[Bamboo]

Today was the worst. Wife wants this, hubby wants that!
From now on there will be a "designated spouse" clause in all contracts. Im not dealing with the "bickermans" any longer!
I wonder If im the only one who this has ever happend to.?
heres how it will read in the contract.
DESIGNATED SPOUSE
aka bitchy wife Is designated as the responsible spouse in the day-to-day direction of Landscaper for discretionary items and Extra Work requested. Owners understand that instructions, decisions and directions conveyed to Landscaper and/or subcontractors by the designated spouse are binding on Owners.
That should work!

[Bill Schwab]

The problem you will have with that Bamboo is this....And this is a true story that occured 2 years ago....Hubby wants this, wife wants that....Heated exchange and I told them I was out of there until one thing was decided upon. So, everything going well, and some caps fell off of a wall...Wife leaves town, hubby asks for extras....$17K worth. Wife calls while yard is ripped to shreds, screaming at me...I hang up the phone after I suggested she get her unit serviced... You had to hear her talk.....

She comes back, I submit bill....Hubby calls saying to get my stuff off the property and if I set foot on there he will file trespassing charges...

We go to court...The laywers decide there was not enough money in the suite to fight over....Bill gets stuck holding a large shaft with no vaseline...

Moral of story...If you don't go in with both parties on the same page, expect to get the book slammed shut.

Do a better job of screening is my suggestion...

[Bamboo]

I guess the contract dosent mean much in the long run huh? ( I havent been sued yet)

[Bill Schwab]

Nope. If someone is going to cheat you, there are no words that will stop them. And when you challenge in court, all that means is the one with the most money wins, no matter who is right or wrong. In the cases of a contractor vs a homeowner, homoeowners always have the upper hand because in the eyes of the jury all contractors are rotten no good cheats who will sell their mother to make money.


Thus why I say, choose your clients wisely and pick your battles well.

[Bamboo]

I guess the occupation of the homeowner should be on my original questionaire.
Ohhh your a lawya !!! lol
Great advice bill Thanks ! epecialy before the tank.

[trees]

We all have to get used to the fact that our primary responsibility to the homeowner is that of communication. Always try to meet with all parties involved. Spouses rarely will agree on everything and getting that out in the open right away is SUPER important. When spouses bicker, one of my favorite lines is "Marraige counseling is extra" this seems to lighten the tone and get everyone back to the task at hand. We're often called upon to be amateur psycologists.

Listen well, make suggestions and concessions that will work for both parties (and your company) and gain their trust. They need to feel warm and fuzzy about YOU.

That's not to say you won't run across your fair share of a-holes, we all do, but getting that out in the open early on can allow you to cut ties quickly and not suffer too long.

[cutntrim]

I did a PT stair job for my accountant a couple summers ago. His wife was onsite the whole time. We built it to specs agreed upon by both him and her, then she decides she wants the bottom landing re-done differently...after it's been built.

Long story short, it was a tricky, tough-access job in 100+ degree weather and after attempting to reason with her logically for 10 minutes, I snapped. Grabbed a mattock and did a one-man demolition of the lower-half of the stairs. These were 6"x6"s double stacked and pinned, but my rage took care of them pretty quickly. She ran away (literally) in terror back into the house, as my employee tried not to have a heart attack.

The husband comes home and freaks on his wife, ranting on-and-on about her to me. They seperate the next week, and are divorced now. He's still my accountant.

As Bill says, choose your clients carefully...

[Stonehenge]

ROFL!!

I always feel a little better about my occasional snap when I hear that others have the same problems. Wish I could've been there to see that one cutn.

[Bill Schwab]

I want to add one more thing....The more times you say no to those jobs or people that will not fit your company profile well, the faster you learn who you work well with, and have the least problems with, and, the better your chances for referrals or getting paid on time.

[GLAN]

Originally posted by Bill Schwab
I want to add one more thing....The more times you say no to those jobs or people that will not fit your company profile well, the faster you learn who you work well with, and have the least problems with, and, the better your chances for referrals or getting paid on time.

Absolutely

Though I do be carefull not to discriminate to much. Can't always work for the easiest people to work for all the time, there are only so many of them

[Bamboo]

I like the warm and fuzzy point trees said! I hope the wife dosent come on to me though during the JOB!! LOL

[start2finish]

I know this is an old thread, but reading up here I had a comment to add.

In my experience I usually deal with the wife on ideas, the husband wants to size me up with some conservation (usually asks some techinal questions and gets to the price) if the prices flys then my job is to make the wife happy within my contracted scope of work. most of the time this is uneventful.

I had to take a disgruntled couple to small claims court(no lawyers allowed in NC) and had the wife's signature on a change order for $900.00 extra work. (another contractor built a interlocking wall two feet higher than our verbal agreement) Upon arriving at the site and upon inspection (during this time my employees are unloading equipment and setting up to begin work) 50% of required Dirt is on site but was spoil from another job nearby so not much cost here other than fuel and wear and tear. anyway I informed the wife that the wall is going to cost more to backfill and (we are also installing irrigation after our backfill and compaction) she gets upset and implies we are being dishonest. "We have a verbal contract the says you are going to do this work for xxx.xx" I reply that the wall is higher and is going to require 100 more yards of dirt. Now this dirt is dumped 100 yards from wall and has to be carried in with a compact tractor through a 5 foot fence into the backyard. My price is considerate of the situation and i did not intend to profit from the extra work, but merely recover my cost associated with this. I told her I would be happy to leave with no charges, abandon the dirt already hauled in and she could have more estimates for the work and another contractor finish. My price was more than fair. Well after 30 minutes of discussion, and a phone call to her husband she reluctantly agreed to have us proceed. I was apprehensive of the situation and jotted on the back of some notes in my dump truck (no pad that day) we are adding $900.00 to the job because of the extra wall cost and listd the total with other work performed. She signed it. Well three days later after renovating the lawn and backfilling the wall, installing six new zones to an existing irrigation system we finish. I leave an invoice and a week later I get a check $900.00 short of the total. I call to question and they tell me that they don't owe this, I am a crook and do not ever call again. Well I sent a certified letter, no response. Then I file the paperwork with the court and go to the hearing. I stood up in court and asked the judge if I could walk to the defendant's table (this was ok) I asked the husband if he recognized the signature he affirmed it was his wifes. I asked the wife I get a affirmation. I explained the situation as I just did.

The customers wall had since collasped and they were now claiming that we did a shoddy backfill job (9 months later now) pictures of the dirt sunk in because the wall moved out two feet. This was the first news of this to me. any way the judge told them to pay and take the wall up with the other contractor.

I got a check in the courthouse elevator. I consider myself lucky in 6 years (knock on wood) the only problem like this that could not be resolved outside a courtroom.

after reading the post i need to add, we purchased $780.00 additional dirt to do this.

[Bill Schwab]

First of all, what kind of a moron contractor installs a wall without back filling? Secondly, Start2finish, why are you working verbally? In this case you were right, but that time away from the field cost you what you were trying to collect.

So, my question is, what would you have done differently given the same situation?

[start2finish]

bill 75% of our business is verbal, and I usually get a feeling about the person's character, I guess on my gut after meeting with the customer. I know this may be dangerous, but I really trust my gut. These aren't 10,000 installs either alot of our work is renovation/grading and such where my main expense is equipment time and labor. If there are many materials I may opt to get a deposit with a contract as well. I have contractors (residental) that we do grading, site prep and seeding where the price is the same for 25 cookie cutter lots a year and I get a nextel call and a lot #. :SLOW PAY:

I am trying to figure a way to speed the payments up this year.

Todd Huffines

[HardDaysKnight]

Please!!! Reconsider your faith in humanity. You will be paid
promptly upon completion with a contract. ALWAYS take
a deposit. That's jmo however. I get a great feeling about a customers character when they sign on the dotted line.