To refuse to do this work?

[Planesmistakenforstars]

I am a self employed gardener. I've started maintaining the grounds of a large development of town houses. At the front of the houses there is a strip of lawn, then a fence, and then a pavement and road. Today one of the residents told me to clear up the area outside of his part of the fence (on the public pavement) where debris has gathered, because it looks messy. I said no, because it's not part of the work I'm doing, it's not even on the property. The resident told me I was being really petty, since I was already using a leaf blower to clear the inside of the fence, and he's going to complain. This man was pretty annoyed and convinced I was being unreasonable. Was I? I admit I am fed up of people asking me to do work for free and might have been more amenable had it not happened all the time recently, but the principle stands.

You dealt with it fine. I understand how the owner may have got confused with the boundaries. You could have obliged but that is just a recipe for work creep and soon other houseowners will expect the same. You don't work for him.

The best way to deal with someone who complains is to provide them with your manager's details. If it happened to me at work, I would email my manager personally and set out the complaint and copy the complainant in, so they know I am not hiding anything. That usually scares the complainant. You obviously cannot do that here, but you get the drift.

You are also right to give him the council's details, whose responsibility it is.

The debris on the property is blown into a pile, which I take away.

On being offered extra money. His house is on a row if 4, there's then a gap with an entrance to the rear car park, then the next row of about 20 houses. There are huge, mature trees on the pavement, so loads of leaf fall in autumn. It would set a precedent if I did one section for someone for a bit extra. I'm not interested in clearing all this every time, and then paying (by weight) to dispose of the waste, for the sake of the odd tenner being chucked my way.

Why is it considered okay to ask self employed people this?, I don't really know. But it is considered okay. I worked for myself for years and experienced varying levels of piss taking. How much I was prepared to tolerate depended so much on the customer which is why it's hard to advise the op. If the job is convenient, well paid, dozens of others lining up to do it and generally a good one(arsey residents not withstanding! )then a bit of extra might be tolerable.

Another gardener here ~waves~, I was going to jump in and say YABU - it would only take a minute to blat it with a blower. But then you mentioned the trees and setting a precedent, the contract and the schedule of work, so no YANBU.

I've done similar favours in the past and they can come back to bite you on the arse when people start to expect them every time for no extra money.

I call these people 'Columbos'... "Just one more thing"

I live in a condominium and every time the administration gets a worker in to do something, nearly every condominium owner feels that they have to right to ask and criticise what they are doing. I think the management company should make it clear to all the residents that any comments about your work should be addressed the management company.

I think you are right to refuse.

I own one of two ex HA houses in a block. When the contractors come to cut the grass they normally cut everyone but the two owned houses.

No skin off my nose. I just get out the lawn mower when doing the back and run it over.

I don't pay them. Why should they do mine?

Ex gardener here. Quoted for a job, reasonable price but he chose not. Bit gutted, work isn't easy to get. Then he went on to ask if we could load some garden waste onto the lorry as we were going to the tip anyway. (As you say OP, priced per weight.) No payment involved. Some CFs just push the boundaries.

Well done on the contract btw

I'm a resident on an estate with managed land. And a former chair of the residents association.

The comments and complaints from the residents about the people employed to maintain the land were insane.

We had residents asking why the gardener's wouldn't cut shrubs. ERM that's because they are on your land and if you want them professionally maintained pay for your own gardener.

Why didn't they litter pick. Because they are paid to cut grass and trim trees.

My personal favourite was someone complaining that the health and safety check at the playground was being carried out by a man there without a child. I offered to loan my child or instruct the person to take their child out of school in future. And before anyone says it, residents has been informed the checks were taking place, the guy was wearing I'd and I was there telling him about a problem we'd been having with a piece of equipment!.

OP, YANBU and you handled it well. Everyone will have an opinion on the job you do. Bit opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and the majority are full of shit and wind.

YANBU. You shouldn't have to do work for free and if they want you to do additional work then you deserve additional money.

Tell him if he wants to change your very clear job spec, to contact the managing agent.