Credentials, skill, insurance...optional?

[lxt]

Well we all know the economy sucks, jobs are scarce & everyone needs to feed the family & pay bills!

SOoooo I guess Tree Care is the new source to stay alive? Basically this thread is dedicated to enlighten the wannabes, those who think they are "tree men", those who use illegals to profit & the illegals who circumvent the law while engaging in any work they see fit!!

to those of you I just mentioned.........YOU JACKWAGONS need a class in west virginia "scab" coal mining!!! Ask a miner what that means?

Regulations have been talked about & scoffed at by me, Im just not sure Regs will work, especially when immigration reform laws dont get enforced, Im starting to think its our Govt`s way of keeping us hungry??

Here where Im a at I consider my self lucky!!! work is steady, BUT... I see the effect of non insured, non skilled, layed off will do what it takes types..............hello, you are ruining this trade!! Im thinking through the stupidiy these types exert...that some form of regulation, license is inevitably...........if not for safety, for the money the Govt can make from it???

So, Newbees, unskilled types thinking you can do this...to you silo climbing, self proclaimed Im not afraid of heights, NO-skilled, non certified, 401k cashing in & asking stupid questions about what to buy & so on...etc....

Be it known I dont like you people!!!, you are ruining what I & many others have spent our lives doing, enjoying, learning, struggling with to better ourselves & to provide for our families. None of us infiltrated your trade/work to milk it & ruin it for our own selfishness..... If regulations dont take effect...Im thinking when gas gets to $6 a gallon that smith & wesson will.

take heed you worthless wannabes....we dont like you!




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

 

[beastmaster]

A little harsh, but I know where your coming from. If only they enforced the immigration and contracting laws and codes already on the books. Who side is our Government on anyway? Beastmaster

 

[lxt]

Yeah its harsh.......But werent those who trained us harsh, I remember my foreman telling me "Ill either break you or you`re gonna stick with it & be good!"

those coming into the field now for the love & want to do it.....what I said is not for them, BUT........If they`re doing it cuz they got layed off & have no intent of ever doing it right & this is just a money making thing till their job comes back...........I meant it a 1000% !




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

 

[Grouchy old man]

Around here we need a home improvement license and it covers nearly everything from tree companies, carpenters and general contractors, pool companies and "handymen" to just cutting lawns. They do inforce it and if you don't have a current and very obvious bumper sticker they will confiscate your trucks and equipment until you pay a fine and obtain a license which requires a test, insurance and using an approved contract format. All customer deposits must be kept in an escrow account until either a scheduled draw or the job is finished. So regulation with enforcement does work.

Unfortunately this does not apply to commercial work but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[beastmaster]

Things are for sure not how they use to be. I remember more then once sending a trainee home ready to cry, and not seeing him again.(know how they felt, but I came back the next day) I took a groundy out behind the chipper truck and whipped his _ _ _ after I pulled a rope up 80ft tangled in branches(We became best friends)the forman would just turn around acting like they didn't see or hear anything.
Most of all I remember everyone wanting to learn new tech. ,knots, anything to be better and do a better job. Thats what I miss, guys that wanted to learn. If you don't plan to spend your life in a profession or stay in the country, there is no incentive to to learn. Beastmaster

 

[Rftreeman]

I feel your pain.........it's bad here also, really bad when you talked to someone about a job and was told to do it after you did the neighbors work the next day, then you roll up the next day at the neighbors to do their tree work and Joe Blow and his crackheads are in the yard of the person you talked to yesterday doing that said work and loading the brush up in the back of a rental box truck using some freshly stolen equipment and the client tells you that he gave them the job cause they could do it sooner......WTF.......

 

[lxt]

Beast, I agree & there is where the problem lies!!

they have sissified this trade to a point where office workers think they can do it, LOL, everyone wants a bucket truck right off the bat....because climbing might take time!!! & why spend time learning that? they just bid high & higher some contract climber whom by the way:

around here their ads read: will climb anything & skilled at everything! $250 a day!! WTF...........!

most of the new guys are entering this for the wrong reasons.....to put food on the table, to pay bills cuz they lost their "real" job......if this is the case?? then they should go cut grass..Ooooops already a million of those types out there!! Hmmm roofs..nope, carpentry..nope, walmart..maybe.....hey! tree trimming!!! bingo we can ruin that next!!

I wouldnt mind if the new guys/girls started out properly, put their time in, knew what they were doing & then went out on their own!! But they have 1-2yrs under their belt, didnt listen for a hoot but saw the money end coming in & think thats what they should get!!

I see tough times due to fuel prices, too many in the field & just plain shoddy work being done......!



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

 

[lxt]

I feel your pain.........it's bad here also, really bad when you talked to someone about a job and was told to do it after you did the neighbors work the next day, then you roll up the next day at the neighbors to do their tree work and Joe Blow and his crackheads are in the yard of the person you talked to yesterday doing that said work and loading the brush up in the back of a rental box truck using some freshly stolen equipment and the client tells you that he gave them the job cause they could do it sooner......WTF.......

I know what happened to a company that was booked 3 wks out being thought of as good & credible, worth the wait cuz their pro`s.

Now, just like you said if the crew makes it tmrw.....well that solves the homeowners impatient I want it done now attitude! totally different mentality nowadays!

whats even worse is when mr & mrs home owner hire the bum contractors & get stiffed.........they cry loud as hell for atty general to do something!!! even when its their own stupid fault!! LOL




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

 

[beastmaster]

I'm not an owner/operator, I work for several different Companys and most of them are not weathering this storm well. These are all Companys that do above average work if you ask me, their well establish and have good reputations, but lately I'm being ask to do things I don't approve.(work related)
I'm not passing judgement, but in trying to be competitive Guy's are lowering their standards, hiring cheap labor, and taking jobs they normally wouldn't do.
Out here at lest, the market for quality tree care is shrinking everyday. I saw a sycamore I've been trimming for over 10 years with two different companys, ruined by a company I never heard of, I watched them as they put up a ladder, and cut the multi-trunked sycamore in half. They had a new chipper truck, and a new 1800 chipper. Easily a 100,000.00 set-up and they obviously knew nothing about tree work. The guy on the ladder used no climbing harness, wasn't wearing a helmet, and was holding on with one hand. Oh the truck had no name on it.
How does one compete? As the bottom line gets lower and lower so does the quality of the work. The trickle down effect for a guy with 25+ years experience they don't need my experience or know how. Some guy with 6 mo. of climbing experience who,ll work for 10.00 an hour gets work. This further degrades the trade. I don't know what my point is, but I understand the hostility. Beastmaster

 

[sgreanbeans]

I likey

 

[137buck]

My latest b@#ch about this is, a guy i know, knew he was getting laid off, so he goes out and buys himself one of those pull behind lifts, starts advertising for tree work...i run into him at a gas station, i ask him how things are going, and he says he's staying busy...then i asked him the million dollar question, what are you going to do if that lift breaks down and you can't use the emergency valve to bring yourself down...he looks at me and tells me he will call the fire department to come and get him down....i tell you... i wanted to smack him hard....

 

[zopi]

It is like thos in alot of businesses...landscape, hardscape, dirt work, tree work..I am doing landscape maintenance and some light tree work...not wanting to work beyond my skill, but developing...I seriously hate a lowballer...grew up in a tree nursery and then several agriculture amd landscape pursuits in hight school, and twenty years in the navy...gonna give it a go.

Really, I am more of a pro gardener, but what I am discovering is that tree work is in higher demand, particularly light pruning work in conjunction with landscape service....stuff that from what I can see, the purely tree companies don't like to do, or cannot price cost effectively...maybe that is my niche for the time being.

These two pursuits are well suited to apprenticeship, but in modern america, good luck keeping an apprentice at anything hard...especially in trades where you have to earn some chops...

Maybe trade schooling is the answer...I have the drive to study and learn for myself...but the average kid? Dunno..

Farkin hate lowballers.

 

[treesquirrel]

I've downsized equipment in order to try and squeek by. Sold one bobcat and the dump truck for what i owed on them and just got a used dump trailer to pull behind the truck. I no longer have any notes whatsoever. I can bid lower but always wonder if I should. Biz is at a low and even lowering quotes has only produced marginally more work for me. I just broke the bank paying my annual insurance premium.

I think more and more about going to work full time somewhere but the job market is ugly and not much out there worth having.

I am currently two weeks booked out but nothing new has come in for the past few weeks. All storm jobs and small jobs. no big money.

It sux to see hacks out working jobs.