The homeowner in Ohio who made me rethink how I quote removals

I had a job about two months ago in Dayton, trimming a big silver maple that was hanging over this lady's garage. She was real nice, offered me lemonade and everything. After I gave her my price, she looked at the estimate and said, that seems like a lot for a tree that looks fine to me. I tried to explain the weight and the drop zone, but she just kept looking at the ladder in my truck. It hit me that she had zero idea what goes into a removal vs a trim. She thought I was just going to climb up and saw a few branches. I walked her through the gear, the rigging, the cleanup, and she finally got it. But it stuck with me because I never ask if a customer has seen a real tree job before. I just assume they trust the number. Now I always ask if they've had tree work done before I even start talking price. Has anyone else run into that gap where folks think it's just a chainsaw and a truck?

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claireg8128d ago

My buddy runs a crew over in Columbus and had this older couple pay him in full before he even started, then they stood on the porch watching like he was gonna knock the whole tree down on their house. He had to stop and walk them through the whole rigging setup, and by the end they were asking him if he needed a bathroom break. Now he sends a photo of the gear pile with every estimate, just so people see what they're paying for before they balk at the price.