Doing work for family/friends?

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

From time to time i'm asked to do work for family or close friends, however on occasion it has turned into a competition thing. What do you suggest and how do you guys manage. Usually i just ask for funds for fuel, but heck now it's a different story ya know.

Any advice would be appreciated, and don't get me wrong i do what i do out of the kindness of my heart, but don't want to be taken advantage of.:monkey:

 

[clearance]

Help them out once, for nothing. Treework is hard work, good people will do something for you, don't expect it though. If you have done treework for them and they never help you, thats it. I don't have much of a family here, friends you can choose, family you can't. If they are your friends, real friends, just do it.

 

[Blakesmaster]

With family and friends it's usually what I call a "beer and burger" job. I've only been approached about simple trims and small takedowns though. I dread the day I get asked about a big job from someone close.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

Help them out once, for nothing. Treework is hard work, good people will do something for you, don't expect it though. If you have done treework for them and they never help you, thats it. I don't have much of a family here, friends you can choose, family you can't. If they are your friends, real friends, just do it.

I hear ya on that one clearance and totally agree!! Well said!

 

[fireman]

I take care of all of my family they are your blood you only have one family, and close friends and my employee's and there parents.I'm happy with a pat on the back glass of ice tea and hot dog.but like you said some people take advantage of you that is when you say something and especially when they demand it or don't appreciate the hard work.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

A Friend Indeed!

I've got a friend who's ISA certified and taught me 80% of what i know and i'd go anywhere to help him for free! We trade out sometimes for eachothers help! I been friends w/that guy for 17 yrs and friends like that are hard to find!! Once got ran off the mtn rd by a rollback truck. I'd just payed cash for my vermeer 1250 and it broke loose, rolled 3 times in a yard and stopped upright in tow mode(thank God)! My pintle broke off the f250 and i had to get my machine home. It was sunday and i was out lookin at a small job after i had pruned for like an hr. I called my buddy Zack and he drove an hr up there and brought me an extra pintle hitch and helped me. The chipper only had minor cosmetic dmg by the way! But, he would not take anything at all for coming that far and on a sunday too! I'll never work a sunday again(gave me bad luck)! But that's the kinda friend that he is and my family and i are lucky to have a friend like that ya know!

 

[TimberMcPherson]

My inlaws have a small farm with some very big trees, its not unusual for me to spend most of my time down there on the tools over xmas or when down for a wedding, in return my father in law last week helped me rebuild the bearings, housings and clutch on my chipper.

I will do it for free for family providing they bust there butt as much as I am, and they understand that they will find themselves at the end of a sanding block or paintbrush should I need there help at home.

 

[lxt]

Family & "true Friends" I`ll help anyday!! But friends of family another story!! My Dad & stepmom had some friends want a large job done so against my better judgement I told them to get a couple bids & I would do my best to save them money(Dumb).

Well the guys wife had more sense than her counterpart he works at a chemical factory & is just one of those "never a hard days work types" 19 spruce trees all debris & grind 22 stumps for $2900.00 a :censored: good price.

This idiot thought we were gonna carry...not drag, carry all the limbs over a football field away to the chipper, his wife said we could drive through yard to do cleanup & we did with no damage at all!!! but he didnt like the fact we drove through his yard & the whole time there just seemed to try to make things physically harder.

long story short, Him & his wife were on a different page the whole time, adding this, take away that, do it this way, ok! do it that way.....then he always would say...I thought..lada dada da... he would ask advice & I would give him advice which took a couple hours away from the job!!

In the end.....he had the nerve to tell me; you do good work but im not happy, wouldnt recommend you, the price was high & even though my wife said you could drive through the yard, I didnt want you too!!
When I said what can I do to make it right; he said NOTHING!! now mind you, my price was 1/2 the lowest bid & while my equip. was in his yard & he was talking to me, he never mentioned any problem with such!! I think he was bummed cause I actually wanted PAID!! BTW..his wife paid me of which he said he wanted to pay me, his wife should of never wrote the check...that was his job so he said!!

So, never again will I do work for friends of the family!!!

LXT.............

 

[a_lopa]

Unless its small job its full price...

 

[Blakesmaster]

I've often thought about asking someone trying to get free work done that if they owned a grocery store would they allow me to walk in and get $1500 worth of groceries and not pay a dime?

 

[mysawmyrules]

Glad to see every industry is the same. Got approached by the "friend of the family" referred to above to slide over with 450 000$ worth of seeding equipment to seed a little field and they would make lunch because with big equipment it would only take a couple of hours and there stuff would be a couple days. I suggested they could rent us the land but would not come and do it for nothing. No understanding of the cost involved even when I explained that the tractor burnt 11 gallons an hour

 

[mysawmyrules]

I've often thought about asking someone trying to get free work done that if they owned a grocery store would they allow me to walk in and get $1500 worth of groceries and not pay a dime?

That would be nice I would start with our local Earl who owns the hardware store.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It depends on the character of your family & friends. In my family, we pitch in and help, and nobody counts who's ahead or who's behind. We just do it. I have had a few friends like that. Good people

Those kind of folks are rare, though. Most keep a mental tally sheet. That never works out over the long haul.

For the most part, I've found, if you want to keep friendships friendly, keep business businesslike. Do everything by the book, have all agreements in writing just like you were doing business with someone who you didn't know from Adam.

THEN, if you want, AFTER the agreement is done and everyone is happy, knock off a few bucks or do a bit extra work.

Back in my self employment days, I did work for friends, and gave them my regular price. It worked out very well. Since it's your living, anyone who expects you to work for free (outside of family) is already taking advantage of you.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I'll come out and do the climbing for FoF's at a discounted rate, but having a crew and rolling stock is a different ballgame

I had one blue collar couple, friends of Li'l Sis, with a condemned AmElm. I rigged it down with him on the ropes while she burned the branches.

$150 and lunch 4.5 hours with travel portal to portal.

Cheap work for older church ladies my Mom has helped take care of. Fast small jobs for the inlaws.

You do learn a lot about people, I tilled a new garden for my sister's MiL, 100x50 ft, not a dime from it. Not even a sandwich since i did it during working hours. I also found out that she would want to get full price for doing my hair

 

[booboo]

I'll come out and do the climbing for FoF's at a discounted rate, but having a crew and rolling stock is a different ballgame

100% correct. I'm actually doing one of these later this afternoon for my neighbor. There's 2 evening's work, they're extending a lawn area (not sure why, it's just more grass to mow!). A little light rigging, mostly running up and down setting lines, and some flops that he's not comfortable with himself. Basically a "beer and burger" job. There's no clean-up and he's helped me as a groundie before and can handle himself pretty well. Last time I did some work for him, we chipped so they paid full shot for the chipper and operator. This time they're burning the brush, which is fine with me. He's a good guy, helped me out with a lot of stuff, got me a skidsteer no charge when I re-did my driveway last summer, plowed my driveway when I'm not around, helped put a new roof on my house, and mounted a deer head (very well, too) for me for free. In the past I've helped him do his driveway, frame an addition, put in a sidewalk and swimming pool etc... To me, that's a good friend. I have no problem with helping him out at all, and his wife will probably flip me some cash when the job is done, she's done that before. If not, that's cool too, beer and a burger is fine with me. Things have a way of coming around.

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

I'll come out and do the climbing for FoF's at a discounted rate, but having a crew and rolling stock is a different ballgame

I had one blue collar couple, friends of Li'l Sis, with a condemned AmElm. I rigged it down with him on the ropes while she burned the branches.

$150 and lunch 4.5 hours with travel portal to portal.

Cheap work for older church ladies my Mom has helped take care of. Fast small jobs for the inlaws.

You do learn a lot about people, I tilled a new garden for my sister's MiL, 100x50 ft, not a dime from it. Not even a sandwich since i did it during working hours. I also found out that she would want to get full price for doing my hair

My God, that's dirty of her to jack you the hair cut John!

 

[CLEARVIEW TREE]

I've often thought about asking someone trying to get free work done that if they owned a grocery store would they allow me to walk in and get $1500 worth of groceries and not pay a dime?

Man. i've never thought of it that way, but you really hit the nail on the head with that one son!!!

 

[Blakesmaster]

Don't get me wrong, I like to help my friends and family out but I'm a bit peaved that my Sunday will be spent working at my brother/partner's soon to be MIL's ( who not only can neither he or I stand but neither can his gf ) busting my a##, using my equipment and fuel. Not a happy camper here.

 

[046]

this thread reminds me of an old friend (my biking buddy) over the years. I've helped out countless times. all sorts of favors... anytime he needed a hand. I'd be there.

helped him get his house, even found it for him. the one time I asked for a hand to move something heavy. he wasn't available.

in the last bad ice storm, he had massive damages to his trees. he called me to help of course. I came over and assessed the damage and told him I was not interested in doing the job. no way I was getting myself into that mess...

told him not to climb up the tree, especially with a chainsaw. later he tries to borrow a chainsaw from me. I told him no... but I would come over and take down the branches over his powerline ready to drop.

when I got there, of course he was on a ladder trying to cut down branches next to a hot wire. right after I told him not to of course.

after getting him down. I took down all the immediate hazard branches with my insulated pole saw, using lineman gloves. thereby saving his electrical service.

then told him to find a professional to finish the job. further I told him to pay me what ever he thought the job was worth. a case of beer would have been fine. anything... it's been four months later... not even an attempt to pay for that job. oh well...

found out later.... him and his brother almost got hurt bad climbing a ladder with a chainsaw. then he hired some hacks who took out a perfectly good pecan tree, then proceeded to spike all over his nice oak tree. arrrrgggggg,,,

 

[newb]

When family or friends ask for work I have them get 2 estimates so they know the value. Then I have them wait until I'm not busy. They really hate doing tree work in January in Wisconsin. Pete