Yes we target a 10 hour a day schedule. We come in when the day is done. Sometimes we do well and come in early, sometimes we are out late, but 10 is the number we are working with. Typically we have close to 40 by thursday and we use Friday for a makeup day if we got rained out, or we do maintainance.
We feel that we have a good production rate, but I would not say that is totally the driving factor. I think sales plays an even larger role. I will describe a typical day. We punch in at 7:00Am and get equipment ready that we will need. Grab our work orders for the day and then our first stop on route is breakfast. This is essential for the health, happiness and productivity of our crew. We also discuss safety related issues, maintenance or any other concerns that the crew might have. We arrive at our first job about 8:30. We try to take lunch on route to the next job. With a good breakfast, no one is complaining if the first job takes us past noon to complete. If it is hot, I try to make sure that I have Gatorade there for everyone who needs it. This type of mentality has resulted in less turnover of employees and has meant that we are able to retain good quality help. The whole crew is more productive as a whole just like the Detroit Pistons who have the same starting five in there lineup.
I should also mention that we also have every mechanical advantage out there in the industry. Crane, Prentice loader , Hi Ranger 70' and one over center Altec 60'. We have a Bandit 1990 chipper with 200 horse under the hood and a wench to assist us. We have a Kawasaki mule for transporting tools personal and climbing assist in hard to reach places. We have three ISA certified arborists that we feel are highly skilled, safe and proficient. Remember though I think sales and market are the biggest factor as to how much your earning potential is. Aside from that there is also profitability which is a whole other subject. You might be more profitable running your three man crew than we are at 5 with all this equipment, but I highly doubt it.