I just hired a criminal to help with my weeds

I purchased a new build house a few years ago. The backyard was dirt and needed it landscaped. Got quotes from the well known larger contractors and a few from smaller companies. One guy named Steve was kind of scary looking, but came across as the most honest and his price was much lower. Asked him how he could do everything I wanted for that price and he said everyone else is most likely making a profit on all the materials. He only charges me what He was charged and I could purchase the materials myself or go with him when he bought them. I was only paying for his and his crews labor. We discussed things quite a bit and said, before you make a decision on who to hire, I want to tell you that I was in prison for 10 years for some pretty bad stuff. We discussed that. B&E, armed robbery, auto theft, etc. I hired him. One of the most honest and hard working people I have ever met. It's been 5 years and I have not found 1 issue with anything they did. I would hire him again in a heartbeat.

I get why you're hesitant. Personally? I'd just let it be and keep an eye out since you have cameras. 2015 was 11 years ago; a lot can happen in that time. The guy might just not have a job and figured he can landscape so he'd do that. Edit: Should have said, obviously if you do not feel comfortable just don't hire him again. Edit: I fixed the math, I get it lol

People can change in a decade, and it’s not like weeding your yard is some great gig. What would you suggest he do instead?

I am torn on this one. On the one hand I have respect for someone who has a criminal past but is now trying to make an honest living. On the other hand - are you at all worried about him scoping your place out for a later break in?

They say to fake it until you make it. Dude's just following that advice.

Well just make sure you keep vigilant. I think you’ve learned a good lesson to vet people more carefully.

I've seen plenty of posts where someone makes an intentional misdirection like this. The double meaning of "weeds" is pretty classic Listnook humor.

Keep an eye on him.

A lot of work like this, and the guys who work for contractors have former criminals as part of their crews. So when you hire for this kind of work you should probably expect it as a real possibility. Was looking to have my shower done and was talking to one company and one point they made was they don't have ex cons working from them. They were also absurdly expensive too. So do you want c**** work or do you want work done by people with no record, choose one. It is not that every crew has ex cons on them but it is an area of work they can get hired for on coming out of prison. Probably the most important thing if you are concerned about this is hiring someone who is insured should something happen. But again that is not going to be the cheapest one you can find and there may well be ex cons working for them. In this case if they rob your home they have insurance to cover it. Again decide what you want and how much you are willing to pay. It is probably true these ex cons who are making a living doing this work are less likely to be reoffenders I suspect as they have an income, something to lose if they do something. That is probably not 100% true of course but an ex con unable to find any work I got to imagine is going to incentivize going back to crime. Doesn't mean they will, but this group is not working so is not found on the contractor crew. If you are a female living home alone I can understand this may be a greater worry which is understandable. In that case you are going to have to talk to the companies and find the ones without ex cons. You may find a c**** one but they will probably be immigrants, or possibly illegal immigrants too. In that case the contractor may not be able to check if they had a criminal record in the country they came from. Sooo, again going cheapest is going to up your chances of this. Maybe they can check records of say Mexicans but it may be they don't want to know that bad so they just ask, if they say no, then "no ex cons" on the crew (there are a lot of Mexicans working any type of labor here in Texas and some guys on the crew that did my roof could not speak any english at all for example, they must not have been in the U.S. long at all). Your best bet is to look at the higher cost providers who may have a policy like this and the company that did showers I had give me a price charged a LOT more. And this was because they were hiring skilled laborers, all professionals in installations in this kind of work and of course checking back ground records. But skilled laborers cost more and they cannot be the cheapest price, a simple reality. This company's price was probably what was necessary to have the skilled labors, not just general laborers, and that is just what it costs. But you would be amazed how high it can be. To simply remove a tub and put in a regular, tub sized shower they wanted $35k to do it for the mid quality artificial stone shower walls, with top end being $40k+. For a shower install, not talking remodeling the bathroom, just put in the shower. They did have lower price "c****" materials but that was going to be $20k+. This gives you a feel for what it can cost to be that picky about things. You are not going to get the skilled labor, insured and bonded companies coming in at c**** prices. They can't, this adds significantly to their overhead costs. Everybody wants the cheapest price so this will often mean immigrant, possibly ex con immigrants, or U.S. ex con labor potentially being on the work crew. You can request a crew without ex cons but to be honest contractors are not people I trust at all from personal experience with them, and they may just lie to you. Having dealt with lots of contractors I always joke to myself a first screening question would always be "OK, what were you in prison for?" If female and not home while they work, then you have less risk of physical violence I would imagine but could risk getting robbed. But let me tell you, having been robbed (not by a contractor crew), even with insurance making you whole, you will feel a lot less safe in your house after. If you have older kids at home after something like this, you will be paranoid about guys coming in while you yourself are at work (the robbers really do not want anyone home so this is less likely to happen, the drug tweekers are a different matter their judgment is impaired but they are not working on construction crews). You will buy the security services that watch the house, but you never really feel totally safe at home after that. And I am a guy by the way so I could imagine this worry possibly being even greater for women. Just an FYI from a guy who really didn't care about the stuff they took, believe it or not I was paranoid about my indoor cats being harmed. I was fortunate they hid when the guys broke in, and when they left the front and back door were wide open all day while I was at work. Fortunately my cats that had never been outside were too scared to leave their hiding place so they did not run out potentially get hit by a car or otherwise lost to me forever. Living alone and traveling for work leaving the cats for a few days became incredibly nerve wracking for me. Finally for mainly other reasons, but in part for this reason I moved to a super safe area and very very very low crime was a big criteria on where I would consider. It can really affect you.

Well, that ended well! Not getting robbed is a great ending. Do you feel relieved?

Ooh that’s creepy

There are so many crimes that everybody is a criminal. Your religious grandmother has probably jaywalked or or maybe something worse. I think that’s something that motivates police. A lot of the police start out with good intentions and realise that everybody is guilty of something.

Whoa, that's a wild ride!  Definitely a "wish I knew then what I know now" situation, for sure. Hopefully, it's all good and he's totally turned over a new leaf. Maybe just invest in some cameras for future yard work adventures, you know, for peace of mind!