Leaf job for a current customer?????

[65hoss]

I have a current customer that I cut his and his neighbors yard all year. They live on a lake, but the lawns are on some serious slope with lots of trees. 28 trees on one lot alone and they are only 1/2 acres. Very difficult just to mow, because I can't get my Z in the back yards and they are a real pain to cut. They want me to continue to cut or should I say bag their lawns while the leaves are falling, but for the same price. I have already decided to not continue their lawns next year because they take alot of my time and I actually dread going there. But I still consider them my customers for this year. Should I discontinue service now since I know they don't expect to pay more?

And yes, we have almost 80% of the leaves still on the trees here in Memphis.

[Richard Martin]

Do you feel as though you owe them something? If not then call them and explain to them that you will no longer be servicing their accounts. You should never service an account that you don't want to.

[geogunn]

HOSS--have you been bagging all summer? if not, tell them that bagging will cost more because of..., and list the reasons why...time, trouble, lower profit, etc.

you should not quit them now unless your agreement with them is that you never bag and they wont have it any other way.

I practice what I preach. one of my accounts wants her yard RAKED! I told her I don't rake.

she said "if i pay your price all summer to cut my yard, then I expect you to rake it when I want it raked"!

I told her "NO WAY JOSE!". I don't even rake my own yard and no way was I gonna rake hers. I offered to mulch or blow the yard as often as sh could afford but NO! she had oak leaves and wanted 'em raked.

I figured I was history but she called back the next spring.

HOSS- you ought to keep these two accounts, just refine your agreement with them.

BTW--I didn't know there were any hills that steep around memphis...?

GEO

[Ocutter]

If they were my customers I would simply say that there would be an extra charge for the bagging. For me its Lawn cut plus 40% or if you know your overhead do it by the hr. Keeping them next season is in your hands. If you see yourself spending time with bigger projects to a point where its a hassle to hook up a trailer and cut then cut them loose. Otherwise hold onto them.

[Skookum]

If bagging already not agreed upon for normal cuts, then they need to pay more. Only way is if it is a real money maker for you now and you wish to off set the time from what you have all ready made from the account.

[65hoss]

Let me re-define the problem. I don't have a contract with this person. Been cutting it weekly all year. Now that leaves are falling they want me to continue cutting and bag it. They wanted it bagged all year, but it got mulched most of the time. They are trying to get the leaves picked up for the price of the cutting. But as I stated before, its not a very big yard, but it has 28 large trees. Cutting this yard to bag the leaves for them would take 3 times as long, and take lots of bags. I already made up my mind to let them go for next year. Leaves are not grass, and as you already know, they always are a huge hassle. If I let them go, he will pay a lot of money to get them up. But they expect me to handle it for peanuts. Most of us here at lawnsite would probably get between $150 and $200 for the job. Why should I do it for $40. I have one tomorrow that will take me about 1 hr and make $90. This one yard will take about 3 hrs and they will want to pay me $40.

BTW, yes we do have hills around here.

[jrblawncare]

I would call your client and tell them that because of the extra time and laber involved, you will be charging a little extra for the leaves,based on time spent on the job.This has worked for me here,If this does not work,stop mowing and offer them a one time clean-up at the end of the year...you will still make your money one way or another,hope it helps JOHN

[Tomslawncare1]

Hoss, I really don't think any "reasonable" customer would think that you were trying to "rip them off" if you explain the situation to them. Explain what your rate is for fall clean up vs. mowing grass. They obviously know that it would take you more time with that amount of leaves on the ground to bag the clippings as well as the leaves. Ask them how they want to handle the fall clean up. Do you want me to wait until the last leaf has fallen to pick up the leaves. Or do you want me to do it as I go then once the last leaf has fallen do a finish clean up. Then discuss charges accordingly.

[Mark]

Hoss they expect you to clean up those leafs for $13:33 per hour/plus your overhead, I guess if you have been cutting the lawn all yr for a profit thats fine, but its your business charge a fall clean-up, at least $125 for as many times as it takes. Remember you work hard for your money and that price is even cheap, I would atleast try and negotiate a fair deal.

[BUSHMASTER]

everyone has great points....BOTTOM LINE... someone is going to bag them if not you a lowballer or which it dosen't sound right but maybe the owner...ha.....bid it fairly...make money...after all you get what you paid for,,,
i always bring this subject up in the summer time when i first pick up an account they all know up front that it cost more in the winter for service and maybe your cutting to cheap in the summer if you don't want to even go thier$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[geogunn]

hoss--based on your clarification, I want to change my opinion. I think you should tell them to HEck with it. no way are you messin with their 28 trees.

your name gets a black eye, but what the hey! who cares? you aren't coming back next year anyway!

another way to do it is ask for twice or three times the money as compared to a mow. when they say NO then you act mad and load your equipment never to return. your name gets the same black eye but you get the satisfaction of letting them know you are not their yard "boy".:(

GEO

[ronslawncare]

this is too funny samething happened to me about 2 weeks ago i get a phone call ok all my leaves are down come mow them for thirty dollars.i just explained simply that i dont mow leafs for 30.00 i cut your lawn for 30.00 thats all a leaf cleanup is 5 times more expensive usally .then she says why cant you just mow them for 30.00 (like shes the boss)i said if i mow them with one pass your lawn would not look very good.4 a leaf cleanupblow out the beds blow off the shrubs i mulch up the leafs then blow off the property bag what needs 2 be bagged.they think im some stupid little kid i make more money then they do in a day then they do all week.anyway i did her cleanup i always tell all my customers dont worry ill give you a discount that makes them fell better i learned than i charge her the same as every1 she was happy and said ill see you in the spring.i try real hard to talk like a gentleman always.just think of it this way if it so easy to do y do they call us to do it 4 them goodluck buddy some customers are 2 much .........

[awm]

thats what id give them and they will
probabely come around.Icharge up to 5
times cut rate to bag. 3 times to mulch.
Takes a lot more time and mulching is
very rough on your equipment.I dont think
im cheating anyone. I just know what its
going to take to do the job. TM

[TLC]

HOSS-
I would call them and explain about time and equipment operation cost more for bagging. If they agree to pay more then great. If not,I would inform them that w/n 2-3 more times of service they need to contact someone else. That way no matter how they have treated you, it doesn't look like you left them high and dry.

P.S. I'm not far from you Martin, Tn.

[65hoss]

Martin?? Oh yea, we destroyed you in basketball. Just kidding.

I have 3 all side by side at this place. I'm going tomorrow and 2 of them I just run over any leaves and thats fine with the customers. The one guy that wants his bagged, if he's there I will talk to him about it. If he's not I will leave a note about it and see if he calls to get the leaves done. This way I can see how many leaves are on the ground, and give a good price for my time involved.

[JVS]

We typically offer a 30 week service March thru Dec but....We offer only 25 weeks of cutting mid April to the end of September if they do NOT sign up with our leaf clean-up service. This way NO BS "no clean-up" your on your own even if the lawn grows until next spring...


Joe

[65hoss]

Well got to the site today and the guy was at home. I went to the place they leave my check and sure enough, there was the check for the regular amount. 4 weeks of leaves on the ground. I look over the other 2 next to that one and they have a good bit of leaves also, but they don't care about anything special, so running over them once was fine. The guy comes out and asked me to blow all the decks off first so I can bag those leaves also, and tells me to let him know how much extra to blow the decks. Only 3 levels of decks. Big house on the side of a hill. I explain that this time of year I usually get more for leaves because of the work and time involved. He actually said fine. Just let him know. So, I went and did all 3 properties, took me 4 hours. Normally takes about 1.5 hrs. The layout of the properties will not let me get my Lazar in any of the back yards, so the 36" exmark wb with mulch kit does most all the work, except Mr. Baggers yard. I finished at dark, and went to his front door to collect the check. I added the extra based on an hourly amount of the extra time in his yard. I charged each customer pro-rata their share. He probably came out better than the others. He SIGHED and GRUNTED when I told him the amount. But said ok, and paid me. Heck, his entire bill was less than $100. Must add to this, I didn't blow any beds out. Very extensive landscaping, and if I did the beds it would talk 1/2 day in his yard alone. He waits until all leaves have fallen for the beds. For just the lawn part, I figure he came out pretty well. The entire time there came out to around $50 per hour for one person, so I guess I did pretty well. Just pisses me off the sighing and grunting. He acts like he will miss a meal by paying me that. Him and his $500,000 house and $60,000 vette convertable.

Anyway, he wants me to come every week for the rest of the year, and has agreed to pay extra. Will not be too bad weekly, just this time had 4 weeks worth of leaves.

[Premo Services]

WAY TO GO 65hoss
Set a price and don`t come off of it no matter what they do. It costs you money to operate your business and you shouldn`t do anything that involves more work for the same price, especially leaves.

[bobbygedd]

i hate leaves! seems u can never make enough to clean leaves, but id hate to lose the lawn work cus i dont do the leaves, so this is how we work it: we call it grass cutting till the end of october(we charge a per cut rate)then we give them a flat fee for leaf cleanup, say 200-300, the work is completed in 2to3 trips of about 1and a half hour each, and not after the 5th 0f december, this gives us over a month to get the place clean, we usually show up every 12-14 days. this works for me, but watch out for this "trick". after the first 2 trips, when u have cleaned most of the leaves, the last trip is a breeze, ive had customers call and say that since i was there twice, and there is very little leaves left, they will do the last cleanup themselves, ans sine my rate was based on usually 3 trips, they think they can get away with only paying me two thirds....nice try, no way

[Michael Fronczak]

I had a similiar situtation this summer. Client for 2-3 years. He had always fertilized his own lawn, I told him we would bag as needed, we usually didn't have to, at most double cut to mulch clippings. This year he got a national fert co. to do his lawn, every week grass was 8-10" no lie. We did same as before it looked terible, we would bag once a month, once clippings would no longer disperse. I explained the problem to him, offered a fert contract, even told him we would meet or beat their price. Then he insisted that it be bagged more often, I told him it was going to be more. When he got his bill h freaked out, it was a $ 25 cutting, I charge him an additional $ 15 labor, $.75 per bag, we used 13 bags. He sent me a certified letter threatening to call BBB, ect. I told him I know my costs, this is what it costs me,ect. Finally told him pay me for the cuttings only, find somone else. Its amazing how a street where it used to take two of us 1.5-2 hrs to cut 3 lawns ($20 Ea), all of a sudden to 45 min with 2 lawns? Best thing I could have done, should have done it way earier in season.
If a client doesn't respect you enough to pay you enough to make a living, is that really a client you want? Not Me.

[bobbygedd]

i am so sick and tired of customers trying to get me to work for free.we cut grass till the end of oct. here then there r alot of leaves, so we call it leaf cleanup. i have had customers tell me, they will clean their own leaves. THEN, they call me in late november and say bobby, i need the grass cut one last time, the place is completely covered with leaves, and they think ill come by for the same $25 OR $30 that i charge for the grass cut. when i tell them the cleanup will be $200, they say why? no thanks! well, these customers can clean them theirselves, or call someone else. every day i go to work, i start off in the hole, having to gas up, do repairs, advertising, etc. overhead. these people dont have to pay to go to work, we do. i have learned the hard way how people try to get over, and i will never work for free again. there r guys who will do the work alot cheaper, but these guys will put themselves out of bussiness. BOBBY