am i being unreasonable?

[94gt331]

I had a customer like this, was a great customer but she watered constantly it was allways so wet and her yard was allways rutting, she didn't understand why when I told her it couldn't be helped with her watering constantly. I decided to drop her as a customer a few weeks later.

[ddixon7]

You will learn that as you grow, you have to weed out some customers for various reasons. Over watering is a hard disease to cure. Some people are obsesive compulsive about it.
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[32vld]

Originally Posted by Tylerr83

hey guys, i got into the lawncare business a little over a year ago. i had only a handful of accounts, but things have really taken off this season. one of the customers i picked up at the beginning of this season really overwaters his lawn, tot he point that he is doing it harm. it is ALWAYS unbelievably wet. he is the second lawn on my friday route, and recently asked me to move him to the end of the day because he says the lawn is too wet to cut in the morning. the problem is i have my route down as it is for convencience and efficiency. i told him that it would really be an inconvenience if i were to have to change my schedule for his preferences, and cited that i wouldnt' be able to get anything done if all my customers had a similar request. he was pretty unhappy but i feel like i would rather not have a customer like that than cost myself the time and money. is this unreasonable or bad business?

I got a new cusotmer this year. Old 3 br colonial used as professional office space by therapists. Their old LCO would always show up when during business hours. This is one of the reasons why they got dropped. They are open M 11-4, 5-9 , TWTh 1-9. They tried to insist that I do their property on Fri.

I politely but firmly told them that I don't schedule lawns for Friday's, that day is set aside for rain outs.

That I would make them my first stop on Tue and even if I ran into problems I should always still get them done before they open at 11 am.

They decided to trust me and I have not let them down.

[MOturkey]

I don't see you as being unreasonable at all. The watering schedule can be changed much more easily than your mowing route. Chances are this guy is watering every day, so no matter how much you try to accomodate him, it probably will still end up being a problem.

[Woody82986]

I've had similar problems in the past. Once I notice what's going on I send the client an email asking them to alter the watering schedule to suit the mowing schedule. Most of the time it's no problem. Some people either disregard the suggestion or don't care. When they don't care I send them a notice of what is going on and what would fix any potential problems. Inevitably, when they contact me asking why this or that problem is occuring months down the road, I point back to the correspondence and say "that's why". All I can do is offer my professional opinion and then hope they listen.

[Big Wes]

Most home owners that have irrigation systems are absolutely clueless. I see them watering everyday in my neighborhood even when it's raining out. Heck, I've seen my dentist's system running during a hurricane a few years ago....no joke!

Why not explain to them that twice a week is plenty and ask them to let you set their systems timer. 1 inch of water a week is sufficient.
Good luck!

[Chris Feenan]

Many homeowners only know the basics of a timer. He may not know how to set up a second program that waters on friday evening instead of in the am. If you offer to do this for him, and he takes you up on it, you save the account and appear to be a problem solver instead of a complainer. Win - Win

[Kelly's Landscaping]

This may or may not work depends on your list and if you end your day finishing off a far out section of your list or you just start the next morning a few streets from where you finished the night before. But you stated he is your second lawn on Friday now I hope you have more then one days cuts on your list. So lets say you have Thursdays list and it ends close to where you pick up on Friday. In that case id have given him my last cut on Thursday and promoted the last cut on Thursday to Friday morning. Over lapping your routs a little isn't that big a deal but back tracking 20-40 mins to make someone happy is.