What would you quote this job at? (2 "removals")

[WSTREE]

can you get that amount of $$ and leave it all? very good.

hauling brush, leaving wood? good.
remove it all? not so good. But are you hungry? back to good.

leave all where it falls

 

[highpointtree]

break-down of expenses

I pay my climber $25.00 an hour and he would have them on the ground easy 20 minutes each (probrably 10 minutes). plus drive time, fueling truck, etc .
$375.00--$475.00. profit not including advertising, insurance, etc.. about
$300.00-350.00....after all expenses maybe half that. rough way to make a living huh? sometimes the climber will put a $500.00 tree on the ground in 20 minutes and I joke and say thanks for doing that tree for $8.50..he has a good sense of humur. and oh yea. he averages $1,200.00 a week net. so he doesn't mind my sense of humur

 

[ropensaddle]

Yes ROpe I would. Rember though the job as first listed was to FALL only 2 trees. THe owner to clean up. I would do this job when I had another one close. We do about 400 jobs a year.so 1 hour is lots would give 1/2 hour of travel to boot . I often do several small jobs in one area in a day. It's the only way to cut travel time. Rember also 80% of our work is not bid anymore. My company has a very good name here. Later

Well a good name for being cheap is not always the best for business. At 135.00 your not making a dime on that job, I would charge that way for family but no way for attempting to profit. My minimum on those two admittedly simple take downs left lay no stump would be 300.00 unless it was next door to a job I was already doing. If it was to come out and do it
I will be covered both ways driving etc. I hear all this talk of half hour but truth is if your just flying through stuff you are going to screw up at some point. It is easy to see how this business has got so screwed up by underbidders and cut throats imho.

 

[urbanlogger52]

You get a GOOD name not for price but for Quality of work. Reliabality and Honesty. Price has Nothing to do with that.

 

[Plasmech]

You get a GOOD name not for price but for Quality of work. Reliabality and Honesty. Price has Nothing to do with that.

That would be the case in let's say finish carpentry but with a removal, the homeowner see one thing: the tree he wants gone is in the end either gone or it ain't.

Say an master arborist with 25 years of experience takes a tree down and in the end there is a stump and a clean yard.

Now say I took the same tree down. It might take me 4 times to do it but in the end there would be a stump and a clean yard. What's the difference...especially if the work is done when nobody is home hehehehe.

Now pruning and arborculture is a different story.

 

[urbanlogger52]

Crap read It was to FALL ONLY 2 trees OWNER CLEAN UP. Quality would be no broken sprinkler heads - or any other damage.Realibality would be being there when you say you will be ECT ECT

 

[tree MDS]

The last "just get it on the ground" job I did, I grossed more than $200 an hour on.

You live in a 500 thousand dollar house and you dont wanna pay alot to have some trees removed eh?? I hope that old bastard had to make like fifty trips to the local hardware store to have the chain sharpened on his HO saw. lol

 

[urbanlogger52]

Ok

Here is my last post on this topic. Do any of you wonder how Componies like Davey and Asphlund can grow as they have. Send a crew and truck to your area and put them up in a hotel and still get work???? We make it easy for them. Fall 2 trees for 300-400 and they come in and do it with clean up for less next time . Makes them look like gods.The bigger they get the better their buying power becomes for Equipment. THe lower their Unit costs become. Sit in on a utility arborists event at a local ISA conference sometime and listen. They are business men intrested BUSINESS.Now componies like Bartlette and Save a tree are growing using similar methods. THis will be the future of tree service unless independants learn how to get in on the bottom line. Many of our municipal and commercial customers I have had over 20 years . My company has grown and our rates have gone up without any questions .Now the municipalaties do try others when we are busy but I hear all about it later . They shoot themselves in the foot. We still have our customers
Now I do alot of business by email the email us the location and maby a pic. I reply with an expected date for work to be done. NO ESTIMATE. I bill when work done. If I see something else that needs to be done at that site I do it and include it on the bill. Do any of you like doing Estimates??? They really are a waste of time.build a name so you don't have to .Local conditions may affect your prices. Know what your cost of work is. Add a profit margin and get to work. Build a business not an oppertunity for others. ENough said if you don't get this I give up

 

[ropensaddle]

You get a GOOD name not for price but for Quality of work. Reliabality and Honesty. Price has Nothing to do with that.

If that was the case friend I would be golden. Most of the work here goes to cheap underbidding hacks that treat this work as a hobby not a business. Half of whats left goes to weekend warrior's moonlighting and all I get is what neither of them can do here is a perfect example of what they can't do without damage.



So it is 120 foot tall red oak rotten and leaning over that house it took me two days clean up and stump. I could of had it done in one but I took my time it was down and cut up in one.So your super company would of had it down and cleaned up in five hours and you would have
675.00 right? I mean if I was big enough that is would be cleaned up as it came down I would of had it done in 5 it was on the ground in 3 so whatsa say ?

 

[tree md]

People don't go with Asplundh and Davey here for residential work. Plus most here want to deal with English speaking people. Most are pissed off from them hacking up trees around their lines. They get the line clearance contracts here and that's about it.

 

[ropensaddle]

or how bout this one

 

[urbanlogger52]

Davey and Asphlund and the like know what they do. When the send a res crew it will be lead by a Utility arborist who has his ISA certification and Works to that and the ANSI pruning sandard.He will have resources at his disposal most of us only dream of.Did any of you read of Asphlund sending 120 trucks to a state hit by a hurricane about 6 years back while still continuing on with all their surrounding Contracts. You don't get on all 5 Cotinents by not understanding your customers needs and Expectations . Where they is oppertunity for growth they or another will in time make a move. History speaks for itself.

 

[Ellistrees]

$350 min. I go out and $500 min. before I take bucket out

Maybe I'm not as hungry as others but by the time I take my over head with the saws, ropes, insurance, fuel and and the risk, I'm not sure how anyone can justify two trees less than $500.

I underbid sometimes for the low income and elderly but look at the house in the picture.
If it has to be climbed or need a bucket I fell I should get $10 a foot for height plus clean up.
If it's can all be done from the ground, then sure price it low.

 

[urbanlogger52]

so at 2 to fall only for $500. you should be able to get 8 jobs like this out a day if they are with in 30 minutes of each other so lets say $4,000.00 a day $20,000.00 a week. Hell I might just move there

 

[tree md]

so at 2 to fall only for $500. you should be able to get 8 jobs like this out a day if they are with in 30 minutes of each other so lets say $4,000.00 a day $20,000.00 a week. Hell I might just move there

In the best of times that is very doable. I've done it before with my small operation and no bucket. Was doing about half that when the economy was good and we were working steady. 2K a day was about normal for us back when times where good.

 

[ropensaddle]

so at 2 to fall only for $500. you should be able to get 8 jobs like this out a day if they are with in 30 minutes of each other so lets say $4,000.00 a day $20,000.00 a week. Hell I might just move there

Why so you can ruin it? I mean it is dangerous work why should someone willing to pay the overhead not profit?

 

[Plasmech]

The customer did not call or email me back. I guess the $375 was too high.

 

[urbanlogger52]

Plas. Try this approach I give a what I expect the time to be amont along with a High Maximum dollar amount. Incase there are any unexpected Costs. ie wind comes up part way into job and you have to recover 2 travel times. or you cut in to find rot and have to dismantle a tree you thought you cound fall. IE I think this job will be 1-2 hrs at $135/ hr + tax. ISA Hazard tree workshops and similar programs are helpful also in determining how much a tree in any given condition can take. It's hard to get established. Here We are the most expensive company by the hour. I rarely get jobs that are bid on by 4 or more companies. I sometimes get to clean their mess. Guys come and go in this business. Good Luck

 

[urbanlogger52]

Why so you can ruin it? I mean it is dangerous work why should someone willing to pay the overhead not profit?

THe worst injury I have had since certification in1994 is a chiped tooth from thinking I had uncliped my fall arrest lanyard and tryed to jump out of the bucket and was swung back around into it face first and chiped my tooth. My current apprentice and worker of 5 years has never been hurt on the job.SKILL and training and knowledge = Safety. I see many of my friends in the trades gettting hurt alot more than us. Think about it is all I ask

 

[ropensaddle]

THe worst injury I have had since certification in1994 is a chiped tooth from thinking I had uncliped my fall arrest lanyard and tryed to jump out of the bucket and was swung back around into it face first and chiped my tooth. My current apprentice and worker of 5 years has never been hurt on the job.SKILL and training and knowledge = Safety. I see many of my friends in the trades gettting hurt alot more than us. Think about it is all I ask

I started in 1983 the worst I have done job related is four stiches. I supervised men for over 20 years with no lost time accidents. Why, because I bid to where I do not have to hurry to make my wages. Stress and fatigue are the biggest killers in this industry imho.