Weird issue with my yard guy...

[thestrangebrew1]

Dude it was a joke, you weren't supposed to post for real.

Yea I know, I deliver when I can though lol

 

[pauldun170]

Landscaping businesses are an example of an industry that is easy to break into without having to having a head for managing a business.
Could be a simple matter of the guy has enough business where he is getting away with "slop"
He's got income coming in.
He's got an address book.
He isn't organized enough to connect he 2
He hasn't gotten into that whole records thing because the bank account is big enough and he isn't sweating the details because he's banging the wives and daughters of the client base.

Also...owner could be using the business as a front or for tax shenanigan's.

 

[snoopy7548]

Watch out... he might suddenly say the bill is due with interest. @highland145 probably knows the guy.

 

[highland145]

Watch out... he might suddenly say the bill is due with interest. @highland145 probably knows the guy.

Yeah, no. Ain't trusting my $ to illegal Julio and crew.

I will take a % to collect though.

 

[Torn Mind]

Dude it was a joke, you weren't supposed to post for real.

Eh, no one gonna chase that...well except the one who married her.

 

[Torn Mind]

Watch out... he might suddenly say the bill is due with interest. @highland145 probably knows the guy.

He's in the clear if the statute of limitations of passes. 3 years from the time the bill was supposed to be due.

 

[PowerEngineer]

I have come to understand that the yard maintenance business is somewhat sketchy. My wife cares a lot more about your home's curb appeal than I do, and so she is the one who hires (and fires) the people who take care of our yard. It seems that they all insist on being paid in cash which has to mean that they're not paying taxes on all their income (even though their businesses are licensed). FWIW, $160/month.

 

[zinfamous]

lol, thread delivers.

I think the business is a front. Here are my suggestions:

1: pot: Do nothing. Let everyone in your zip code chill and be happy with free yardwork and a generous pot supply
2: coke/meth/heron/etc: call the po-po/SBI
3: human trafficking: call the FBI.

 

[sdifox]

I have come to understand that the yard maintenance business is somewhat sketchy. My wife cares a lot more about your home's curb appeal than I do, and so she is the one who hires (and fires) the people who take care of our yard. It seems that they all insist on being paid in cash which has to mean that they're not paying taxes on all their income (even though their businesses are licensed). FWIW, $160/month.

Why does your wife care about my house's curb appeal?

 

[zinfamous]

Landscaping businesses are an example of an industry that is easy to break into without having to having a head for managing a business.
Could be a simple matter of the guy has enough business where he is getting away with "slop"
He's got income coming in.
He's got an address book.
He isn't organized enough to connect he 2
He hasn't gotten into that whole records thing because the bank account is big enough and he isn't sweating the details because he's banging the wives and daughters of the client base.

Also...owner could be using the business as a front or for tax shenanigan's.

Yeah, one of my buddies ran a landscaping business from high school through college. It was basically his pickup truck and 2 large commercial mowers, leaf blower, trimmer and edger. His dad (CPA/business guy or something) made him keep track of taxes and fill out the relevant business forms and all that from the beginning. In college, I was his "first employee!" one summer. A few of our friends joined him more long term. It was basically two of them, for about 2 years.

He had accumulated a steady client list over the years, such that he had about 7 or 8 gigs each day of the weekend, probably quite a bit more in the summer weeks (I forget how much work we did). Soon after college, he sold his business: client list and equipment, to a teenage kid, probably with the same type of dad whipping him into business mode, lol.

 

[zinfamous]

I have come to understand that the yard maintenance business is somewhat sketchy. My wife cares a lot more about your home's curb appeal than I do, and so she is the one who hires (and fires) the people who take care of our yard. It seems that they all insist on being paid in cash which has to mean that they're not paying taxes on all their income (even though their businesses are licensed). FWIW, $160/month.

uh, that has less to do with "paying taxes" than it does paying the type of people that they hire, heh....

 

[thestrangebrew1]

It's gotta be a front IMO. Was talking to my wife more about this last night and I guess her friend told her she asked him to cut down a tree and a few other things in her yard recently and she paid him cash for it. But still hasn't received a bill for the normal services lol.

 

[snoopy7548]

It's gotta be a front IMO. Was talking to my wife more about this last night and I guess her friend told her she asked him to cut down a tree and a few other things in her yard recently and she paid him cash for it. But still hasn't received a bill for the normal services lol.

You should follow them around one day after they leave and see where they go.

 

[kt]

I don't know what your cost-of-living is, but $125/mo? For weekly yardwork visits? With a whole "Crew"? (Obviously, must be Mexican immigrant labor or something.) I wouldn't see how that could be financially viable otherwise.

Which leads me to...

Maybe the whole thing is some sort of front, for a green-card / work-visa scam / scheme or something? Providing "legit work" for immigrants, to get them across the border, then letting them loose? Probably gets paid by the head, well enough not to need to charge for said "work".

Just a thought.

For us, we pay ours $40/mo for bi-weekly visits. They only do the front yard though as we use our backyard for growing foods. That seems to be the going rate for our area since there seems to be a lot of competition (receive door tag ads all the time with the same rates).

$40/mo for bi-weekly visits front yard only ($10/mo extra for backyard)
$50/mo for weekly visits front yard only ($20/mo extra for backyard)

Services include lawn mowing, weeding and hedge trimming. $10/mo extra for tree trimming.

Quite frankly, I don't know how they are making money with these prices because I've been paying at this same price for the last 10 years now.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

You should follow them around one day after they leave and see where they go.

I thought about this one time but his workers are almost always the ones that come. I haven't actually seen him since May. I guess I could follow the workers to see if they meet up with him at some point, but tbh that'd require me to take a whole day off etc. I just think it's funny he's not collecting payment lol

 

[Murloc]

I'll add that there wasn't a contract or anything. He just told me it would be $125/mo for the work in the front and back. His guys would come weekly.

an oral contract is absolutely a contract, in the US as well it seems.

IANAL but the fact that he's been taking care of your garden, and you let this go on, proves the existence of a contract, even if only you and the owner were present when it was made, as it's not reasonable that somebody would do this for free. All his workers to witness.

So playing dumb is not an option. Some amount will be due, idk how long before there is no more legal expectation of payment.

If it's a very low-ball price and there were no witnesses, what happens if he comes back stating you agreed on a (much higher) price, that corresponds to the standard for legitimate companies? I have no idea. This is just playing with hypotheses, if it's a front then it won't happen, if it's not then the price cannot be so low that a court wouldn't believe you.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Why does your wife care about my house's curb appeal?

Yes, I meant "our" not "your".

And, yes, I understand that the workers are also being paid in cash to stay out of the system.

Very little chance that they want to produce an invoice or accept a traceable payment.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

no, ethically its ok to let someone work when they want to work. Eventually he will ask for payment.

MORALLY its bad to get free work.

There's a caveat to that statement. For instance, years ago a lawn treatment company would service the wrong address instead of mine, but they always got the bill right. I'd call up and they'd come and do the right thing but that other address got service for free.

 

[sandorski]

One day you will start watching a Porn vid and recognize your House...

 

[sdifox]

Yes, I meant "our" not "your".

And, yes, I understand that the workers are also being paid in cash to stay out of the system.

Very little chance that they want to produce an invoice or accept a traceable payment.

It's a silly joke xd