Reduction on the mind

[S Fry]

Thanks very much for all your comments guys. Really appreciate it. Unfortunately he don't got no log burner, otherwise that aint a bad idea.

 

Both myself and my groundie kept asking the customer if he was happy with the amount coming off and he replied "it's ok" every time more or less. Maybe I should have picked up his lack of enthusiasm, but by the time I did I was half way through already. I guess its a case of 'live and learn'. Hopefully I'll feel more a peace on the issue in the morning.

[Rich Rule]

Don't worry about it they paid, you did a good job certainly better than rat hacking it.

[Stephen Blair]

You are not concerned about the tree, you are concerned about the customer. Do you have any before and after pics of his face?

What are you going to have to do to make YOURSELF feel better?

Well i have a couple of tips.

Be honest and speak up, say to your boss how you feel, he will want to know his customers feedback if he knows his business. Take a trip round and sort it out with the old fella. If he asks for more than you would recommend then tell him this and re assure him with your knowledge, you might have to find a compromise, but this can be done amicably like grown men:thumbup1:

If you do not live your life the way you think you should, then you will not be a happy person.

[Frank]

Maybe its just the angle of the pictures or something making you paranoid. The after picture looks fab. (although it doesnt look like much came off the right hand side???)

 

Either way, it will want doing again. in a couple of years. haha.

 

Sympathetic is always the best option, you cant put it back on.

[Frank]

You are not concerned about the tree, you are concerned about the customer. Do you have any before and after pics of his face?

What are you going to have to do to make YOURSELF feel better?

Well i have a couple of tips.

Be honest and speak up, say to your boss how you feel, he will want to know his customers feedback if he knows his business. Take a trip round and sort it out with the old fella. If he asks for more than you would recommend then tell him this and re assure him with your knowledge, you might have to find a compromise, but this can be done amicably like grown men:thumbup1:

If you do not live your life the way you think you should, then you will not be a happy person.

 

Brilliant.

[josharb87]

if i were a domestic customer i wouldnt be happy with that, doesnt look like the sides have been touched imo. sorry!

[Stevie Mac]

I something similar on the job I did on Sunday. Reduced a Cherry tree and I was always conscious that I was taken to much off, but when I finished both myself and the customer was happy with the result.

 

When I originally looked at the job I priced it at a full days work but we where finished by 2pm. I couldn't justify charging the full price of the quote so I knocked £150 off the bill.

 

The customer was happy to pay the full price but It would always have played on my mind that I had ripped the customer off.

[RopeKnight]

I looked at the pics first and your comment second.

Hard to make out fully.

Perfection is tough! Don't beat yourself up over it.

Next time prune a little harder. You know its going to grow. And you may feel better about the efforts.

As long as the cuts are approprtiate.

and the tree looks good, alls well.

[S Fry]

Cheers guys. I felt better about yesterdays reduction job today, can't have been all that bad cos he even tipped us I forgot to say yesterday. But I have been thinking about reductions in general and I got a few questions for you.

 

My boss put me on another reduction today. This time a TPO'd Oak, with strict instruction to not exceed 25% from the tree officer. The customer wanted it out but was happer to have something off rather than nothing done at all. I went harder on the reduction than yesterdays and I found it tricky too because of the uneven growth and not having sufficient growth points on the one side to reduce to.

The customer was pushing for more but I explained on several occasions that we had to keep to the permission we had. In the end he was really happy with what we did, even though he said he would have been over the moon with another meter off.

Looking back over the photos, even though I'm pleased with the end result myself, I can't help but think that it doesnt actually look like much off.

 

My question, when you quote a reduction job, how do you explain to the customer what the end result will mean in terms of the %? For example, on a 25% reduction, do you say that 25% of the total tree height and spread will be gone or more along the lines that 25% of the overall crown size will be gone? You could potentially end up with two completely different looking trees at the end of the day, depending on who you get for the job.

 

Cheers

[Lorry thompson]

Before and after shot of the customers face is a classic:lol: