Backfire due to strike.
 

As I have stated before my fiance owns and operates a landscaping/yard care business. She has always have only used American labor and it has been advertised that way since day one. It allowed her to stand out as well as her clients were more apt to pay a premium price for the service.

Nothing would of or could of prepared me for today. Typically she may get five to ten calls a week from potential new clients, except on Tuesdays when the garden section runs in the paper and she gets around ten estimates on that day. So a typical week would have fifteen to twenty.

Well everyone and their damn brother has been calling today and bitching up a storm about other companies not showing up. They want them replaced. I handle the phones for her while she is out in the field with the crews. At first I was just setting up estimates but the calls kept coming. So I started trying to weed some out by quoting out the per hour rate + 5.00 per man hour. Nobody is even price shy right now.

It is currently 3:40 when I am making this post. It has taken me almost ten minutes to do so because of stopping to answer the phone. Right now she currently has thirty two estimates to do this week with over two thirds at the pre explained price point.

Hell yeah. Looks like she'll be making alot more money this month, eh?

Gratz on the business bump for you and the spouse!

Haha, that's awesome!

Possibly.

The damn downside and ironic part is despite that she pays damn high wages and other bennifits. It is almost impossible for her to find decent labor that will do the damn jobs. Has been since she started. It has been the double edged sword so to speak.

With this increase in business (most clients remain on year after year) another crew will be needed and it will be almost impossible to fill a crew that meets her standards, can do the job, can handle the job, and are not fucking lazy.

awesome, i need a girl making decent money

Congrats on that...keep up the good work!! :thumbsup

awesome, congrats!

Where are you located ASM???

Looks like she put herself in a great position. Good for her!

So are you saying she may need to hire some Mexicans because she can't find enough "Americans" to do the job? :1orglaugh

You get what you pay for :thumbsup (most of the time :1orglaugh)

i fired my lawnservice today to, but I'm just going to do my own lawn now

ASM. Looks like it may be time for you to hook up to a riding mower, and help out.

Sadly that has been her issue since she started with the whole American labor spin. Two of her best employees are legal mexicans (they did not strike either). Just about everyone else only lasts a season max and often quits or lags after a couple weeks.

Far Northern CA.

White people are lazy and think they're too good for manual labor! Unless they're from the mid-west.

That is Crazy.

thats out of control! hopefully the new clientel will stick with you guys for a while.

Congrats on more business, it's always a good thing :)

Right now she has to hope that at least a third of these people will bow out and not accept the estimates or just be one time jobs.

She is already running two crews 6 days a week 8am to 5pm and if 2/3rds of these stick it will be 8am to 7pm. She just can not find enough damn labor even at 25.00 an hour.

That's a great problem to have.

Actually it fucking sucks ass.

Another crew can mean taking on another 60-80 clients a week. That is like an additional 3500.00 a week. I know she could get the clients just can not get or keep the damn labor.

Dude I know that's the truth.. I started a Lawn business when I was in high school and ran it for 10 years before I had enough of the BS. We did nothing but large commercial accounts like big apartment complexes and commercial properties.

Was hell keeping any help around, I finally got so burnt out on it I got out of the biz. 10 years was 10 too many.

so in the others words only SA's are good for this type of work

Actually anyone that can handle dealing with hard manual labor all day long day in and day out. Well hell it is not even that hard anymore due to the machines. Just so damn many people are so fucking beyond lazy that it does not even rate as funny. They feel entitled to a fifteen minute break every hour, they want to drag their ass and take thirty minutes to do something that takes ten. They tend to find the longest route possible between locations despite being given shortest route maps. They leave tools behind just so that can go pick them back up. They can not handle the simplist forms of paperwork without help. They take no initiative and need constant supervision on the job, if you do not point it out then explain it like you would to a child and then watch them they can not even get started.

I am not to sure where everything went wrong. I just know that we need to either import some more midwesterners or find some more second generation mexican american workers who are fluent in english.

Wow, that sounds like a serious issue then. Maybe you guys need to find some eastern european help and tell them not to talk to anyone so that clients think it's still 100% USA workers.

Congrats.

This is good news for all. People that run honest businesses that contribute to the economy like you and your wife should prosper.

Nope that would be dishonest and we do not play that game.

Dude, I was kidding. LOL

No not really, not unless they are legal and speak english. Cusatomers we had wouldn't put up with crews full of illegals that couldn't speak english.

They apparently where dealing with them here as long as the crew chief was American. I have witnessed these crews first hand though and the damn chief just sits on his ass and directs the Mexicans. I am positive that is the only damn reason why they stay on the job. Plus we hired one once and he was one of the worst and laziest people we ever had. He was fired within two days.

Congrats.

mexicans will be back tomorrow and she'll just waste her time doing free estimates.

That's where illegals come in. :1orglaugh

I am looking foward to it. As far as free estimates go we are not worried. We always call before showing up and I scheaduled them all starting on Wednesday. I just do not forsee to many of them changing their minds. The people up here are picky, want it their way, and you must never ever miss a day.

I think the damn illegals are going to get a good, old fasioned lesson about America and they sure deserve it. After all, they keep telling us how bad they want to be here, right? Well, I think the mexicans are going to learn the very important role scab workers play in a strike. If you dont do your job, someone else will.

Congrats on your windfall and thanks for supporting our country by hiring people who have a right to be here. Use the money to expand your crew and make your company stronger.

Nope, wrong again. A few bargain hunters might switch back if they are offered a lower price, but most consumers dont like having thier plans disrupted because thier vendor dosent feel like working today. Companies that allow this kinda shit to happen are screwing themselves.

Oh well, there are probably still some liberal homes that need done.

Umm we are liberal ourselves. Many of our clients are as well then the rest are old school republicans (before christian hijacking of party, less government etc). Yet even the most liberal of clients stop the political view points the second it lands on their door step. Actually seems to work with all parties, everything is fine until it effects them and their personal plans.

Can you not tell from this thread that if you won't do an illegal workers typical job not many will? How can you see the opposite end of the spectrum on this when he clearly said it's hard as hell to keep even well paid employees in that line of work? Mexicans have been doing lawn care, roofing, construction, farming, and dozens of other jobs that lazy Americans won't do for a long damn time. You think they are the ones that will get a wake-up call? I think it's the American public that wants their yard cut every week on time and at a low price. :thumbsup

that's weird that people are getting all bent out of shape and trying to switch just because of one day...

It effects both sides actually.
BTW people want their yard cut every week on time and well low price does not matter as much. That is the issue. We can not find people at 25 an hour. This is not a low paying job.

In this biz one day means a lot. For a lot of people their home is their pride and joy, hell it is their fucking status symbol. If it was not cut today it will either need to be cut by the owners or they will have to wait a week. By next week the lawn will be about twice as high and you can only safely remove a third of the height at a time. So their yards look crappy for two weeks or they give up their one of their weekend days off and mow it themselves.

You are in a pretty expensive area I'm sure. It's not like that everywhere as there is a limit to what people will pay. Either way it is a fact that there are many businesses that will not survive and would have never existed if it weren't for illegals. I wonder what % of the workforce in disaster areas is illegal? Lots of that in construction and getting them out will only prolong the problems even more. Imagine Florida after the hurricanes with even 20% less construction workers. :helpme

Doesn't she kinda run a racist operation? It sounds to me like she hires no mexicans at all (legal or not)? I always thought not hiring equally qualified workers from certain ethnicity/race is illegal?

No way man. Mexicans are only going to realize how much of an impact they really do have and Americans are going to realize how much they really do want Mexicans here.

Have you read the thread at all? Whitey does not want to do physical labor! Whitey is lazy! Whitey does NOT want the jobs of Mexicans! How many white people do you know without jobs? Probably a few. Now ask yourself whether or not those people would be willing to do hard, back-breaking, physical labor... yeh, I didn't think so.

Does a Mexican do your landscaping? :winkwink:

thats great for her congrats

Actually its some European guy. Real thick accent. Definitely an immigrant.

that's good news. I wish you all the best in the biz. good luck