bidding weeping willows

[SWAMPY036]

Man I have five bids on willows and have not got 1 call back. How do you guys bid these things. They are about 4.5/6' at the base 40 / 60' tall, to wet to get equip. in they suck to rig anything big out of. So you have to cut small chunks deal with trying to chip those stringy shoots hump all wood out. and then deal with the base. I put bids in for 1000 up to 1850 and people look at me like I am out of my mind any help

 

[SilentElk]

I used to bid them like any other tree. I liked dealing with them usually. They clean easy in my mind when removing. All the branches fold together and slid right through gates and such. The wood is not the greatest but out here I would sell for $175 for a cord of willow split. Being in NY you likey have much better wood.

I always thought they were easy removals myself but just bid them like you would a regular tree. When they are green they chip easy. Helps having sharp teeth of course. The wood cuts easy too. Often easy to climb since they usually have numerous limbs.

 

[matty f]

ive always found them one of the easy trees to work on.....pretty brittle though...and they can be in awkward water logged places!

 

[turnkey4099]

I used to bid them like any other tree. I liked dealing with them usually. They clean easy in my mind when removing. All the branches fold together and slid right through gates and such. The wood is not the greatest but out here I would sell for $175 for a cord of willow split. Being in NY you likey have much better wood.

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$175!! I am selling it $80 and sorta ashamed of doing that. I am up here in the Pacific NW where hardwoods are rare and the standard is Tamarack (was $150 - $160 last year). Of course I only have two customers, one is only every few years and the other may be going by by as he has only paid me $30 on a $180 bill from last year.

Harry K

 

[HurricaneHunter]

"Man I have five bids on willows and have not got 1 call back. How do you guys bid these things. They are about 4.5/6' at the base 40 / 60' tall, to wet to get equip. in they suck to rig anything big out of. So you have to cut small chunks deal with trying to chip those stringy shoots hump all wood out. and then deal with the base. I put bids in for 1000 up to 1850 and people look at me like I am out of my mind any help"

Sounds like you're bidding against "jacklegs" (unlicensed, uninsured, unscrupulous, underbidding, unexperienced). An awful lot of that going on in the Atlanta area. All you can do is try to sell the potential customer on the fact that doing business with you is in their best interest since you are licensed, insured and have experience and references. Tell them that anyone that bids work at less than $100 per hour is probably not insured and they sure don't want them on their property if they're not.
Best to you. Good luck.

 

[newb]

Man...Ive never lost a bid on a Willow that I lost sleep over. Yes, they are fun to climb, however, you can never really trust the wood. They drop fast which buries the ground crew, and chipping that tangly crap, forget it. On a 60-80' Willow I would bid $1500.00 with chipping, and another $500.00 to take the big wood. Willow stumps to grind are never under $400.00. Thats if there are no targets under them(the tree). Sounds like good money but they are alot of work. Pete

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Man...Ive never lost a bid on a Willow that I lost sleep over. Yes, they are fun to climb, however, you can never really trust the wood. They drop fast which buries the ground crew, and chipping that tangly crap, forget it. On a 60-80' Willow I would bid $1500.00 with chipping, and another $500.00 to take the big wood. Willow stumps to grind are never under $400.00. Thats if there are no targets under them(the tree). Sounds like good money but they are alot of work. Pete

And you are still dirt cheap for the area.

Like everyone says the top is the easy part, the big wood is where most people get bit. I know guys in the busness 30 years who hate it, because they will either under bid or over bid.

IMO the only people who really make money on willow removals are those who are mechanized enough to haul wood out in big chunks.

I know one guy who uses the loader in one path, then runs a rock rake over the path to dress it out and does a quick over seed. He has a clasue in the contract to repair lawn damamge, but the client is responsible for regular watering.

 

[okietreedude1]

I cant believe you guys can actually sell that crap Around here, I couldnt GIVE that stuff away as firewood.

 

[ddhlakebound]

I cant believe you guys can actually sell that crap Around here, I couldnt GIVE that stuff away as firewood.

Yeah, me too, here willow is worse even than silver maple, and both of them get thrown on the burn pile or used for campfire burning.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

You have to take the region into account, they are where the predominant cover is polpar/pine forest and pine barens.

 

[Ax-man]

I don't believe what I am reading here!!!!!

Easy tree to cut on the top yes, the bottom end is just plain miserable, stringy, pulpy, fiberous crap that robs saws of bar oil and slows them down, Cottonwood is a dream wood compared to a Willow. The stump cut is usually the worst, hollow and decayed POS.

Easy clean-up, you gotta be kidding me, those darn long stringy limbs make make a mess from where the job starts to where it ends, doesn't matter if it is alive or dead, raking and forking takes forever, try to chip those limbs and the ends get wrapped around the feed wheels, have to keep reversing the feed wheels just to be able to feed it in the chipper.

Selling Willow wood :hmm3grin2orange: After going through the aggravation of cutting one down, why would anyone want to entertain themselves cutting it twice. Put it into a big pile and burn it and be done with it.

Definately charge more for a Weeping Willow, they are not like other trees to cut down and clean-up after. Black Willow is different but still a PITA, it is easier to work with though.

The only good place for a willow is out on an island in the middle of a lake.


Larry

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

The only good place for a willow is out on an island in the middle of a lake.


Larry

On the edge of a wetland where the DNR disallows any maintainance work. Jut let the broken limbs pile up.

 

[SilentElk]

As far as the firewood goes, the other cheap alternative to willow is cottonwood at $160 a cord or pine for $150. You can get cut pallets 2 cords for $130 but their cords were short and it burned like newspaper. Hardwoods were always at least $200 a cord elms, maples and was gettin $230-$250 for ash, locust and apples. The large willow is a pita to cut and often to split but smaller diameter willow say 18" or less diameter splits very well usually.

I have made alot of money off willows. Although they usally were not the best money and they can be easily underbid. The stumps were usually the most expensive I would come accross. Lots of surface roots.

 

[Ax-man]

The stumps were usually the most expensive I would come accross. Lots of surface roots.

Don't get me started on that part of a Willow removal either:hmm3grin2orange: another joyious experience, the darn wood doesn't chip out but shreds out in long stringy chips, takes longer to grind one, about as bad as a Pine stump.

Fortunately, in our area all the Weeping Willows are virtually gone from the urban landscape, but I have cut my share of them and it was never a good experience.

Larry

 

[SWAMPY036]

Went out on a bid and told the homeowner I would have to pass on this one. this was still a least 5' across and that was about 25' high with about an 1" of surface water on the ground. The total height was about 80+' with a house about 20' away. I asked him if he has a pool in his basement, but I did not get an answer. Oh well I guess I will survive on my pine diet it was a bad winter for pines now everybody is looking at getting them removed. The best part is I have a guy who will come get anything that can be sawed into rough cut, so far he has not turned one down yet