It's bound to happen to everyone of us.

[BUSHMASTER]

The other day i was doing one of my commercail accounts an out of the corner of my eyes i see a white car with some kinda sticker on the door.A moment later it was right next to me ,shut off the ol'fs74 and looked up..........Yes ladies and gentalmen"srcubs" worst nightmare
THE MAN yes the code enforcment officer.Now iv,e been working this full time for about 5 years now and have never been aproached by one.After i showed him my high priced paper with city stamps on them we spoke for about a 1/2 hour..nice guy,told somthings ,like " If you ever lose a bid to someone who you think might not be licenced ,nomatter how small just call this phone number on the card and he'll go to work..."He was a very nice person to deal with and it just made me fell kinda go to hear verbally what i allready
knew.....SO HAVE YOUR STUFF TOGETHER these guy have a job to do and part of it is to keep a log of the bizz in their route area ..if your playing right thier be your best freind in the feild,if your not.....we'll lets just say i like wear i am standing.

[bob]

Sounds like he's the "scrub patrol".

[Richard Martin]

Bummer, we don't have anything even closely resembling that here.

[Barkleymut]

We don't either, but my wife took a good picture today when we were traveling of an escort/trailer lawn guy setup. I see way too many of these types in my area. But most customers can tell who the real professional is anyways and I can command 2-3 times what the scrubs charge. The pic wasn't taken with a dig. camera so it will be a few days before it is up.

[Mr.Ziffel]

Well, I know to some of you this sounds good, but what's next? Do you really think that Big Brother Code Enforcement can save or protect you from the scrubs? By putting your faith in the gov't, you're giving up much control of your personal destiny not just in this area but in many others--you need to beat the scrubs by outmowing, outtrimming, outworking them, not by relying on some all-knowing governmental authority. Do you really want to live in a country where any bozo with a uniform and a badge can check your papers to see if you're legal?

If I sound bitter, it could have to do with the headline in our local weekly 'GRADING POLICY PLOWS FARMERS!' Cutting a long story short, the all-knowing, benevolent government employees in our county [Snohomish County, WA] have decreed that there is no difference between development activity such as clearing and grading and plowing a field. All that's left is for them to come up with a way to get us to obtain permits when the fields are plowed. I cut thousands of tons of grass for cow feed each year and have to plow the fields every couple of years requiring a permit so how long will it be before you are required to get a permit to mow someone's lawn? Oh it can't happen here, right? Well, I'd be glad to fax anyone interested a copy of the latest article to verify this. Just let me know on this board. Master your own destiny, don't rely on the government to take care of your problems for you or you could lose it all.
Will M.

[Charles]

We have city inspectors come by and see if contractors have city licenses. Well you have to have a updated sticker on your truck. So they just ride by and look for that sticker that shows you have paid there fee for operating in the city. Of course we have building and codes inspectors.

[thelawnguy]

In CT its the Dept of Revenue Services (sales tax) who do the checking. Two officers approached me a couple years back (they had to trudge quite a ways off road to where I was). I keep my tax cert copy in my wallet (its required to have it on-site at all times) If you didnt have one they had 3 options and depending on their mood was which one you got: 10 days to provide proof of compliance if you are already registered, pay the fee on the spot for a reg number, or have your truck and equip impounded.

They told me that, out of the dozens checked that day, I was the only one with a cert on hand, the rest had to either dig up a copy or reg on-site. About as anti scrub as we get around here.

[landscaper3]

I am real lucky my wifes father is the code enforcer in the town we live in. My opion is they have a bad rap on them. If you had a complaint with someone or something there are there to help you. Plus like in our town we have a ton of out of staters that own camps (200k plus camps) and they try to pull so much illigal stuff even the DEP would flip, My hats off to the code enforcers and a little advise being related to one stay on there GOOD side! WOW nobody up here has city licences or others only one needed up here is fertilizer license if you want to be a applicator!

[Edited by landscaper3 on 10-21-2000 at 01:58 AM]

[Twotoros]

I would pay his wages to get the code man here . I offered the revenue dept . info here and they said they don't have the man power to check it out . They have the time to send my tax forms and process my check , no prob.

[LJ lawn]

i like the idea of having some form of county permit to mow,it MIGHT cut down the competition.they should have it here,waaay too many weekend warriors cutting down the price.doesn't matter if i show up with 40 grand worth of equipment i cannot "command" a higher price because people just don't give a hang,they want C-H-E-A-P.you can talk till you're blue in the face about being professional,showing up,nice cuts etc.etc.they just don't care.you don't know how many times i've heard from people- how much??? oh, that's too much ($30.00) all we've EVER payed is $25.00.that's when i tell them i wish i can pay 1970 prices for my truck and equipment,it's usually a losing battle and a big waste of time playing the estimate game here.i've actually started to refuse work in certain areas because i know that the prople will only pay up to a certain amount.As far as the scab- i would love to employ some stong arm tactics ie.bash his equipment, hurt the scab,etc.put him out of business.

[gusbuster]

This is a real sore subject with me. All the local municipalities are complaining that they don’t have any money for police, fire, ect… If they would enforce the existing law that is already in place, they may be able to come up with some extra money.

I did a post on the business license subject a couple of months ago. For those that remember, my city started an enforcement program after myself and 12 others had a chat with the city manager. My city has risen so far to date, over $22,000 dollars by enforcing the business license requirement. It wasn’t just the gardeners they went after; the contractor’s and other home businesses were sought out.

John

[BUSHMASTER]

Yea srcub police pretty good , get this our city has an ordanace about grass hight in resdiental areas, it is now 6.5" after its that high someone can drop a dime , send enforment out, write a complance ticket , they either get it cut or they send out the trusties and charge $450 min to your water bill ...and guess what ..non- payment of your water bill in full including...they come and pull your meter.get with your city councial and ssugest it, it pays for its self, these folks are also responiable to find unsitly homes and yards and make them clean up......any city ordance is their responsiablty from commercial to residental, street coror vendors to brick and mortor stores.
hey will still got one on the books about walkk down broadway on the right side of the road carring a dead chicken in your hand...i really think they can drop that one.


[Edited by BUSHMASTER on 10-21-2000 at 02:39 AM]

[Bobby]

Hey Bushmaster
Bout ten years ago, a city called Pembroke Pines in south fla had an ordinance requiring all contractors to go to the police station. You had to obviously have a licens to do lawn maint. Then they did a criminal background check. If you passed that, they finger printed you and issued you an ID card with photo. If you were caught without your papers being in order, they shut you down on the spot.
This went on for a few years till somebody took them to court. It was ruled unconstitutional or somthing like that.
The epa also roams Florida looking for illegal spray guys.

[OBRYANMAINT]

I AM WITH MR ZIFFEL

RIGHT NOW WE HAVE NOTHING TO MOW BUT DO NEED A PERMIT TO PLOW IN SOME CITIES

[BUSHMASTER]

this is a little dif than a permit to mow. bussiness that operate out of a standing buliding also have too have a bizz licecne to operrate hand the code officers go to thenm also to do routine checks.i don't agree with finger printing or even id cards but i do feel someone that can issue a non-complaince ticket for opreating a bizz without a license is needed if you are opreating like your city requires you to your ok but if not the first fine for no bizz license is about $450.00 see when we go and renew our license every year thats when we pay tax on our gross sales.

[Edited by BUSHMASTER on 10-23-2000 at 05:56 AM]

[chrisbolte]

I am with mr ziffel. How many stinking laws do we ned to deal with. People that want to have licenses you are crazy. You have to pay more money and do more paper work. You profession is lawn care not government paperwork.

[Ground Rules]

I'm not sure I understand these "officers". They are code enforcement of some type?

I'm from NH and as far as I know there are no types of licenses or permits I need to perform lawn and landscaping services excluding pesticide application for which I need a applicators license. Unlike other states, there are no contractors licenses required for this profession.

Someone correct me if I am misinformed.

[BUSHMASTER]

Well i guess their might be somthing to that ....and i guess ammaco gas, chevy motors,and lets say walkers mower..
they way i hear it from some of ya'll they shouldn't be required to have i license to opperate. any thing that creates revenue is a bizz....the green industry is somewhere near about or more a 60mill. or 60bill i forget but either way.....A professional opprateion weather its a
parts store, returant,manfau.or lawn service has a license for the right to adverstize to the gerneral public and cliam there ligit.i guess if your not oppreating as a bizz
, you not earning more than 800 a year on cutting gras you probally arn't a bizz and i can see why you would be upset...They are also seeking out folks doing pluimbing,painting,ect if you have singage on your truck / a dray sticker that has a number that leads back to you ,they leave you a lone.