So, a few months ago I took a real estate Listing in Menlo Park which was a Probate sale. The people in charge of the estate asked my opinion regarding what should be done to get the absolute best value for the house. I gave them a list which amounted to $25,000 worth of work and they approved it. This included refinishing floors, painting both the interior and exterior, replacing some bathroom fixtures, changing out all light fixtures, cleaning the home, staging, and landscaping the front and back yard. In the end, the home sold for $150,000 over the appraised value, so they were quite pleased with the results. |
I brought in several professionals to complete the work and I was in charge of overseeing everyone. The estimate I had for landscaping the front and back yard was $5,000. This was something I put together myself. I hired a couple of workers and had priced and purchased all materials and plants myself. The cost included all of the following:
- One weeks labor for two men
- 2,000 sq ft of grass
- 10 cubic yards of bark
- An automatic new sprinkler system
- Assorted plants and trees
Overseeing the landscaping turned into quite an adventure. I can understand Spanish, but do not really speak it. My landscaper’s English was really poor. I would ask him to cut certain branches on a shrub and they would either cut too few or the shrub would be entirely gone. I could not leave the site for the next week for fear of the results. |
I placed flags down exactly where I wanted the sprinklers installed and sometimes the sprinklers would be installed nowhere near the flags. The landscapers would suddenly act surprised that I would want a sprinkler where the flag was located. When I would ask them to please change things, they would agree and as I would be walking away, I would hear them calling me an SOB in Spanish.
In the backyard, I asked for 9 sprinklers, 4 on one station and five on the other. I repeated this in my poor Spanish several times, “Nueve sprinklers. Cuatro aqui e cinco alli. Nueve sprinklers!” They nodded as if what I was saying was perfectly clear. I came out later and there were only 8 sprinklers. I asked, “We had agreed on nueve sprinklers.” They would reply, “No, cuatro e cuatro.” We argued awhile, I would say, “cuatro e cinco.” They would reply, “No. cuatro e cuatro.” When I pointed out that there was no sprinkler installed near the ninth flag, they admitted defeat. As usual, I asked them to please fix it and walked away to the sound of being called an SOB in Spanish yet again!
This process repeated itself several times each day, but our schedule never faltered. By the end, I could almost time how many steps I needed to be away from them before I would hear “SOB.”
I do have to give these guys credit, they worked really hard, but they could not be left alone. Nothing was tested or thought out on their part. However, after a week of solid work, we had a great front and back yard that really made this home look fantastic. Over the next few months, my close friends would call me SOB in Spanish as I walked away from them. Moral of the story, keep an eye on your landscapers and be careful what you share with your friends! |
