Thought we can all share our mistakes so that others may learn from them. I have no shame to admit these, I expect everyone else should feel the same.
1. I started a small fire outside of tractor supply because my exterior cleaning solution dripped on to a receptacle. (I now know to duct tape the receptacle or as Ed suggest have them turned off at the breaker.)
2. My ladder stabelizer stuck out further than my truck clipping a basketball hoop that had been lowered for smaller kids to play on. ( I now know to have my assistant tech assist in any movement of the truck forward or backwards when leaving a driveway. )
I chose these 2 mistakes because they can all happen to us, and are easily avoidable.
My first mistakes was using TSP. Lady had a purple painted door. Got a little mix on it and turned it like a light blue. It was freightful. I fixed by evenly spraying the rest of the door. I would of swore to my grave that it was like that before I got there. She never said nuttin. Nice batty ole woman.
Today the mistakes are in my management and how I treat my employees. My wife gets mad at me cuz im always giving extra. Hours, gift cards, cash. Everytime I give, they shit on me. I keep doing it cuz I dont want to punish newer guys for azzholes in the past. But my experience is that when you give extra, employess dont look at it as a personal gift from me to them. They think, "dam right mf, I deserve this chit plus more"
Recently busted a real favored employee stealing time. It really hurt me personally.
first day on the job i had all my teflon tape wrapped in the wrong spot, used 5 gallon buckets with simple cherry in my mix ... had no clue what i was doing, took 6 hours to complete a 40 minute job and my jeans literally disintegrated off my burnt legs
Ed I am a huge believe in Karma, the more you give the more you get. I am glad you shared your mistakes though, really shows how there is really something to be learned on all of the different levels.
first day on the job i had all my teflon tape wrapped in the wrong spot, used 5 gallon buckets with simple cherry in my mix ... had no clue what i was doing, took 6 hours to complete a 40 minute job and my jeans literally disintegrated off my burnt legs
I think we have all disintegrated a pair of jeans before. I know I have.
Fried a palm tree that was growing over a black gutter drain spout hose. Usually this hose is solid wall. This one had small holes in it and the trees roots had grown into it.
I "read till my eyes bled" and that has saved me from many mistakes I'm sure I would have made. I guess thinking I can get away with letting my ground guy use the homeowners hose nozzle "just a little" is my worst mistake. Breaks em every time.
Cleaned a roof this spring that had heater cable in the gutters to keep them from freezing in the winter. I was flooding the gutter. When we were done, and walking around the house with the home owner, the gutter caught on fire. The power was still on to the heater cables. Now, I make sure all power is off the all the heater cables on the roof, and I make sure if they have them on the roof, I rinse them off.
I did a roof that was thick like carpet with moss. I thought maybe if I got some fungicide from the pool supply store and added it to the mix it would help kill the moss faster. It did. Cleaned the roof real nice. But, 2 days later we had a good rain, and everything by the down spouts died. Grass, bushes, everything. I have never had this. That fungicide was some strong stuff.
Never go to a job site with a stomach virus and the customer is not home.
Even though the customer assured me that the gutters were clear always check while doing estimate/quote.
Handle all nozzles like their made of gold. I had my ground guy rinse them off then drop them in a drain, while walking back to the truck. I had spares but spent an hour getting them out with a hanger.
Never trust hose clamps. Check them before starting each job.
Brainwash part time employees that if the customer has any question on the work we are performing they are to see me since I'm on site for every job.
Serving the Pocono and Lehigh Valley(Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Pike and Wayne Counties), PA community as well as both Warren and Sussex Counties of New Jersey
One of my biggest mistakes was giving an instant estimate over the phone with information given to me by the homeowner and scheduling it without verifying the information. I learned real quick how useful Google Earth and the Property Apprasors Office website was. (lost my azz on that job!)
Diamond Roof Cleaning New Jersey (1-800-Roof-Clean) wrote:
TThe mistake I made was getting into roof cleaning.
HAHA Dan from pristine got you down in the dumps?
Not really these last three weeks have been killer good but I just hate doing estimates and not hearing back even a f u your price is too high would be nice.
My first mistakes was using TSP. Lady had a purple painted door. Got a little mix on it and turned it like a light blue. It was freightful. I fixed by evenly spraying the rest of the door. I would of swore to my grave that it was like that before I got there. She never said nuttin. Nice batty ole woman.
Today the mistakes are in my management and how I treat my employees. My wife gets mad at me cuz im always giving extra. Hours, gift cards, cash. Everytime I give, they shit on me. I keep doing it cuz I dont want to punish newer guys for azzholes in the past. But my experience is that when you give extra, employess dont look at it as a personal gift from me to them. They think, "dam right mf, I deserve this chit plus more"
Recently busted a real favored employee stealing time. It really hurt me personally.
I've seen this too, but on a much smalller scale. Less employees.
I Like Being a good boss too. No where near as nice as I used too. 2 hrs pay if you you 15 min early, and I call off for rain. This I'm still doing.
Employees are just there for the money. Doing nice things for them, because you can, it's a mistake.