Yes, you are right about that BRL, I agree, but not in this case. The thing with this guy, is that he was a penny pincher, and (no lie) 80+ years old. He was trying to cut back on maint. He was sick of trimming the bushes, and having to pay for anything having to do with the lawn. The pines were touching the house, and squirrels were getting onto his roof, or else he would have left them there as well. He had a guy doing the lawn for $17.50 a cut (every 2 weeks), and I wouldn't touch it for less than $25 a cut. I did plow his driveway over the winter before this job, and he was in Florida the whole time (Oct - April). Because of that, he only wanted me to plow 1/2 the driveway. Also, a path only 1 shovel width up to the door, and wanted it done last, or even the day after the storm. Basically, anything to keep the price down. Only so the house looked "lived in" and would deter burglers, as he said.
Now, I do give price breaks to senior citizens. But I have little sympathy for one who owns two new Cadilacs, lives in a nice house, and has a beach house in Florida. If he wanted me to plow the whole driveway, it would have been $50. So I did it for $20, to do the 1/2. That was his break.
Basically, this is the type of customer I didn't want, and do not want. He also didn't water at all during the summer, or want fertilizer/lime ever (Because then the grass would grow, and need to be mowed. He told me this.) So basically a customer that looks at price only, who doesn't care how the yard looks, which is the type I don't want, period.
The guy also wanted me to do other work as well, when doing the trees and bushes. I replaced 4 damaged bricks on his front porch, moved a small red maple tree, and planted 2 tiny $5 shrubs (he supplied) where I pulled the other 2 from, so the bed wouldn't look bare. He complained about how much I charged to do all that too. Each customer is unique. I got involved with him through his sister, who was my neighbor. I did her lawn, and she wanted all the extras. I did her driveway, the <B>whole</B> driveway. She was not a penny pincher, and I gave her a break on everything. Maybe only $5 off here, $10 off there, but she always wanted extra services, and she even tipped me the same, $5 here, $10 there.
This is the first person I had call me with a proposal over a year old. Had it been a different person, where I knew less about the person or possibilities, I may have put more into explaining things clearly.
~Chuck
