I heard from a mowing frien of mine the other day that the property manager over my apt. complex was telling my price to a competitor so he could give her a better price. I understand that he did in fact cut me by $50.00 a month and that she was going to give it to him..............this hasn't happened yet, and it may all be a bunch of BS. I know they do this but is there some legal avenue you can take if I were to lose the bid, does this fall under the description of collusion? I plan to drop that low paying p.o.s. as soon as I pick up enough new accounts to replace the money so it's not a great big issue even if I were to lose it, but the principal behind discussing prices to garner a lower one doesn't sit well with me.<p><br>Give me some feedback please.<p>Homer
There is no legal action you can take.<p>Forget about those apt complexs or condo<br>associations.<p>Go get your self a pesticide license and<br>spread insecticide to kill those fire ants <br>and mole crickets with a spreader mounted<br>to a chopper.
yes Homer, gone are the days of innocence; people are jerks today. I wish we still lived in days of honesty. It has happened to me too.<br>Bad thing is, I discussed details on things to a friend of mine about a big commercial job 3 yrs. ago, & guess who's doing it now-HIM.<br>Most times I can't squeeze info out of anyone anymore- they want to hear my bid first, hoping it'll be ridiculously low. That way they don't have to inform me how much I could have been making.<br>Anyways, keep your chin up & your armor on. It's a battle out there dealing with "the public", as we all know.<p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>
Funny you should say that Lawrence.......my wife was on me yesterday about that very same thing. She said she wasn't trimming shrubs when she was 50 so I'd better be getting prepared to do something else!<p>Homer
Homer, is this customer on a written contract<br>with you? If not,then this would be a good<br>move to make.If you have the job in writing,<br>then this crap doesn't happen as often.All<br>my large jobs are on written contract.If I<br>have to make an equipment investment then I<br>want the deal done right with the job.<p>Karl<br>
Actually she has drug her feet on getting the contract written up. I let this happen, I did the complex last year and she has given me approval to do it again this year, even got a verbal O.K. to go up on my price $25.00 big dollars a month.<p>I don't know what apt. complexes go for in other parts of the country but this is ridiculous. I normally take 2 more helpers when I do it and it takes us 2 hrs to trim, mow, blow, 2.5 if we edge. Just ain't worth it this year. Got to cut it weekly too.<p>Homer
PMS (property managers suck) This will be my last year dealing with condos and assoc. 99% only care about the bottom line. Next year I will only be working high end residential and smaller commercial properties. One of the condo's I care for now has taken away everything but the weekly mowing and spring and fall clean-ups. The trusties are doing the irrigation themselves! They call a guy in from 30 min. away to trim the shrubs and trees. This scrub and his crew already SHEARED off any possible bloom for on the Rhododendrons. In my contract my guys have to wear uniforms. This scrubs crew came in wearing no shirts, boxers hanging out of the pants and sneakers. They had a septic guy plant trees which were all planted with the burlap and cage still on! The trees are planted to deed and several have already started to die. The maintenance man that works there has to spread 105 yards of mulch that they bought bagged! That was supposed to happen in March and the bags are still sittin all over the parking lot. The bottom line is they want to save money. The next time I see the manager who happens to live in the complex I'm going to tell him I saw a penny on the ground next to his Lincoln. Then if he has not already blown by me, I'm gonna ask him if he wants to race me to it! If I don't reply here for a while it will be because I got trampled by a property manager and his trusties, because I got in the way of that penny. <p><br>Chris
I'm with you Chris. The time I spent trimming shrubs the other day could have been spent on other accounts that are way more profitable. The PM's around here are all suckin' up to the owners to try and save $'s.........They won't have me to kick around too much longer. I already decided that starting last week as soon as the new business equals 2/3 of the apt. revenue I will drop them. I figure 2/3 will be enough considering the amount of shrubs that I still have to trim and how many times I have to do it. If it ever starts raining they need trimming every month. Thats atleast 3-4 hours work monthly on top of the weekly mowing! 5 residentials will replace this easy and with alot less hassle. I think I am going to lean more towards smaller property anyway, things 2 can handle without losing ground on everything else.<p>In and out, thats the only way!<p>Homer
The best thing to do is draw up a contract for at least one year. After that try and lock them into a three year contract. A friend of mine does tons of apartment complexs and large scale lawns. He has just about everyone for three years. I think the best gig he has is the parks. I I'm thinking about going that way. The only thing is every year people are tring to bid it lower if you in a one year contract. Sometimes they are a penny smart and a dollar stupid.<br>What can you do!! Good luck Homer<br>Travis AG&G Lawn Maintenance <br><p><font size="1">Edited by: AGG Lawn Maintenance
