Customer Responsible?

[treeman82]

Hi all. I had heard a while back about a guy by me who has an 088 Magnum. Now several people have this saw by me, so thats not the big deal. The thing is, which I have never heard anybody do before is. He has in his contracts that when he has to take that saw out, should he dull it because of hitting rocks / nails / concrete / etc. Basically foreign objects located inside the tree that the customer is responsible for any damage done to the saw. (bar / chain / etc) Do any of you do this? Sounds like a good idea to me when you run into possible cavity work.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I did it a few times when I worked for a big company. Had a boilerplate paragraph writen up and reviewed by the lawyers. Stated that any unforseen difficulties would cause an increase in price and may effect the hight of a stump. I only used it on jobs where I would bring out a big chain. Figured toasting a 14inch climber chain could fit in the price of the job. I was getting them for 8 bucks. The 28 inch full chisel 3/8 was $55.

You can use these on jobs where you are not sure about structure, "The condition of the tree may require changing the above conditions, if the cost rises above $XXX work will stop and the client will be contacted." "If it is found that the tree is unsound work will stop and the client will be contacted."

I know some guys that have things like this on the back of all their contracts. "Read and initial here, here and here."

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Too many disclaimers and small print will scare away some customers.
I'd love to be talking to a customer and have them mention they have a bid from so-and-so, then ask if they read the small print.

If you think about it a $50 chain gets dull, $5 to sharpen it, 5 miniutes to change it out, you loose about 20% of the chain, so what? Maybe $10 or $20 tops. I don't see it as a problem big enough to include a disclaimer.
Even if you had no disclaimer, most folks seeing the foreign matter, would not mind a few bucks added to the bill.
Another point is, when you bid cutting the big stuff you have to bid extra, just for the stuff you always run into. It costs more to run a big saw than a small saw, so you need to charge a little more.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

One I read on Russ's board, A guy started stating on his bids that cleanup would include debris generated by by work performed. He had a lady insist that tye clean all the old needles form her gutteres after they removed a Monterey pine. I've been using that little bit of CMA ever since.

 

[tree md]

When I am bidding on an old, dead, big tree I always figure a new chain in my bid. Just in case

 

[Deere John]

My once-a-month post ...

I used to joke with some of the better (more jovial) customers that my prices were as I quoted, regardless, but to look at the big saw and 36" bar, it was $10 admission.

Also, several of the more jovial customers used to joke about paying with rubber cheques. Well, I also used to "joke" that, in my experience, it seems everyone figured it is prudent to not bounce a cheque on a guy that owns lots of chain saws and heavy equipement. (Insert half-crazed grin at this point)

See you next month!

 

[Greg]

I think trying to get customers to pay for little additional stuff after the fact is a mistake. If they say "no, the septic tank is over there" and you drop a truck in it right where they said you could park, that is a different story.
How would you like to get a bill from your mechanic that had wrenches and screwdrivers added to the price he had previously quoted you?
Factor that stuff into the price before hand.
Greg

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Mechanics and carpenters do it all the time. You get into a situation that requires more time and effort, or requires that additional items be purchaced the money has to come from somewhere.

I'm not advocating this as an everyday stratagy, just one for those rare trees where you think there may be a problem.

Inner city box elders always have rocks in the butt, and I regularly leave a stump. So I have writen in that if a chain is damaged I can leave the stump high instead of cut to near grade.

You find the trunk is loaded with nails so you cnat chip and it is eating up chains fast, why would you eat the cost?

 

[treeman82]

This guy uses this clause to protect himself against burried objects that may be in the tree. The kinds of things that you read about in TCI. Also this isnt for a 24" bar, its for a 4 or 5 foot bar.