What not to do on a bid!

[adronetree]

I saw one of the ads on this site and it reminded me of bids gone wrong in the past. Whats your best one??

I went on a bid for a multiple pine tree removal. I was walking the job with this wealthy and classy European homeowner woman who barely spoke or understood English.
We came to a tree with locust shells all over it and she asked what it was? I told her it was a locust skin and she didn't understand; looked at me strange.
So I took the locust off the tree and I stuck it on my nose and I said "You know, a nose bug!"
She backed away from me with a horror look on her face.
Apparently she didnt have the same sense of humor as me. That was that. Didn't get that job.
Every kid from Georgia knows what one is.
I guess you have to be from the South to appreciate a good nose bug.

 

[tree md]

I am a kid from Georgia and certainly know what a nose bug is... I am just curious, how did a kid from Georgia find himself all the way to Norway doing tree work?

 

[adronetree]

Hey

I am a kid from Georgia and certainly know what a nose bug is... I am just curious, how did a kid from Georgia find himself all the way to Norway doing tree work?

Md I married a Norwegian girl and we moved here around a year ago for financial reasons. Wifes a doctor and she makes about 3 times what she did in Georgia. Would you believe alot of carpenters here make 100$ per hour. Our teenager makes around $35.00 an hour working as a cashier.
I'll be doing tree work again in Georgia the fall and winter of each year starting late summer this year. I've got a long term deal coming up soon there so.
They make really good money doing trees here( Groundsman around $300-$400 a day) but I'm not too fond of working for other people and I haven't learned the language and everything enough to start my own business here. There are some really good small business opportunities here in tree care but you have to learn the system first.
Do I know you MD?? Where are you from in GA??

 

[tree md]

I came up in GA and learned the business there working around the Atlanta area, Roswell, Alpheretta. Started climbing in 91 and worked there until 01. I moved to OK in 01 due to medical reasons. I worked for 5 services in the Atlanta area. 3 of them were large services so if you climbed and worked around there in that timeframe chances are our paths may have crossed.

 

[adronetree]

I came up in GA and learned the business there working around the Atlanta area, Roswell, Alpheretta. Started climbing in 91 and worked there until 01. I moved to OK in 01 due to medical reasons. I worked for 5 services in the Atlanta area. 3 of them were large services so if you climbed and worked around there in that timeframe chances are our paths may have crossed.

Same area I've been working/living in a long time. We moved from Roswell to here. I'm from Habersham county in North Georgia though. Near Lake Burton.
I was just 3 or 4 years in tree work when you left then in 01.
I was loading the back of my pickup with brush back then.
Do you like it better in Oklahoma?? Do you know any of the Davenport family in Oil cleanup and tree/storm work there???
I worked next to those guys some in Miami on the hurricane DOT work and wondered whatever happened to them. They're from your current area.

 

[tree md]

I am very familiar to Habersham county and all of N. GA. I am from that area as well. About 40 miles North of Atlanta. Had a buddy from Habersham that we called the Habersham slam.

I lived in Chamblee before I moved. Traffic had gotten too bad to travel back and forth to the city to work. I like the area where I now live, it better suits my lifestyle, but N. GA will always be home. I love the lack of traffic here. I traveled to Alabama to work the tornados last Summer and loved the landscape. Reminded me of home. I did take a trip back to GA while I was there and was able to visit with some old friends. I like it here and do well but we don't have nowhere near the same sized trees here. Trees here are elementary to me after learning and working in GA.

I have heard the Davenport name but that's about it. Not really familiar with them or their operation.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Md I married a Norwegian girl and we moved here around a year ago for financial reasons. Wifes a doctor and she makes about 3 times what she did in Georgia. Would you believe alot of carpenters here make 100$ per hour. Our teenager makes around $35.00 an hour working as a cashier.
I'll be doing tree work again in Georgia the fall and winter of each year starting late summer this year. I've got a long term deal coming up soon there so.
They make really good money doing trees here( Groundsman around $300-$400 a day) but I'm not too fond of working for other people and I haven't learned the language and everything enough to start my own business here. There are some really good small business opportunities here in tree care but you have to learn the system first.
Do I know you MD?? Where are you from in GA??

Now tell us how much the taxes are up there StatOil does not pay for aall the great benefits they get there!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

BTW one of my most memorable SNAFU's was to call a purple plumb a sand cherry. Sicne i could not tell my cherry from a plumb, I was not good enough to work on her property. Shoulda told her I lost my cherry many years ago aand cannot tell one from another....

Some fifteen years later i still cannot tell two small specimens of the two apart. I just cal them all Prunus and have done with it, except for P. serotina, I's gots a few of those in my yard.

 

[pdqdl]

You were putting a spirit level on her cherry? Did I get that right?

 

[adronetree]

Taxes

Now tell us how much the taxes are up there StatOil does not pay for aall the great benefits they get there!

John the taxes here were suprising. They are lower for us.
In Georgia me and my wife were in the 35%+ before deductions with state and federal together. +property taxes
Here they do not have property tax in this area(state basically) and our income tax has dropped to around 30% before deductions. My wifes income puts us in one of the highest brackets here so for most the taxes are less.

If you run your own business here (Its called an AS) then its a flat tax rate of 28% of net no matter how much you make. In Georgia my tree business was an S corp with my profit share on my personal being taxed at 35% or more state+federal before deductions on any year I made a decent lick.

The only thing that is bad is the sales tax (25%) of whatever you buy and services you receive.
The cost of things particularly service is much higher here but the person providing you the service also makes enough money to have a decent life themselves so it balances out in a way.
In some ways I like it, some ways I dont. Its better in some ways and worse in others.

Virtually no crime, everyone is nice as hell, people actually respect you as a worker, better environment for the kids, etc. etc.

I will say as a tree worker, oil worker, carpenter, drywall, concrete, etc etc... you will have a much better life here financially. Some other careers maybe not.

I think thats where we f'd up in America partly is we wanted everything provided for us for so Cheap (particularly tradework) that eventually our own businesses and services and products are expected to be cheap also when others use us . I think we've all been seeing that in the tree business.

 

[Zale]

I saw one of the ads on this site and it reminded me of bids gone wrong in the past. Whats your best one??

I went on a bid for a multiple pine tree removal. I was walking the job with this wealthy and classy European homeowner woman who barely spoke or understood English.
We came to a tree with locust shells all over it and she asked what it was? I told her it was a locust skin and she didn't understand; looked at me strange.
So I took the locust off the tree and I stuck it on my nose and I said "You know, a nose bug!"
She backed away from me with a horror look on her face.
Apparently she didnt have the same sense of humor as me. That was that. Didn't get that job.
Every kid from Georgia knows what one is.
I guess you have to be from the South to appreciate a good nose bug.

Not busting balls but that shell is from a cicada.

 

[adronetree]

Not busting balls but that shell is from a cicada.

True Zale, you are right. I suppose technically a locust is more like a grasshopper but apparently there are many different types of "locusts" so its not limited to grasshoppers.

We call Grasshoppers grashoppers also but according to the encyclopedia I guess a grasshopper can technically be a grasshopper or a locust depending on the number?? I dunno. It gets kind of confusing the more you look up these bug terms... Lol

Cicada just can't be said correctly in Southern English so we unofficially changed the name. I just don't have the genes to say words like Cicada.
Its certainly not the only thing some of us in the South don't say or label "correctly".
We just can't or refuse to use Latin terms some of us.

" Cicadas are often colloquially called locusts
The name is a direct derivation of the Latin cicada, meaning "tree cricket". There is no word of proper English, or indeed Germanic, etymology for the insect. In classical Greek, it was called a tettix, and in modern Greek tzitzikas—both names being onomatopoeic."
Courtesy of Wikipedia. You learn something new every day.
As you can see I have alot of time on my hands here. Bored to death.

 

[tree md]

Well, in my part of the South we called them Kaytee Dids...

 

[ddhlakebound]

Locust/cicada, whatever, same thing.

We've always called em bait.

Katy-dids are the solid green grasshoppers. (to me anyway) And the big ones bite like an owl. Well, like a really small owl.

 

[adronetree]

I am very familiar to Habersham county and all of N. GA. I am from that area as well. About 40 miles North of Atlanta. Had a buddy from Habersham that we called the Habersham slam.

I lived in Chamblee before I moved. Traffic had gotten too bad to travel back and forth to the city to work. I like the area where I now live, it better suits my lifestyle, but N. GA will always be home. I love the lack of traffic here. I traveled to Alabama to work the tornados last Summer and loved the landscape. Reminded me of home. I did take a trip back to GA while I was there and was able to visit with some old friends. I like it here and do well but we don't have nowhere near the same sized trees here. Trees here are elementary to me after learning and working in GA.

I have heard the Davenport name but that's about it. Not really familiar with them or their operation.

Same here in Norway. Smaller trees than GA. Heavier, slower growth. Mostly evergreen forest here. Max around 60-70ft. Nice forests here but it ain't the same as home. The weird thing is you never see any wildlife other than birds and a deer every now and again. Half the year not even a bug moving. And its not that cold. Its strangely quiet in the woods here. I guess the Vikings killed em all off thousand or more years ago. Hard to appreciate all the life around you in the woods in GA until you go somewhere and its all gone.

 

[arborjockey]

I call the little bastards, loud ass annoying monsters. I was amazed how loud the little nasty punks are. Maybe it was a bad year 7-12-112 I dont know but it sucked. for those who dont know its like a neon light ballast that buzzes. Times that by a billion.:bang:

Make all that $ up there in Norway(I'm going in June after Denmark) but what do you spend it on? The place is dark 9 months out of the year. Sounds like a terrible deal.........hey where can i find a Norwegian Dr.? My Great grandpa would roll over in his grave if he found out i moved back to the homeland.

 

[adronetree]

I call the little bastards, loud ass annoying monsters. I was amazed how loud the little nasty punks are. Maybe it was a bad year 7-12-112 I dont know but it sucked. for those who dont know its like a neon light ballast that buzzes. Times that by a billion.:bang:

Make all that $ up there in Norway(I'm going in June after Denmark) but what do you spend it on? The place is dark 9 months out of the year. Sounds like a terrible deal.........hey where can i find a Norwegian Dr.? My Great grandpa would roll over in his grave if he found out i moved back to the homeland.

Arbor Jockey I will still be here in June probably.
If you want to check some stuff out here let me know before you go and I'll show you around a little if you want. 2 hour Ferry ride from Northern Denmark. I'm in far southern Norway right across the channel from Denmark. The weather in this region is similar to parts of Pennsylvania/ Virginia maybe?? Its not as cold here as the far Northern states in the US. I was near the Great lakes before and it was MUCH colder.
We dont have the darkness deal here. Thats only in Northern Norway. The light here is different hours than the southern US but not to an extreme. And yeah you make more money but you will spend alot more money on stuff too. Trick is to make some money in Northern Europe and spend it in the US.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

John the taxes here were suprising. They are lower for us.
In Georgia me and my wife were in the 35%+ before deductions with state and federal together. +property taxes
Here they do not have property tax in this area(state basically) and our income tax has dropped to around 30% before deductions. My wifes income puts us in one of the highest brackets here so for most the taxes are less.

If you run your own business here (Its called an AS) then its a flat tax rate of 28% of net no matter how much you make. In Georgia my tree business was an S corp with my profit share on my personal being taxed at 35% or more state+federal before deductions on any year I made a decent lick.

The only thing that is bad is the sales tax (25%) of whatever you buy and services you receive.
The cost of things particularly service is much higher here but the person providing you the service also makes enough money to have a decent life themselves so it balances out in a way.
In some ways I like it, some ways I dont. Its better in some ways and worse in others.

Virtually no crime, everyone is nice as hell, people actually respect you as a worker, better environment for the kids, etc. etc.

I will say as a tree worker, oil worker, carpenter, drywall, concrete, etc etc... you will have a much better life here financially. Some other careers maybe not.

I think that's where we f'd up in America partly is we wanted everything provided for us for so Cheap (particularly tradework) that eventually our own businesses and services and products are expected to be cheap also when others use us . I think we've all been seeing that in the tree business.

The problem here is our greatest strength, we are a nation of migrants so the diversity we have causes frictions between the groups. In the small countries with a monolithic culture there is only an US, very little THEM (though we hear more stirrings of Muslim "guest worker" unrest, even in Scandinavia). Here in the US there is enough Us vs Them that there are ghettos in cities and rural areas that hate the big cities. Thus more need for emergency services. I could ramble on about this, but not in this forum

I'm surprised about such a regressive sales tax, or are all wages universally high? If so, then you notch everything down in a relative sense.

I spent a couple weeks in the Sandefjord area in '86 when we were part of a NATO operation. We used the public beach there of a landing support area. One of the best times of my ~9 years of service.

 

[adronetree]

The problem here is our greatest strength, we are a nation of migrants so the diversity we have causes frictions between the groups. In the small countries with a monolithic culture there is only an US, very little THEM (though we hear more stirrings of Muslim "guest worker" unrest, even in Scandinavia). Here in the US there is enough Us vs Them that there are ghettos in cities and rural areas that hate the big cities. Thus more need for emergency services. I could ramble on about this, but not in this forum

I'm surprised about such a regressive sales tax, or are all wages universally high? If so, then you notch everything down in a relative sense.

I spent a couple weeks in the Sandefjord area in '86 when we were part of a NATO operation. We used the public beach there of a landing support area. One of the best times of my ~9 years of service.

John you are pretty close to dead on there. The system here in Norway works well but like you said everyone around here are the same people. I cant go anywhere in 40 miles without running into some of my wifes family. Its very small close knit culture.
And yes they have been letting refugees in from other countries who account for most of the crime in the bigger cities now. You can take a family out of Somalia but its really difficult to take Somalia out of the family.
Norway is beginning to learn from this though and they are starting to change their policy on immigration. Alot of Northern Europe are beginning to change in the same way. Ie: the new leader in Netherlands is trying to boot all the muslims to clean up Amsterdam. If you see Amsterdam now you will understand why.
I think thats one of our big struggles in the US is there really is no we if you're talking about the majority. North vs South, black vs white, latin vs. whoever, etc. etc. No one ever agrees and its extremely diverse.
Norways system wouldnt work in America no way. Unfortunately the US system is starting not to work well in the US ither.
Like you said though this is a longer conversation for a different forum I guess.

 

[Norwayclimber]

Just berfore all you americans start running us down, it might interest you to know our gas prices peak 10$ a gallon ;-)

adronetree, you aware of the national climbing comp in two weeks time? Saturday, 21 April. Its in Skien. Come on up!