Account Clean-Up #2

[kdexpd]

While finishing up mowing an account, the neighbor from 2 houses down comes by and asks if I'd be willing to clean up their landscape so it would look nice when the put thier house on the market next spring. I took it, not knowing just how far in over my head I was getting. This place was a total disaster! Great people, but one of those types who don't know how to take care of bushes and trees and don't care. I explained that it wasn't going to be cheap and that it definately wasn't going to happen in just one day. They didn't seem to mind and I got some reinforcements. It took me 3 days of coming during the late afternoons and working till dark to get it this far. Looking back, I really wish I would have taken pics of the backyard because it was absolutely the worst. You can kinda get the just of it from the pics. There was over-crowded bushes, tree limbs dragging the ground (thank God I don't mow this place!) a Rose Of Sharron that had reached the roof line, and the list goes on and on. The evergreen shrubs in the backyard were clear up and over the top of the deck..you couldn't even tell there was a deck! And the Japanese Maple in the front was rubbing the house. I'll never understand why people plant trees so darn close to the house. It's like they think they'll never get any larger than they are when they plant them. I pulled out a 42 gallon trash bag of trash from underneath the evergreen shrubs and the deck in the back. They said they used to have a dog and he tried to eat their lawn chair cushions. After I had finished, I had hauled off 3 heaping trailer loads of limbs and dead shrubs and Pampas Grass. The Pampas Grass was over 8' tall and was almost covering the steps to the deck! Needless to say, I charged well for this one...It definately kicked my butt!! These are the "Before" pics:

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[kdexpd]

Lawn care business tips

These are the "After" pics:

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[Steve]

That does look like a lot of work!

I took it, not knowing just how far in over my head I was getting. This place was a total disaster!

I think this is another great learning lesson for us all. How did your initial time estimate to do the job compare with how long it really took?

What advice would you have for others if they came to you wanting to bid on such a property? What lessons do you think you learned from it?