I Just Knew My Neighbors Where Doing This

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:01]Well, I guess it's been kind of a busy day.

[00:00:05]Had a guy stop in at 6:30, asked if I would look at his mower, but he didn't have it with him.

[00:00:14]So, then I would say about 7:30, this guy showed up.

[00:00:22]>> [clears throat] >> This is electric lawn mower.

[00:00:27]There's not much I can do with these cuz they sell them so cheap [music] that if the battery and the charger are good, you really can't do much to it. I mean, could have been a fuse or something simple, but this one needed a new motor, um, electric motor.

[00:00:45]He hit something with it and there's quite a bit of wobble in it, so the magnets are broke and you know, it feels like the bad bearings, although it's magnets getting in the way is what it is.

[00:00:58]So, didn't make any money off this one.

[00:01:02]Pre-diagnostics.

[00:01:06]But, it didn't take long. It only took a I don't know, half hour to look at 15 minutes, half hour.

[00:01:14]Then, this guy called.

[00:01:21]And this one I have temporarily fixed.

[00:01:27]It, uh, the gears on the steering was slipping really bad.

[00:01:34]And it's missing a bolt, and then they hit something after If it If the bolt would have been there, it wouldn't have damaged it. But, since the bolt was not there, when they hit a wall or He said he hit a rock wall, then that bent the gear plate.

[00:01:52]So, I've ordered some of new gear [clears throat] plates, and he wants it serviced, and we picked it up.

[00:01:59]So, we'll get the pick up and delivery fee. He got his own service kit.

[00:02:06]Which that's fine, we can use that.

[00:02:09]I don't usually use John Deere parts, but if that's what he wants to use, it's just crazy expensive.

[00:02:17]Then we got the starter for this one.

[00:02:19]So, I mean, that was a a 3-minute job. That didn't take long. Two bolts and and well, three bolts, three nuts I should say.

[00:02:27]Didn't take long at all.

[00:02:28]And absolutely wings over now. So, that's great. So, all we need on this one now is a carburetor and change the oil filters.

[00:02:41]On this one, I'm going to have to do I don't know, I think I'm going to have to cut my prices on this.

[00:02:50]I'm sure he would pay whatever I asked for.

[00:02:54]But, he is a significant person in this town, and I think if I I don't know.

[00:03:03]He set a price, and I have kept him apprised of every piece of whatever. I've told him the price for everything.

[00:03:12]And the last text message I got was, "Keep going. It's cheaper than buying a new one."

[00:03:18]And I said, "Okay." The problem is is I don't think it's worth it. But, that's beside the point.

[00:03:27]So, I kept going. I bought the the carburetor and of course, we picked that up. So, there's supposed to be a pick up and delivery fee.

[00:03:38]And then this, you know, we got to do a service on it. We got to change the oil and all the filters.

[00:03:44]So, it's going to exceed his max price.

[00:03:51]Since he said to keep going, it's not going to exceed it by much, but it's going to exceed it.

[00:03:58]Since we're he said keep going, I could charge him and I'm sure he would pay it.

[00:04:04]But I don't want to make him mad either because they send us a lot of business.

[00:04:10]So, I'll probably wave the serve the to service the mower. I'll probably wave that that rate.

[00:04:19]>> [snorts] >> And it's not cheap. I mean, it's 2 hours. I say not cheap, it's cheaper than anybody else. It's 2 hours worth of work servicing, sharpening the blades, checking the valves, changing the oils and the filters.

[00:04:34]So, I'll probably wave that.

[00:04:37]And then we got the pick up and delivery fee.

[00:04:39]I mean, he only lives down the road, probably not even a mile.

[00:04:43]So, I can't justify charging him the entire pick up and delivery fee. So, maybe I'll just charge him half and then say discounted price.

[00:04:56]So, I guess Like I said, I know I'm sure he would pay it.

[00:05:03]All the parts for this one should come in tomorrow.

[00:05:06]It's interesting.

[00:05:07]That one is a lot of part cost.

[00:05:12]They came out to be about the same price is what I'm trying to say. But that one was mostly part cost. He bought that, you know, he lost his shroud, blower housing. And you got to have that for cooling. You got to have it. You can't run it without it.

[00:05:26]And that was really expensive.

[00:05:29]Just for a piece of plastic. It's really expensive. Even the aftermarket, so that's the one I bought was aftermarket.

[00:05:34]This one is primarily labor cost. The only thing that we had to buy so far was the service, you know, the filters and that kind of stuff. And the carburetor. Everything else I've been Oh, no, that's not true.

[00:05:48]I bought a belt and I bought a an engagement cable, you know, PTO engagement cable. But still the the we're probably not even at 100 bucks with these the parts on this.

[00:06:01]So, this is all labor.

[00:06:04]So.

[00:06:08]But then, got another mower in today and I know what the scam is. I don't know how to get around it. I'm not even sure I know how to get around it even if there was a diagnostic fee.

[00:06:19]People are going around picking up junk mowers.

[00:06:22]So, the guy called 6:30 this morning says, "I got a mower."

[00:06:28]And I say, "Yeah, sure, bring it over."

[00:06:31]And he brings it over. It's a zero turn Husqvarna Husqvarna and if I don't say Husqvarna the trans the transcript comes out wrong on the video.

[00:06:48]So, then you have all these people saying, "What's that?"

[00:06:51]Cuz they they have to read it.

[00:06:53]Anyway. So, he brings it over and I bring down and first thing he says, "You got to jump it because the solenoid doesn't work."

[00:07:02]Well, that's not true. It worked just fine.

[00:07:04]But it just spun really fast.

[00:07:06]Just So, I mean, I knew instantly that either the crankshaft was broke or the connecting rods were broke. So, I stuck my endoscope light into the uh each cylinder. There's two cylinders.

[00:07:19]Didn't go back and forth. The other one didn't go back and forth. So, I looked up underneath it and the the crankshaft is spinning. So, on the top and bottom, it is spinning correctly.

[00:07:30]But the pistons aren't. So, that means both connecting rods are broke.

[00:07:36]What usually happens is one of the connecting rods will break and then it comes down and hits the other connecting rod and just snaps the second one.

[00:07:44]So, that motor shot.

[00:07:47]And he started questioning me on how much it was going to cost to replace.

[00:07:50]And you know, I I started throwing out ballpark figures.

[00:07:55]And he says uh I only spent $2,000 on it. Well, that that's not true. This this mower has not went for less than $3,000 in its entire existence.

[00:08:07]Even if they would have been a run in the year-end sale or, you know, a clearance sale, they they wouldn't have knocked off that much money.

[00:08:14]A thousand dollars? Knock off a thousand dollars? So, he he didn't he he didn't say the right price. I'm pretty sure it was just something he picked up off the side of the road and was hoping I could fix it. Of course, I don't charge diagnostic fees.

[00:08:26]I don't think they know that.

[00:08:31]So, what they think is is, well, he doesn't charge a lot, so I can just take it over there, he can tell me what's wrong with it, and then I'll come pick it up, and then fix it myself.

[00:08:42]Which I'm sure that's what he's going to do. He'll scour the internet looking for a used engine that he can pick up for 100 bucks and put it on himself.

[00:08:49]But he just needed to know what was wrong with it. So, it's a scam.

[00:08:53]Not really sure how to get around it.

[00:08:54]I'm sure the comment section's going to light up.

[00:08:58]But >> [sighs] >> I don't think I don't think the comment section really understands what it means to run a business.

[00:09:06]If you run a business and you chase all your customers off because you're overpriced or you don't work with some of these folks, especially the ones that are sending you out business constantly, you know, how long is it before you don't get any business? So, yeah, I can charge this guy, you know, a diagnostic fee, and then he's mad cuz I he I charged him money for something that's not fixed.

[00:09:33]And now he tells the town, don't go to about guy. He charges you a bunch of money, even though he doesn't fix things.

[00:09:39]He wants money non-stop. You know, that's just not going to work.

[00:09:43]And what if that guy guy does get mad that I went over his budget?

[00:09:50]I don't think he will, but what if?

[00:09:52]He's a prominent name. There is no way I'd want to upset him.

[00:09:58]So, the advantage I have in this town I've noticed is there's a high turnover rate in this town.

[00:10:06]People come and go pretty quickly.

[00:10:09]I mean, you got the long time people who's been here since high school.

[00:10:12]And the person I'm talking about with that uh rebuild, you know, that limit that he gave me, he he went to high school in this town.

[00:10:20]His dad started a business, he runs it, and he's going to give it to his son.

[00:10:23]So, you know, they've been here decades.

[00:10:27]Well, actually, his family was a founder. His wife was family's a founder, too. So, it was interesting. They both went to high school here.

[00:10:37]So, you don't want to upset these people, but the high turnover rate, you know, just like the lake people.

[00:10:44]They stay 4 years, and then they sell.

[00:10:46]So, they buy a house, they're all excited, they realize, "Oh my gosh, this is a lot of work. And I don't want to come down every weekend, but I got to come down every weekend so I can enjoy the house that I spent a million dollars on."

[00:11:01]So, they sell it.

[00:11:03]And so, there's constantly a turnover of people, constantly.

[00:11:07]It turns over so fast, I probably won't even get my advertisement out to them fast enough. Some of them see me on Facebook, some of them don't. Some of them will go to hardware store, some of them may not.

[00:11:17]But, I do know that all the businesses in town do recommend me. So, that's a that's a huge help.

[00:11:23]So, of course, I'm on Google, so they can always Google me.

[00:11:29]So, I I know. We didn't get I didn't get much done today. I mean, the John Deere, that's going to be pay off pretty good.

[00:11:34]Anytime I do a pickup and delivery, that that's pretty good money.

[00:11:38]I didn't expect him to call back though.

[00:11:41]He brought in a a Cub Cadet last year.

[00:11:45]And he wanted the deck belt changed.

[00:11:48]Well, I was testing it and the drive belt broke.

[00:11:54]And you know, it's one of those old variable belt slippage things. I mean, they were terrible. It's before the hydrostatic transmissions came out. They they were absolutely terrible.

[00:12:04]And so it it's just completely worn out.

[00:12:07]So, I put a new belt on it.

[00:12:09]Kevlar belt. I made all the adjustments I possibly could.

[00:12:13]And when that belt was cold, it didn't want to go.

[00:12:18]But I didn't charge him for it. I I only charged him for the deck belt.

[00:12:22]I figured I broke it, even though it was probably breaking as I was getting it.

[00:12:27]And I couldn't really fix it well because I mean, it would have been five or six hundred dollars to replace all the components to get that fixed right.

[00:12:37]So, I figured he'd be upset. That was back in probably early March. It was still really cold.

[00:12:44]And I know it was really cold because I was testing that belt and that belt was Kevlar and it just they get so hard.

[00:12:52]And they got to warm up before they actually grip on anything.

[00:12:57]But he called back and brought you know, wants me to work on this John Deere. I That's just fantastic.

[00:13:04]I think there's a Did I say this? I think there's a bolt missing on that.

[00:13:06]So, I had to order some bolts.

[00:13:09]You know, I wanted to get what I needed exactly. So, I ordered straight from John Deere.

[00:13:16]Because uh you know, you don't want to mess around with John Deere's.

[00:13:23]I don't know. They they do everything a little bit different than everybody else. Just, you know, try to be proprietary. I mean, I understand the point of making money, but >> [snorts] >> I guess that's fine.

[00:13:34]So, so hopefully tomorrow I can get this one tore into, get the carburetor changed out, change the oil, the belt, and the uh PTO and get this one out of here.

[00:13:49]I hope. I hope there's nothing else wrong with it.

[00:13:52]There's a lot wrong with it. This is the one that had the stuck valve, so I'm sure it's carburation now. I mean, it's got to be carburation. It is what the issue is.

[00:14:04]And then that uh that other one I just put the starter on.

[00:14:08]That should be done tomorrow or the next day. The carburetor's coming in tomorrow, same with this one. But, I don't know if I have enough time. This one's going to take a lot of lot of time to get it going.

[00:14:19]And then the John Deere, you know, the parts won't be here until Friday or Monday.

[00:14:24]So, I guess I'll jump off here. So, if you'll click this up next box, it'll take you to the video over my other channel. I'd really appreciate you go check it out. So, I hope this video inspires you.

[00:14:31]I don't know. Stay busy or learn how to run a business. So, you can live your dreams. Thanks for watching.