Just a dumb question, do you guys get the same hourly rate with a crew when you do trim jobs vs. removals? I have done some larger trim jobs with multiple trees such as the one yesterday. I underestimated the time bigtime on that one. I and my groundie, skid, dump trailer and bucket truck spent about nine and a half hours there, and the stump ginder made an appearance also to hit a few stumps that we cleaned up and back filled. All of this that I estimated 700 bucks on. I know I can stretch my estimate a bit but not as much as I would like to. I can hammer out a couple of removals in the same amount of time, and make the homeowners satisfied with the price and the job for way more money. I have ran into an idiot that lived on a lake and had me deadwood his oak trees that took me about four hours or so, not including drive time. I left the wood on the ground for the homeowner to clean up himself. I charged him $400 on that one. He called me up saying that I screwed him on that one and he wishes that he could make $400 in a day. Then i expalined to him that I dont, and a whole bunch of that goes right out the door on operating costs. I realize this guy is just a ####. Do I have to settle for more time and less money doing trimming vs. less time more money on removals? Thanks for listening to my rant!
Trimming $ vs. Removal $
- Thread starter RDAA
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beastmaster
Addicted to ArboristSite
There are easy removals, and easy trim jobs, and of course hard removals and hard or drawn out trim jobs. You still have to bid them to make money. Whatever hourly or day rate you have in your head should apply equally to both. Of course adjustments based on other factors that will have influence on the job, such as access, risk, special skills or equipment, have a bearing on it also.
If you start doing jobs for less then your bottom line, you'll feell the effects
Proper trimming takes skill, and time. You need to get paid for that. Good salesmanship is important, you need to explain to the customer whats involved and why its to his advantage to hire you at your price, Then to hire billyBob the hat rack trimmer at a lower price.
Iv'e work at places where they have lets say, 1 to 4 on trims. 4 being an excellent job, take your time and do it perfect, and 1 being, ''raise it some, knock out the widow makers and make a few cuts where really needed.'' This allows the salesman to adjust the price without the company losing money.
It takes time to move around a big tree even if your just deadwooding it. Here in So. Cal. that is 80% of our work I'd say, and people who care about there trees pay for quality tree care. Bottom line,''sale the job, and get paid for what it's worth.
If you start doing jobs for less then your bottom line, you'll feell the effects
Proper trimming takes skill, and time. You need to get paid for that. Good salesmanship is important, you need to explain to the customer whats involved and why its to his advantage to hire you at your price, Then to hire billyBob the hat rack trimmer at a lower price.
Iv'e work at places where they have lets say, 1 to 4 on trims. 4 being an excellent job, take your time and do it perfect, and 1 being, ''raise it some, knock out the widow makers and make a few cuts where really needed.'' This allows the salesman to adjust the price without the company losing money.
It takes time to move around a big tree even if your just deadwooding it. Here in So. Cal. that is 80% of our work I'd say, and people who care about there trees pay for quality tree care. Bottom line,''sale the job, and get paid for what it's worth.
Toddppm
Addicted to ArboristSite
How did you ever get all of that equipment with prices like that? They are several ways to come up what to charge for your work but the most accepted is by time spent.
Time= Including travel to and from, doing the work, any legwork that might be needed like picking up materials and dumping waste
Times x your hourly costs of doing business including overhead, direct and indirect costs + (BIG PLUS) Profit = what you should be making on every single job or you're losing money and might as well work for somebody else.
2 guys with all of that equipment can make some serious money, don't sell yourself short.
I definetly did it to my best ability and it sucked getting into a few places to get to a few of the trees. And of course I dont operate at that price all of the time. If I did I would just sell everything and sit at home after work. I work a full time job that is basically four ten hour days so the other three is when im doing tree work. I run a 1995 f-800 bucket truck, a carlton 4100D grinder, S-185 Bobcat, and a PJ 14,000 lb dump. I have everything paid for except a little bit on the stump grinder. I really only have been doing this about two years. Any money I have made gets rolled back into the business with the hopes someday this could be my day job. I have learned a ton from this website and books that I have read but I know i still have a ton to go. Im working on my climbing skills too. I guess I obtained this euipment by just working for it. Im figuring out what I have to charge the more I learn. I guess that I should work on my salesmanship too with selling a trim job. What is a typical hourly rate that a setup that I have should charge? I have been usually $150-$200 hr. But not on this one Ha Ha! Thanks for the advice and anymore anyone has for me!
SquirrelMan
ArboristSite Operative
im a noob but I estimate $75 a man hour and count the climber as two men for trimming (im the climber and I get tired spikeless quick lol) My estimate tend to be under alot too but i try to hit $1000 with two helpers and a rented chipper at minimum. You should be at 2k minimum a day with all your equipment
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