Whats up with people wanting me to work for free???

[OutOnaLimb]

Today I was called in to do a sub job. I had a big Cottonwood in the front yard and had to take of 3 big leaders that were going over the house. Every thing went off with out a hitch and we were cleaning up when the neighbor came over asking. "Well what about that one there?" She was pointing to another big leader that was about 12" diameter, 20" long and about 45' up. Even if this leader failed it would not have touched her house or the home owners house. I told her that if she got permission from the home owner that we could take it out for about $250.00. She got upset and told me that she wasnt going to pay for it, and that she would call the City and have them come and do it. I politely told her that it wasnt her tree, and that it wasnt a city tree, and they would not do it. She then asked me to call my "Boss" and get him here so she could talk to him. I told her that I was the boss and I would not do the work for free, sorry, have a nice day.

About 20 minutes later her husband drives up and walks up to me wanting me to not only remove the leader that his wife was talking about, but another one that was going out over the street!!!! I told him, "sorry Sir, we are private contractors that do not work for the city, nor the power company. I can remove the leaders that you requested if you get the home owers approval and you pay for the work." Again, he said, "Im not gonna pay for it!" I told him, "then what do you expect me to do??" He replied, "You cant just take those branches off?" (which would have required about another 4hrs worth of work) I told him that, for one, it wasnt his tree, and two, if I did the work and the home owner didnt approve that I could get sued. With that he huffed up and waved me off and stomped away. I have no problem chipping up a little extra brush or doing some little thing, but this has been the culmination of the most ridiculous requests I have ever heard. Not only that, but this wasnt even the home owner, it was the neighbor. Have any of you Guys out there ever ran into this type of problem?????

Kenn

 

[bottlefed89]

I'm with you in that I don't mind chipping up a little extra brush, heck if I have my truck and chipper at home I'll grab about anything the neighbors have. With this ice storm we just had though, people keep asking me to just get this and that, and especially when the people don't mean anything to you, it adds up quick. Yeah, sure I can get that real quick, if you can get your checkbook real quick......

 

[OutOnaLimb]

The thing is the guy was pissed because I wouldnt do it. Alot of the time We will do a little extra for some beer money, or just to be nice if its an older person. But this was ridiculous.

Kenn

 

[spacemule]

The thing is the guy was pissed because I wouldnt do it. Alot of the time We will do a little extra for some beer money, or just to be nice if its an older person. But this was ridiculous.

Kenn

You mean you actually expect to get paid for your work? What a concept! I thought you had to pay people to work on their trees, and this guy was going to do you a favor by letting you cut the limbs for free.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

LOL, Yeah, I would have got about an 1/8 cord of free fire wood out of it.

Kenn

 

[Burnham]

Kenn, that's got to be about the most absurd "request" I ever heard of .

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Ya think???? The thing is the guy was pissed because I wouldnt do it, even after I told him that I DONT get paid by the hour. I was half tempted to ask him what he did for a living. If he were a doctor or lawyer, I would have asked him if he took care of patients or criminals for free.

Kenn

 

[Stumper]

Ya think???? The thing is the guy was pissed because I wouldnt do it, even after I told him that I DONT get paid by the hour. I was half tempted to ask him what he did for a living. If he were a doctor or lawyer, I would have asked him if he took care of patients or criminals for free.

Kenn

His answer actually might have been , "Yes, sometimes." Pro bono work is fairly commom in both those professions -esp. for Doctors. Which brings me to a detail about our job next monday. Everything is go. I forgot to ask earlier-You won't mind doing these for free will you?.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

You should have given him a bill for the "consulting" time you spent after the first conversation with the lady

At least he did nto threaten to sue if it falls on his house. I've got a partail removal we go to every year. Huge willow.

One neighbor allways comes out yelleing because we don't take the whole thing down at once. I figure it would be a steal at 6,000 to get it down to the but sections.

Of course he will not put anything in the kitty to help get the job done.

 

[alanarbor]

I've found willows usually remove themselves, given time, but I digress

 

[techdave]

Hi Kenn, it sounds like the neighbor is a king-he-l *******. I get a few of those from time to time. The worst was the neighbor-guy who came into a customer's garage while I was working on customer's tractor. Neighbor guy said,"my tractor needs belts and a brake job and servicing "(about 500 bucks 3-4 hour job if bought from my boss) Neighbor guy continued, "I have the belts, if you come by on your day off my Deli will make you the best sandwich you have ever tasted". N-g said it real smart-ass and like he was assuming I would. I thought N-g was joking. When I did not answer he said "hey, I'm serious, how bout it?" I started getting mad, then remembered to keep my cool on boss-daddys time. So I just said, "yeah, I guess it would taste good with the $500 bucks you would owe me for that kind of job in it". He got all mad and stormed out. !@#$## yuppie swine!!!

 

[Newfie]

If he were a doctor .... I would have asked him if he took care of patients ......for free.

Kenn

Quite often as a matter of fact.

 

[tinman44]

thats almost borderline retarded what do people think . just the other day a friend wanted me to look at some trees, after i dropped a hint that i could give her a bid, she says i'll let you know. today she sends an e-mail "my husband is going to cut down the trees" i say go for it. if they were bad enough you thought to ask someone who does it for money if they could look at them then you decide you would rather do it yourself i say go for it. and let me know how fast the insurance company handles your claim, then i wanna know how many times one of the reps asks "did you consider hiring a tree specialist to remove it?"

 

[murphy4trees]

Did a storm clean up for a Dr years ago... we were in the backyard all day, and he was home most of the afternoon... after the backyard was all cleaned up, truck and chipper out front and fence put back, he asked me to get two limbs which were in addition to the work we agreed on..... I told him I'd have to come back... after I did, i sent him a bill for $100.... he wrote a letter back saying he wasn't paying cause he wouldn't let me "take advantage of him"... I had already raked the back yard for free, which wasn't in the contract... I lost sleep on that one... the guy was a vascular surgeon making huge money... never did get paid...
Then there was a pretty good customer that decide he wasn't going to pay for a leaf clean up job we did.... after dark.... I didn't want the job, but took it only cause he was such a goood customer.... The pile of leaves on the street was 3' tall and 100' long and he told me the job wasn't worth anything.... zero....

A month later I was coming home from plowing snow, sleep deprived and just started getting steamed thinking about him... called him up and told him (yelling) I had had enough oif rich people beating me out of hard earned money... he called back the next day and told me he was sending the check, said his wife was making him pay....

As a working man, it's hard to imagine the kind of thinking that says it's OK not to pay for this work...

My theory is that humans need to work with their hands as all our ancestors did, to have the brain fully mature... and therefore we have a lot of "adolescents" in suits running around this society..

 

[Jumper]

This is typical of many people and many companies (in general, not to pick on tree firms) today. If they can get it for nothing, or next to nothing, they somehow feel more fulfilled. CHEAP!!! I have simple solution, "Just Say NO!" and if you do say yes, make it very clear of what the additional or incidental cost is up front. I get steamed when it is demanded I do tasks I was not hired for or am not qualified to carry out....and usually while earning peanuts as well. I would have returned to the surgeon's place with a load of chips one day Daniel and left them on his driveway for "free", preferably a load that is wet and really stinky.

 

[jason j ladue]

everybody wants some thing for free. i want to give something for free. ie the neighbor where im working has a couple things to be chipped. good PR. but its when someone EXPECTS me to do some thing w/out $ that ticks me off...I HATE CHEAP SKATES

 

[alanarbor]

Ah yes but when you do things for free, you create a reputation and an expection that you continue to do so. Being known as a "Nice Guy" has it's drawbacks. I suggest if you don't ask for for money on one little limb, that you get something like a round of sodas for your crew, or coffee, make the client invest at least something of small value.

 

[Stumper]

My favorite request on little freebies for customers and those estimates that rollover into a consult is-"Call me when you need some actual work done. -Most do.

 

[OutOnaLimb]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that most people assume that I am a toadie that gets paid by the hour, and that I will get paid for it by the tree company. My groundie and I have started explaining that we are sub contractors and dont get paid by the hour.

Kenn

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I had a freind/associate once with some thespian experiance. I remember him once cetting all stright and snooty with a neuveux rich type-

"If you want something for free, then here is some free advice...do not demean man by implying his work is worthless"

It's close, I can see him standing there emoting the part, then cracking up when we were in the truck. The afro and forearm ink dod not lend itself to the role, but I think he got the point across