Back to climbing, for now....

[treeclimber165]

Well, it appears that God doesn't want me to change careers just yet. I have spent 6 months trying to find a job doing ANYTHING but climbing, and have not even been able to get an INTERVIEW!! I finally picked up the phone book yesterday and called the 1st 6 tree companies that I thought I would be willing to work for (ignoring the ones who advertised 'topping' in their ads). I got 5 answering machines and one live company owner. I set up an interview for this morning, and went to work today. The job was trimming 23 Washingtonians about 40-45 feet tall, and cutting down 5 dead ones. I HATE palms, especially 'tones with the thorns on the fronds! But I managed to get it all done today, crawled home with my $400 and sat in the hot tub for 45 minutes till the pizza got here.
I just got back from the Sherrill website where I ordered some safety stuff I need. My ropes are all about 3 years old, and I lost some stuff since I quit climbing. Got some rope, a throwball, a lanyard and new straps for my gaffs. More will come later, as soon as I get caught up on my bills.

D A M N I hate palm trees!!! But they pay good!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

14.28 apeice sounds badd til you add it up

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

You got to keep $400 for only one month climbing????
I'm coming to FL!!!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

His first full day back form a very bad bounce.

 

[Oxman]

Palm piecework.

How does the dollar breakdown happen with the 23 trims and the 5 takedowns? Were the trims just knifework, or was there dead skirt to deal with?

We used to get 5-6 bucks per trim way back when. I like the Buckingham skinning knives. Skinning fan palms had it's own meandering pay scale. Can you lay it out for us?

 

[treeclimber165]

I'm not totally sure of the dollar breakdown with this guy. It seems that he subs virtually all of his work, basically just sells the jobs. He pays the whole crew 50% of the job, the climber gets whatever the foreman and ground crew don't get. He had $1600 on it, minus $100 dump fees. I get what's left out of the $750 after the crew gets paid.
As far as taxes and Ins., I'm not gonna ask any questions till I get some bills caught up.

Hey Mike, that was one DAY, not one month....... 8:45AM to 5:00PM, with a half hour lunch and a few breaks. They had about 1 1/2 to 2 yrs growth since the last trim, I cleaned up a lot of the boots but not perfectly.
I can't remember EVER making that kinda money climbing before, but I'm not gonna argue with him!!

 

[DDM]

Brian, Just because i'm Curious What happened when you bounced ? maybe we can learn something.

 

[treeclimber165]

I posted on this a long time ago, couldn't find it.
Simple job, just another day in the office. Did 4 trims and wanted to knock out one more 'quickie' before breaking for lunch. 50-60' Sycamore had a dozen dead limbs and minor elevation. Had lost my throwball a week earlier, was trying to set my rope on the second row of limbs- 20' or so. On my 4th throw, I got a small limb and SHOULDA pulled it out and tried again. But I didn't. As I got up almost to where I could pull myself into the tree, the limb broke.
NO tree is too simple or too easy to get in a hurry and ignore the basic safety rules.:angel:

 

[Oxman]

Halfway-to-Hell Club

Congratulations !

You've just been honorarily inducted into the Halfway-to-Hell Club.

 

[Treeman14]

So Brian, is this guy paying you cash or what? i.e. no taxes, no insurance?

 

[treeclimber165]

Well, I found out what the gig is. This guy wants me to provide all the hand tools, blower, gas and oil, and use of my truck in order to get 1/2 the job minus dump fees and helper's wages. Sounds a lot like working for myself for 1/2 the pay. I told him today (After he asked me if I had mechanic's tools, rakes, tarp, buckets and blower. He also told me my 1 gal. gas can wasn't big enough for all his saws.) that my truck was NOT a work truck, I wasn't willing to let some uninsured groundman with pierced nipples drive MY truck so I could drive the chip truck, and I wasn't interested in supplying his business with hand tools. I have climbing gear, a climbing saw and personal transportation to and from the jobs. If I wanted to run his crews, I'd be running my own.
So we renegotiated and I can make $150-$200 per day depending on the job. I'm just looking for a job, not to supply someone else's business.

 

[DDM]

Brian? how far are you from winterhaven?

 

[treeclimber165]

About an hour, I guess. I'm on the north side of Orlando, so an hour would be an evening or weekend drive time. Weekdays would probably be 1 1/2 hours.

About 6 years ago, I made it there in 45 minutes one day. I was driving my roommate's '78 F-250 with a '77 Lincoln 460 4 barrell and cammed. Wrapped the 85MPH speedometer all the way around and up to 33MPH while heading down SR27. That truck would pass anything but a gas station!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

The only thing faster then the truck was the gas gauge.

I knew a guy while I was in the Corps who had a Nova with a 427(?) duel quad holly's yadda yadda yadda. H always got a kick outa burnin rubber and watchin a 1/4 tank go away.

 

[Deere John]

Hey Brian - I came to this post first when I signed on - first time in a long time. Congrats - glad to see you are back in the saddle. I know I don't have to tell you to be careful, so I'll tell you to make sure you are having fun!

All the best.

 

[DDM]

I remember when i used to burn up tires and fuel.Now the only time i ever pop a clutch is when my tired old dog slips off of it then i worry that i just ate up what was left on the clutch plate.And burn enough fuel without shifting into passing gear.:alien:

 

[treeclimber165]

Well, it's been a week since I started back. Sat. I did the palms, foreman told me 20 times NOT to mess with the boots. Had to go back Monday to clean the boots.
Tuesday, I finally was able to get started on 4 large laurel oaks about 11AM. Got 3 done, went back Wed. to do the 4th. Nothing else Wed. or Thursday.
Friday, I was informed that I missed some stuff on the oaks, took 4 hours of waiting on crews and stuff to do 30 min. of climbing. The chipper died so nothing else Friday.
Today, I spent an hour waiting around to find out that the chipper needs a radiator and so no work today.

I gotta find a company with their act together enough to actually get something done! The good news is that I earned $600 this week and didn't work too hard for it. Still making lots of calls every day, though. :angel:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Sounds like good "stop gap" employment. Sounds like there are some inherent risks to you in the relationship.

Glad to see you happier though.

 

[DDM]

Brian? just out of idle Curiosity,I know that Disney world Has alot of Trees/Bushes ect do they offer any arborist employment?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

HAve you heard of the "Disney Method" of tree moving?