it and get more for it. So it's not to often that we get a chance to chat it up anyway.<p>Nope, I don't want to be friendly with my competition, civil yes, friendly no way. It's a competition and I intend be on top! (Or as close as possible!)<p>Thanks,<br>Albert

[yardsmith]

I'm always friendly to everyone until THEY piss ME off or give me a reason not to like them. Only 1 or 2 in our area of about 20 have accomplished that. I regularly chat with a handful of guys I've known for awhile & trust, but just like in the Martial Arts, you never give &quot;too many secrets&quot; out.<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>

[Guido]

Albert, I can't understand your concept. Maybe If you can answer 2 questions for me and it will help. I'll tell you up front though, that a lot of what this forum is about (and hopefully where its headed in the future) Is us (as in contractors) working together (not physically, but in a business sense) to help raise prices accross the industry, etc. I don't think your attitude on this is a good one, but thats just my opinion, don't want to argue about it.<p>here are my questions:<p>1. Do you really think you &quot;pocess a knowledge&quot; (quoted from your post, kinda)that makes you cut grass better then the next guy, that if your secret got out, your competition would eat you alive? I envy you if you do. I don't think theres really any &quot;secrets&quot; in the business, besides what you may charge. Unless you have a magic way to cut mowing time in half or something, I don't understand why you wouldn't want to help &quot;raise the bar&quot; as homer puts it.<p><br>#2 Ties in with #1, again, I'm not trying to be negative, just trying to understand. If you don't want to be friendly with your competition as you said yourself in your post, why are you here? How do you know your competition isn't here? I've made a lot of friends on here. Whats your purpose, so far you said you do not want to be friends with us (your competition), and you don't want to share your secret knowledge, so just wondering what you expect to get/ and in turn contribute to the forum.<p>I Hope you don't take this the wrong way, I'm just trying to understand all views on this matter. Thanks in Advance!<br><p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[Charles]

This ain't something I am going to cry about. If they don't like me f'em. Who cares anyway? We all got our seperate jobs to do. Its not like we go to work in a factory together

[Bobby]

I think that people who don't charge enough, may be the mean ones. Lowballers have a high turnover rate. So they are alwayse on the edge. Higher rates with the quality, at least in my area, is the road less traveled. I like being on it and I wave to em all!<p>----------<br>Yesteryear L/S<br>Hollywood Fla

[eggy]

I must live in the freindly state...I asked several people larger companys about getting in the biz all helped over the past couple years I have become freinds with comptition, we give out help with equipment we also dont really try to steal accounts we know who is doing what...there is a few people in town who try to cut in but the are the fly by nighters who well are getting out of it about this time of year.....

[trimmer]

I don't know where ya'll are from but around here everyone is friendly to each other if I am out mowing a yard and another operation drives by they almost always wave and everyone knows who all the guys are from seeing them around. If I am mowing across the street from another operation and we are both by our trucks we sometimes will talk to each other if where not in a hurry. I have never heard of this problem. I've seen some of them around after hours and they tell me about there new mower and how sweet it is some other things. I have never heard this problem.<p><br>Exquisite Lawn Services <br>Central Flordia<br>Where the sun shine's all the time<br>

[Albert]

Guido,<p>You are right, in a sense, that there is no secrets in our industry. What is a closely guarded trade secret though, is &quot;attitude&quot;.<p>Allow me, if you please, to ellucidate what I mean. I have very few rules in my LMO. They are as follows: Clean shirts, shaven faces, thank you and please, smile when you speak to a customer, tip your cap to a lady, and a matter of honor waits for noone. The most important one is the thank you and please. All the other stuff derives directly from that one rule.<p>As to forums, while it may be true that some of my competitors may (and that's a big may!)be online. The chances are remote that they may put together the essentials in what I say into practice.<p>Mr. Phagen, glad to see you here. But if I might remind you, at your seminar held at the Tampa Fairgrounds in '98, you said something to the effect, &quot;Friendly with you competition? They're smiling in your face while they're trying to take your business.&quot; Now I admit I might have taken it out of context but I think the principle still applies. I might add that in my limited experience most of the players in the LM field are relatively unsophisticated in terms of business acumen.<p>Now having said all that, I will say that I am not above brainstorming, shareing info and all that stuff. I just don't want to do it with the guy I'm head to head with. As Mr Phagen can attest, here in West Central Florida you can't go two blocks without bumping into 3 grass cutting outfits.<p>Now as I have been thinking this over, I can see some benefit from dealing with organizations that are professional, ie insured, incorporatated, paying taxes, expanding the economy via job creation, paying their employees a wage they can live on (pretty novel concept, huh?), etc. But if you want me to chat it up with Joe and his cousin, or Mom and Pop, not likely. Even though they don't compete with me directly, they might, and that's enough for me.<p>Ok I'm off my stump!:)<p>Thanks,<br>Albert<p>

[HOMER]

HHHMMMMMMMMMMM............SUMPIN JUS AINT RITE CHEER! WHURD U SAY YOUS FROM MR. BERT?<br>IF'N I DIDN' NOSE BETTERS I'D SWAR YOUS FROM ANGLAND OR SUMPIN.......GLAD YA AIN'T AROUND ME, SOUNDS LIKE YOU MIGHT BE HARD TA GIT ALONG WIT.<p>I'D TRY TO ELLUCEEEDATE WHUT I MEEN BUT JES CANT TIRE NOW. AS ITS 2 DANG LATE<p>HOUUUMMMMMMERRRRRRRRR<p>ps.......ya'll got stumps ov.....arrr<br><p><font size="1">Edited by: HOMER

[Guido]

Homer, LOL!! Albert, I know it probobly doesn't mean much coming from me but I think your a real professional. Thats the first time I was able to debate an issue with someone here that didn't turn into an argument. Even though I don't exactly agree with all your saying, I appreciate the fact that your man enough to discuss an issue instead of argue and throw blows. Thanks, we need more like you around here. <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[Albert]

Guido,<p>Thanks for the kind words.<p>After thinking about it for the better part of the day, I came to the conclusion that perhaps I was a bit hasty in my original explanation/conclusion.<p>I think that perhaps my opinion was colored by several incidents that have transpired. West Central Florida is pretty competative, but the players I compete with are the fellows above me in terms of market share, capitalization, manpower, longevity, etc. I can see where communication with those players would benefit me.<p>Early in my LMO career, I made the aquaintence of a fellow who has a 5 truck firm. (I rank them that way.) Anyway he gave me some advice, which in hindsight I would have figured out on my own soon enough, but at the same time he pumped me for information in a most subtle way, that is he asked point blank. And in my hubris, I foolishly answered. Well, at the time I had a major client, and when it came time to renew the contract, who do you think got it? Since then, I haven't given an ounce of information.<p>Now, again in hindsight I realize that there was noone to blame, but myself. First year in operation, cocky, undercapitalized, and a lousy partner, bad combination!<p>Now comes the real question, how do you propose that professionals interact?<p>Homer,<br>Yes I am rather well educated. You'll forgive the overuse of adjectives, redundant phrases used to illustrate, and the occasional cliche'.<br>Actually I was a Biologist, (microbiologist to be exact.) then a bartender, (Rats just got bigger.) and I sort of fell into the LM industry. My preference is for civil discourse, as I enjoy the emotive qualities of a well thought out idea expressed in the english language. So, with your permission I will continue to tack up dangling participles.;)<p>Thanks,<br>Albert

[Lazer]

The best way to learn is to teach.<p>The guys that don't share generally don't know anything.<p>Of the dozen or so guys I personally know who make a 6 figure income in this business - all are more than willing to help out with most any information.<p>The guys that are &quot;clutching&quot; of information are so narrowly focused and probably don't have anything worthwhile to share anyway. <br>They're too focused on making their weed trimmer payment that they view everyone else as a threat.

[HOMER]

Just keep talking Albert, I might learn a thing or two from you! One can never have too large a vocabulary.........As you can probably tell, I need all the help I can get.<p>Homer

[bdemir]

Lazer is right. If you can not share then you will only know what you know and no more. Its all good. You help others and others will help you. Its in the bible. About 10-15 more years and the ozone will kill us and this business anyways!

[bdemir]

And if your parents did not share love you would not be here. Its a part of life.

[TGCummings]

bdemir says, &quot;About 10-15 more years and the ozone will kill us and this business anyways!&quot;<p>That's the second reference I read to that today. People have been telling me that since the early 80s and I ain't buying it yet. Tell ya what, though, I'll be happy to take yer business off yer hands in, say, five years so you don't have to worry about it. <p>I'll risk the exposure. ;)<p>-TGC<br>

[southside]

Over here we are all pretty friendly with each other. Obviously no-one discusses prices<br>for specific jobs,unless you know the guy very well. Look on the bright side,in the <br>towing industry here,the towies would beat the **** out of each other to pick up a<br>lucrative smash tow.<p>Karl<br>

[Lanelle]

Just a note of clarification. When I mentioned professional organizations I was referring to groups such as PGMS, PLACCA, ALCA and Nursery Associations, which are voluntary, educational and non-profit. These organizations work to provide educational and social events that appeal to their membership and potential members. Just as we share gripes and successes here on the forum, the same happens at these events. And giving away bidding info is a rarity. <p>----------<br>Lanelle<br>

[Alan]

Albert,, welcome! As Guido stated, you answered his post politely and intelligently. In addition your post was literate, something far too rare in online communications. I'm a one man band in northwestern Vermont and I'm probably prone to talking too much. But I kinda go with Guido in that there aren't many profound secrets in this business, but, like you I try not to divulge numbers or contacts except with a very few individuals that I know and trust.

[Guido]

Alright Guys, now we're getting on track! Albert, once you narrowed down and backed up your opinions, I understand them much better. I wasn't saying anyone should be discussing numbers (in a specific job sense) But its foolish that we can't have discussions about industry issues with other contractors in are areas as we do here online. I know some of you come from friendlier parts of the world than I, but I still think theres a little bit of it everywhere. I think the real proffesionals are the ones that can work together, help each other out during rough times, etc, and work so the industry gets ahead as a whole, leaving the SCRUBS behind in the dust! I don't know the &quot;whole story&quot; on organizations like PLCAA, etc. But from the info I've read on them and what I've heard around the forums was its about good to put their pretty little logo on your trucks! I can't see having to pay for that. I like the idea of the seminars, etc though, I always enjoy those. I just happened to be selected from my base last week to go to a seminar on a new type of drainage system their using over here in Germany, and I learned a ton in the day of classes on the product itself and the installation. Theres a ton to be learned at seminars, classes, etc. Get your hands on them as much as you can! As a matter of fact, I used a small bit of knowledge about a new concrete technology their using in the drains on the Snow Removal forum, to help somebody dealing with storing corrosives, etc. I don't know where I'm ging with this one anymore but I'll sum it up like this (then I'll step away from the microphone!) Be a proffesional, Act proffesional. Be friendly when you pass your fellow contractor, weather he is or not, give a wave and a smile! He may come around, who knows? I'm not telling you to spill your guts to him, but I learned at a very young age to keep your options open (don't burn any bridges!). Connections are good in any industry, you'll never ever know what could happen tommorow that someone may help you with! Good Night!<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[Stinger]

Guido: Rock On!

[jaclawn]

I am friendly with many guys that work in my area. I will chat with them if we cros pather at the mower shop, fuel station, suply yard... Most though we don't go out of our way to talk. We generally talk shop, not getting into specifics about each others business or accounts. <p>I also have a few competitors in the area that don't even bother to look your way as they pass by. I am more than willng to shoot the breeze with them, but they choose not to.<p>I have two contractors locally that I am close to. One hasa a much larger operation than me, and the other is about the same sized, but focused on mainly mowing work. Both of these competiotos have been very valuable to me. At times, I will need to get out of a bind on equipment, and they are there to help. I do the same for them. <p>We have also traded leads for jobs. The larger contractor did not have any more time in his mowing schedule and refered me to a fairly large commercial job(didn't get it, but was able to offer a bid). The other competitor has refered me to people to perform services that he does not offer. <p>We share secrets about equipment, dealers, suppliers, and even customers. They can be a great source of local information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. <p>I would never knowingly pursue one of these guys accounts, and I know that they would not pursue any of mine. <p>The other guys that I casually chat with, I would not activly pursue their accounts either, but if the customer approached me, I would give a bid to make it worth my while, or opt out. <p>For the guys that don't even turn their heads, I would treat it as any other prospect. <p>All in all, there seems to be plenty of work to go around, at least in this area, and one contractor cannot do it all, so why not all get along?

[crew]

I was a newbie last year and felt like the ****** on the block every time i tried to introduce myself to others like me.I was persistent and am on friendly terms with several of many in my area.One of the guys Ive gotten to know is a solo operator who has all the work he needs and Ive probobly fielded 20or more calls from people he has referred to me. It quite literally pays to be friendly. Now if i can only get him to raise his prices.......

[Toroguy]

Heres a saying you have all heard before: &quot;Its not what you know, its who you know&quot;...now changed for our industry...&quot;Its not who you know, its who you MOW&quot;<p>If you Mow a price shopper than you will lose them eventually. If your customer is a &quot;friend&quot; you will have them for life.<p>A-holes have few friends.<p>Most of the companies I see daily are employees, not the owner. No reason to be shy. There are alot of regional only things that can be shared.

[kenneybros]

hey guido, will you give me some tips for being a successful airman, in need them before 13sept00 though!

[Guido]

kennybros, no problem! Your talking to my squadrons Airman of the quarter (3 straight) Airman of the year, Air Force Squadron level Civil Engineer of the Year, Community example performer of the year, manyu many more. What I got from the business before I joined is what I owe my success too. I'll defenitely help you out, drop me an e-mail guido1@surf1.de<p>Talk to you soon!<p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://communities.msn.com/guidosequipmentpics/&quot;&gt;&quot;Guido&quot;&lt;/a&gt;<br>David M. Famiglietti

[curlawngreen]

guidio? What do you have to do with the lawn care pro? What do you do for a living? You semm to be willing to price all are jobs for us PRO's but you do something else, why is that? Nothing personal but,,,,,,

[Guido]

Hey guys, I was looking through some old posts because I got finished reading all the new ones. I rememeber this one, and I know that we have a lot of new guys now, so I'd like to hear some of your opinions on this one.

Hope this stirs up some more discussions here, I miss these debates where we didn't really argue too much in them to get our point accross!!

I'm going to post a new topic that goes along with this one too called OTHER FORUM USERS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD or something along those lines.

Thanks for your responses guys, we keep this great forum alive!!

[Guido]

I'm sorry if it bothers you that I am not currently running a grounds maintenance company, at least in the same manner that you all are. I don't think I've ever tried to tella PRO how to price a job either.


I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force, currently stationed in Germany. I have experience running a business in the grounds maintenance industry before I joined the service. In my job, during peacetime, we maintain the military bases. This includes many very, very large landscape jobs. We also do most of the construction that goes on on the bases. I am a heavy equipment operator and a pavements specialist. We build everything from complete airfields, to flower beds at the Generals House! We also run a civilian labor powered grounds maintenance shop that does all the mowing and applications for the bases. I manage crews that range from 3 – 25 men at a time, and I think I do it pretty well. I am responsible for maintaining an operational status and maintenance records for over 100 trucks and equipment ranging from $30,000 1 ton rack bodies, all the way up to 500,000.00 quarry equipment. I’m pursuing a degree with the Community College of the Air Force in Construction Technology. I am also going after a degree with University of Maryland for business management. When I am able to get stationed back stateside, I plan on working towards a degree in horticulture. I try to keep up on the industry because when I retire from the service I plan on going back into the industry to start my own LMO.


I know I’m don’t currently own a LMO at the moment, but does that make rule out my opinion here as “no good”???


I hope I can learn much more from the people that contribute to this site and I hope I can help people with things I deal with on a daily basis.


Hope this clears things up a bit.

[Cutter1]

I personaly talk to everyone. I have many friends in this business and I plan on keeping them. Every once and awhile some of us will get together and have a few beers and talk shop. Its good to have people who can relate to you about certain things, customers, employees, equipment. I try to befriend anyone and everyone. If they don't go out of there way, than I do. I've been in this business a long time, it doesn't help to be a pain in the a$&!!! My close friends share what they are bidding on and how much, between a few of us there is an unwritten rule not to bid against eachother and it has worked so far(Excluding big accounts, than its every man for himself!!) There is enough work to go around and the sooner everyone realizes this the better!!!!

[SLSNursery]

I have found that over the years it helps to be friendly with the competition at all levels (whether they are larger or smaller companies than you). We sell landscape services and products, and have done a lot of work for other companies who don't have the equipment or the knowledge that we have. In fact, each fall we sponsor Pesticide training classes at our shop for landscapers, in order to help get them licensed. These guys are constantly calling for advice and to buy products. I also work with one of the state's trade organizations to help be involved on a different level with the industry. We are currently working to start CLT type certification in CT. In a state that doesn't necessarily foster friendly relationships (we have a lot of stubborn Yankees up here), it will be interesting to see how this is received.

Over time, I have found that the more people I help, the more I learn (as was mentioned previously - you learn more when you are teaching what you know). I also garner more business, because I try not to burn any bridges. More often than not we end up working with other companies to help them get jobs done, or in many cases, hand out excess work to our friendly competitors in order to keep the ball rolling (in the big picture). It is not uncommon to hand out work, then, because we did not leave the customer hanging, get an opportunity on the next job. Sure, we give some jobs or contracts away lock, stock and barrel, but what is the long run cost? Is that competitor going to think I am a bad business person because I gave away work that I couldn't possibly handle at the time? What about when I am in a pinch? Who would I turn to if I didn't keep friendly terms with my neighbors or peers?

I sometimes go a step further if necessary. More than one time, the friendly competition will breakdown, and need a truck, mower, plow, helper, etc. If I can spare it I'll loan something out, or even rent it out. Have we been burned by friendly competition? Not really, but I'll admit it is possible. However in my opinion, it is not probable, or at least no more probable than being burned or undercut by non-friendly competition. Are people not friendly with us because they fear we will hurt their business? Probably yes. However, I know I wouldn't ever intentionally hurt someone's business or undercut them to get a job. That wouldn't make sense for MY bottom line.

I guess in my world, it pays to be friendly.

[lawns of distruction]

Personal attack

[Edited by Eric ELM on 08-17-2000 at 11:51 PM]

[Charlotte Lawns]

Another Personal Attack




Fereed



[Edited by administrator on 08-18-2000 at 12:03 AM]

[greenflag]

Guido-
Right on!
After being in a retail business for the last ten years, my partner and I have decided to ditch it and go into landscaping. For a lot of reasons, growing and mowing are very appealing. (I love it , for one thing.) We mow part time while we phase into it. We have three accounts (woo-wee!) but those three accounts (2 residential, one small commercial) will enable us to pay off a three year equipment note in six months. One advantage that we have is that we are able to finance top quality equipment (Great Dane, Toro, Honda, Stihl) because of existing business credit. I don't have a problem with the "scrubs" because I have learned over the years that you don't want to work for people that care about price alone. They want the fifty dollar job for twenty five dollars, are picky as hell, and will drop you in a heartbeat. The scrubs can have them. Sometimes when I am driving down the street, I see a guy mowing an acre lot with a Craftsman riding mower, and I just snicker to myself. I have a Great Dane 32" mower that cuts better than any mower I have used and is three times as fast as that piece of junk. The way I see it, if they want to perform that "service" at the prices they charge, they can have it. I would rather sit in the air conditioning in our 100+ degree weather and not make money than work my ass off and not make money.
But - to the point. We are very impressed by the level of help we have received in our new venture. We have talked to at least six different contractors and they were all more than helpful, not threatened at all. One guy, who does it part time, said that when he retired in a few years, he would GIVE us the thirty yards that he mows weekly! Others have helped us with pricing and equipment pointers, including a man that handles all of the Jack-In-The-Box accounts in North Texas. He told us to call him anytime if we ever needed help. Another guy who used to do it full time but scaled back took some of our business cards to give to people that requested his services.
We live in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas. Maybe that has something to do with the willingness to help. People are falling over each other to get here, and the housing boom is alive and well. Everyone I know has more work than they can do, so maybe the friendliness is regional. But I doubt it. I think it has more to do with the individual you are dealing with than anything. Look at Eric Elm, he has a site full of good information for a novice like me, and I haven't paid him a dime! BTW-Thanks Eric :)

P.S.- Albert- Thanks fo' at least spellin eeverthin write!

[Edited by greenflag on 08-18-2000 at 01:06 AM]

[KirbysLawn]

Eric, did I miss something??? Please email me with the details. :D It looks like someone here has decided to use an alias to make attacks about me. Whoever you are please feel free to comment about me with your regular screen name, I don't mind, really.

Eric or Chuck, could you please check the IP's of "Charlotte Lawns and Lawns of Distruction" and advise me if it was a NC address or from another state?

[Edited by KirbysLawn on 08-18-2000 at 01:12 AM]

[KirbysLawn]

In case any of you read the above post by "Charlotte Lawns" and "Lawns of Distruction" attacking me before they were deleted, let me clarify.

Lawns of Destruction stated (in part): "yes it is his trailer but the truck NOT. HE ONLY TEST DROVE IT his brother ended up bying it because he couldnt afford it . he has a 78 dodge 100 not a bad truck i dont knopw why he is ashamed of it." That's funny! :D I love it, I'm so excited!! I didn't know I had a brother, I thought I was an only child! The rest isn't worth addressing. (Boy all of these spelling errors look familiar, don't they teach you to spell in PA?) :confused:

Charlotte Lawns: Nope, that wasn't me. Sorry.

"Charlotte Lawns and Lawns of Distruction", here is my email address: drkirby1@msn.com, why don't you please send me an email and quit hiding behind fake screen names.

Ray

[Edited by KirbysLawn on 08-18-2000 at 05:53 AM]

[EarthWorks]

I learned a long time ago that I cannot get every job.(At first I thought I should.) I do not mind competition at all as long as they play by the rules and do the jobs well. There are a few here that low ball jobs and do sloppy work that I have to fix. This practice frustrates me because the customer and legitimate bidders all get screwed. I missed out on a job I could have done right and the customer doesn't get a good product. I treat competitors like they treat me. Stub up your nose at me as I drive by and you get no respect from me. In my area there is enough business for all of us.

[Guido]

Do we really need to start using alias' for our alias' to talk $hit to someone?? I guess this whole thread is a waste because if we can't even be friendly with the competition on the damn internet, how can we do it in real life?? Those people that were posting attacks here are the ones that I wouldn't want to be friendly with, and they are the ones that are ruining great oppurtunities to work with each other and learn from each other.

Sorry Kirby, hope you got to the bottom of this!

[KirbysLawn]

Hey Guido,

Thanks, I got to the bottom of this the night they were posted, no big deal. The post by "Lawns of Destruction" was more funny than anything else and I've spoken to Epix Internet Service in Dallas Pa about the situation, just in case anything follows. As for "Charlotte Lawns", AOL has agreed to help out if any more defamatory statements are made, so we'll leave it at that. Everyone just might want to remember everywhere you go you leave a "fingerprint" called an IP address, it can easily be traced back to you and legal action can be placed aganst you for your actions. Let's let it rest and post nicely! :)