There's a great scene in the grapes of wrath where the rich white landowners gather all the negro workers together for some amusement (no TV in those days). The depression is on, the workers have no money and they know their families are at home starving and havent eaten for days... They blindfold them, and push them together to make them fight. They throw coins at them, on the ground... the workers are desperately scrambling on the ground for the coins, knowing that a few precious dollars might make the difference between life and death for their kids. While they crawl around, the landowners kick and punch them, push them into each other, whip them into a fury until they are blindly punching each other. Jolly good fun.
reading through threads like this it always shocks me how much crap some guys are willing to put up with by their customers.... Guys go through all kinds of nonsense; rude/abusive customers, liars, cheats, non-payers, people who make you compete against others to drop your price to the point you cant cover your costs etc etc....
Why is it people are so willing to compromise themselves when running a business, but wouldn't even dream of putting up with half as much if they were working for someone who treated them the same way? If you were working for a boss who short changed you, wouldn't pay you for the hours you worked, stopped paying you if the job took longer than he thought it would, expected you to cover all your own mistakes and equipment out of your pocket, was rude and abusive and called you in to work just to have a look at a job then sent you home and said he might call you next week to do it, you'd tell him where to put that job ;-)
I've never changed price mid-job, and I've taken it up the rear 2 or 3 times in a pretty big way. Not on tree work, but on other things (mostly commercial renovations). Honesty and ethics, sure. but if the situation were reversed, how would you treat the other person? I expect the same treatment from my customers, as I give to them. Before it gets to the point that I'm crawling round on hands and knees for a few dollars, I'll become a farmer. At least I'll eat.
Shaun