Replacing dead shrubs and reseeding

[94gt331]

The past week I went around and replaced a dozen or so shrubs and trees from installs this year and been re seeding some lawns that got burnt out over the dry period of summer. I don't charge for this kind of thing. I try to stand by my work, when a customer calls i put these jobs on an I owe list and go do when I have time. Well I finished all my I owe you jobs. How do most of you guys warranty replacements and seeding, just curious? Didn't make any money this past week but I hope my customers are happy!

[Smallaxe]

That is a good business practice, but if you charge for 2 extra visits up front for 1 man hour, you'll never loose the shrub or the money that goes with it... because you visit each site within a couple of days of the planting and soak the ground again... actually you flood the area around the root ball each time you go back... the second visit should be around the 1 week mark...

you didn't work for nothing this past week,,, it actually costs you money to do that... but you're right, it IS necessary, for your reputation...

[garciajj612]

Originally Posted by 94gt331

The past week I went around and replaced a dozen or so shrubs and trees from installs this year and been re seeding some lawns that got burnt out over the dry period of summer. I don't charge for this kind of thing. I try to stand by my work, when a customer calls i put these jobs on an I owe list and go do when I have time. Well I finished all my I owe you jobs. How do most of you guys warranty replacements and seeding, just curious? Didn't make any money this past week but I hope my customers are happy!

Is it not their responsibility to water? Most my landscape jobs have irrigation,we set the watering on those that have. The ones that don't have Irrigation I tell them how much they have to water and that and that if they don't water the plants will die. So they don't call if they didn't water but rarely I've had someone call and it was bc one of the heads got broken and one shrub wasn't getting much water, but If they are nice ill replace the shrub for then for free maybe charge for the irrigation unless I think I'll get referrals.

[Smallaxe]

Ideally they would water adequately during the first week after planting... unfortuneately, they don't even know what to look for during the settling in process, so I make sure that the first week is secured... I don't allow client to rely solely on irrigation until they are well established(at least one complete season)... soaker hoses or manual watering will be required by the h.o. or a maintenance schedule will be setup...

It may seem like a lot of malarky, but I won't work for a client that doesn't take the time to address these critical issues, and sometimes I just wash my hands of any responsibility of what my regular clients do...