cheap prices

[treepres1]

stump grinder

we have a 100 dollar min. to send a grinder out within a 15-mile area and the stump has to be 26 inches or less if theres more stumps its 35dollars a foot:i own a 7500 tow behind 7015 track and a 2700;4 all 2006 models.greenchainsaw:

 

[tree md]

We have a $150 minimum for stumps...

 

[bombdude]

I charge a $100 minimum per job. Usually bid at $2/linear inch up to 48". $3/inch above 48"

Looked at a multi stump job (about 70) yesterday. About 20 in the 24-30" range. Several that need saw cuts. The rest are around 6-10". I bid $17/stump cuz I'm starting to feel the pinch. Never bid lower than $20 before. Says he'll get back to me. If he gets the # to the $8 guy, I guess we're screwed again.

 

[treesquirrel]

I have found that 50.00 is the minimum around here unless it is a long drive for the service.

The 8-10 buck deal among the grinders I am aware of is ONLY for jobs of 10 20 30 stumps and also depends on average size.

There is one fella here with a 100HP grinder which will pretty much go thru a 15 incher or smaller in a few sweeps. About 5 minutes once the grinder is in position.

Also keep in mind I cut all stumps as close to the ground as possible for my stumpers.

 

[Caring Arborist]

Stumped on price

I ask my stump grinding people to go at least 10 - 12 inches below grade, and do a thorough cleanup. The guy at 8 bucks isn't going to grind wide, isn't going much below 3 inches and the cleanup......well. Your buddy needs to see how much it costs to do the work and will naturally deduce that he's getting taken by the beer money guy. What separates you from those guys are your values, integrity, and confidence that a client will normally sense. We thoroughly educate clients before the work, offer clients certificates of insurance before the job, and offer to have them check your work after, in effect guaranteeing their happiness with the job.
If they still don't get it they aren't your type of client. We don't get all our quotes, and don't expect to.

 

[lxt]

In my area the customer will haggle over $10.00 even when they know your the better contractor, I hear it all the time its only $10!!!!

just yesterday Monday 12-3, windy day kinda cold!! I get a call that a limb fell off a cherry tree Lady wants tree down, I give her a bid for $500.00 she wants to know being it is so close to X-Mas if I can give her a discount? other bids she got were above mine, only reason I can do it for less is because I can get the tow behind to it!!!

I told her Maam Im already the cheapest bid what more do you want? I want a X-mas discount or I`ll leave the tree stand!!!!

Now this might not of been right by me but I told her I would return wearing an apron with a smiley face, laughed & walked away!!! she got the point!!!

funny today tues 12-4 she calls & says I got the job, I almost dont even want to do it just for principle sake, But I will!!!!

LXT...............

 

[Caring Arborist]

cheap

You GO lxt!!!

 

[Mitchell]

said before

I ask my stump grinding people to go at least 10 - 12 inches below grade, and do a thorough cleanup. The guy at 8 bucks isn't going to grind wide, isn't going much below 3 inches and the cleanup......well. Your buddy needs to see how much it costs to do the work and will naturally deduce that he's getting taken by the beer money guy. What separates you from those guys are your values, integrity, and confidence that a client will normally sense. We thoroughly educate clients before the work, offer clients certificates of insurance before the job, and offer to have them check your work after, in effect guaranteeing their happiness with the job.
If they still don't get it they aren't your type of client. We don't get all our quotes, and don't expect to.

I agree caring! However, In my limited experience, 4 out of 5 times I found price trumps all else. Human nature I suppose, after all, are not the richest folks in the world the walmart gang. THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICES.

I personally went through an "at this price how can I go wrong" made in China tool buying phase. The life time of hassles warranty finds me now only buying North American, European, or Japanese products. I think most folks have to get burn't a couple times with the "low bid, low quality, cost you more in the long run" scenarios.

 

[John464]

other bids she got were above mine, only reason I can do it for less is because I can get the tow behind to it!!!

.

know your competition. if you are the only one in the area w/ a lift and others cant get their bucket truck to the tree and will have to climb= taking much longer to do the job. why be the cheapest price? capitalize on your investments. make more money per hour than the others because of your wise equipment purchases

 

[lxt]

John I agree, however in my area cheap seems to be the standard some of those bids were from companies I know that would have to climb & they came in $100.00 higher!! I found this out after I bid!! where Im at you just cant mark up because of equipment advantages, Thats why I dont have a spider!! I would love one but in my area I just couldnt do it, Id be bankrupt.

Heres my area`s scenario to shed a lil light, I can access jobs with the towable while others would have to climb & there`s still instances where I get underbid, How? I dont know. some of the guys in my area think if they make $500-$700 a week their doing good! I know I Know, but its my area!!

The only thing that seperates me from my competition is my experience & being faster at getting the job done, the problem with this is IM GETTING OLDER & being faster is not gonna be my strong point for long!! beleive me Im planning on how to combat this!!

If you train someone it slows you down but I know I have to sooner or later, where to find someone is the task!! people here the majority anyway care very little about your credentials or Exp. its the low price that wins!!

I read some posts where guys are making $1000-$2000 a day, that must be nice!! I employ 3 guys other than myself & if my business makes $3000.00 a week thats Darn good!!!! the kicker is I pay my men good, treat them right, others employees would love to work for me, my biz is one of the more profitable & reputable biz`s in the area & the aforementioned is whats taking its toll on tree companies in my area!!

believe me I would get a spider in a heartbeat "if" my area was economically better. I just keep marching & try to be professional!!

take care be safe

LXT...........

 

[John464]

lxt I can respect what you are saying. sometimes we have people like that over here too. I hate those customers that think just because we have the equipment/experience to blow out a job much faster than anyone else we should still make about the same for our time as the other co.

 

[urbanlt]

Your Fired

I do tree work on the side from my main job. I am insured I have a nice 12inch chipper and a 1-ton truck with box to catch the chips and a JD 260 skid steer. I have a free place to dump. A lot of people tell me my price is to cheap. But I have no payents on any equipment. So my overhead right now is really just fuel and some upkeep. I know that one day I will have to replace the chipper and truck so that should be figured in. When someone tell me that I'm to cheap I simply tell them that it's not my fault that they have new equipment, a bunch of employees, and payments on their stuff. I usually bid jobs so myself and my helper(retired dad) clear $350-500 a day depending on the amount of work. Some days we get quite a bit more (insurance jobs taking trees off house) and some days it's a little less. We do great clean up and I always make sure the customer is happy. 90% of our work comes from referals.

Scott

If I was your employer I would fire you straight away becuase when you get hurt working on the weekend and can't work or pay your bills you are going to say you got hurt at work and put it on my workmens comp and drive up my rates so that I can't pay the employees who come to work rested and give 100% to their jobs what they really deserve.

 

[treeman82]

There are 2 or 3 jobs right now that are sticking out in my mind.

Down the road from me is a bunch of red maples and now a big elm that the customer wants to take down in order to make room for a pool down the road. I told them $6,000 for the trees... the elm is gonna be more, and then another $1,000 for the stumps... Maybe a little over a half day with an RG50. They got another price... per day rate for taking down the trees. $1,500 per day for a crew with a truck and chipper... "insured" chips and wood stay.. but the crew is made up of 7 people. They're claiming to have the job done in 2 or 3 days. HOW can anybody work for so little?

My nextdoor neighbor had 20? white pines taken down... everything went and the stumps were ground out. I bid the job for the prior owner... same thing was $4,500 a few years ago per my bid. Some lowlife came in and did them for $3,000.

There was another job I looked at this fall, but I never even bothered to give a price for it. When I arrived to give the estimate somebody else was just giving theirs. Overheard it too. 4 man crew, bucket truck, big chipper, 2 chip trucks... $1,500 per day. Everything had to go too... LOTS of chips at that job as well.

How can people get by working for those prices with the cost of fuel, insurance, LABOR, and everything else?

 

[STLfirewood]

If I was your employer I would fire you straight away becuase when you get hurt working on the weekend and can't work or pay your bills you are going to say you got hurt at work and put it on my workmens comp and drive up my rates so that I can't pay the employees who come to work rested and give 100% to their jobs what they really deserve.

If this happened to you then I'm sorry. To assume and imply that I would steal from my employer and commit insurance fraud is dead wrong of you. I have a lot more integrity then that. To assume that I don't give 100% on my daily job is wrong of you also. Like I said if this happened to you then sorry. But DO NOT imply I am a con like that.

Thanks Scott

 

[treeman82]

Ok... I'm not sure what to call this... but I spoke with somebody today. I've referred this guy to others because he will work for next to nothing with his equipment. I tell them flat out he has little to no insurance, but his prices can't be beat. Well he bid on one of the jobs I listed in an above post... undercut the guy for $1,500 per day with a bucket, big chipper, and 4 men. Didn't get the job. HE was underbid somehow. I don't understand that at all.

Now another job he had looked at, he was underbid there too... however I knew he would be on that one. I mean when you're bidding a pine removal and tack on almost $2,000 for the dumpsters... you're not going to win the bid. Not when anyone else can just load up their trucks, and go about 35? min up the road to dump for about $400 TOPS.