The problem with this business has two parts. I worked with the owner for about three months, and got the inside scoop on Rob and the way he does business. I will concede that the owner knows his trade, but his personal skills and common sense leave much to be desired. On one job a woman answered the door and he said, ""Hey I'm the landscaping guy, not the neighborhood rapist or anything."" The woman lived alone, and the rest of the day she was so uncomfortable because of that comment that she refused to talk to him, and would only talk to me. I doubt she will call him back for another job. On another job where Rob worked on Sunday by himself he had left a Bobcat parked in front of his customer's neighbor's driveway. I know this because when I reported to work on that site Monday morning, she came running out of the house yelling about how she missed church last night and was now late for work that morning. I did my best to ease the situation, and perhaps salvaged that situation for his company because I told him to give the distressed woman 100 dollars for her troubles. Later, after she had gone, he asked me ""Why didn't she just drive through her lawn if it was so important?"" Yeah, her perfectly manicured lawn in an uppity neighborhood in Ft. Collins, that's brilliant. Maybe he hoped that he could get some business out of her too. Despite his complete lack of compassion, I felt as though Rob and I were growing an understanding; he was teaching me the landscape business and I was helping his public image. Then he hired a new guy...and the new guy drove Rob around in his own vehicle on his own gas (Rob can't drive right now). Because I wouldn't do this for him, he sat me for three weeks claiming that he had no jobs going on. I don't know about you, but I can't go three weeks without a paycheck so I looked for other work. I also talked to the new guy...they were working, and Rob was lying to me. After the snow came, Rob called me about a new snow removal contact, so I went out and worked 9 hours in snow with a shovel and manning a plow. I got a call that week from another company that I applied with and they offered me a job starting that week. I took it of course, and since I did that, Rob has decided that he will not pay me for my last day's work. Also, my father-in-law works with some people that have hired him over the last few years, and after things got weird with me and Rob, he asked around and none of them seemed thrilled about his work and especially his customer service. Pops even told me that Rob got in a fight with his boss's wife about the color of concrete he was going to add to her house, and it seems he did so because he had already bought the concrete in one color and didn't want to have to eat that cost. Nice guy, right?
Bottom line, if you hire him he might do good work, and he might give you what you want, but he is not a man with integrity and there are probably plenty of companies out there that will listen and serve you better, and that deserve your hard earned money for just that reason.
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