Someone started cutting a tree down for us and hasn't finished the job

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I figured most of the guys in this thread wouldn't agree with me on that point.

But it is still my advice.

I'm thinking this fellow may not be playing with a full deck.

.....and he's familiar with the neighborhood.
...and hopefully word will spread and limit his opportunities.
 
Yes- I agree!

Letting FEAR (of reprisal) dictate if one should contact LE, or litigate, is an absurd stance. KitKat already said the grifter has done work for at least two other neighbors, so if he's seen near KitKat's home and she finds damage- there are witnesses.

It's also unacceptable to advise others to act in fear!

It is easy to mistake wisdom as fear.
 
That's not how I understand it. At one point he said this guy "works with his neighbor "
Another post says "I should never have hired a "friend of a friend" - also referring to his neighbor. I took it as this guy had done work for his neighbor before.

Maybe KitKat1 will clarify it - or maybe I am misinterpreting something.
That's the way I understood it.
 
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us.

If the guy that walked away ever ask about his ropes, etc, my advice is to let him get his stuff in peace and make it clear that he needs to do it quickly and move on.

There is nothing to be gained by talking with him, arguing, giving him hell or chastising him for his actions or trying to cause him legal or business trouble.

Some tree workers are loose cannons and you guys don't want or need someone like that holding a grudge against you.

In the end you got a fair price for the job done so there is no financial benefit to be gained by invoking lawyers, the police, small claims court, etc.



I know I speak for all of us when I thank you for sharing your story.

Lesson learned!
I agree with allowing him to get his ropes as the homeowner has zero to be gained by keeping them. I do not however agree with allowing him to walk away from the situation with the money for a job that was not completed. That is asinine. Folks need to be held accountable for their actions. I do agree some are loose cannons and I know in this area from personal experience some have major drug issues that feed their ability to be loose cannons. You can go to small claims court and get a judgement but depending on your state laws that might be cost prohibitive. The chances are he will not show up and the judge will enter a default judgment. It truly gets you nothing more than a small bit of personal satisfaction but sometimes that is worth something. I would not drop the issue and I would pursue it with any employer you believe he works for. I have phoned employers when a renter skips out and that sometimes gets a fire under their butt. My wife has went as far as to have wages garnished but I doubt you have that ability in this situation. Allow him to get his stuff but do not allow him to walk away scott-free.
 
I agree with allowing him to get his ropes as the homeowner has zero to be gained by keeping them. I do not however agree with allowing him to walk away from the situation with the money for a job that was not completed. That is asinine. Folks need to be held accountable for their actions. I do agree some are loose cannons and I know in this area from personal experience some have major drug issues that feed their ability to be loose cannons. You can go to small claims court and get a judgement but depending on your state laws that might be cost prohibitive. The chances are he will not show up and the judge will enter a default judgment. It truly gets you nothing more than a small bit of personal satisfaction but sometimes that is worth something. I would not drop the issue and I would pursue it with any employer you believe he works for. I have phoned employers when a renter skips out and that sometimes gets a fire under their butt. My wife has went as far as to have wages garnished but I doubt you have that ability in this situation. Allow him to get his stuff but do not allow him to walk away scott-free.
He owes them money take the ropes and sell them its stupid to give the crook anything at this point. Why would you give a crook anything after they stole from you? I know one thing for sure he aint going to give anything back to the homeowner!
 
I'm glad everything worked out as well as it could have. My fear was that nobody would touch it for fear of liabilty.....you should definitely pass that man's number around whenever possible!
I hope that at a minimum your neighbor is aware of the danger his "friend" put you in. If for no other reason to hopefully prevent this hack from putting someone else in danger as he did to you. He could have well destroyed a home and worse yet, critically hurt or killed someone.
Seriously, spread the word.
 
He owes them money take the ropes and sell them its stupid to give the crook anything at this point. Why would you give a crook anything after they stole from you? I know one thing for sure he aint going to give anything back to the homeowner!

I would consider it unethical to sell any used gear of unknown history, especially considering their history.
 
Are you sure they are ash? I've been felling and cleaning up dead ash for 6+ years since the EAB hit this area. In the past six months the volume of dead ash breaking off mid-stem or at the roots has increased at an increasing rate as they have deteriorated so badly... They are beyond use for firewood and are being composted in place.

I cleaned up three just yesterday that fell from the neighbor's property onto my family's property. One of them barely missing a storage building that my neighbor's insurance company replaced a few years ago. This because one of their ash trees fell and crushed it after they were notified via certified mail that they had hazard trees. I'm gathering up a bunch of photos of the trees falling from that property that destroyed two large pines, caused significant damage to a maple and two other pines, smashed the building, and otherwise fell on our property... also photos of the myriad standing dead ash still threatening the building and our property. Being a lawyer and bank VP they don't give two sheetz about anyone but themselves... Being notified by their insurance company that they are loosing their homeowner's insurance may wake them up to the fact that others matter!

I would not be surprised to learn that I've had my saws in 1,000 or more ash... I took over 50 off my family's property mentioned above and many many 100s off two rail trails. About two weeks ago I took down and/or cleaned up 18 ash in about a 75 yard stretch of the trail. This after responding to a report that one fell and smashed a fence... Other local rail trails are experiencing similar issues and DPWs, highway departments, and volunteers are out frequently... so much so that the county now has a budgeted full time position dedicated to tree work on a 10.5 mile trail (it's for accounting purposes... normally 2-3 guys respond but they aren't there full time!).
Been talking them down for 10 years now, the ones I see coming down on their own are almost all right from the bottom where they rot from ground water. The trunks up a ways are usually strong as can be. A couple years back I was hired by a guy who was cutting his own down and broke his pull rope. It had a mouth cut half way through. I climbed it and limbed it and tied a 5/8 bull rope on up high. Used the winch on the truck to finish. Seemed really strong when I was in it and the wood in the cut was hard and strong despite the base not looking good.
 
Been talking them down for 10 years now, the ones I see coming down on their own are almost all right from the bottom where they rot from ground water. The trunks up a ways are usually strong as can be. A couple years back I was hired by a guy who was cutting his own down and broke his pull rope. It had a mouth cut half way through. I climbed it and limbed it and tied a 5/8 bull rope on up high. Used the winch on the truck to finish. Seemed really strong when I was in it and the wood in the cut was hard and strong despite the base not looking good.

If you're breaking ropes it's a technique issue.
 
Okay, so maybe not a troll. I stand corrected.
He owes them money take the ropes and sell them its stupid to give the crook anything at this point. Why would you give a crook anything after they stole from you? I know one thing for sure he aint going to give anything back to the homeowner!

I agree with confiscating the ropes but I do not agree with selling them. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I doubt you'd get enough from selling them to put a dent in what the job cost. They're probably cheap plastic ropes from Tractor Supply or Harbor Freight, not good quality ropes like tree services would use. He doesn't have much into the gear, which is why he left it.

Stuff it in an extra garbage can with a tight-fitting lid and stash it out behind the garage. If he hasn't come back for it in 6 months, it's pretty safe to say he's not coming back. Put it out to the street on trash pickup day.

It would be interesting to see what this guy was using for gear.
 
I'm glad to hear it worked out so well in the end.

Going up in a lift under a tree already cut and back leaning is an extreme act of bravery. Or stupidity.


Glad it worked!

Evidently the face cut was already made and the tree had leaned back on the felling cut.

We'd still like to know.
Kind of a stretch calling it stupidity. Sounded like they knew what they doing.
 
Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with us.

If the guy that walked away ever ask about his ropes, etc, my advice is to let him get his stuff in peace and make it clear that he needs to do it quickly and move on.

There is nothing to be gained by talking with him, arguing, giving him hell or chastising him for his actions or trying to cause him legal or business trouble.

Some tree workers are loose cannons and you guys don't want or need someone like that holding a grudge against you.

In the end you got a fair price for the job done so there is no financial benefit to be gained by invoking lawyers, the police, small claims court, etc.



I know I speak for all of us when I thank you for sharing your story.

Lesson learned!
Except they paid him in full for a job he couldn't do. Loose cannon or not he should at least refund their money. Just my 2 cents.
 
Crazy stuff. Because of hacks like him now the OP is convinced it takes a team to do a 60ft tree.
I usually fell production in the passages & Inlets of British Columbia for helli or conventional logging.
There was a time I was living on the main land in the Fraser Valley. Bubby that did porting & had a saw shop introduced me to a Faller and another guy that was a bucker that also worked for a number of companies that clear for property development.
Asked the Faller what he is changing. He said 85 an hour at 4 hour minimum. So never less than 340.
He did add he was going to raise to 90 per hour.
They both got me work with in the first few weeks. One week here, 10 days there.
I ran operators hours not Faller's hours. That's by choice.
Also getting some pirivot work through Craigslist & Kijiji also. I wouldn't do a 4 hour minimum if they were next door or close by. If I hadn't got my rocks off already then I was happy to jump over and do a little more. There was times (especially with elders) I felled , limb and bucked for 45 minutes and would not accept their money. Maybe it was the same reason in 40 below zero I always parked the furthest away from the Wal-Mart door because thankfully I can still walk and didn't get killed on the coast. Superstitious? Fear of a higher power? Believe in karma? There is something I must believe in.

About the tree..I have nothing to say about the tree. I just wanted to talk about what a good Faller I am & what a good guy I can be.. J/k..but it does kind of sound like that so far.
Of course I want to talk about the tree.

I assume he lost his nerve.
Looks to be leaning back a little but branches were of good size creating that 'extended weight' towards the house. Nothing that one could not have overcome with 3 or 4, 10" K& H wedges & just a 3 1/2 lb head with 20-22" handle. He probably had a boat load of holding wood left because he was afraid to pull the pin.
One thing I learnt about Timber Falling is God hates a coward. Guys a coward in everything he has done here.

As far as hitting the house?
He said he snapped a rope??? so maybe the rope he tied is unsafe??? I could not see the rope on my phone.
Assuming a few things, if the rope was good & tied with tension (backed up with wedges) and the 'greater weight' is below the leverage point then it is not going to be able to hit the house ..now as long as the rope is good. As I said I could not see anchor point. Furthermore, providing that rope was good with right anchor height & he did cut through the holding wood.
Let's say 2" anti-kickback step (2" vertical holding wood) probably the only way it will break would be if it blow forward then it will spin to a side and back somewhat without a rope. Rope should prevent that with right anchor point.
No saying it is good practice.

Am a production Faller but I've played around on 3 continents. Worked for the
three biggest utility/tree company's in the word, Asplundh, Davey & Tamarack tree (Lewis tree)
Fell a lot of free style on live wire but we used rope and tree tirfor a lot. Was in the electrical union twice from 2 of those companies.

To the OP, Your situation was no joke, and very upsetting to people but this level of tree work to a lot of us on here in a joke.
Sometimes I slip backwards and take out bigger trees.

Can I say one more thing...

Hard to tell everything from a pic but looks like tree could go without taking the branches off?
I mean, they are not my new hero/s
 

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