Integrity

There is a line from one of my favourite films which goes … ‘just walk away,  turn around…just walk away’ ….and its one I often think of in business. Quite often at Japanese Knotweed Solutions we get involved with projects at a very early stage when clients are just beginning to look at feasibility of a certain type of build. We sometimes get paid for surveys but often we are asked to do works ‘at risk’. With most clients this is not a problem, they understand that time is money and they understand that our time and efforts aren’t ‘free’ – of the project goes ahead, we get the work or we get paid for our services.

Occasionally however we get the type of client that will use and abuse you – then cast you to one side without even the courtesy of a ‘thank you’. They ask for a site survey, they get you to pay for Ordnance Survey drawings and they get you to attend meetings, they have drawings produced and prices prepared – then they pay you nothing and give the job to someone else. These type of people never seem to last very long in business as they quickly get a reputation for being assholes…

This week’s blog is about a far more complex situation where your morals are tested to breaking point. The client gets you involved with a large project and butters you up with lines like … ‘we really want to work with you’ … ‘we aren’t talking to anybody else’… ‘we know you are the best company out there’ ….blah blah blah

So you get involved and you prepare drawings and you come with the best strategy for dealing with the particular invasive species that you have been asked to look at….but then the pressure starts to build.

That’s more than we wanted to pay..

The problem with the eradication of invasive species is there will always be someone who will look at the plant differently. When removing JK root systems we at Japanese Knotweed Solutions allow for removing ALL of the root – there isn’t much point in going through this process unless that’s what you are going to do – other companies take a more ‘cavalier’ attitude….and remove as much of the root and rhizome as the time they have allowed within the price…allows…then they stop digging pack up and leave.

Now don’t get me wrong, we are all in business to make a profit – sorry if that offends you – but the reality of life is that without profit your business will simply cease to be. So the price that JKSL quotes for dealing with your invasive species will allow us to do the job properly and to make a profit on our activities.

What we could of course do is …take a little less off site. We could dig a little shallower….we could perhaps not look quite so hard for any remaining root or rhizome systems…and this is where your integrity either shows up….or doesn’t make an appearance.

Obviously you’ve put time and effort into a project and you don’t want to lose out to A.N.Other competitor but at what point do you just say – ‘sorry Mr Client I can’t do it for any lower price’…then stand up in the meeting, put on your Trilby and leave.

Well….ALL ….of our surveyors here at Japanese Knotweed Solutions are trained to be aware of what the costs of a project are. They understand man hours and they understand the time it takes to fully remediate an invasive species. They understand what the labour costs are and they understand what machinery costs are – and they know that the prices we give are keen and market lead – and they know what margins have been allowed.

They are also fully briefed on having integrity on every project that they work on – and providing the best most honest service they can.

We don’t employ dodgy car salesman types; we employ environmentally qualified surveyors here to give you the best most practical advice available, with integrity.

So if ever one of our surveyors gets up and leaves a meeting – you know you’ve pushed them too far….
Mike C
*Integrity – the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; integrity is a personal choice to honour moral and ethical values.