what do you do in this situation

[duratree]

You have a customer that has a 10 foot tall hedge that runs across the property line of his back yard. The back side of the hedge runs along two homes on another street. Do you trim both sides of the hedge as well as the top, or do you only trim your customers side and the top and charge the back neighbors for their side?

[mmlawncare]

I think we've already had a thread regarding this issue not too terribly long ago...run a search and if I have some more time later on I might.

Bottom line, does the hedge hang over the property line a bunch? If not, and it can fairly easily be pruned...prune it. A half pruned shrub looks terrible...and if it looks terrible, so do you. It will make the neighbors happy if you prune it, I'm sure! Do a good job and you MIGHT even get some business from them if you want it...

[TRANSMAN]

Totally agree

I think we've already had a thread regarding this issue not too terribly long ago...run a search and if I have some more time later on I might.

Bottom line, does the hedge hang over the property line a bunch? If not, and it can fairly easily be pruned...prune it. A half pruned shrub looks terrible...and if it looks terrible, so do you. It will make the neighbors happy if you prune it, I'm sure! Do a good job and you MIGHT even get some business from them if you want it...

I think it would look horrible to have the job done half azz and actually look sillyer then if it was just left to look naturally overgrown but at least natural....

I think people would look upon leaving it trivial and childish like a kid who doesn't get his toy for Christmas and refuses to eat......

Add the cost in somewhere else if need be , but dont leave it half done its gotta look ridiculous and potentially cost customers.......

JMO,

Transputty-T

[snowmaster]

If my client owns the hedge, I would trim both sides. If my client doesn't own it, I'd leave it alone and make the neighbor take care of it.

Why do more work if you don't have too!

[clcare2]

But... You have to ask the owner's permission if it's on their side of the property. I've already been threatened to have the cops called on me for trespassing a couple of times. Duratree is in FL, and according to our law anything that overhangs a neighbors property technically belongs to them.

I don't care how it looks... I've seen enough old farts come running out of their houses with their canes raised like a sword yelling at me to leave their hedge alone.

That said I've asked several if they mind if I do their side, and been told "fine with me."

BTW... Saw an interesting method for doing hedges of this height... Guy that does the property across the road from one of my accounts has a piece of plywood mounted to the top of his ROPS on his Exmark. One guy gets up there with the trimmer, and the other moves the mower forward. The first time I saw it I just sat there scratching my head, but they actually got it done pretty quick... 10' tall hedge around the entire property (and it was a rather large prop too.) The owner had asked me to trim that hedge a couple years ago, and I just laughed... No thanks.

That just screams of lawsuit.