Help! A business left a mess in my yard and now they think I'M the meanie for posting about it!

In My Humble Opinion
41

I think one of the problems here is the definition of “a clean yard.” To a contractor, it includes only major item removal; to this homeowner, it means a reseeded lawn with no trace of the tree work at all.

I am not a tree expert, but I have seen landscapers put down a tarp first before commencing any work. Then, when done, they can remove the tarp and there’s minimal evidence that the site was ever disturbed. That, plus advance permission from the homeowner, would have been the right way to do it.

If I were the contractor, I would have bent over backwards a little more when I saw how upset and possibly litigious the homeowner was. Offering to regrade, reseed or replant the messed up lawn might be expensive, but he wouldn’t have lost the $1500 job. $20 doesn’t cut it; it’s an insult.

OTOH, the homeowner is being just a little pissy. If I were the homeowner, I might just bite the bullet, hire someone to clean up the yard, and send the contractor (or tree-owner) the bill. If it didn’t get paid, I’d either go to small claims court or chalk it up to the price of civilization.

42

That’s assuming the company was even telling the truth about losing the $1500 job…

I think going straight to social media and not talking first to a: the tree company and b: the neighbor was hasty and set a confrontational tone.

On the other hand, if the company was so concerned about their reputation, they should have apologised and simply cleaned the damn yard right away. Not that difficult. A couple of years ago I spent about $600 to have a VERY large dying ash tree removed, as well as some branches from adjacent trees trimmed. It took two guys about three hours. They were marvelously efficient, and raked my yard clean of all but some little shreds of wood and sawdust. The only damage left behind was a small singed circle on my grass from the exhaust from the woodchipper.

I don’t have any close-by neighbors, but had someone I hired needed to access a neighboring property, let alone leave a mess, I would have felt at least acknowledged it. I’m not saying the neighbor is in any way responsible (they’re not) but I wonder where they are in this situation?

43

Drama.

Yeah, OP didn’t ask for it but these things happen in life.

Life’s too short to putz around like this with incompetent and intransigent people. Doesn’t sound like any serious damage was caused and what remains can be cleaned up with a rake and a little elbow grease by OP.

Instead of butting heads repeatedly with people that appear determined to wear you down with petty stalling, excuses and arguments, just expedite them out of your life without all the social media and resultant drama.

44

Without knowing the amount of the mess or the area covered, it’s hard to judge (which is why I said ‘depending on the amount of the mess’). Lawns need mowing, it’s the baby’s play area, etc., and if it’s something that a rake, a plastic bag, and 60 minutes of time could fix, then get it done. There will be bigger windmills to tilt at.

Vandalized…heh. I love the escalation. (yes, that was sarcasm)

I agree with QuickSilver amongst others.

45

UPDATE!

Wow. A lot of interesting responses here! Sorry I didn’t post earlier, but it’s been a hell of a week.

Last week, the very day I posted this thread, the wife of the owner (with her 7-year old, home-schooled daughter in tow) cleaned up our yard to our satisfaction. We therefore removed the facebook review.

If I had my druthers, I would have left the review up so potential customers could see how difficult it is dealing with this company. But we agreed that if they cleaned the yard properly, we’d remove the review, so that’s what happened.

I haven’t spoken with the owner since, but I really would love to tell him to please use a tarp next time he does a job like this. Lots of folks (here on SDMB and elsewhere) brought up the same suggestion, and that’s exactly what he should be doing. But it’s his business, and the customers who hire him can deal with that problem.

I was actually in my neighbor’s back yard yesterday (where they had a few trees removed – they had one from the front yard removed as well) and his backyard was IMMACULATE. Looked beautiful. So either the tree removal service cleaned it up for him, or he did it himself. By the way, he’s new to the neighborhood AND new to the country, so his English-language skills are not especially strong. I can completely understand why he didn’t argue with the owner when they messed up my property – he very well may not have know that wasn’t a cool thing to do.

And I didn’t mention this in my OP, but my yard is pretty small. The area that needed to be cleaned was maybe 15 feet by 15 feet – probably even less. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to do it – I have 2 kids to watch over, plus make dinner, plus do laundry, plus work a full-time job. And I wasn’t going to hire someone else to do and then submit a bill to the tree service company – that would have been kind of insane. I never would have seen that money again.

I’m glad we went to facebook, and I’m glad we fought the tree removal company. It took some time and frustration, but we got the problem solved. Thanks for all of your input!

46

I think that the amount of the mess is more or less indicated in one of the OP’s posts. You don’t seem to mind assigning a value of an hour to the amount of damage to the homeowner. You also don’t seem to mind assigning the work to the homeowner, rather than the person who did the damage.
Don’t worry about the ‘escalation’, heh, because it doesn’t matter; the effect on the owner/lawn is the same, whether done malevolently, or as a token of love. It is an act that the homeowner found against interest, and is reacting accordingly.

47

15 x 15 feet??? Yeesh, you could have cleaned that up in 5 minutes. I would not have wasted the effort to make a single phone call.

48

So, if 10 people walking 10 dogs all had their dogs poop on your lawn within a 15x15 sq ft area, and they just stood there on the sidewalk looking at it, you would just clean it up yourself?

You, sir, have FAR more time on your hands than I.

49

But that’s not at all what happened to you, was it?

Between the social media complaining and the phone calls and the in person meetings with the contractor and the posting about it here… how much time do you think you spent on getting them to finally come out to do what you wanted them to do? Could that have been time you spent doing it yourself? Would it have been done sooner and just as well, or even better with less aggravation?

It’s your lawn and it’s your life. I’m just suggesting there are alternatives that involve less drama.

50

I gotta disagree with you QuickSilver. A company screws up, they’re going to keep doing it until someone calls them on their bullshit. I think smaje1 did exactly the right thing by hounding the company to fix their mistakes. It’s the principal of the thing.

51

Try reading for comprehension.

What I said is that at some point the (to use the OP’s own words) “some time and frustration” to get the contractor to finish the clean up properly is greater than the time and frustration of raking up a 15’ * 15’ lot of “smaller branches, sharp chunks of wood, and small rocks”- and that’s assuming the entire lot was affected. Hell, when leaves fall, would you call up every neighbor who has a tree to come pick up his or her own leaves? They’re ‘vandalizing’ your yard, after all.

Not worth it, but hey, the OP’s frustration meter is obviously different from my own.

By the way, how does chopping down a tree on another property transport small rocks?

52

Usually during tree removal they would remove the stump as well, pulling up dirt and any rocks in the roots. I can see them getting rocks all over the place in both yards if they’re not being careful about it, which they obviously were not being since they just piled up their detritus wherever they felt like.

I agree that it’s also the principle of the matter, which means if this were me I would’ve left the review up anyway with modifications.

53

I completely get that side of the argument. But only in the case where I can’t easily rectify the problem myself at little to no cost. If this was something more serious like roof and gutter damage… then I might be much more inclined to stand on prinicpal.

54

I had forgotten point #1 when quoting - seems the tree removal company used the OPs yard for staging. Mea culpa.

55

Fair enough. There’s room for reasonable people to have different standards for principle vs “get it over with”.

56

The owner sounds like a dumb ass. Why would he drive to your place to apologize and give you $20 and not bring a rake with him to clean up a 15x15 area himself that would take him all of 10 minutes? Why would he bother to pay his guys money out of his own pocket for something he could have done himself?
And on top of it he either drags his wife into it or lets her butt into the situation?
This guy doesn’t sound too business savy.

57

I initially sided with the OPer. But the more I heard, the less sympathy I had. Now I just think she’s being ridiculous.

First of all, it’s less than a 15 x 15 foot area. And it’s outside. Unless this family lives in a vacuum, grass clippings, leaves, branches, rocks, twigs, bugs, dirt, “chunks of wood the size of a baby’s arm,” not to mention bird shit (which I assume is present since the contractors also murdered the baby birds) can routinely be found, even in the most pristine lawns. It’s what happens when you have trees.

Yes, it’s mildly aggravating that a contractor caused this particular mess. But most people would have shrugged, removed the big branches, then mowed over the rest. They wouldn’t have made a federal case out of it because it’s as mundane as problems get.

Secondly, the OPer claims that both she and her husband were too busy with their jobs, laundry, paying bills, wiping asses, and making meals, that they couldn’t possibly have found an extra 5 minutes to pick up their yard, even to make it safe for their beloved child…yet they had plenty of time to write Facebook posts, have multiple conversations with the owner, and compose this lengthy OP. Give me a break.

And, finally, the histrionics displayed over what would be a routine inconvenience to most people displays a real insular existence, a flair for drama, not to mention a slightly malicious stubborn streak.

"I pick up a chunk of wood the size of my baby’s arm and show it to him – “This wasn’t here before you guys came into my life…”

“I want my yard to be in the same condition (or better!) it was BEFORE these people began haunting my life. No sharp sticks, no rocks. Baby crawling on yard, remember?”

P.S. Perhaps your neighbor didn’t make a big deal out of it to the contractor, not because he’s foreign, but because he’s rational.

58

Well, Jiminy Christmas, ain’t you a sassy pants one!

59

Sounds so very familiar. A tree service cut down a large tree in the neighbors back yard. Now I have maybe a couple tons of large logs and tree trunks piled in my front yard, it’s been there a week. Some of the logs are probably more than 1000 pounds. Also some rocks, branches, etc. It’s along the property line but some of it is 15 feet into my property. The tree trunks are laid across and blocking the sidewalk.

I called the city safety director, and he sent someone to look at the mess. He called and told me that “the blocked sidewalk is definitely a problem.” He said that the tree company agreed to clear the sidewalk by the end of the day. That was 3 days ago, it’s still blocked. He also told me that he had no authority concerning stuff being piled in my yard. My next contact will be city legal director, but I won’t expect much.

Isn’t this a trespassing issue? They are certified by ISA. I can file a complaint with them, but I really don’t want to escalate this. It would be so much better if they would just clean up their mess, like normal people do by the time they are 10 years old.

Oh yes, they also stuck an advertising sign in my front yard. As if they are proud of the mess they made.