Ok...can we talk about property damage on jobs?

[teamtree]

In the last year I became more of a manager than a foreman. For almost 14 years I took the crew to the job that I sold and led the team through the job. We had some mishaps and tore a gutter here, cracked some concrete there, rutted the yard over there. It was something that was more rare than common.

Anyway, it seems we are running at 50% lately as far as whether we are damaging something or not. Not sure if I should send the crew out anymore becuase it just creates more work for me. I have to replace a basketball goal, replace some limestone caps on a wall, fix two lights, and level and reseed 3 yards.

How are you guys dealing with this situation?

Anybody offer an incentive for 0 losses? if so...how do you manage it? Does it work?

 

[pro94lt]

I was a upper manager in a different industry with low skill/ low paid workers who flat out didn't care when left unattended. Corporate wouldn't pay more for better workers which would have solved it sounds like you need to micro-manage. But micro managing tree guys may lead to jobsite brawls sticking it to the man and vandalism. ..my only way of keeping these guys operating effectively was micromanaging them. Was a pain but had to be done. I would implement a monthly bonus to crews with no damage maybe cash maybe let em off Fridays at lunch? Lots of ways to motivate them. How much are they making? Now that I'm full time in the tree business I pay my guys well they appreciate it and take care of me. I'm just blessed to actually have great guys!!!

 

[Toddppm]

What? Everybody here has never, ever damaged anything in their whole careers! Doesn't get discussed much anyways, when it is brought up all of the NEVER claims come out

Set up a bonus system instead of a raise the next few times and deduct damage from that. You can't deduct damages from their regular paychecks but you can take it out of their performance bonuses.

I remember a time I broke a flagstone when I was climbing and the boss charged me for it, I don't know why but I was shocked he wanted me to pay for it. Guess I didn't really think about it because it was an accident but it could have been avoided. Our crew rarely damaged anything, EVER

 

[no tree to big]

Damage on my crew is kinda rare Im sort of a Nazi when it comes to things. last year I think my crew broke one flower pot and left one rut when I had a guy pull way the hell off the road when we pulled up to the job (no curbs) that was fixed before we left the job and I think the flower pot cost 12 dollars. Now the other crews have a tendency to break those teak 800 dollar benches... We have just repaired them and all was good one was a fluke though, a throw ball ricochet was the culprit but we have no recourse as employees on damage never really had to many incidents to have to make it an issue.

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[mckeetree]

How are you guys dealing with this situation?

I just don't put up with it. If I have a guy that is damaging things that often he just has to go.

 

[treeclimber101]

The list of what I haven't broken is shorter then what I have ! Honestly you name it I've hit it . Other then fiber optic and gas lines ! But I've been working at this along time and most people who are honest have similar stories as me

 

[ATH]

Make expectations clear. Maybe they think getting out of there 30 minutes quicker is more important that worrying about concrete damage. Even run the economics with them: "It costs me $150 to have the crew here for another hour...it will cost $800 to repair that sidewalk. That money doesn't come from no where...having to pay for that leaves me less room to ask for more pay for you all. Take the time you need to do a good clean job."

 

[VA-Sawyer]

A good clean job..... we actually had a customer that expected us to vac up the chips and sawdust!

 

[pro94lt]

The list of what I haven't broken is shorter then what I have ! Honestly you name it I've hit it . Other then fiber optic and gas lines ! But I've been working at this along time and most people who are honest have similar
stories as me

Ever cut power to a neighborhood?

 

[CanopyGorilla]

The list of what I haven't broken is shorter then what I have ! Honestly you name it I've hit it . Other then fiber optic and gas lines ! But I've been working at this along time and most people who are honest have similar stories as me

Honesty!

 

[pro94lt]

Seems I've really came close to killing dogs they always come running when I'm making the back cut or dropping a big limb

 

[mckeetree]

Seems I've really came close to killing dogs they always come running when I'm making the back cut or dropping a big limb

Never had that happen (killing a dog) but almost did and interestingly enough that is a recurring bad dream I've had for at least the past 25 years. I have that dream every four or five months.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Every time we have damage, the crew member responsible has to do a 'mea culpa' at the weekly safety meeting, and often there is a spirited discussion on how it could be prevented in the future. To a certain extent a bit of peer pressure comes into effect.

I think you have to look at each incident.
Was the guy rushing because the job was underbid?
Did the crew not know how to work without damage?
Did the crew not bother to move things out of the way?
Did the crew cut and throw branches when they should have roped it.
Driving on lawn when they know it will rut?

These could either be training issues or supervision issues. That is, if the crew knows what to do and decides to get lazy, then perhaps they need to be verbally warned/written warned/suspended.

If its a training issue, then the answer is obvious.

The crew foreman/leader is responsible for the performance of his crew, so if the problem is a groundie, then you and the foreman need to decide on a solution (change crews, termination, training).

 

[imagineero]

Big rep for the above post!

If you're running a high production crew at low cost and squeezing a lot of jobs in a day then you've gotta expect damage. It depends how you market your company too. There are guys out there that bid low and squeeze a lot of jobs in, they're a bit rough and ready, and don't necessarily cleanup too good after but the customers are generally not going to mind the odd fence paling cracked or lawn damage at that price. At the other end of the scale, some customers are super fussy and have highly technical trees over precious unmovable plants and want zero damage and full cleanup. That's just fine so long as they're willing to pay for it.

 

[treeclimber101]

Honesty!

Cut power to a neighbor ? I cut power to about 300 houses including a police station and 5 traffic lights ! I was removing a silver maple . Cut a small water spout and threw it down and a gust of wind laid it right across bare 3phase branch sat there fried .... Caught on fire for almost 5 minutes while the system tried to blow it off eventually it just shut down until the power company came out . Thank god I have a ehap card

 

[sgreanbeans]

I have never really damaged anything from actual tree work. I did bust a single wood fence lathe, about 10 years ago, looked funny when I replaced it, a mile of old privacy fencing with one nice and shiny piece. I have busted a couple driveways from outriggers, blew out a cheap railroad tie wall and stained a custom stamped drive with hydraulic fluid. Big damage comes from bad planning and rushing ****. I try to see the future and safeguard against any damage. I always take before and after pics, making sure I document any damage to the property that was there before. I have had people try to blame me for **** I didnt do. Love there face when I show them pics proving I didnt.

 

[treeclimber101]

Oh what you are leading us to believe is that you've never broken anything ? Well ok then , I need to go look in the mirror cause someone wrote jackass on my forehead !

 

[sgreanbeans]

Sorry Eddie, honest truf. Like I said, I have busted stuff, but not from dropping something from a tree..........OK, I dented aluminum siding once, from a branch that bounced off the brush tips and shot sideways into the house. It was about a 1" dia and put a little ding in the siding.........does that count? And one more, I knocked off a gutter end cap once and scarred up some shingles from dropping a hickory, tree had a little branch swipe it on the way down. That is it tho. These where all in my early days, before I was enlightened by Yoda.

 

[treeclimber101]

Yes it counts ..... And usually when I start a difficult job I will just get out of the truck and kick over a flower Potter or something just to try to get that off my mind of smashing something ! LOL

 

[Raintree]

In my view it comes down to the leadership of the Foreman. May also be a good time for drug testing.

You want to see a bill? Grind out 4 large Honey Locust stumps during a drought next to a house with open windows on a breezy day.