Clearing the land...

OK, this has been a learning experience.

I went asked about 3 or 4 people for bids, yeah I forgot how many now. I decided to go with person number 2 or 3, forgot. While all others were quoting very high prices and quality work, there was one that quoted about 2/3 to 1/2 the price of others and even came with a reference, which is why I contacted them. I usually like to have people give a referral rather than just get someone out of the good 'ol yellow pages. They seemed to know about the types of trees, had good ideas of how to manicure the trees and did a fine job of persuading me they would "make it look just as if it was my property". Hey, they said more and seemed to know more than the other two...and at half the price per day? Would I be crazy to not go with them? As you will see, that is still up to debate.

They got the job. It did take a while to get them out there due to the severe amount of rain we have been receiving in the area recently. It keeps coming down and down. At least today we have been almost a week without rain. The sun keeps coming out more and more. Back to the story. They came out to cut and I met them around lunch time on Thursday of last week to check on the progress. They have been cutting that is for sure! I talked to the crew leader and received a quick lesson on purchasing a chainsaw and how to maintain it. I didn't ask for the lesson, but didn't mind, realizing I didn't have a lot of time to listen. At least it was somewhat short. We talked about what more to be done and some expectations. Hmm...

I went out this past Friday to check on it. Much to my dismay, I was really, really disappointed. I found the property to have limbs that were cut, but were strewn around from the back of the property to the gate. I instantly called the owner of the business and asked..."wha?" He stated he thought that I would rather the limbs be cut rather than not be cut due to them running out of time of there assumed 8 hour day. (I wasn't there to see who comes and goes when, so I'm not sure of their REAL hours they worked)

I imagine that when someone leaves a job site, they leave it looking good. I was wrong. This was my first subcontractor...and I'm learning my lessons fast! Since I'm trying to contract out ALL the work and be what would be considered a GC or General Contractor for the entire project, I might as well start out with a lesson. The limbs were blocking the gate, as they cut down brush and hanging branches from the oak trees at the entrance. There were limbs laying around the road going up to the back of the property. I could only drive so far. We discussed them coming out and finishing the chipping and shredding of the brush and cutting some more on Monday.

So far...I'm skeptical. He didn't even call me and let me know his decision or allow me to make a decision about how it was left when they "finished". Strike one.