Oh my god.....

[CHEESE2009]

Ok so I'm signed on with this new company for snow removal. I'll be driving a trackless, chasing down the city plows & cleaning up their mess. Though I'm currently helping them out right now. I went in for a meeting last night & pulled 9-5 today with them... I am amazed. ... I am almost speechless.... A fall cleanup to these people means, "blow everything into the hedges, the lake, where the customer can't see" We were equipped with a small mazda truck, fun little thing... A back pack blower, handheld blower... and a bunch of small useless garbage bags. So our job was to visit each house that the company gave a fall cleanup to, & make sure it looks good. EVERY HOUSE *in my opinion* was disgusting. So being the new guy I kept my mouth shut, until we started bagging leaves at one house for 2 hours. USELESS!!!! I said, "You know what, we're going to my house & getting the right equipment" the day went smooth right after. Unbelievable!!!! So I drove around ALLLLL day with a helper, we got stuff done, but like.. Is this how you guys work? Best way to pick up leaves, start with a trailer, a mower, a blower, HEAVY DUTY CONTRACTOR BAGS & A CAN!!!!!! Simple... But no, we wasted the entire morning raking everything as I tried to teach one of the "higher ups" how to use his own equipment lol... This company is going to LOVE me... Lol... I asked if they had a Walker, I was told "yes we do"... So all day I was saying, why don't we get the walker & get the job done?" we did 17 out of 70 lawns today with their tactics. so I asked at the end up the day, "tomorrow, we bring the walker?" the guy says, "we don't have one" ........ I'm losing hair....

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I'd be interested in knowing how long they have been in business! How long can this kind of behavior be kept going.

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[picframer]

Sorry but I have to ask, did you get paid???? Based on your posts that seems to be an issue...

[turfmaster]

My question is :
Why are you wasting your time with these rinky dink outfits instead of building your company ??

[Steve]

I was kinda thinking the same thing too. You have so much energy and drive, why pour it into this business that is not really helping you grow?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

I was kinda thinking the same thing too. You have so much energy and drive, why pour it into this business that is not really helping you grow?

I agree 100%, stop bouncing around, set your plan and go after it, if you don't you will, IMHO continue the headaches you share.

I'll concur with the other opinions. The first thing that came to my mind is, if their tactics and business practices are questionable, doesn't that place you in a bad light? I mean, what if later you were to try to get some work from the people who you did a job for and they say "oh, you were one of the guys that I paid to do a fall clean up but did a crappy job". If it were me, I would tell you to get off my property at that point.

Next, if they have dishonest business practices when doing fall cleanups (yes, their behavior that you described is dishonest), they will most likely have dishonest business practices when doing snow removal.

Like the others said, think about you association with this company. Consider going out and building you own business. Remember, you can do more than mow. Go try to pick up some fall clean up jobs, then snow removal. Chances are, the new fall clean up and snow removal customers will also have you do their lawns in the spring if they like your work. Think about this: some of the same customers who would not hire you to mow their yard this summer may need a fall clean up or snow removal. Build your own business OR give it up and work for a reputable company.

Just my thoughts,
Eli

[Steve]

I'll concur with the other opinions. The first thing that came to my mind is, if their tactics and business practices are questionable, doesn't that place you in a bad light? I mean, what if later you were to try to get some work from the people who you did a job for and they say "oh, you were one of the guys that I paid to do a fall clean up but did a crappy job". If it were me, I would tell you to get off my property at that point.

I didn't even think of that! How true!

Can you imagine how angry a customer might get over this and see Scott out there with the crew and then potentially at another time he might be marketing to that house for his own business. That could cause some serious problems for him.

[CHEESE2009]

Well the thing is, I need work during winter.

I tried my own snow removal last year, gave it a good shot but the outcome wasn't worth all the effort.

Shovels & snow blowers aren't efficient or profitable enough than to work with a snow removal company which will most likely pay me more than what I would make alone.

So now I have to choose which company I would like to work with.

I'm getting a proposal today with another company, so I'll see how that turns out.

I'd like to get lawn service perfected before I invest into tractors & such. That's my view.

The company that hired me a few days ago, it's not looking too good. It's embarrassing for me to be told to cut corners. That's extreme B.S!

So all in all, I can't afford to run a good snow removal company as of now.

And I seriously can't afford to gain a bad reputation while working for another company, so this winter is gonna be quite tricky.

I told a friend at another distant company that I'd rather do honest work for a lousy pay than to get better pay & do lousy work. Some people think I'm crazy, but damn.

Anyway, I'll keep all of you posted. I got all these guys throwing ideas & proposals my way.

I'm still doing my fall cleanups so I still have an income, it's not too shabby.

Gotta bang out some gutter cleaning jobs soon too.

Feel free to give me more opinions!

[justin_time]

Originally Posted by BREEZE2009

Well the thing is, I need work during winter.

I tried my own snow removal last year, gave it a good shot but the outcome wasn't worth all the effort.

Shovels & snow blowers aren't efficient or profitable enough than to work with a snow removal company which will most likely pay me more than what I would make alone.

So now I have to choose which company I would like to work with.

I'm getting a proposal today with another company, so I'll see how that turns out.

I'd like to get lawn service perfected before I invest into tractors & such. That's my view.

The company that hired me a few days ago, it's not looking too good. It's embarrassing for me to be told to cut corners. That's extreme B.S!

So all in all, I can't afford to run a good snow removal company as of now.

And I seriously can't afford to gain a bad reputation while working for another company, so this winter is gonna be quite tricky.

I told a friend at another distant company that I'd rather do honest work for a lousy pay than to get better pay & do lousy work. Some people think I'm crazy, but damn.

Anyway, I'll keep all of you posted. I got all these guys throwing ideas & proposals my way.

I'm still doing my fall cleanups so I still have an income, it's not too shabby.

Gotta bang out some gutter cleaning jobs soon too.

Feel free to give me more opinions!

I'm in the same boat as you right now, i found myself an old snowblower and I don't know how much income it's going to generate but hey, it's money !.

2nd of all, I found myself a part time job (same part time job as last winter) doing Outdoor rinks for the City (1 hr from here) They pay $9.50/hr for 25 hrs a week so I was planning to do some snow removal in between that. I can basically make my own hours too.

So I hope this helps...