I just have to know?? how many cranes are you running? & are they just for tree work?
LXT..........
wage vs experience
- Thread starter Wenthome
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I just have to know?? how many cranes are you running? & are they just for tree work?
LXT..........
JohnH
ArboristSite Operative
Right now were running 4 cranes. Were adding a 5th in the spring. Last summer we were running 6 cranes we rented 2 more because the 4 we had couldn't keep up. They are just for treework but sometimes not very often some of our clinents have us do some other stuff. As for cleaning up the mess it gets processed as it comes down. the crane is always moving. We run 4 man crews with good size chippers. Most of the chip trucks are 20-25 yards or better on crane crews.
Some jobs are 1 tree that takes all day and others are large numbers of trees to come down.
well your operation is not small by any means with up to 6 cranes running......thats awesome, you would need 10 crews to keep up! no one in my area & I mean no one has even 1 crane they own....every one here has to sub that out!! you work for a large company apparently!
I worked for Davey & have been to their Kent office several times & I dont think they even have that many accessible cranes?? Wow... I would love to see an operation that utilizes that kind of equipment!
LXT................
JohnH
ArboristSite Operative
heres who I work for. http://www.treetechinc.net/
We have added a lot more equip. than whats in the pics.
We have added a lot more equip. than whats in the pics.
prorover
ArboristSite Lurker
Missoula MT
Or U could come to Montana and make $10 per hour...but u gotta have experience and a CD..NO TRAINEES!!!!TREE CLIMBER/TRIMMER / 2978967
Wage $10.00 - $12.00 Hourly Location MISSOULA, MISSOULA, MT, 59801
Local employer needs a TREE CLIMBER and TRIMMER WITH THEIR OWN GEAR to climb ladders and related equipment, operate a bucket truck, work around power lines and other barriers, and operate tools which involve machine-driven blades. The employer wants someone with gear and MUST have experience trimming trees to maintain tree health. NO TRAINEE's. Only Experienced people need to apply. Applicants need to have valid driver's license and clean MVR. CDL would be a plus. The job is seasonal and very busy in the fall, spring, and summer. Position starts at part-time and will increase to full-time in beginning of March. Work schedule is Monday-Friday and hours can be discussed at time of interview, as employer has some flexibility. Wage starts at $10 to $12 an hour depending on experience. //MM. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs; climb ladders; keep or regain the body's balance or stay upright when in an unstable position; and use hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools, or controls.
Or U could come to Montana and make $10 per hour...but u gotta have experience and a CD..NO TRAINEES!!!!TREE CLIMBER/TRIMMER / 2978967
Wage $10.00 - $12.00 Hourly Location MISSOULA, MISSOULA, MT, 59801
Local employer needs a TREE CLIMBER and TRIMMER WITH THEIR OWN GEAR to climb ladders and related equipment, operate a bucket truck, work around power lines and other barriers, and operate tools which involve machine-driven blades. The employer wants someone with gear and MUST have experience trimming trees to maintain tree health. NO TRAINEE's. Only Experienced people need to apply. Applicants need to have valid driver's license and clean MVR. CDL would be a plus. The job is seasonal and very busy in the fall, spring, and summer. Position starts at part-time and will increase to full-time in beginning of March. Work schedule is Monday-Friday and hours can be discussed at time of interview, as employer has some flexibility. Wage starts at $10 to $12 an hour depending on experience. //MM. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with the body, arms, and/or legs; climb ladders; keep or regain the body's balance or stay upright when in an unstable position; and use hands to handle, control, or feel objects, tools, or controls.
ddhlakebound
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hirarious.....You're gonna be climbing you're own trees for a long time to come, ain't cha......Too funny.....
:monkey:beowulf343
Addicted to ArboristSite
Lxt, mpatch, this is to reply to your questions, comments, doubts, etc. Don't feel like copy and posting you since i've already gone over how we do things in the past.
The outfit i work for doesn't own a crane, it owns multiple cranes. Right now we have two smaller cranes (30-40 ton) and two larger cranes (70+ tons) working every day. But first i should probably go over the terminology i use for crane work. A crane job is the single job you did with the crane, whether it was one tree or 300 trees, whether it took one hour or one year. A crane removal is a tree that was removed by a crane. A crane pick is each pick the crane made. So there can be many crane removals in one crane job and many crane picks in one crane removal. I read the sentence below as saying the operator has removed 600+ trees, not that he had done 600+ crane jobs, since i've been on a single job that was 600+ trees. Of course, my terminology may be way off, but this is the way it is around our shop.
So, when i say my crew does 100 crane removals a week, i mean 100 trees were removed by a crane and myself in a week period. Of course, you now jump to "that's impossible, what with moving the crane, etc." You are right, but i've explained this before too. The two smaller cranes do the work in the local area near the main shop. However, unlike your area lxt, cranes have gotten big around here. They almost seem more prevalent in small outfits than even a bucket. So the competition is fierce for the lightweight crane division. The boss decided to branch into a different route a few years back. He took his best climber and his best bucket guy (both with several years of crane experience at this point), gave them a big crane, big chipper, big chip trucks, big equipment, (multiple certifications) and he went after the big contracts that guys like yourself can't touch.
The crew i run is a niche crew. The minimum i pull up to a job with is two ten wheeler chip dumps, a bandit 1990, a fourteen wheeler grapple truck, and a 75 ton crane. The minimum . With that much iron on the road, there is no way anybody can make money doing single tree jobs. We get the jobs that involve a minimum of tear down and moving.
Example, monday-wednesday (three days), my crew did a contract for the state. A bridge on a main highway in the middle of the state is being replaced by another one next to it. Both banks had to be cleared of the big trees. We removed 74 cottonwoods, willows, etc., from four setup locations, either on the bridge or on either bank. Of course, now you get into how to process this. Well, let's just say we don't fart around. What's the use in purchasing a high end crane and not have the equipment to keep it in constant motion? We kept three chip truck running constantly, two grapple loaders in constant motion, i mean, when you are putting wood down like this, everything is pretty much mechanized, you don't have four guys trying to bully a top onto the chipper. To sidetrack a bit, i see there was some concern about doing this many picks in the time allotted. Well, when you are mechanized, there are shortcuts. One of the biggest slowdowns i see on crane crews is using the crane to load wood. Not us, we dump the wood on the road or whatever "landing" we are using and get the hook back to the climber. No balancing stems, no up and down, no turning, no trying to squeeze it in the back of the truck. The old man believes that log loaders should load wood. Of course, the loaders are going to be at the job another day or two to finish hauling out the wood, but it's no big deal because the crane has already moved on and spent those two days making money on a new job.
So, for three days we did one crane job, 74 crane removals, and 300+ crane picks, and all this with a minimum of movement (although 220+ feet of reach does help.) And we do jobs like this all the time, it's why my crew was built. A county road widening job, 270+ removals in three weeks. A city contract, 80ish removals in four days. A corporate building contract, 109 removals in eight days. And the list goes on, into june right now. I think this is the problem, you guys are thinking too small. So you have a chipper, and maybe a bucket, and maybe an employee or two. That's not the be-all-end-all of the tree world. You seriously don't know any outfits with multiple crews or even multiple crews and a crane? Come on-not counting asplundh, i've done work with four different companies that have at least five crews. And you also need to think bigger geographically. So you are the biggest outfit in your town. Ok, but for the work my crew needs to do to make money, we cover chunks of three states (of course this is not the whole outfit, just the two big crane crews.) I don't understand why you have to pigeonhole every tree outfit into the size of your tree company. Just because you don't understand, doesn't mean it's impossible.
Oh, and as for the ""less than 20" dbh" insult, a 395 is my everyday climb saw, 20" is my first cut.
The outfit i work for doesn't own a crane, it owns multiple cranes. Right now we have two smaller cranes (30-40 ton) and two larger cranes (70+ tons) working every day. But first i should probably go over the terminology i use for crane work. A crane job is the single job you did with the crane, whether it was one tree or 300 trees, whether it took one hour or one year. A crane removal is a tree that was removed by a crane. A crane pick is each pick the crane made. So there can be many crane removals in one crane job and many crane picks in one crane removal. I read the sentence below as saying the operator has removed 600+ trees, not that he had done 600+ crane jobs, since i've been on a single job that was 600+ trees. Of course, my terminology may be way off, but this is the way it is around our shop.
So, when i say my crew does 100 crane removals a week, i mean 100 trees were removed by a crane and myself in a week period. Of course, you now jump to "that's impossible, what with moving the crane, etc." You are right, but i've explained this before too. The two smaller cranes do the work in the local area near the main shop. However, unlike your area lxt, cranes have gotten big around here. They almost seem more prevalent in small outfits than even a bucket. So the competition is fierce for the lightweight crane division. The boss decided to branch into a different route a few years back. He took his best climber and his best bucket guy (both with several years of crane experience at this point), gave them a big crane, big chipper, big chip trucks, big equipment, (multiple certifications
) and he went after the big contracts that guys like yourself can't touch. The crew i run is a niche crew. The minimum i pull up to a job with is two ten wheeler chip dumps, a bandit 1990, a fourteen wheeler grapple truck, and a 75 ton crane. The minimum . With that much iron on the road, there is no way anybody can make money doing single tree jobs. We get the jobs that involve a minimum of tear down and moving.
Example, monday-wednesday (three days), my crew did a contract for the state. A bridge on a main highway in the middle of the state is being replaced by another one next to it. Both banks had to be cleared of the big trees. We removed 74 cottonwoods, willows, etc., from four setup locations, either on the bridge or on either bank. Of course, now you get into how to process this. Well, let's just say we don't fart around. What's the use in purchasing a high end crane and not have the equipment to keep it in constant motion? We kept three chip truck running constantly, two grapple loaders in constant motion, i mean, when you are putting wood down like this, everything is pretty much mechanized, you don't have four guys trying to bully a top onto the chipper. To sidetrack a bit, i see there was some concern about doing this many picks in the time allotted. Well, when you are mechanized, there are shortcuts. One of the biggest slowdowns i see on crane crews is using the crane to load wood. Not us, we dump the wood on the road or whatever "landing" we are using and get the hook back to the climber. No balancing stems, no up and down, no turning, no trying to squeeze it in the back of the truck. The old man believes that log loaders should load wood. Of course, the loaders are going to be at the job another day or two to finish hauling out the wood, but it's no big deal because the crane has already moved on and spent those two days making money on a new job.
So, for three days we did one crane job, 74 crane removals, and 300+ crane picks, and all this with a minimum of movement (although 220+ feet of reach does help.) And we do jobs like this all the time, it's why my crew was built. A county road widening job, 270+ removals in three weeks. A city contract, 80ish removals in four days. A corporate building contract, 109 removals in eight days. And the list goes on, into june right now. I think this is the problem, you guys are thinking too small. So you have a chipper, and maybe a bucket, and maybe an employee or two. That's not the be-all-end-all of the tree world. You seriously don't know any outfits with multiple crews or even multiple crews and a crane? Come on-not counting asplundh, i've done work with four different companies that have at least five crews. And you also need to think bigger geographically. So you are the biggest outfit in your town. Ok, but for the work my crew needs to do to make money, we cover chunks of three states (of course this is not the whole outfit, just the two big crane crews.) I don't understand why you have to pigeonhole every tree outfit into the size of your tree company. Just because you don't understand, doesn't mean it's impossible.
Oh, and as for the ""less than 20" dbh" insult, a 395 is my everyday climb saw, 20" is my first cut.
JohnH
ArboristSite Operative
thats about the way we work also. We dont have an 80 tonner yet but were getting there
Shaun Bowler
ArboristSite Operative
This thread is starting to sound like Science Fiction
I will raise you 31 cranes to your 7.
I will raise you 31 cranes to your 7.
This thread is starting to sound like Science Fiction
I will raise you 31 cranes to your 7.
exactly..........!
I have worked for Asplundh, Davey & Lewis & they never...........NEVER used a crane!! & where Im at I only know of one company using a crane that they own!! ONE....thats it.
its amazing......Beo, you mention all that Iron on the road & I truly think thats amazing..............however, cranes might be big where you`re at but not here! those jobs you think you can do that I cant touch..............I got news for ya!! you`re not getting that 75 ton anchor into half the towns in my area without a special permit (very costly) and to boot....what the hell good is it when the 100fter is in the back yard thats inaccesible for such a tool?
you can have all the tri-axles you want, cranes, dual wheel chippers, etc... all that would be worthless here..........you wouldnt get that crane into one Pittsburgh neighborhood & if you did you would never get it out!!
If you are doing what you`re saying then hats off to ya, Ill take ya at yer word! But here my man............cranes are for gothically huge, dead masterpieces of God...anything alive.....you`re climbing it, if your lucky you`ll get a bucket or towable to it for the elevator ride & thats it!
half my work area scares me...............10 ton weight limit signs all over then the occasional 7 ton limt.........yeah they`d make a killing off your outfit!
LXT................
alright Ive read most of the posts, except the super long ones.
20 bucks an hour for 9 months work is less than 30 thousand a year, not worth it to me, and I cant find that?
plus I looked up wc and at its max it can be something like 20-25 bucks for every hundred the employee makes, so paying 600 a week to the employee would cost 120-150 in wc, not 1.5 to 2x what the employee makes.
Ill be calling around soon and if I cant find what I want owell. I have no interest in being foreman or climbing for less than 30k a year.
thanks for the help
20 bucks an hour for 9 months work is less than 30 thousand a year, not worth it to me, and I cant find that?
plus I looked up wc and at its max it can be something like 20-25 bucks for every hundred the employee makes, so paying 600 a week to the employee would cost 120-150 in wc, not 1.5 to 2x what the employee makes.
Ill be calling around soon and if I cant find what I want owell. I have no interest in being foreman or climbing for less than 30k a year.
thanks for the help
20 an hour is typical rate! there is a union here & those guys doing lineclearance only make $22 hr give or take, they have bennies.....but they`re not all that great, not what they use to be!
I feel like you, I went out on my own cuz I didnt like the fact some lazy non climbing bum gets the same % raise I do....cuz its union!! I like being on my own, there are those days & sometimes those days are all in a row that make you wonder why am I doing this?......But then it gets turned around, I get paid & say oh yeah I Love my Job!!
I was once told: "in every life a lil rain must fall" & that is true, see it through, stay the course & it`ll work out for ya!!
Good Luck!!!
LXT...........
"So, for three days we did one crane job, 74 crane removals, and 300+ crane picks"
see that' the difference, I have never been able to use a crane on a small tree. Simple math says 4-5 picks per tree, those must be tiny trees or you are running a 150T+ crane with huge drop zones. Most of the crane trees we do out here range from 60-120" DBH with an height of 80-110 feet, mostly Cottonwoods.
see that' the difference, I have never been able to use a crane on a small tree. Simple math says 4-5 picks per tree, those must be tiny trees or you are running a 150T+ crane with huge drop zones. Most of the crane trees we do out here range from 60-120" DBH with an height of 80-110 feet, mostly Cottonwoods.
I know....! mpatch you sound like when we have a crane come out, when we "have" to bring out the "big iron" as it is called (i guess)...we are charging big time for it!!!
sounds to me like any operation doing crane removals like what we have heard are doing it to keep the crane working so they can make the payments.......Ill bet in the end their profit margin is no better than mine & I dont really consider a crane removal when you are doing 50ft elms, cherries...that would get you laughed outta biz here!!!
LXT.............
JohnH
ArboristSite Operative
that is one of the reasons why we do it that way
TreeClimber57
Addicted to ArboristSite
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