# weird



## Matt Michael (Aug 6, 2010)

I get a call yesterday that goes like this:

Hi, this is Joe Smith from Joe's tree service. Rick at the saw shop says you're a good climber. I've got a job next week that I really need a climber for. Are you available?

Well, pretty booked right now due to the storm but I might be able to work it in depending on how big it is. What's the situation?

It's 3 medium large dead pine trees that are on this landscaped hillside with lots of gardens and nice lawn around. I can't get my bucket anywhere near it.

Is that on Meadowlark drive?

Yea! How did you know?

I bid that job a few weeks ago but I must have bid it too high! Sure, I can do it.

So how much do you charge?

Well, I'm flexible depending on the job, between "this much" and "that much" per hour.

Great! I'll call you next Monday when we get the job scheduled. Thanks! Bye.



I hang up and have been wondering ever since... I didn't get the job but now I DO get the job? How does this work? I'm still going to make good money but I don't have to do the clean-up! How cool is that?:monkey:


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## mckeetree (Aug 6, 2010)

Matt Michael said:


> I get a call yesterday that goes like this:
> 
> Hi, this is Joe Smith from Joe's tree service. Rick at the saw shop says you're a good climber. I've got a job next week that I really need a climber for. Are you available?
> 
> ...




My policy is and has been now for the last 10 years if we bid on a job and then some other guy calls and wants to know how much to send a climber or bucket over to just take it down the price is whatever I bid the job in the first place.That is just the kind of SOB I am.


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## ATH (Aug 6, 2010)

Matt Michael said:


> ............I hang up and have been wondering ever since... I didn't get the job but now I DO get the job? How does this work? I'm still going to make good money but I don't have to do the clean-up! How cool is that?:monkey:



Great for you!

Here is my guess on why you didn't get it, but you di get it... As a climber/owner, your time is worth "X" - it doesn't matter if you are climing or dragging brush, that is what we need to make to make business worthwhile, right? So, if somebody else can drag the brush for $8 per hour, that means they can underbid the whole job.

Kinda funny, though, that the guy bids it without knowing how much it is going to cost him. I'd STRONGLY recommend that you get a rate on a written contract. Maybe a "X" per hour rate "Not to exceed "Y". Set that "Y" a lot higher than you think you will need, but it at least gives him control over his costs and you know you will get the rate you need. Actually (just in case anybody from the IRS is watching), as a subcontractor, you should not be getting paid per hour, but rather per job. That alone doesn't automatically make you an employee, but it is _one_ of the measures used to distinguish between employee and contractor.


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## tree md (Aug 6, 2010)

mckeetree said:


> My policy is and has been now for the last 10 years if we bid on a job and then some other guy calls and wants to know how much to send a climber or bucket over to just take it down the price is whatever I bid the job in the first place.That is just the kind of SOB I am.



:hmm3grin2orange:

I agree with ATH.

When I bid one I pretty much get a number in my mind that I would like to net. In other words, what I want to get paid for climbing it. If this yo yo has underbid to get the job and does not have the wherewithal to do it shame on him. I would sub your climbing out for the price you would like to make for climbing it... Which should be the lion's share. I never climb for an hourly rate anymore. I will contract my services out but it is on a job by job basis, not hourly or even daily. I am gonna look at the job and climb it for what it's worth.

Of course there are some that I would rather not even be associated with. If that's the case no amount of money is worth it to me.


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## treemandan (Aug 10, 2010)

Happens to me a lot... well it used to but I fixed that. I like Mctree's policy, sounds fair and if someone bid on the job you bid on and now that someone is calling you to climb it well...uhh, yeah, OK, sure, right, uh-huh.


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