How much should a climber make an hour on average?

[beastmaster]

Most of the Climbers out here don't speak English and only a few have papers. Some of them are damn good too. But you get what you pay for. Most make around 12 to 15 dollars an hour. No benefits or perks. I get a 150 a day, cash, no benefits but lots of perks. I've had my share of 12.00 an hour jobs over the years working for greedy owner. But I've paid my dues and work for some good tree services these days. I don't see my self getting rich anytime soon. Once years ago I was hired to work one day, I was hopeful ited turn into a full time job after they seen my skill, I over heard the owner say"I had all the qualifications they were looking for," My ego was inflated, then i heard him say," He's white,speaks English, and has a drivers lic." 15.00 an hour. Ego deflated.

 

[WolverineMarine]

The large line clearance company I work for starts us out low IMO..I have a clean class A CDL..you get raises based on if you are a climber and/or bucket baby and established tasks that must be completed/demonstrated and signed off by your foreman..I just started with this place..and I admittley don't know as much about climbing and rigging as I thought..so I started off on the bottom..but I'm going to step up and start the steps to get the next raise..I know guys there that won't climb, have been there for over 2 yrs, they're stuck at the bottom and they still make low end pay..we get a little extra for bringing in our trim saws..but it isn't much..I think its really cool though that this place has the standards in place so you know exactly what you need to do to get as raise..instead of just someone saying "ya..that guy busts his ass hauling brush and he wants to climb..he shows up everyday and is ready to go..he needs a raise". I admitt..it would be nice to get a bump up for that early in the game..but it prevents animocity amongst other members of the crews..and kinda cuts down on someone being accused of kissing the bosses ass..

 

[OntarioClimber]

It is my company, I'm the climber and I charge 150.00 per hour or I price by the job I always tell clients that balk, that I can rent them my gear for 75.00 bucks an hour so far? no takers lol

 

[Plasmech]

I don't see how climbing commands anything LESS than $50/hour.

Ever see what tower jockeys make? They make mint. And honesty that's probably a safer job with infinitely less variables.

 

[Lawnmowerboy48]

$18 hr on the ground doing landscaping and what not, $26 above ground. On the side $90 per man hour plus travel.

 

[ForTheArborist]

I don't see how climbing commands anything LESS than $50/hour.

Ever see what tower jockeys make? They make mint. And honesty that's probably a safer job with infinitely less variables.

Those guys are getting paid from a much bigger money pool than what our customers are made of. When they have big money, it's easy to ask for big money no matter how much more simple the job is compared to tree climbing.

 

[Bermie]

I did a tree job for a guy who works for the cellular company...he asked me if I wanted to climb towers for them...after I saw two West Indians make money for jam on one tower I think I'll say yes!

 

[Aldegar]

No less than $20/hr if you can climb comfortably.

 

[Griff93]

It really depends on your market and cost of living. $20/hr is a good wage around here in Alabama. Housing around here is fairly cheap. $120K will buy you a nice house and and a big yard as long as you stay out of the 'rich' folks areas. Our market has a lot of competition so our $$$ per man hour is lower. I basically can't get work at $100/per as the licensed/insured competition is mostly lower than that. It's really getting pretty bad around here. As a result you see lots of corners cut too. The wages reflect this. One local large outfit pays their climbers $9 per hour to start out. Their ground guys are minimum wage.

 

[Gimp treeman]

Unfortunately, due to all of the overhead involved, insurance especially, in order to stay competitive, you can't charge enough money to be able to pay a skilled climber what they're worth. After climbing trees for 15 years I am now disabled. Most of which was caused from tree work. With this being said, how much a climber makes in my opinion, is a matter of how much you think your body is worth. Knowing what I know now, I would have considered doing things differently in order to take better care of my body. At the very least, climb safe

 

[Sunrise Guy]

I don't see how climbing commands anything LESS than $50/hour.

Ever see what tower jockeys make? They make mint. And honesty that's probably a safer job with infinitely less variables.

You must have different info than I. I looked into tower climbing, for about a week. It is largely unregulated, several different "licensing" bodies, most unaccredited, and the only people pulling in decent bucks are the owners who see climbers come and go, very often, just like in our biz. The dangers are many. If a given tower is not locked out, power-wise, you can get microwaved at three hundred feet. Fun. If that doesn't get you, spontaneous electrical discharge (lightning out of nowhere) can. The hourly average I came up with, for tower climbers, was $12-$18/hr., from a few web pages.

 

[jomoco]

It all depends on how strategic the work you're doing is?

Pruning small stuff, 2 bills a day.

Pruning big stuff, 3 bills a day.

Removing big stuff a crane can't get to, 5 bills a day.


jomoco

 

[CanopyGorilla]

We try to price our bids with $100 per climber hour and $45 per ground hour. When people balk I try and explain that around here a carpenter bills out at $45, a plumber or auto mechanic at around $95-$115 and we have a much more inherently dangerous job. Some people still don't get why we charge more than the lawn boy even though were taking down a rotton cottonwood leaning over their home.

 

[Gimp treeman]

I worked for a large line clearance tree service for 15 years & was Union. I made roughly $50,000 to $60,000 per year depending on o/t. Plus great benefits. I did whatever they needed; climb, bucket work, rope & rigging, plan work, P.R. Type stuff etc. but was let go on my 15 year anniversary because I couldn't physically do it anymore due to a disability I developed. I should have work comped them years ago. Tree work is hard, hard on your body. Now I'm disabled & can't work. That good pay & great benefits don't mean **** now. Work smart, not hard if you're going to be a tree trimmer.


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[Dillweed]

What does Asplundh pay their climbers?

 

[Gimp treeman]

I never worked for Asplundh. But since I was Union, the pay grade was the same no matter what company it was working in our local. Asplundh & any other line clearance tree service will pay according to the area, union or nonunion, and per contract. Nonunion was paying a foreman about $10-12 an hour whereas I was paid about $20 an hour as a union foreman. Plus I had excellent health ins. That was thru the union that the company paid %100 for my premium. No out of pocket on my behalf


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[windthrown]

When I left Southern Oregon at the peak of the economy before the great recession I was being offered $100 an hour climbing jobs (experienced climber with my own tools, equipment, license, insurance, bonded, etc.). I had to turn them down at the end because of my bad back. I was then charging $75 an hour for onsite cutting and chipping (no climbing) with a Bandit 90/95. From '07 through '09 I did a brisk business, but by the end of '09 I was being undercut by Messicans who charged $50 an hour (no insurance, no license, no experience, but no one seems to care until they break something). I could not buy the gas and keep the chipper blades and saws sharp and pay the bills and make a profit for that, so I sold my Bandit 90 and Husky saws to a guy and bailed out of the biz then.

 

[Dillweed]

When you say insured, does that mean you're covered with your own worker's comp?

 

[Gimp treeman]

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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[Gimp treeman]

There's workers comp ins. And there's liability ins.


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