How do you deal with damage to your client's property?
Business owners try their best to avoid it but it happens and that's okay! Most importantly, it's how you respond and resolve these situations.
Forum Discussion
If it’s a replaceable item (window, mailbox, etc) - “You break it, you bought it” is how I handle it. If my crew damaged it, I pay for it.
If it’s damages within the scope of work (removing a tree and get a few ruts in the yard), we fix anything that isn’t reasonable. You just about can’t take down a 65’ tree and leave some trace behind.
If it’s an heirloom or something that I can’t replace, I knock off a sizable chunk of the invoice as a “I’m sorry…but I also can’t replace this specific item in question.”
That has served us well.
I completely agree with you. We had a situation this summer where we broke a grill that was special to the customer as it was a gift from his deceased mother. There is no way to replace what our customer lost. We did give him a large discount as well as a free tree trim. Conversing with your customer right away is key.
Agreed with this! Although we have gone as far as finding the heirloom or something super similar on eBay to show we understand the weight of the loss and our ability to go above and beyond for the client!
