April 18th, 2005

Posted by , 18 April 2005 · 191 views

I have a goal to get 3 dump-truck loads of top soil spread out in the yard over the next few days.... Hi Ho!I wouldn't have to do it by hand, but my mother-in-law pissed off the guy who delivered it and he refused to spread it out with his Bobcat after that...

I haven't been involved in good old-fashioned physical labour for many years.. I was a landscaper in the late 80's but I was young and foolish then... oh how the years pass... now I am old and foolish. So it goes.My daughter, who is now 23 months old, was "helping" me earlier today with her little red plastic shovel.. I showed her how to hold it and how to pick up a scoop of dirt and throw it behind her.. she really liked it and didn't want to go in the house for her lunch and nap, so I told her I wasn't going to pay her, broke her shovel in two and told her to "get in the house"... :lol:Just kidding... (I did break her shovel but it was an accident...)

MegaManFan
Apr 18 2005 1:37 PM

So what exactly did your mother-in-law say or do to piss him off? I'm curious now.

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Lost Monkey
Apr 18 2005 4:27 PM

MegaManFan, on Mon Apr 18, 2005 2:37 PM, said:

So what exactly did your mother-in-law say or do to piss him off? I'm curious now.

Price dispute... there was a lot more to the job.. he tore down and hauled away a garage as well, but he had matched another contractors price.. when he was just about finished, he upped his invoice by about 30%... she let him have it ( even though he was a friend of the family) before he was done, and handed him the amount originally agreed on... he left...

I'm not saying she wasn't justified, but she could have waited until he was finished...

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Albert
Apr 18 2005 9:18 PM

You could always rent a Bobcat and use it to help spread out the topsoil. I imagine that would be a hell of a lot of fun! I wouldn't let your daughter help you with that, though.

Did the contractor give any justification for trying to charge 30% more than his earlier quote?

..Al

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Lost Monkey
Apr 19 2005 12:19 PM

Albert, on Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:18 PM, said:

You could always rent a Bobcat and use it to help spread out the topsoil. I imagine that would be a hell of a lot of fun! I wouldn't let your daughter help you with that, though.

Did the contractor give any justification for trying to charge 30% more than his earlier quote?

..Al

Bobcat is out of the question.. *I* would be too dangerous in one of those and I want to be healthy enough to golf tomorrow...

He raised the price by stating that the cost to dump the concrete and wood of the building he removed was higher than expected.. even though one of his drivers had already told us differently...

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Albert
Apr 19 2005 3:21 PM

Lost Monkey, on Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:19 PM, said:

Bobcat is out of the question.. *I* would be too dangerous in one of those and I want to be healthy enough to golf tomorrow...

That's the same reason I cite for not getting a motorcycle. I think I'd be relatively safe in a Bobcat, though--it's everyone else who'd have to run for their lives!!!

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He raised the price by stating that the cost to dump the concrete and wood of the building he removed was higher than expected.. even though one of his drivers had already told us differently...

Nice, gotta' love honest people.

I don't blame your mother-in-law for telling him off, just sorry you had to get into the back-breaking mode of moving all that dirt yourself..

..Al