Stealing work?

[D]

Have you guys had problems with neighbors of a job your doing come over and ask about their trees....and your crew bids the job and leaves you out of the loop? This used to happen with me on lawn maintenence and the neighbor calls me with a problem, so this is how I found out. The crew just has the homeowner make the check out to them personally. The best way to get a promotion, huh.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When i worked for a major lawn company doing their prunning there were guys who aledgedly had 10k "cash routs" they did after their co. production was finished.

 

[D]

Did they ever figure a way to prevent that? It seems too easy to do.

 

[sonny]

dont now if there is a sure way to prevent it . But its stealing. & I have have to let a few good men go, or fire them for stealing.

 

[oakdancer]

Happens all the time here with utility crews, taking on jobs for cash on a weekend, and evenings in summer, we have had words with there bosses but to no avail, they dont even have liability insurance, and usually leave a mess

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i've left guys on a job, gone to a more difficult one and had an enterprising climber; do the extra work while i was paying him and crew! Also, the guy i was subbing from wanted his 'cut', they bent a bar, and charged more than i would have while convincing the customer i would have really ripped'em!

That was the end of that!

 

[sgreanbeans]

a buddy of mine got a call one day from a guy who wanted know were to send him a 1099! turns out one of his guys had a major account and was getting cash for it and using blank company invoices to do the billing! good thing he got caught!

 

[Tom Dunlap]

When I hire a new person I lay out the groudn rules:

*If a neighbor comes over while they are working and ask for some work, do it if they are capable and figure out a fair price. Even if they do the job a little low, I still make money because I don't have to take my time to drive out again and get the crew on site again.
*If they see work and go knock on the door, they get wages and 10% off the top.
*They can do side jobs on their own time.
*If they see work anytime that they are on my time clock and then go back after hours to bid the work, the job is mine. See #2. They would not have seen the work if they hadn't been on my payroll.
*If I find out that they are poaching jobs, they might just as well keep going because they just became entrepreneurs.
*Most times, if the crew picks up little chipping jobs or one limb gigs, I let them divy up the money. Otherwise, I use the money to take them out to lunch with the money.
*IF they find a job on the side that they can't do, I give them 10% and wages and we do the job through my company. Saves them figuring out how to get rid of debris or buying a special tool

One time I had a crew pruning a bunch of deciduous trees. When I showed up on the job unexpectedly I looked in the back of the chip truck and saw some spruce chipping. When I looked around I saw the shiners next door. The lead man on the job was new so I wanted to see if he came clean. I went into the back yard and asked how things were going, anything new? Good, nothing, the crew replied. The next day I asked the lead about the spruce. He realized that he got caught with his hand in the till. I chewed his butt and told him that he was stealing from me. I was a bit over the barrel because I needed his skills. From then on, I never did really trust him. If he had come up to me the next day with the coin, it would have been different.

Tom

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I think what happend to Tom is the only way you can manage around the problem.

Let them know it is not an acceptable practice.

make them aware that you will show up on any site at any time. It'l keep the honest honest and you'll eventualy catch any that are doing it.

Like Ragan siad, "trust, but verify!"

You don't have to say your checking up for that purpose. Someone should be doing it on a semi regular basis anyways. Checking to see that the shirttails are in, they aren't being fowl mouthed. aren't taking risks on jobs you don't like....

When ran a crew I had an insentive to sell work, 10% on top of my weekly production commission. On small jobs I would keep a slush fund that paid for small tools and occasional lunches for the crew. I just let everyone know about it.

One guy who had a cash job backfire did a chemical application on a property that turned out to be an activist looking to get the company on a Regitry violation. We had not called him the required 12hrs prior. Since the kid pocketed the cash, the DNR went after him as an individual.

ouch!

 

[Treeman14]

All this should be detailed in your Policy Manual. You DO have a Policy Manual, don't you? We make it very clear that ONLY a Sales Representative is qualified to give estimates. A finder's fee is paid for referrals. With liability issues as they are these days, this is one of those Zero-Tolerance areas and grounds for immediate dismissal.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

But you have to have the ones that will dip think they may get caught.

Even if it is in writing and signed, there are people that will do it if they think no one is watching.

Other rhings apply too, free climbing, frequent one hand cahinsaw, bouncing branches off the roof....

You show up and " why isint this Madonna statue moved out?"