What would YOU do in this situation?

[climbingmonkey24]

The other part of this is the attractiveness of “no cleanup” jobs. Seems like 100% of the time the customer underestimates the amount of brush and wood that ends up on the ground. They imagine they're saving money and end up with way more work than they want to or are capable of dealing with.
-AJ

Did the job today, and about halfway through when they saw the amount of debris that was coming down for what was overall not a huge prune project by any means, they decided to have us take care of the cleanup. Will have to go back, because I scheduled it in as a no cleanup and had another job to get to so there wasn’t enough time.

Also, neighbor came by to talk to me while I was near the street. I explained what we did and how we did it, and he thanked me and all was good.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Just don't show up at 2AM and I think in most cases you will be fine. lol

I think 3:30AM is a much better time, half the morning is over at that point anyhow.

 

[Stumpsprouts]

I think 3:30AM is a much better time, half the morning is over at that point anyhow.

If you showed up at my door at 3:30am I would almost certainly toss you off my porch.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

If you showed up at my door at 3:30am I would almost certainly toss you off my porch.

 

[owScott]

Written permission. It’s not worth the potential shitshow that could arise if you touch that tree without it. Especially if they are already feuding. And I no longer volunteer to ask for the permission, I let the client do it. If he can’t get it then that’s a sign you were not meant to get in the middle of their drama.

Yep, I request an email from the tree owner giving permission to do anything on their tree. If there isnt that minimun level of cooperation then I politely walk away. Only part of the senerio I get in the middle of is if they need technical info on what we are doing. I definatley dont do the asking permission part. Side note, many a time I have been called out to this situation and the potential customers starts ranting how crazy and unreasonable their neighbor is. Be warned it is usually this person who is crazy and unreasonable not the neighbor, just an observation.

 

[Dan Thornton]

Here's one approach that worked for me, in one case, with lots of smiles to keep things as light as possible. The 32" dbh shagbark hickory was three feet from my client's line, with two large branches high and directly over my client's parking spaces. Yes, dents in the cars, and she was about to buy a new car, so she wanted the branches (and dropping nuts) gone. Neighbor relations were testy and unpredictable. So I talked to neighbor simply letting her know that I was going to cut those branches, but it would look much better and be much better for the tree if I cut them close to the main stem (over neighbor's property) rather than blunt cuts at the property line. I asked the neighbor to make that decision, putting her in charge (so to speak). It cost me 20 minutes of her hemming and hawing but she finally decided to have the cuts done near the stem rather having empty stubs extending to the property line.

 

[27RMT0N]

It's always good to play mediator when possible, and giving someone a decision to make that gives them some control certainly helps them feel more comfortable with it, as well as introducing yourself and explaining the situation in a professional way. Often the customer would say things like "they are unreasonable and difficult!' But when you go over and actually talk to them, it turns out to not be the case, and is just a misunderstanding, or they are anxious you are doing harm when you actually aren't.

I always hated working in the city around close property lines and neighbor disputes, it was just an added stress and distraction when you should be able to focus on doing your job properly and safely.