Wednesday, February 10, 2016

When you aren't even trying to haggle.



For a couple of weeks I've been tearing down a shrub. I just found out it's been there for like 40 years. I've always hated it, I've just never gotten around to cutting it down. I'm not sure what kind it is. I just normally call them matchsticks. They are some sort of pine and can grow about 20 feet tall. Mine is just chest high. All the needles just fall into the middle of them and I imagine all sorts of animals try to make nests.

In the beginning I thought I was just going to sawsall them out and put one in the green barrel each week. It turns out since they have been there so long I have to chainsaw out them out. And I didn't really know it before I started, but honestly they are the worst thing I've ever had to rip out. And I am a master at tearing things out.

They have hundreds of branches and they are kinda rubbery. The sawsall was out right away. There is so much stuff in the middle that even if I could have just cut them at the base I'd have never been able to lift them.

Anyway. That's the back story. I'm at the next to the last one So I'm starting to feel good. Today some guy slows in front of my house and asks if I need help. I tell him no thanks - I'm almost done. Then he starts asking about the stumps. It's going to kinda suck to get rid of them so I bite and ask him how much he'd charge to take them out. His first quote was 400 bucks. I was like no way. I mean, I've already planned to rent a chainsaw and a stump grinder. 100 bucks. Approximately.

So he starts walking back the price. He's like, 300 bucks.
Me - naa. Him - well how much would you pay?
Me- I don't know.
Him - well you don't know how much work this is.
Me - In my head I'm like are you effing high. But I laugh and say I know exactly how much work this is - You see me cutting this down right now. Right?
Him- 200 bucks.
Me - Let me think about it. Do you have a card? It's gonna take me a week to get this other tree out anyway.
Him - 100 bucks.

Now this is pretty much what I thought it would cost me, but this guy is going to dig them out with a pick axe. Which is a ridiculous amount of work for a hundred bucks. I was totally stunned at this point. In my head I was like - what just happened here? I mean, it's normal for them to try and get as much as they think they can from you. But it's stunning to have them work for what I would consider cost. If they brought out a couple of guys they could probably get them out in an hour and a half. But still. The stumps are about 8 inches around. They are going to put up a fight.



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