Yard work can be very hard work especially when it comes to clearing trees damaged by a storm.

In today’s story, one homeowner originally plans to clear the debris himself, but his neighbor suggests hiring someone.

Now, he’s conflicted about what to do.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

AITA for not letting my neighbor start a $1200 project she expects me to pay for?

So 2 weeks ago a big storm ripped through our community. Power lines downs, trees ripped up, power lost for a few days, etc etc.

This is our first big storm as homeowners. We live in a rural area with forested yards. Our yard has a section of 50 trees that were planted approximately 75 years ago.

For the past few weeks my wife and I (early 30s) have been slowly clearing our yard with handsaws and putting the limbs, stacked and ready for pickup, out by the road.

The neighbors are also making a similar pile.

My 70-year-old neighbors have been doing the same thing, clearing their lawn and building their own pile out by the road.

Neither of our piles are that big. I could probably handle our pile with a few trips in my suv.

Last week, when we were out in the lawn, my neighbor (who we are really friendly with) said something to the extent of:

“We should get somebody out here with a truck to haul away these branches. We could share the cost. Doesn’t make sense to call out two separate trucks for just these brush piles”

OP agreed to the neighbor’s suggestion.

I agreed but was heading out of town for a week.

My neighbor agreed to call around.

I said, “If you can find someone to do it, I’m definitely interested in sharing it with you. Just let me know.”

Looking at our two piles that would fit comfortably in the back of a pickup truck, I’m thinking “ok – 2 hours of work, labor/gas/disposal fee: probably $300 total. Maybe all the way up to $600”

OP was shocked at how much the job was going to cost.

My wife and I then go out of town.

Today, about a week later, I get a text from my neighbor saying, paraphrased “I’ve found someone that can start tomorrow…your portion will be $1200.”

I responded “That’s more than double what we were expecting. It’s a few hours of work that I can do when we get home this week…I’ll take care of your pile too”

The neighbor explained why it was so expensive.

My neighbor sends a long text that she let the contractor walk around our “forest” & he’s also recommending we clear some larger logs that have fallen & take down a few dying pines.

He’ll do the same type of work on her property – she has a few small trees she needs taken down.

That’s why our $150-300 each project turned into a $1200 project.

I haven’t responded because I feel like it was a bit of a bait and switch.

OP doesn’t want to upset the neighbors by not agreeing to have the work done.

I feel bad about it because I know she put in some leg work getting someone out for an estimate and she was planning on the work being taken care of tomorrow.

Now here’s the thing: we love our neighbors. They’re super nice people & watch our place for us when we’re gone/Vice versa.

I don’t want this to create any weirdness…but at the same time, my wife and I are young homeowners of a 100-year-old historic house and there are about 50 other $1200 projects we’d like to do before we spend the money on clearing brush/debris, something that we can do on our own in a few hours this weekend.

AITA for derailing my neighbors yard work maintenance plan because we disagree on the scope of the project and the estimate she was given?

I wonder how much it would be if the neighbor just has the work done and OP doesn’t. If he backs out, his neighbor can still move forward.

Let’s see how Reddit responded…

This reader urges OP to talk to his neighbor.

Another reader thinks the contractor might be ripping off the neighbors.

Here’s another vote for the contractors taking advantage of the older neighbors.

This reader thinks OP should talk to the person who is going to do the job.

This person states the simple facts.

He should tell his neighbor he wants to talk to the contractor before any work is done.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.