You’d think a boss would want to reduce downtime and keep costs as low as possible, but many don’t.

The boss in this story wants something outsourced.

Read on to see why it ends up costing the company money instead of saving it.

Keep reading to see where the costs came from.

Boss insists equipment go to a mechanic to save costs, ends up costing him $1000 more.

My lets me know that he thinks working on the lawn mower myself is a waste of time and money because “our biggest expense is labour.”

So he wants me to take it to the mechanic across the city that charges $110/h for labour.

The next week, of course, the mower breaks down again.

The boss’s solution isn’t simple or effective as he makes it out to be.

Me and my whole crew spend 45 minutes driving across the city to the mechanic, drop off the mower, and sure enough, they had to replace the air filter and it took them an entire day.

2 days after getting the mower back from the mechanic and it began having issues again.

Back we go. I tell the mechanics that the fuel filter looks bad, and describe the issues I’m having.

The costs and downtime keep adding up.

This is another 3 hours of labour they charge us, plus parts, and the problem still isn’t fixed.

We get the mower back from them, and once again, it breaks down on someone’s front lawn.

I call the mechanic, he acts confused, then asks us to bring it back for them to work on it more. This time, they keep it for 3 days.

The ordeal cost us nearly a full week of lost work plus over $1000 in mechanic’s costs.

I could have had it back up and running within 2 hours and for under $100.

Check out what people are saying.

I would like this idea if OP was being paid to manage things, but he isn’t.

Great point. It might not just be an issue of labor costs and downtime.

Maybe. Referral-based businesses are great, but it’s hard to start getting referrals.

Haha I’d love clients like this, too!

I had no idea landscaping was so catty!

Another management head-scratcher.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.