Your Opinion

[newb]

Hey All, I have a comercial job comming up to remove a Willow. It is 6' DBH for about 20 feet. The crown will not be a problem taking off but my question is this, the tree is 25' from the drive with a canal in between. I'm considering hiring a crane to pick up the spar when I cut it and lift it over to a trailer. My other option is to drop and cut it up there and haul it out. Now I know you guys with cranes available will say its a no brainer, but how about those without cranes that have to rent them on occasion. It has to be a time savings on cutting and clean up, right?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Most of us hire the crane and operator.

Mnay true crane companies will come out to look at the site to see if it is feasable, and what size will best fit the job.

The critical info is how heavy a rig can go in, and boom extention and angle to get your best efficiency.

If your just picking the spar, i would go with a smaller crane and do as many picks as it takes. Even if you can fit a 70 ton in there, you will still have a minimum fee. which would include travel and setu-up.

 

[NickfromWI]

Think about how much time it takes just to make one single cut in a piece of crappy willow that is 6' thick. Not to mention the time it takes to load it on a cart or tractor or something, the move it over a canal... then add the clean up time on top of that. 6' of wood will leave a lot of saw chips to be raked. Now multiply that by the honest number of times it will take to cut the wood into small enough pieces that your crew can move without breaking their backs.

I say get the crane. You'll quickly see that it's worth it. Especially when you can turn an all day job into a half-day job and go make MORE $$$ in the afternoon!

love
nick

 

[newb]

Hey Guys, From one cheesehead to another, thanks for the input.

 

[NickfromWI]

CHEESEHEADS UNITE!!!!!

John raises a good point. What is the cost difference in doing fewer picks with a larger (more expensive) crane?

love
nick

 

[dayman]

I sold a crane job that was done a couple of days ago. Here's how the job billed out.

Crew starts at the shop at 7am. Probably took until 8 am to drive and get the job setup. Crane met them on the job. 75 ton. Six picks later the tree is down, chipped and logs stacked for the grapple. The crew was all wrapped up by 11 am. No back busting. Safe as can be. Butts of chipper fodder placed into chute.

Three guys on the job, climber, two grounders. Maybe four pinches with the grapple.

Job sold for $2,800 and crane cost about $600. Did the company make any money?

 

[MasterBlaster]

I dunno... was the client a doctor or a lawyer?

 

[P_woozel]

FYI, dbh refers to diameter at breast height, so unless your tits are 20' in the air, that term isnt applicable

 

[treechick]

(RainMan style...) "Crane, definitely crane. You should get a crane. Yeah. Crane."

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Make sure ground around canal can hold crane. No good ground, no good crane.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

FYI, dbh refers to diameter at breast height, so unless your tits are 20' in the air, that term isnt applicable

OK, I'll rephrase it for him 6' DBH with very little taper to 20 ft

Hey Pete, I'm in town from Friday to Wed or Thr. I'd be happy to look at it with you if it's not too far away. I'm free all day Sunday since my GF is working 1st shift.

Give me a call, we can work something out on me helping at an introductory rate too.

 

[newb]

Hey John, Thanks for explaining that to him. Being new here I didnt want to get smart with anyone but I thought it was understandable. Maybe its a Wisconsin thing. I'll give you a call when I lock down the bid. I'm going to have Dawes Rigging come out and look at it. Pete

 

[Stumper]

newb, Go ahead-get smart with us-most of us won't recognize smart anyway!

 

[iain]

i use cranes on big jobs myself cuts the timedown what could take a day can be done in two hours (dismantle wise) looks good to the customer too
is it possible to spike it and bring the sections down using a toping strop and / or a zip line ?