Ditching my partner and going solo!

[H & M Yard Improvements]

On another note, any suggestions on if I should say anything to my customers about this split? Or should I keep hush?

[H & M Yard Improvements]

Now that I covered that, It raises another question for me. Should I say anything to my customers? Or should I stay hush about it?

[jrs.landscaping]

Customers don't need to know in house business, keep it to yourself, if it comes up in conversation explain what happened and nothing more.

[DEPENDABLE LANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by jrs.landscaping

Customers don't need to know in house business, keep it to yourself, if it comes up in conversation explain what happened and nothing more.

I agree with this
Ditto

[H & M Yard Improvements]

OK. I kinda figured that but I wasnt too sure so I thought that i would ask anyway.

[32vld]

I'd be very nervous leaving your own equipment in his garage. When he finds out that he can't afford to replace the stuff you own he's going to change his story and claim it was all jointly owned to the judge.

Trying to force you to buy out "his interest in the jointly owned equipment". We know that is not the truth. But you have nothing in paper to prove what you say to the judge.

Time to split the business is now. You take your stuff give him the cash for his half of joint owned stuff and store it in your garage, parent's garage, grandparent's garage.

This guy if given the time to bite you in the ass will not hesitate to do so as soon as he realizes that he is to broke to go and pay for whatever it is that you take away access from him.

[cuttin-to-the-Max]

Yeah its not easy but i agree with the others, Split from him. Hire another worker. Score more yards and hire another guy so all you have to focus on is billing and estimating bigger jobs.

I've been there. DONT HIRE YOUR BUDDIES. WORKERS ARE WORKERS.

[H & M Yard Improvements]

Originally Posted by 32vld

I'd be very nervous leaving your own equipment in his garage. When he finds out that he can't afford to replace the stuff you own he's going to change his story and claim it was all jointly owned to the judge.

Trying to force you to buy out "his interest in the jointly owned equipment". We know that is not the truth. But you have nothing in paper to prove what you say to the judge.

Time to split the business is now. You take your stuff give him the cash for his half of joint owned stuff and store it in your garage, parent's garage, grandparent's garage.

This guy if given the time to bite you in the ass will not hesitate to do so as soon as he realizes that he is to broke to go and pay for whatever it is that you take away access from him.

You make a valid point there! I just bought a Red Max 8050BP Blower from a guy on CL today I havent taken it to where the other equipment is currently located. I will talk to my other friend tonight and have a chat with him.

[AlohaMowing]

Originally Posted by H & M Yard Improvements

On another note, any suggestions on if I should say anything to my customers about this split? Or should I keep hush?

This is something you need to be careful about. As long as you remain partners you cannot do anything that could harm your partner. You still have a fiduciary duty to one another.

Even though you have no documentation of the partnership up to this point, it would be a good idea to put together a memo to your partner outlining what the two of you agreed to regarding the dissolution of the partnership. In particular, cover the date the partnership dissolves, the disposition of the various pieces of equipment, and, perhaps most importantly, the division of the accounts. Give him a couple weeks to respond if he disagrees with your memo, if he does not dispute it you may infer that he accepts the terms.

Then, you can contact the accounts in the area that you are getting and let them know that you are forming the new company to handle them, and hope that you will have their business next year. (And speaking of the new company you will form, let me make a plug that you form an LLC unless you have a specific reason for a different form of business.) After the first of the year, after the partnership has been dissolved, there will be no reason you could not contact those accounts in your partner's area to let them know of your new company (unless the two of you have a specific agreement to keep your hands off one another's accounts, which agreement sounds unlikely from your description of your discussion). Since he still is a friend you probably do not want to be aggressive in poaching his accounts, but it sounds like he is likely to piss off his customers, and when his customers fire him, there is no reason you should not be the guy to get their business.

[H & M Yard Improvements]

Originally Posted by AlohaMowing

This is something you need to be careful about. As long as you remain partners you cannot do anything that could harm your partner. You still have a fiduciary duty to one another.

Even though you have no documentation of the partnership up to this point, it would be a good idea to put together a memo to your partner outlining what the two of you agreed to regarding the dissolution of the partnership. In particular, cover the date the partnership dissolves, the disposition of the various pieces of equipment, and, perhaps most importantly, the division of the accounts. Give him a couple weeks to respond if he disagrees with your memo, if he does not dispute it you may infer that he accepts the terms.

Then, you can contact the accounts in the area that you are getting and let them know that you are forming the new company to handle them, and hope that you will have their business next year. (And speaking of the new company you will form, let me make a plug that you form an LLC unless you have a specific reason for a different form of business.) After the first of the year, after the partnership has been dissolved, there will be no reason you could not contact those accounts in your partner's area to let them know of your new company (unless the two of you have a specific agreement to keep your hands off one another's accounts, which agreement sounds unlikely from your description of your discussion). Since he still is a friend you probably do not want to be aggressive in poaching his accounts, but it sounds like he is likely to piss off his customers, and when his customers fire him, there is no reason you should not be the guy to get their business.

Since we will be splitting the customer base, I dont want to get complaints from the area that he is getting (even though I am the one currently doing all of the admin work) if I am not servicing them. That would then become his responsibility to take care of that. That area is almost a half hour 45 minute drive to the first loc. I dont find it very profitable and more like a waste of time (he likes that area). I dont like the windshield time. Thats another issue that I had with him. To each his own I guess. The area that I will have is more like 2-4 miles at most from my home.