What a ridiculous experience! Please don't waste your time hiring Sean (I think it is a one man…read moreteam, not to mention that he seems like a troubled young man.)- Not a group of students as he says.
1. Sean, a nice looking, very young man came to my house at his appointed time and gave me the cost of $210 to completely clean up my parent's yards, both front and back, weed, put mulch, and bark.
2. We set an appointment.
3. He didn't show up for the appointment, even though we had an e mail confirmation.
4. I called. He said he wasn't sure I wanted him to come. He said he was coming right over. He showed up after 2 hours. He swore to me that the front and back would be done within 2 hours. But this time he was not the polite - basically he was argumentative and said people often make him leave without paying him. I thought that sounded strange.
He hadn't brought his lawnmower so he started on flower beds.
He started weeding, but mainly putting very toxic- chemical smelling mulch over weeds he hadn't pulled. He didn't seem able to recognize the difference between weeds and decorative grass, and covered some of the grass too.
One odd thing is that he kept refering to himself as "we" or "us". I asked where the other people were. He said they were out doing other jobs and he was the boss.
He said "We're gointg to start on the back yard". I still didn't see any of his helpsers. The yard has a pathway. He started putting smelly mulch on part of the path. Very little had gotten done in 2 hours and I had places to go. So I asked him to return the next day.
5. Day 2; Sean showed up on time with the lawnmower, but said he couldn't mow because the lawn was damp. He said he would get bark and come back. I thought it was strange as he wasn't even halfway done with the mulching, but he said "we have to get bark."
It took two hours for him to return.
I noticed that only 2 of the 4 flower beds in front had been weeded. He told me "I didn't know the others were part of your yard". They were right under the living room window and impossible to miss.
6.I asked him to finish the front first. He refused and wend out back, saying he wanted to continue with the pathway. A short while later, noticing that nothing had gotten done back there, I saw movement in the woods. I asked what he was working on. He said "weeding". But he was in the woods. I said, "No one goes in the woods. You need to finish the pathway." This was getting so drawn out with little accomplished, wasting a total of nearly 8 hours of my time in total.
He got beligerent and started yelling at me, interrupting whatever I said. Finally, I gave him a choice; finish the job and follow my directives, or leave. He got more argumentative, yelling and telling me I was "insane". He said I would have to pay $150. I told him I would pay for the job if he finished it, but if he left I wasn't paying anything. He threatened to sue me and send his lawyer, then left.
As he left, he had a tantrum and kicked up the mulch in one of the flower beds out front and made a mess, then sped away.
I can't describe the oddness of his behavior sufficiently in writing. The woman who rents a room heard everything and was amazed at my patience. The first day, I wondered if he was using drugs. The second day, I thought he may just have deep seated emotional problems.
I am used to doing business and dealing with a lot of people, and I can usually get the best out of someone, but there was no way to work with this young man. I hope he can find a way to change, but meanwhile, I don't reccommend that you have him do any work for you.
