How long do you give service people to call you back?

By end of the next business day.

48 hours

You're wanting them to respond to your texts when they're not currently doing a job for you? If they clean your yard every Wednesday, you want them to return a text immediately on a Friday?

If you like the job they do for you, then give them some goddamn grace. They're not your servants. If they don't respond fast enough for your liking, then find someone who can return texts quickly.

That depends. There are people who know me and know my house and whom I trust to leave alone to do the job. I trust them to do the work, and trust their judgement when they tell me it's a bigger or smaller job than I had thought.

Better in my mind to work again with people whom I can trust with the keys, trust their opinion, trust the quality of their work, and trust their pricing is fair. Some of them are good at the business promotion end, some are good at everything but.

Unless I've expressed it's some huge emergency, I don't get pissy if they are a a few days in calling me back. If they are overwhelmed with projects, they are good at saying so; otherwise I'm in the queue in whatever logic that queue has to them. I'm happy to wait on the quirks of punctuality of people whose work and ways are known to me.

It's different if your plumbing has stopped working than if you want to build a stone wall in the garden purely for aesthetics. A strict time limit works in one situation and doesn't in another. When it comes to people working in my house, I don't care so much about their business promotion practices and "proving" to me that they "want my work. "

I have given this person plenty of grace, R3, and have never treated him like he is my servant. We currently have an agreement that he mow my yard every 2 weeks. He has ignored a couple of texts and taken several days to respond to others. I do not think I am being unreasonable to ask for the same respect I try to show him.

OP/R5, I wouldn't respond to you either, given that attitude.

What attitude?

If I kept ignoring people or responding very late on my job my ass would be fired.

R8, it depends on a few factors.

Does this person run a professional lawn care company or is he just a guy with a lawnmower and a trailer who does it as a second job? If you’ve hired a nonprofessional then you shouldn’t expect professional perfection.

How difficult is it to find another landscaper in your area? If there are many more yards that need mowing than there are landscapers then you’re at a disadvantage and should expect to put up with more hassle than you would if people were sending you solicitations for lawn care.

Has the weather been inclement? Outdoor work is ultimately governed by the weather and he might be playing catch up because rain kept him from doing any work for several days in a row.

Is there anything about cutting your lawn that makes it unusual or more difficult than the average job? Special requests, extra steps, and even minor inconveniences can bump you down on workmen’s priority list especially during the busiest season like summer.

Finally, how long have you had this arrangement with him? If he’s been doing your yard for five years he deserves more understanding than if this is the third or fourth time you’ve used his service.

I’ve been doing, or trying to do, renovations to my house and because I live in a high growth area with a lot of new construction it’s been ridiculously hard and exorbitantly expensive to get anyone to do anything because it’s easier and more profitable for them just to concentrate on new construction and I’ve had to significantly lower my expectations in response.

So many DLer's have a sense of entitlement developed when small boys holding Mother's white gloved hand as she went from one carriage trade shop to the next, the silver-plating shop for refreshing the century old door hardware, the monogram shop for all the best linens, the stationers for a refill of the standing order for monogrammed note paper and envelopes...

They expect profuse gratitude and appreciation of the few coins the superior brand of client so graciously showers upon them. And they expect a guy who spends the hours of 09.00 to 21.00 everyday driving a fleet of lawnmowers and trimmers and edgers around with a crew of men who don't have time to wipe their brows but en route between customers to answer the phone promptly and with crisp professionalism as if it was the TWA International Tickets Department and the year was 1965.

That's probably my biggest peeve with contractors: Their non-responses, especially when it comes to scheduling. You can't work on Wednesday? Fine, Thursday works. But at least tell me. I need to make arrangements based on their schedules, so the least I expect is that they communicate what's happening. We use a couple contractors for different tasks. The ones we are most happy with are not the ones who are cheap. The ones with better communication are the ones we like most.

Talking about a guy who mows the grass every 2 weeks, not a contractor.

Why does OP need crisp communication with this guy in the interim period (between mowings)? Who knows.

Well, R12, for instance, one text is to ask him to please lower the blade on his mower. No response. Another is to find when he will be able to come over to mow the yard since there was rain on his usual day. No response. How awful of me to ask him such questions!!!!

Why haven’t you called the police about these two pressing issues?

R14, the police? This is malfeasance suitable for the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

[quote] one text is to ask him to please lower the blade on his mower. No response.

MARY.

9 seconds.

I expect service people to return my call within 24 hours. If they don't I move on. Luckily, I've got a good list of top notch folks. I recently moved back to my hometown when my mom went into hospice. So when I need anyone I ask family members who they use. They've all been great independent contractors so far.

OP- I think I’m a bit dyslexic. At first I thought the title of your thread was how long do you service people? 🍆🍆