Lawn and Order

A Zipingo user just commented that it's difficult to find someone to do "house and yard jobs" who isn't quite a licensed contractor. True. So true. You just can't rely on traditional channels like the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce for that type of stuff. And your neighbors may not always know.

So I took a look in the phone book and unless the homeowner is willing to shell out big bucks to some landscaping dude, there aren't a lot of choices for finding reasonably-priced skilled labor to mow your lawn, rake leaves or pull weeds. Most of us are too busy to do it ourselves these days. And most of us would rather plant gorgeous flowers or bask in the sunshine, laid back in a chaise lounge sipping Piña coladas.

That's why local search on a user-contribution site is such a great idea. You can find and/or enter any obscure business and rate/review it. Now maybe the high schooler, trying to earn money for summer theatre camp, wouldn't be too enthusiatic about you including his name in this public Web site, or maybe he would be. My guess is that it would be a good idea to ask him and his parents, just to be sure, before you Rate Him on Zipingo. But if he's of legal age and taking your money, he's probably fair game.

Anyway, this is a great time to mentor, so pick up the phone, talk to that teen's parents (even if he's over 13), and suggest they come up with a business name and cards (for privacy and security's sake), just in case anyone ever decides to list him on Zipingo. I'm sure the neighbors would be glad to put in their two cents, as long as he didn't cut their hedges too short last time.

I'll probably never have to deal with that topic in my personal life. In Tucson, hardly anyone has grass. In the desert, it's more like dirt, rocks and cactus. Now why am I living here? Oh, yeah. The weather.

~ ZipingoKim