Wow!

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

treeman82

Addicted to ArboristSite
Joined
May 2, 2001
Messages
3,956
Reaction score
88
Location
connecticut
I believe I've mentioned on here in the past that I've been doing some work for a bunch of low lives who have their own tree company. The only reason why I do it is because my landlord asked me to as a favor to him... this is his son in law's company, and the son in law has a partner. So anyway, I've been on some real nightmares with them. A job last year that I got sucked into should have been bid at close to 10K, they did it for just under 5K.

So last week they had a job to do, and they showed it to me ahead of time. The son in law had bid it alone at 3K for 4 removals and 2 prunes... wood stayed as it layed, but the brush had to be chipped and chips had to go. I wouldn't have bid it due to location, however I figured the job to be worth about 5K as it was set up. The partner didn't go to look at the job when it was bid because he was hungover and didn't want to get out of bed. There were 2 oaks behind the house that had to be lowered, and the brush had to be cut up small enough to drag through some flower gardens to get to the chipper about 150' away. Then there was a BS ash tree that could have been either pulled over, or lowered whole from another tree. There was a big pignut hickory which had to be lowered, wood and all... because it was over the septic tank / system. 1 big black oak needed 3 branches removed that had to be lowered, and 1 sugar maple over the wires and house and driveway had to be pruned as well... off the wires and thinned.

Well they called the lady in advance to say that we would be there the following day. She in turn said that she only wanted to do the 2 oak trees out back, and leave the rest for another time. Well the son in law said alright, $1,200 for the 2 oaks and we can blow the chips into the woods... So the 3 of us show up in the morning around 9:00 for various reasons. The drunk partner says that the 2 oaks are worth far more than $1,200 with the brush being chipped. So the lady comes out who has never met the drunk before, and he says to her that the job isn't good for them to do at $1,200. However for $1,200 we will put them on the ground and drag all the brush into the woods. So end of the day we walked away with 2 trees on the ground, and SOME of the brush dragged into the woods... really nasty mess left behind.

First off I don't understand how these guys keep getting work when they leave the jobs like this.

Second, I guess the drunk has a HUGE set on him for saying that to the lady... first the price is low, and after some BS line it's a rip off... I mean I was standing there listening to the conversation and figured we wouldn't be working that day.
 
Most people just dont know any better.

I know of alot of "tree services" that make me wonder how they manage to get work and stay in business, knowing a bit about them. After pondering this over the years I finally arrived at the above conclusion.

Does the season suck down your way so far too treeman82??
 
I've been looking at some things here and there, doing a few jobs... people really just started coming this weekend though, so I figure the summer should be alright.
 
Whatever favor your landlord is doing for you cannot be worth that mess.
 
Whatever favor your landlord is doing for you cannot be worth that mess.

It's not. The money I get for it isn't worth it in the end either, however they do favors for me now and again. Wish I had enough work of my own so I wouldn't get stuck with these guys. Most other people I've been able to turn away... "Sorry, I'm busy." It's the ones like these however that tend to end in a very bad way.

Heck, I mean I understand people have kids... but it seems that a lot of guys now can't start work until late because they have to watch the kids, or take the kids to school, or whatever... me, I want to be leaving the yard by 7:45 / 8:00 the latest if there is a full day of work. Not 8:45 / 9:00 because of the kids, or being hungover. That means I'm not in the tree until late, which means not much gets done before lunch, or it's a late lunch, or whatever.

Still couldn't believe it though, and also a large part of the reason why the drunk didn't want to do it for $1,200 is because he is too fat / lazy to drag brush himself. So we went from doing a slightly underpriced proper job, to doing a very overpriced very poor job.
 
Yeah, I know.

But listen, Drunk is one thing, feeding your kids breakfast and making them brush thier teeth is another... and personally I like my mornings sloooow. I remember the feelings I would get trying to make coffee in Wawa at 8. I would feel like I wanted to jam my elbow in the face that was breathing drunk breath on me. I know you know what that is like.:cheers:
 
Man, it seems harder to drag brush into the forest rather than chip into it. I am so glad we don't do residentials. Sorry man.
Jeff

Uh, we don't all do that ya know. sometimes they try get us to but most of us see the futilty. Getting it out is hard enough.
Its easy to tell if they are going to ask to have the brush put in the woods or just left. They say its for the birds and they desribe thier yards as " natural". I usually ask these people questions like: " have you ever seen a possum up close?"
 
Last edited:
Most people just dont know any better.

I know of alot of "tree services" that make me wonder how they manage to get work and stay in business, knowing a bit about them. After pondering this over the years I finally arrived at the above conclusion.

Does the season suck down your way so far too treeman82??

I haven't really come to any conclusion though I have been trying. What I came up with so far is there is no conclusion.

That is a great point you made for the topic ,most certainly, but I have a sneakin susupicion you might be wrong. More like a nag. If I were forced to conclude anything I would say "Most people know just don't care any better."
But like I said I am not one drawn to hasty conclusions on matters such.
 
Man, it seems harder to drag brush into the forest rather than chip into it. I am so glad we don't do residentials. Sorry man.
Jeff

Same thing I was thinking, but drunks rarely think, especially when hung over.

I don't get this gang anyway....once I tell a customer one thing, I'm sticking to it, if I vary for some reason, it's usually in their favor, or I'd reach an agreement.

Howbeit, making rabbitat in someone's backyard timber is out of the question on general principle.
 
I will conclude this:

I does sound like what was described was a total pathetic waste, a tree dis-service. Guaranteed to make everybody feel like crap, go home a get hammered. At any time did anybody go off sounding like Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon? Cause that is when its it for me.
I can see the poor ladies place now and the guy who thinks its worth it too.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top