Simon Ramirez General Maintenance

Simon & his partner Angel invested alot of time doing yardwork for me over 7 months' time (Dec-2012 thru Jun-2013). The yard is a very difficult one; a lot of the shrubbery is over 30 years old and everything was overgrown when I bought the home a year ago. While he invested extra time struggling to do what needed to be done, he didn't succeed at times getting even the basics done. He and his partner needed extra supervision; when given, they usually responded fairly well. But they were not able or willing to take the initiative themselves to proactively help manage the mess. In fact they were extremely passive most of the time, to the point where I felt they wanted to dumb down the job to its barest essentials (grass-cutting & blowing -- to my mind, the blowing consumed far too much of their time), laced with some sporadic, almost haphazard trimming. With the most difficult work (getting the old pyrocanthus under control), at one point Simon refused to do it, saying it wasn't his responsibility, but rather that of the previous owners. It was daunting, tough work, but this is why I needed a resourceful gardener! I even suggested he do a few dedicated days of catch-up / special project work for which I would have paid him appropriately, but he never volunteered. This all said, his rates ($200/per month) for all the basic, bare-bones work they did were very reasonable in view of the time (usually 2 good hrs. per week) he spent here. I would have paid him more if I could have found a way to get more from him, but in the end I had to contract with another team. Simon is a good and honorable man, so I was very saddened to have to make this change. For those who want no more than lawn maintenance and trimming in a smaller, less heavily planted yard, he & his partner might be more than adequate, but my place has special challenges.

I hired Simon years ago to do yard work every week on the basis I would do some light work and he would do the rest. Then my share of the work got behind because of health problems. I asked him to catch things up and simply bill me for doing this extra work, knowing he would charge me fairly. I also asked him to maintain this work in the future and I offered to increase his regular rate accordingly. Four months later the yard looks no better overall. While some things were caught up, additional things got behind. Some things were done improperly and have to be redone. Simon is very experienced and knowledgeable about yard work in The Desert. He does about half his job very well. About a quarter of his job requires constant reminders from me and when it eventually gets done is often low quality or done contrary to what it should be. No amount of pleading or money will get the last quarter of his job done. The $140 I paid him is the average per monthly for the last year. My lot is a small 1/6 acre. Much of it is house, patio, driveway, walks, etc. The yard is a typical Palm Springs combination of lawn, shrubs, hedges, small trees, and low maintenance desertscape.