How much should a climber make an hour on average?

[coolbrze]

Guy I know climbed for Pittman last year, he's only been climbing for ~3 years & they offered him $15/hr. but he quit after 6 months b/c he spent more time as a bucket baby than climber. Most of the big companies (25+ employees) in Northern VA are paying climbers $18-$26/hr. We start at $18/hr. w/ a 30 day trial/eval period & go up from there. My top climber makes $30/hr. & we have a couple climbers in between. Ground guys make between $12 - $16/hr. All our employees are on the books, no cash paying here.

 

[Gimp treeman]

That's not too bad. But what is the cost of living there? It's rather cheap living where I'm at


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[coolbrze]

That's not too bad. But what is the cost of living there? It's rather cheap living where I'm at


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Northern VA is pretty expensive compared to most of the country. The proximity to DC drives it up, living in the 'burbs is great for work but I'd rather live in the country

 

[no tree to big]

I don't blame you. My best friend and I ran our own side gig years ago, at the time I had about 10 years experience and he had about 20 plus years. We had ins. We advertised, etc.. We were getting most of the work we bid because there wasn't much for experience in the area at the time. When the price of fuel started getting crazy, I started getting my throat cut by a bunch of Jonny come latelys. The final straw came when Some of the regular known tree services & myself bid a ginormous oak that was rotted at the base. Big enuf for a child to crawl all the way thru. We figured about a 2-3 day job roping & rigging this tree down & cleaning up with our grapple loader. We bid it at $2,000. Homeowner said That's about what all the locals bid it at too. But they were gonna go with some no name outfit that owned a ladder and a saw who bid it at $400. I said deuces, I'm done.


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2 or 3 days? How big was this thing? We are 3500 a day min 3000 if it's a buddy or very good customer ( 4 owners = lots of buddies...)
Our climbers will range from 15 to 23/hr lot of crappy climbers looking for work...

 

[Magnum783]

Climber pay goes all over on staff climber usually around $22/hr a contract climber can see around $80. All depends upon your status and what gear and equipment you bring to the job site.

 

[Raganr]

Seems like any skilled labor around me charges a shop rate of at least $60/hour. Thats small engine, trailer, vehicle, plumber, HVAC, landscapers, etc. If I were to work as a climber, I would not work for less than $75/hour total compensation.

 

[BC WetCoast]

Seems like any skilled labor around me charges a shop rate of at least $60/hour. Thats small engine, trailer, vehicle, plumber, HVAC, landscapers, etc. If I were to work as a climber, I would not work for less than $75/hour total compensation.

Differs between whether you are an employee or a contractor (contracting to end client or other company). An employee will always make less, because they have less costs. A contract climber has his own insurance, equipment and vehicles to pay for. Also, a employee will usually have steady work, whereas a contractor may be a little more hit and miss. That's why a contractor charges more.

Also don't confuse the shop rate for a mechanic with the wage that mechanic makes.

When I was a consultant, we calculated our charge out rates as 3x salary.

 

[jefflovstrom]

Jeff

 

[bitzer]

Wow this is an old thread. Thank God I chose to go to the woods though. I don't like dealing with homeowners.

 

[formationrx]

hourly pay for my climber is based on the difficulty level of the tree and the weather conditions... for an easy tree on a nice day its around 20... if its freezing or super hot and the tree is very tricky he can make twice or triple that... he gets paid based on how much hell he goes thru.....

 

[climbhightree]

hourly pay for my climber is based on the difficulty level of the tree and the weather conditions... for an easy tree on a nice day its around 20... if its freezing or super hot and the tree is very tricky he can make twice or triple that... he gets paid based on how much hell he goes thru.....

So your paying your climber more per hour when he is being less productive per hour (do to weather conditions). Doesn't make sense to me. How do you even bid a job for that, how do you know what the weather will be like the day of the job?

 

[HuskStihl]

I don't know any climbers and don't really know what the commercial costs of tree removal are, but I was curious what a guy would get paid for climbing, topping, and removing a 30' tall 16" wide silver maple. I mean a a single guy on a crew getting paid by the owner. I have cut lots of firewood in the last five years and was asked by my father in law to give a qoute for some tree removals in his condo complex. The maple is by far the biggest of four trees and it could be felled without climbing. One company with a crew of four guys came in with a low bid and I thought how could they make any money especially when they said they would climb, top, remove, and stump grind. My father in law thought that a climber would only get paid $12/hour. I thought that was low. I won't be getting the job because I am not insured, but I was wondering what would a climber get paid that worked for a company? Thanks.

I pay climbers based upon their weight. Northman, for example, gets $100/hr. Jolly Jeff.........about 1/3 that rate.


Talk about a blast from the past. Bitzer before he was Bitzer!

 

[bitzer]

I pay climbers based upon their weight. Northman, for example, gets $100/hr. Jolly Jeff.........about 1/3 that rate.


Talk about a blast from the past. Bitzer before he was Bitzer!

Ha! yeah I was a little green then. Just swingin baby trees! No I didn't try it with a brom stick first. Thank God I still don't know the costs of commercial tree service companies.

 

[formationrx]

So your paying your climber more per hour when he is being less productive per hour (do to weather conditions). Doesn't make sense to me. How do you even bid a job for that, how do you know what the weather will be like the day of the job?

he is being more productive cuz a harder tree pays more... and i do like u guys do and check the weather before hand... im on site at every job... its not hard...