cut throat competitors

[Rftreeman]

I priced a job in my neighbor hood a then the guy that cuts the ladies lawn knowing cut my price, she told him I was removing the tree stump and all and told him the price and that's when the dirty deed was done but here's the kicker, I have turned this guy on to several people that he has been cutting their grass for some time now and he does this, he never got me any work. He also told the lady that I had no experience at cutting trees in people's yards that all I every did was trim for the power company, I have close to 19 hard years of experience on the line clearance side of this business and did "side" work for most of the years also.

what would you guys do, would you do anything or just let it be? I'm going to start doing lawn care also so maybe I'll return the favor or hire his help. I really don't want to stoop to his level but I'm pretty sure this is not the first time he has done this.

 

[mckeetree]

I would hit him in the stomach as hard as I could.

 

[Slvrmple72]

Hit him in his wallet that will hurt him more! Neighbor had a Red Maple with one limb down from damage and one split open about two feet out from the trunk. He wasnt home but the landscraper had just pulled up and started workin on the mess on the ground. I warned him about the compromised limb and to be careful not to get under it. I put my card with a note in the HO box and left. Next day, I see the neighbor and talk to him, HE DID NOT GET MY NOTE OR CARD! Tree was butchered all to hell where the , you guessed it, landscraper had ripped the limb away from the trunk. Undercut, whats that? Other neighbor told me he had a kid in shorts and a tank top up in the tree with a saw duller than a butter knife, no tie in, and no clue. A fifteen minute limbing job took them over 90 mins. Almost makes me wonder why I warned the POS in the first place. HO got my card this time and got to see some of the trees I have done for the other neighbors on our street. I will snap some pics and post them. Best part is the Landscraper told the HO " We aint tree guys."

 

[Rftreeman]

I think I'll get in his pocket some. He seems too have forgotten that several of his customers are friends of mine, I think I'll give them a call and let them know I'm in the Lawn Care business now and I would really like their business.

I also thought of kicking him in the ass but getting in his pocket will hurt worst, most of the clients that I gave him are yearly contracts and they are up for grabs this fall.

 

[pbtree]

Put some sugar in his two stroke mix - that outta sweeten things up a bit! :greenchainsaw:

 

[polly]

We had a similar thing happen to us.
We quoted to remove a large old oak which was at the end of it's life, our quote was accepted but the lady wanted to book six weeks later.

So I tried to call her when the time was near and talked to her daughter(adult) she said yes Tuesday they were expecting us and that was fine.

However on the tuesday, I just had a funny feeling, call it womens intuition.

So I rang the lady ten minutes before the boys were about to leave( it was 40 kms away) and she said it had already been done the week before.

A guy from one of the larger tree companies called a week after she accepted our quote and asked to see our quote ,she showed him and he beat it by $100.Apparently he had seen our truck there and knew we were also quoting on that job.

That's really low and I do'nt appreciate people playing dirty like that. It was also "really nice" of the lady to let us know, she could'nt understand why we were annoyed!

It was a day wasted as we could'nt book in anything else at such short notice, so I paid wages for nothing, but I suppose at least we did'nt drive all that way.
But that's business , I always make a point of never naming or saying bad things about our competition, especially to clients as it really only makes us look bad.

 

[Bermie]

That's just mean when your quote gets shown to someone else.

Over here it's so 'small town' your reputation can make or break a job, I quoted on taking down 18 large casuarinas, the customer wanted prices for the tree work, trucking and stump grinding.
My price for taking down the trees was good he said, but the company that I got a price for doing the grinding had shafted him once before (unknown to me) so I didn't get the job!!! I could have gotten someone else but the customer had already accepted another bid.
BTW it was over a month ago and the trees are still standing!!!

 

[Rftreeman]

what sucks is, the lady pretty much told me I had the job, My wife cleans her house and she passed the word through her, most of the time I get a contract signed to secure the job but didn't because I thought because my wife gives her a great deal on the cleaning I had it, but thats just my fault I guess, from now on there will be a signed contract.

 

[BLACKeR]

it does suck when something like that happens, i wonder though if one of you were buying a car, and you got a great price at one dealership for the car you wanted. then you went to another dealership, that dealer said we have the same car and well beat the other guys price by $1000 would you do it?would you think that car dealer was a skunk?

i make my money as a contractor, i just do tree work for family and close friends, because i love it. if i was younger i would try to make it my occupation. if it makes you feel any better tree service companies are not the only people getting underbid. try bidding a roof job in NYS when your insured.

in the long term its reputation that makes you money. revenge, and stooping to their levels only nets you short term gain. that landscaper in 10 years will still be a half rate landscaper. if you can base a business on honesty and hard, quality work, you can be whatever you want in 10 years.

 

[Rftreeman]

ok, who wants a update?

I got 3 of his contracts (start this fall) so do you think he'll get my message, I do, fight fire with fire

yes I fill like a skunk but who gives a rats azz, I don't, I have proved my point with this dirt bag...

 

[luvthetrobag]

we have a pretty big co. around me. tons of cranes and every other piece of equipment you could ever need.They cut throats like no other. They ask to see estimates from other companies do work for nothing to get the job and screw the smaller guys. do poor work as well. My question is this . Obviously the owner does not care about the work only money. Why not get into real estate or something. I mean the guy has to have 5 mill in equip. instead he is a menice to this buisness. promising cheap work to the unknowing and delivering results far below par much of the time.

 

[diltree]

we have a pretty big co. around me. tons of cranes and every other piece of equipment you could ever need.They cut throats like no other. They ask to see estimates from other companies do work for nothing to get the job and screw the smaller guys. do poor work as well. My question is this . Obviously the owner does not care about the work only money. Why not get into real estate or something. I mean the guy has to have 5 mill in equip. instead he is a menice to this buisness. promising cheap work to the unknowing and delivering results far below par much of the time.

He must be making money in volume

 

[Slvrmple72]

View attachment 53233

View attachment 53234

View attachment 53235

Hit him in his wallet that will hurt him more! Neighbor had a Red Maple with one limb down from damage and one split open about two feet out from the trunk. He wasnt home but the landscraper had just pulled up and started workin on the mess on the ground. I warned him about the compromised limb and to be careful not to get under it. I put my card with a note in the HO box and left. Next day, I see the neighbor and talk to him, HE DID NOT GET MY NOTE OR CARD! Tree was butchered all to hell where the , you guessed it, landscraper had ripped the limb away from the trunk. Undercut, whats that? Other neighbor told me he had a kid in shorts and a tank top up in the tree with a saw duller than a butter knife, no tie in, and no clue. A fifteen minute limbing job took them over 90 mins. Almost makes me wonder why I warned the POS in the first place. HO got my card this time and got to see some of the trees I have done for the other neighbors on our street. I will snap some pics and post them. Best part is the Landscraper told the HO " We aint tree guys."

 

[SilentElk]

He must be making money in volume

I would say yes and no. Yes they will make 'some' money dealing in volume but they have huge overhead I am willing to bet. I suspect it's the 'See, I am the cheapest, now let bid more of your work for way too much without you getting another bid' style is where they make money. I have seen it work successfully unfortunately.

 

[CoreyTMorine]

The real magic of volume is in the salvage. If you are doing residential jobs fast enough to accumulate good saw logs and you have a yard with good chipping and processing ability you can make more money on the salvage than the tree work. This kind of outfit would probably take a million bucks and 2 or 3 generations to set up right.

 

[SilentElk]

I didnt think of the salvage aspect. In colorado 'salvage' means 'firewood'. While good money when splitting and delivering, it is not such a good money on the larger scale in my opinion. Here, getting a tree companies firewood would be cake. Offer the hual logs for cheap and people would likely let you take everything they cut. Of course, that means 75% of the stuff you hual would cottonwood and willow.

 

[luvthetrobag]

I would say yes and no. Yes they will make 'some' money dealing in volume but they have huge overhead I am willing to bet. I suspect it's the 'See, I am the cheapest, now let bid more of your work for way too much without you getting another bid' style is where they make money. I have seen it work successfully unfortunately.

all i know is he has a guy bidding and supervising all crews and he is making alot, alot, alot of of money. cant imagine what the owner is making. they offered me a pretty good position running a crew with a bucket truck 5 spanish gound guys full benifits and great pay.problem is there work philosophy blows and my boss taught me 90% of what i know. I'd feel bad leaving him. He only expects the finest work out of his guys, hates property damage and can actually climb quite well. Doubt if the the other owner has any of these attributes. Its not always just about the money.