Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

I'm breaking up with a guy who's been in my life for nine or so years, and I'm finding it a little hard to do. The guy is my landscaper, Alberto. I'm afraid we no longer see eye to eye. The beginning of the end was last fall when I had him do some clean up in the yard and he ended up billing me more than double what he quoted me. Since there was nothing special in the clean up, I told him I felt his billing wasn't right. He tried to make excuses. But I also complained about some damage his guys had done. He finally said to just pay what I thought was fair. And I compromised on the amount.

This spring, when I called him to start the lawn mowing service, he told me the weekly price was going up from $35 to $50. He was vague about when his guys would be coming and he sort of hedged on the pricing. I sort of took it to mean he really didn't want to work for me any more.

And I know why.

He has been doing steady work for a guy who flips houses and it's keeping him very busy. And I'm to blame for that. I recommended Alberto to my hairdresser who lives 15 miles away. The house flipper guy is a neighbor of hers and he liked the work he saw Alberto do. He hired Alberto to do the yards of all the houses he was flipping. He has a set formula of what he wanted and I guess they ended up doing a lot of work together.

My loss. Alberto isn't as hungry for work as when I first hired him. He's also paying guys $20 per hour to work for him. So things have changed and there's no going back.

Today, I contacted four guys who advertised on Facebook. Two responded and I have tentatively hired one. He quoted me $25 per week. He doesn't have a crew -- he does it all himself. He starts next week. I am prepared that it could go either way: I'll be pleased and he'll last all summer. Or I'll be unhappy and will discontinue using him. But I'm not getting attached like I've been with Alberto. After my bad experience with the snow removal guys in March, I've come to understand that anyone might let you down at any time. There are no guarantees.

Alberto has been so reliable and has done such good work for so long, I've really become dependant on him. I couldn't' imagine wanting to get other bids or consider anyone else. I called him for everything yard-related.

I sent Alberto an email with a little white lie. I told him I was going to try to do the mowing myself with the help of my family. I guess I wanted to soften the message and .also not burn any bridges. Just in case.

So, just like many other things, this is the end of. an era. I honestly feel a little sad. I'll miss Alberto. But this is the right thing to do.