When doing landscaping or any business, you are going to have the easy customers and then the difficult customers. The easy customers are the good ones and are the ones you want to have.
The difficult customers are not worth working or. They will give you a hard time and maybe not even pay their bills. You will wish you did not work for them, which is why it is good to have an idea of red flags to look out for when picking up a perspective client.
One thing is that they do not follow your rules. For example, if you tell them you need your credit card on file to get started, and they tell you no they want to pay by check, this is a red flag. You should have you’re guard and and be cautious working for them.
Dictating the start date and/or demanding a certain timeframe. Again, this is the customer trying to tell you how they want the job done. You should be telling the customer how you want it done and they should be agreeing to your rules or you do not need or want to work for them. When you are getting started you may be tempted since you really want the work, but in the end you will probably wish you did not work for them.
Not willing to make a deposit. The deposits are there to protect the contractor and obviously not in the homeowners interest. However, taking the deposit ensures that the customer is serious, and also makes them front the cost of the materials on the project so if you do get burned, you get burned less. So they should also be willing to give you a deposit.
Micromanaging. When you are hired to a do a project, they should leave you to do your thing. If they start micromanaging and telling you how to do it, what tools, or what materials, then you do not want to work for them.
