How can I put a rope in a Queen Palm?

[ForTheArborist]

There is nothing backwards about a per tree price system. The hours and cost are figured the same except in this case it's... well per tree.

What my thing has been is to give them a great deal, do a great job, and then realize that the service was worth more than what they paid. Some of these jobs I wouldn't get if I didn't squeeze the numbers because the competitors are all swimming in the same bucket of low, low priced services. N' if there is no money running across my hands, I make bids they can't refuse. As if that isn't bruising enough underbidding a job is no less than a backside branding. There is no comparison to getting your rocks caught in the leather of a customers' tight wallet. No comparison.

 

[ozzy42]

The point I was trying to make about the "per tree " price is they are not all the same .Even trees with the same amount of stuff to come off have many varaibles:front yard vs back yard,open lawn to bomb everything vs 50 lbs seed pods hanging over the pool screen.

It is even worse if a potential client ask for a card an a price per tree .
If you tell them 50$ per tree,you might be overbidding a dozen easy trees you could do before breakfast is cold,,,,,,,,,,,or,,,,they say GREAT,and then when you get to the job ,you discover they are a p.i.t.a. that are worth double that.

No see,no price.


Btw,Did you get them queens trimmed yet?

 

[jefflovstrom]

We wont do a palm tree. I will pass that on to a friend or one of my guys. We do lots of palm trees. One of our properties has 565 palms, mostly mex and about 200 Queens. If I was to bid on 1 palm there, probably say $200-250. With volume, got to drop the price. We do it every year for the last 9 years.We get it done (almost 800 palms) in about 9 working days, at the most. The thing is , they go out to bid every year and get much lower estimates than mine. One condition is that you have 10 days to do it. The guys with low bids dont have 8-9 climbers that can do this many a day.
Not to jump on another thread, but they ask for your website when you send in a proposal.
Jeff

 

[ForTheArborist]

Yeah Jeff, that's good to know.

Oz, I wound up spiking them after the HO said he didn't like the trees anyway, "spike 'em."

 

[robertjinnes]

Queen palm trimming

My dimes worth--
What is the big deal with queens? Since they only grow to approx 50 ft with most being somewhat less, throw up the 28 ft ladder and trim, if it doesn't reach, then go for the 36 and... if that doesn't work, I've got a 3 section 60 footer but I need to rig a block and tackle 20 ft up to lift the beast --189 pounds. For an individual 42 ft tall tree, I have used the 36 with Stihl pole saw. I've also done large jobs with clusters of palms that I could get at with a towable boom. Trim from 4 to 10 without moving the rig for the next clustrer makes quick work of it. With the boom lift and someone keeping sharp chains on the two trim saws, it takes two on the ground cleaning up the mess I can make. Without a doubt the worst of the job that no one has mentioned can be rats and snakes. Sure is a good thing to be tied in when a critter is suddenly looking you in the face from 10 inches.

If people want their trees trimmed, they pay. As was said earlier in the thread, pricing is all about quantity discount. It takes time to rig up to trim one or to trim 10. That is a fixed cost of time and the Customer pays. At times, I have had neightbors get together and I do the combined job for good $$ for me and them. The only trim jobs I have lost are Customers that moved away or passed away.

I won't spike a palm, no matter what kind. It is permanent damage and that isn't what I want to be remembered for.

 

[ForTheArborist]

Thanks for the input.

What do you know about the outer layer of the queens rotting.

I contracted with a property to work on the queens number one..., and a few of them have portions where the outer layer of trunk is rotting off. I've never observed that on any others anywhere else.

What I'm used to are the old spike holes turning into baseball size craters and parts of the trunk looking to narrow to hold up the upper portion of the tree.

One thing is that on the trees with the little bit of rot their spike marks are very small and some have nearly disappeared - grown smaller not bigger.

What's weird about those queens on that property I mentioned is that the bottom part of the trunk is cuffed. It is very narrow for about the first 3-4 feet, and then the diameter in almost triples all at once. I couldn't get any information from the people about what the causes of that are.

Now, one difference I know about these particulars and the ones I'm used to seeing along the streets is that these are heavily watered and the ones on the streets see 1-3 shots of rain a year. I'm almost suspecting that too much water causes their trunks to rot some when it's only on the ones getting water every other day or what have you.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Dude!- I don't what to say!--Are we on 'Candid Camera''?
Jeff

 

[Koa Man]

It is impossible to get a rope through the head of a palm using a throw ball line and pulling your climbing line with it. As you found out, it will get stuck between the fronds.

I will be starting a new thread showing how I now climb palms spikeless when my spider lift cannot get to it.

 

[jefflovstrom]

It is impossible to get a rope through the head of a palm using a throw ball line and pulling your climbing line with it. As you found out, it will get stuck between the fronds.

I will be starting a new thread showing how I now climb palms spikeless when my spider lift cannot get to it.

Seriously? Impossible?
Jeff

 

[l2edneck]

Well having done many succesfully,this is how ive always done it....

Ps im not readin this entire thread but hopefully someone thought of this approach already....:monkey:

 

[Koa Man]

Seriously? Impossible?
Jeff

Yes, impossible. Many have tried, all have failed, including guys from the mainland who came over here for the ISA show and tree climbing championships in 2007.

Here is a couple of closeups of the top of a coconut palm. These photos do not show how the rope would get stuck, but try to imagine pulling a rope through this. We are trimming about 30 coconut palms tomorrow, so I'll get some better photos with a rope in it.

As for the ladder, it would be pretty short to reach a 40 or 50 ft. top and trying to pole saw what you need to remove from a palm is very very difficult.

I will be posting some photos in a new thread about spikeless palm climbing in a few minutes.