Bucket Truck Overhead

[Griff93]

How much overhead is a bucket truck adding to your business other than it's purchase price? I'm trying to increase our productivity. I can and do climb and so does one of my employees. I've been renting a TZ-50 Genie lift enough in the past year to pay the payment on a decent bucket truck. If I'm going to spend the money either way, I'd rather have a bucket truck to show for it at the end of a 5 year note. I have three medium duty trucks so I already know what the licensing/insurance/etc will probably run. I would be selling one truck and putting that money towards the purchase price. What are the hidden costs of owning a bucket?

Thanks,
Griff

 

[pro94lt]

Well a typical cylinder repair on mine has averaged 1500-2000 the outrigger seals can be an absolute pain and run around the same... cables I've heard of some 8k and remember a 100k bucket truck may have 10k hours on it. Most have 4 outriggers and 3 boom cylinders I bought a clean one didn't know it had been sitting for a year or 2 and I had 3 seals go out in a years time lol. I also have been hurt by the notorious high ranger lines running from the joy stick down to lower boom. Knowing what I know now I'm scared to death of used booms other than the am855. You've also got all kinds of hydraulic lines.

 

[GL0B0TREE]

Early retirement in an Aerial Device for career climbers with or without injuries previously sustained, all my professional life I have tried to reserve the right to pursue a safe approach to treetops with an aerial device when I reach an age where climbiong may be hazardous, that way I can continue working. keeping in mind that the cost should be worked into investment portfolio while planning a purchase. We have seen men get into these devices with little experience, people generally see the amount of work produced just by violent storms, nevermind natural growth patterns in hearty species. The Tree care industry is always wide open for a newbie, we need "young blood" all the time, my own contribution to the industry mostly for personal profit includes spreading the good word of recruitment needs, perhaps mechanical knowhow, to change out parts and the likes is not such a bad idea.

How much overhead is a bucket truck adding to your business other than it's purchase price? I'm trying to increase our productivity. I can and do climb and so does one of my employees. I've been renting a TZ-50 Genie lift enough in the past year to pay the payment on a decent bucket truck. If I'm going to spend the money either way, I'd rather have a bucket truck to show for it at the end of a 5 year note. I have three medium duty trucks so I already know what the licensing/insurance/etc will probably run. I would be selling one truck and putting that money towards the purchase price. What are the hidden costs of owning a bucket?

Thanks,
Griff

 

[lmasontreeservice]

I figure my buckets cost me around $100 per day (ins, Maintenance, ext)
Then you have fuel & labor
A tank of fuel usually last 3 days or more working a 20 mile radius from the shop, the newer you can buy the better off you are in the long run

 

[pro94lt]

The engine also plays a huge roll in costs. Big block, Detroit, Brazilian ford, dt466 cummins, caterpillar. .. what medium duties you running?

 

[Griff93]

I'm running an 01 F550 w/7.3 6spd, 1992 Mitsubishi Fuso FH w/5.0 Turbodiesel 5spd, and a 1985 GMC C6000 chipper truck 350 4spd. If I buy a bucket truck, I'll probably buy a forestry body so I can chip into it as well. That would allow me to take only one truck to the job. Most of my work is 15 to 25 miles from my shop. We run two trucks a lot of the time. Pretty much any removal were running two truck and some trims. I would be selling the GMC and possibly the Fuso if I buy a bucket. By the time we rent a genie lift, drive over to the rental place to go get it, run a second truck so we can tow it and the chipper, and spend the time at the end of the day to take it back, I think renting one has some real hidden costs above the actual cost of the rental.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Mikecutstrees]

Its more efficient except on very small jobs to bring a chip truck to haul the chipper. This way you can back that in next to the bucket or drive it in front and on the other side of the chip pile to chip the brush. You will waste far to much time on a large removal either stacking brush or hauling it to the chipper when using just a forestry body chip truck. It works well for line trimming when you are moving up 35' at a clip but not for urban removals. We have a forestry body but mostly use it for hauling plywood, or firewood. A bucket truck will pay for itself very quickly if you have work for it. I purchased mine in PA from mickeys and have had good luck with it. Best of luck to you. Keep the trucks. Its always nice to have another truck for firewood, stump grindings etc.

Mike

 

[hseII]

How is your Ford set up?

 

[Griff93]

My ford has a 12 ft flat bed dump on in it that we built a plywood chip box on top of. It has worked out extremely well. I need to paint it but I keep thinking I'll be taking it off soon so I haven't bothered. It will at some point be setup as a small dump truck. I'll build some metal sides for it when we quit using it as a chip truck. I am going to build a cap from aluminum and hdpe sheet to cap the top of it for using it as a second chip truck. I did they plywood chip box before I bought the C6000 chipper truck. It has a 350 carb'd and a 4 speed. It doesn't have enough gearing or engine for my tastes. I've thought about repowering it or at least swapping in a two speed rear end. I have a gm tbi system that I might put on it as it seems to run good now that I fixed a couple of issues with it.

My drive to most jobs round trip is about 40 miles. I'm trying to cut down on running extra trucks as much as I can. I'd rather a job take 30 minutes longer at the actual job than have to pay an employee an extra hour of drive time plus the fuel for the second truck. I'm also trying to cut down on the overhead of having more trucks (insurance, tags, maintenance, etc). I sub out all my stump grinding as a I have a really good guy that does them for me. I really don't care for doing stump myself and it's more equipment I have to buy/haul around.

 

[hseII]

Specifics on the C6000 bed?

 

[Griff93]

It's an old asplundh chipper truck. I think it's an 11 foot bed but I've never take a tape measure to it. It also has the ad on man cab and tool boxes.

 

[GL0B0TREE]

needs some attention, but what a nice rig^

 

[Griff93]

Thanks. I bought it knowing it needed some love. The guy i bought it from quit using it because it quit running right. Three of the plug wires were burned on the exhaust manifold and the choke was stuck on. That's fixed now. Someone had also timed it about 30 degrees btdc at idle. The P/S pump is leaking, there's to much play in the steering, and the speedo doesn't work. Other than that everything else is good mechanically. I haven't put it into service yet. I will if I don't buy a forestry bucket and I may still keep it to use on big removals anyway. I'm trying to avoid having to many trucks to license, insure, and maintain.

 

[KrisSchmandt]

I think the last thing you said is key to your overall cost question. "I'm trying to avoid having to many trucks to license, insure, and maintain." We run the fewest, newest, best we can afford. Any time we are working on fixing a broken truck, chipper, etc. is time we are not making money. If you can afford it up front, newer equipment really pays off in the long run.

As for the bucket truck, I couldn't agree more with Mikecutstrees. Forestry body or no, run a separate chip truck and position it to save as much time/effort as possible. The faster you can safely work the more jobs you can do in a day and the more you can earn overall.