# Bidding a line-clearance contract



## NebClimber (Jul 20, 2004)

Does anyone know how Wright Tree Company bids line clearance contracts?

A local company wants to team up with my company to submit a bid for clearing 9 miles of power line. We've got a qualified man to do the line clearing from one of our bucket trucks.

Problem is, we have no idea what the contract is worth. We know Wright will likely submit a bid, as they have worked with the utiltiy in the past. We would like to be competitive whith them on price.

Anyone out there know how they bid a job? (e.g., how much per man hour? how much per piece of equipment, etc.)

Steven


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## NeTree (Jul 20, 2004)

Aspluind charges by the crew hour, last I knew around here something on the order of $67/hr/crew.


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## MasterBlaster (Jul 20, 2004)

And ya gotta do a lotta riding, looking and writing.

Are the nine miles on one straight feed?

Do ya hafta work the taps?

Is it roadside, or does it take off through the woods?

Are homeowners involved? Who is responsible for talking to them, or not?

How tight is the deadline for completion?

I could go on...


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## Sep (Jul 20, 2004)

They do work that cheap, that is for a three man crew. Don't ask me how they make money?

-Sep


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## MasterBlaster (Jul 20, 2004)

Around here 10 years ago, $65 could getcha a chipper truck and two men.

Don't know what it is, nowadays. A 17 ton crane is $65 hr with a two (or three) hour minimum.


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## NeTree (Jul 20, 2004)

> _Originally posted by RockyJSquirrel _
> *$67 per crew hour? Or man hour? If you really meant crew hour, then how many on the crew? I know those guys work cheap, but if they are running 3 man crews, then that is 1/3 the rate that most professional tree companies charge. A man would have to be insane to work that cheap around high tension lines like that. *



That was the rate for a two-man crew, plus truck and chipper.

Remember, they're in the QUANTITY business.


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## Treeman14 (Jul 20, 2004)

The way I've seen Asplundh et al work around here, 9 miles would take about a year for a two man crew. At $67/hr, that's about $125-$130K. 'Course it depends on how much growth you've got to cut. Personally, I don't think a small company can compete with the likes of Asplundh, Monroe, and Farrens.


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## NeTree (Jul 20, 2004)

9 miles should be more like 12-16 weeks, depending on what percentage of the spans need more or less clearing.

We used to shoot for (and attain) 488 miles for 8 2-man crews in a years' time.


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## treeman82 (Jul 20, 2004)

Somebody who works for Asplundh was telling me a while ago that they only make something like 1 - 2% profit. However, like Erik said, they work on quantity... so if you take 1 - 2% profit on hundreds of millions of dollars, you are talking about a LOT of money.


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## Husky372 (Jul 20, 2004)

around here they use (dont know comany name) whats called a brontosorise (dont know if i spelled that right) for line clearance. does several miles a day.


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## Greg (Jul 20, 2004)

I've heard that they just make enough on line clearance to cover expenses plus a little... They make thier money on removals and emergency work that they bill at a much much higher rate. 

Asplundh does the LC here and they are quick to take a tree down if you want them to. On my street alone (about 50 homes) they tagged about 17 trees for removal, and they even offered a replacement, most people said he!! no, and removed the markers, and didn't sign the door tag so they would not remove the trees. I had a tree that I wanted removed just to save me some time, but it really wasn't a clearance issue I was just wishing, and since it was not on the first wave of removals that they marked they had to call they city arborist to approve it.... He did not. probably something to do with my truck in the drive with the tree service name on it.

In other words, find out how emergency tree work and removals are dealt with in your area, and in relation to your contract, to get a better idea of how to set your price.

Someone once told me that Asplundh has the largest fleet of vehichles in the world!! Pretty impressive if that is true. 

Good Luck!
Greg


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## ORclimber (Jul 20, 2004)

Too many variables to say is right, without spending a lot of time looking at it. How long is the trim cycle, and how much clearance is required? If it hasn't been maintained well it could be a beotch. Removals and climbing slow a crew down. How well are the poles maintained? 

We were expected to average 2.5 line miles in a bucket per week. But that was averaging 6' clearance on the primary on a 2 year cycle.


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## NeTree (Jul 20, 2004)

Exactly why it's bid hourly.


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## ORclimber (Jul 20, 2004)

That would explain why production was pushed so hard by the utility. And why they trimmed the minimum. Kind of like making the minimum payment on a credit card, smaller payments but they never end


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## Nathan Wreyford (Jul 21, 2004)

I have only done a handful of bids out of my league. One thing I benefitted from. *Always* bid high. Better to be too high and lose the job than too low and lose your a$$.

Never done power lines. I work with trees, not power lines.


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## a_lopa (Jul 21, 2004)

9 miles just qoute it on a span basis go and look and think how many will you clear per day then divide and multiply


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## ROLLACOSTA (Jul 21, 2004)

realy nine straight miles should be a peice of cake to price up..if you have to count the trees individualy and price them individualy so be it ..i once made a mistake of not takeing enough time on bidding/looking at a big contact job it cost me dearly..take a day to go check the job out properly


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## a_lopa (Jul 22, 2004)

work on $230 per span


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## coydog (Jul 25, 2004)

That's a lot of work to put on one qualified guy's shoulders...


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