Salary for full time estate arborist?

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Cornubia06

ArboristSite Lurker
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Nice, France
Evening all

I have been offered the job of full time estate arborist by one of my larger clients. My question is if i go for it, what sort of salary should i be lookin for.

Job would typically involve:

1. management of large olive grove, annual pruning, p&d control, harvesting, pressing, fertilising.

2. annual clipping of 30m long arched ornate cypress walk

3. annual clipping of 60+ pencil cypress approx 7m tall

4. annual lifting and flower spike removal of 3 tallish washingtonia palms

5. bi annual pruning of two large ficus elastica

6. pruning of various citrus and fruit trees

7. asessment/survey and periodic thinning and dead wooding of various mature deciduous and coniferous trees

8. occaisonal removals and stump grinding

9. data collection and record keeping of all works

I have about 16yrs experience in the arb industry, 11 of which qualified. Been running own small set up in uk & france for last 6yrs, before that was lead climber/foreman for various companys in uk & france.

Im seriously thinking about this offer as the old body is beginning to moan and groan. The work would be light but varied and it would be nice to just go home at the end of each day with no worries, not have to spend half hour on phone, half hour on computer etc etc etc.

My only main concern would be loss of freedom and the possibility of developing a touch of cabin fever being at the same job day in day out. Pay drop doesnt really bother me so much its all about enjoyin wotch ya do.

Have done loads of searches for similar roles to compare against and get salary ideas but no luck.

So. What would be a fair salary?

Cheers
 
Ask for 25% more than your current annual wages and see if they accept.
 
I agree with Bob, that should be a good starting off point for negotiating.

A quick question though: would there be money available to bring in sub-contractors, should such a need arise?
 
OK thanks for the reply. Where did you get the 25% on top of annual wage from? Do you mean add 25% only to the annual contract sum from them or add 25% to my total income including other clients? If i added that to my total income then they would be paying me more than if i was still contracting for them and wouldnt be of any benefit. Wouldnt i have to take a slight pay drop but then the upside would be no business to run. No work to take home, no quotes at the weekends, paid holiday & health care, pension etc?? This is what im not sure about.

Yes, external contractors would be a must from time to time from a safety and experience point of view for things like technical takedown where i would want a good groundie i know and trust.

Would also have to get one of the gardeners trained to climb and perform aerial rescues too.
 
Decide a figure of what you would like in your mind. Be reasonable but don't in anyway sell you self out, ask your self what your worth. Compare this with what other employee salary's are around your area.

Look at your business net profit. How is it going, what does the future hold for your business?

Do you take drawings or how much does the business pay you???

Will you be using your equipment? What of which you own will be used while working on the estate?

Do you enjoy chasing the work, what part do you enjoy about being a contractor and can becoming an estate manager fulfill you?

You have got a lot to think about haha. Sound nice though, good opportunity.
 
Business is going well, slowly picking up the whole time. The future would be comfortable if i were to keep the business. France unfortunately does not in any way encourage the small business. Charges are ridiculouslyy high. I turn over a fair amount but dont see much of it.

The offer comes from one of my larger clients. Due to internal cost cutting they have decided to have in-house arborist whether it be me or someone else. I have first refusal as ive been contracting with them so long and have good relations. So, if i turn down offer i would lose that contract which equates to a sizeable chunck of my income.

Yes i pay myself only a small salary, as you do as a small business. not as much as i would expect for being full time tho.

They want to buy the bones of my set up ie truck, chipper, grinder. Could be shooting myself in foot if i did that tho. They will supply ppe, hand and power tools, climbing/rigging kit etc.

Youre right Jim i do have a lot of thinking to do on top of all the thinking ive been doin already. I do enjoy every aspect of having a business especially getting head round large tenders and costing, the stuff that really gets the cogs out of first. I think i would still get that enjoyment being on the estate as i do have a soft spot for the olive trees. These are big mature 5-800 year old trees, beautiful specimens. We have a problem with the olive fly of which creates a whole lot of work. It is a bio garden so that makes the p&d much more challenging, no chemicals! Couldnt really ask for a nicer location either and yes it really is a good opportunity if the price is right. Like i said before, the only down side is loss of freedom.
 
I arrived at the 25% figure by assuming a typical negotiation whereby you go back and forth a bit on the salary. This way, you may end up with a 10% or 15% raise over what you're making now.

Even if the price to them is higher than what they are paying you now, they are getting a full-time (100% effort) arborist out of the deal instead of a part-timer, so they should expect to pay more.

The problem as I see it is you can't be too aggressive in your negotiations because you could lose the contract.

It also depends on the value you place on getting rid of the other aspects of running your own business (hiring/training new groundies all the time, estimates, follow-ups, non-paying customers, etc.).

Is this estate really sure they need a full-time arborist? If you're making better wages with your current business, maybe you can convince the estate owners not to go with a full-timer or see how much more of your time they need and see what they'll pay you for 5 or 10 more hours per week on site.
 
Do not give up your business and work full time for the guy you contract with now. Here is what you are missing. You are getting paid for the contract work plus you are free to work other jobs. Maybe higher paying jobs. What the guy is offering you is going to be about the same money you get from him now for a full time job instead of the part time you work for him now. He is also planning to up the volume of work too. When he has worked you for all you are worth, he will contract again. Only with someone else.
 
Get the contract and have one of your employees be the full time arborist. With you being the property manager. Keep the biz going, otherwise you'd have nothing to fall back on.
 
Thats a good idea John.

If the opportunity is good enough, you must consider taking the job but you need to keep your OPTIONS OPEN! If the are prepared to pay you what and what your worth then why not.

If the estate does pull the pin on you as the manager then what?

You could get a long term contract written up but they are not always 100%.

You have a lot of options to consider; either manage the estate and work on it, manage the estate and get an employee to do all the work full time, manage the estate and work on it and get someone else to run your business...

You could sell your business and goodwill and get a good price, good nest egg for the future...

I think you are going to have to decide what you want. Keep you options open and weigh up the pros and cons
 
Think of trading your business for this job as going from 1000's of customers/sources of income to just one. If you then lose that one customer over something petty youve got nothing. I'd try to keep the business alive. See if you could trial it on a more part time basis. Split the week, give him 2 days one week and 3 the next and vice versa in time to look after your own clients.

Trev
 

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