commercial tree co offering rec. climbing

[OTG BOSTON]

I almost fell out of my chair.......................

I was talking to a friend of mine who runs a tree preservation company. He has always been on the cutting edge as far as equipment and education goes. When he told me that he was paying his guys to teach rec. climbing I almost fell out of my chair. His philosophy is why would you want to let your climbers climb on Sat. and Sun. for extra money when they can actually make more money by keeping their feet on the ground? Everyone knows Buzzys, or cashies, or whatever you call side work, is a part of the business.

As an employer he sets everything up as he would a regular tree job. His guys go out and teach and facilitate climbs for homeowners, kids, birthday parties, whatever. He charges an hourly rate, just like if he was doing pruning work. His climbers don't exactly bust their humps and they get paid, and show up on Monday ready to go!

Have any of you guys ever heard of this?? Would the companies you work for actually consider doing this?

 

[BostonBull]

I have never heard of this but I am sure if presented the right way to my boss he would consider it.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

I'm surprised he didn't think of it first

 

[BostonBull]

:notrolls2:

 

[rahtreelimbs]

And to think I could have stayed home with my Etch-a-Sketch instead of buzzing..............who da thunk???:yoyo: :bang: :yoyo: :bang:

 

[moss]

Interesting thing is... running a rec climb for beginners is it's own kind of professional activity. It's a specialized skill set. When a group climb is done right it's quite a bit of preparation and work from beginning to end. You have to use your head as much as you would on the trickiest removal. Now you're responsible for human lives up in the tree. A successful rec climb looks easy (it should) but there's a lot behind it. Food for thought.
-moss