Well, there’s a huge difference between trying to get a good deal, which is not immoral or unethical, and then trying to steal from your business. If you’re not comfortable with a potential client, don’t make a contract with them. Once you have the contract, stick to it.
As other said, either refuse to do the extra tasks or tell customers what you’ll charge to have the work done.
It’s hard to know how to advise one…only you can really determine what is right…
When they ask, assume they expect to pay for the extra work and quote them a price. “Well, yes, but I’d charge $20, plus whatever the disposal fee I have to pay to get rid of it” or “That ought to take about 20 minutes, by the time we get the mess cleaned up, so sure, we can take care of those branches for, let’s say, $X. That’s for piling the branches for your regular lawn service to haul off or to hack them up small enough for your curbside composting pick-up. Hauling it away will cost us extra, because we don’t get free composting. We’re commercial, so when we dump, we pay.”
Absolutely. If something’s going to cost you extra time & effort (like sawing three big branches!), tell them you’ll be happy to (if you would), but since that wasn’t included in the original job, it will cost an additional $___. That’s perfectly reasonable and professional.
This is less about morals and more to do with someone adding to the to do list.It’s not uncommon to have someone working on a job and think, “Oh, X, Y, Z needs done too,” as kind of an afterthought.
There is the Lord’s maxim of dealing with those who forcibly put you over a barrel by going beyond their pressing, to show good will. Still, his back is not going to last forever. It is no insult to quote a price for add-ons requested by a customer. Most expect this, even if they grouse about actually being charged for all the services they are getting. That someone grumbles does not mean that even they can really argue they’ve been ill-used.
Exactly.
So true. Some of the biggest rip-off artists I’ve encountered have been “Christians.” Whenever I am interviewing contractors to do work in or around my home, if someone starts making a big deal about the fact that they are Christians, I suddenly see big red flags. It’s been my experience that they play the Christian card when the quality of their work cannot stand up to scrutiny. This is not always the case, of course, but it’s happened often enough that I tread carefully when someone starts telling me about their personal relationship with Jesus.I also know 100% that it’s far from only non-religious people who behave unethically when it comes to matters of business. That’s unfortunate, but it’s true. I imagine people who come to my home can figure out I’m Catholic, but I don’t know about them. I check their reviews and ask for references to figure out if they can do the job I want them to do at a fair price.
Frankly, a lot cultures don’t understand the difference between Expenses and Payments and that leads to suffering. In the west, we tent to commit to paying our expenses as a point of honor. Other cultures, hold on to their payments (money flowing out) as a point of stability for their family.
That’s what Change Orders are for.
There’s actually a good psychological model for that - in that those that have an outward display of morality, can tend to discount morality in other aspects of their lives.
Someone who wears Christianity on his or her sleeve is usually either a saint, a sinner who wants to presume on the charity of others, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing. (Sometimes, it is simply someone who is going through a bit of spiritual exuberance, and nothing more.)
I do notice non religious people push very very hard to get stuff for free. Extra soil, slightly bigger lawn always pushing the edges of the contract where when I meet someone who finds me from my parish every time they ask for the littlest item they say. “How much is that”