Just got back from my storm chasing adventure. Spent 4 days in Orlando working in the winter haven area. Then spent the rest of the time in a very small town Lake Wales. I slept in a couple of the worst hotels in my LIFE! No Elec. no Nuttin!! at this one place we stayed for 2 nights we were in one of the 7 rooms with a door on them (that is not due to the storm, these were just scum bag hotels). All the locals got out of their houses becasue of no AC and headed to the hotels so there were no decent places left, and the only one we found said no way are you park that Loader truck, and truck with the Bobcat in my lot due to the shortage of space.
Over all we did pretty well for 2 weeks, but those FL hurricane deductables were killing everyone. I don't "gouge", but while I am a traveling tree man I demand a premium for my services. There was a shizit load of work, but due to $2000 -- $4000 insurance deductables price does matter and unless they had roof damage they were shopping and being a-holes about it. Did have one where I bid the removal of the tree from the roof of a builing at $7500, and the guy said he'd pay me $8500 to do it tomorrow. DEAL!
Anyone who had a good time in VA last year --do not expect the same reception in FL, even though the damage is jsut as bad or even much worse in some cases. Another problem about tree work in O-town was the small yards, so people assumed that hauling this huge pile of tree 15ft to the curb was no problem and they did it with the help of the neighbors. Also in Orlando the city was taking care of "city trees" that fell down even on houses. The city guy we ran into while he was surveying curb damage said taht they will take care of any tree on the street side of the side walk no matter where it landed.
We got out of town and into a little honey hole near lake wales where they have big yards. Those people appreciated the power of a bobcat, and were much nicer than Orlando. Had a woman bake us cookies, give us ice and drinks. I ran into several tree guys from TX that were there also.
Now I am burried in local work, caught some kind of cold from that sh!thole hotel, and we have more storms on the radar. Time to get off the net and get to work. I've somehow got to finish 2 weeks worth of work this week so I can get to the next storm when it hits.
Greg
