compressor for air spade

[murphy4trees]

I need a 185 cfm compressor for my new air knife...
See http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?p=273695#post273695post273695 the used equipment forum for details about a compressor I AM looking at now..

Any suggestions here or there are appreciated.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Are you doing that much work that renting is out of the question?

 

[alanarbor]

Ditto that Mike, Daniel total rental runs $140/day for the 185 cfm, they will deliver it to your shop. Unless you're running that air knife every day, owning the compressor does not make a whole lot of sense IMO.

 

[NeTree]

For $140 a day, if he uses it (the one he's looking at) a dozen times he's paid for it.

 

[murphy4trees]

I definitely choose to own a compressor... the rental yard is just a mile down the road... so maybe I'll rent one for a time or two before I buy...


BUT...... the market for big removals is getting so tight I Am looking to develop some other profit centers.... I'd like to see the air knife working 5 days/week... Though I haven't sold my first job yet.

 

[Husky288XP]

Hey Dan,
Your area should be pretty receptive to Plant Health Care, Integrated Pest Management, etc. most guys forget that there is more to arboriculture than removals and prunes.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Talk to the rental comapny to see if they have a unit they want to unload

I use my air tool a few times a quarter. It's paid for, but has gotten me acess to other work I would not have done without it.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Daniel what sevices do you plan on selling? [when using the air-spade]

 

[dhuffnmu]

Can I ask. what do you use the air knife for or what are you planning on using it for?????/ Sorry for the dumb question.

 

[Husky288XP]

An air spade is for radial trenching or for reducing soil compaction. It uses a stream of air to loft soil without cutting the tree's root system.

 

[Themadd1]

I am interested in pricing alot of these root flare excavation jobs this fall as a new cash center. I am looking into the costs right now and I can manage the costs for compressor rental under 15.oo per job.

How long does it take on average to excavate a 18" diameter root flare buried 4 inches into the ground with the air knife/spade?

I am thinking along the lines of 15 minutes after setup to get the flare excavated and another 15 minutes to prune any girding roots. With thirty minues of drive time. One hour per property? Does this sound about right?

So what are you charging?
per hour/per inch rate for customers?

Themadd1

 

[Themadd1]

Right.... Look I get that this is messy work. I also understand the issue with cleanup. I am going to be purchasing the 3 ft screens to put around the area to help with the material, and the majority of the trees I am going to be working with are smaller than 2' diameter so it shouldn't be that large of a mess, most trees over the 1 1/2' to 2' diameter probrably doesnt have an issue with the root flare or else it probrably wouldnt be as large as it is. The majority of my customers are only going to be paying for flare excavation, not Girdling root issues, so I dont see too much problem with the lower costs. I think I can have a one man crew in and out in 1/2 hour. If it is taking your crews more time to excavate a small tree then I feel there is something wrong with the procedure. I have a dedicated rig ready to go so why not help with some prices...

Themadd1

 

[treeman82]

I was speaking with a supposed tree guy the other day... he says that you have to be a really good salesman to sell this type of work. I was just laughing to myself on the inside. It's a pretty easy sell if you know what you are talking about. The guy also said that there is good money to be made in big removals... uhuh... sure.

 

[Themadd1]

It is amazing when I show my crews these new programs, whic are not new by the way, DRF, PHC, IPM, root excavation, etc. The overhead is so much lower and the work is so much easier....

 

[Nickrosis]

I definitely choose to own a compressor... the rental yard is just a mile down the road... so maybe I'll rent one for a time or two before I buy...

Sounds like you're a perfect candidate for renting if you haven't been doing this already for quite a while. Just renting one for the first 25 jobs will give you an idea of what you want when you do buy one.

 

[Themadd1]

The question is how many jobs can you do in a day?

What type of rate? Hourly/DBH?

How much would you charge for an 18" diameter tree.

Thanks,

Themadd1

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

To remedy planting depth issues, it goes fast. The dirt just disappears, there's no clean up. If some does end up on a sidewalk or what ever, you have a blower in your hand.
Actual time spraying might be 2 minutes, and then a couple more minutes to cut roots. The trees you'll be working on are small. You'll often be doing several trees per property, so you might be something like $35 to $75 a tree.
On bigger trees you'll likely be doing hazard assessment and the air work will just be part of the cost, but again, the actual spade time is a matter of minutes.
For soil aeration, this is where it takes time. It also highly variable, depending on the soil, and how compacted it is. You might want to charge by the hour, but figure a couple hours on a big tree. After you do a few you'll figure it out.
Air spade work is a hard sell, even though so many people need it. They hate to hear that every one of their trees is planted to deep.

 

[Themadd1]

Thanks for the info...

The timing you suggest is in the ball park of my estimates. But the pricing seems a little low for my area.. I am charging $130 minimum for DRF, with organics so I can probrably get more for the excavation work.

As for the selling, my customer base is fairly regular so I can usually up sell new services to my base with relatively little leg work. Thanks again for the advice

I think the best selling point is going to be telling people to look at the old trees in the area, my thought is that I wont be excavating any trees over 24" diameter, because the root flare is usually exposed, or else it would have died or been removed. I also have the benefit of having a large park system in the area for people to look over trees in their spare time which is a great selling point.

Thanks,

Themadd1

 

[Themadd1]

I do have another question about the number of jobs per year.

How many jobs do you usually estimate per year vs sell?

This will be very important in terms of pricing. I have done my estimated prices at the following.

96 properties per year at 191.83 each
192 properties per year at 181.04 each
288 properties per year at 177.44 each

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

The pricing is low because a typical situatuation might be 10 trees to examine and it might take 2 or 3 hours total. If you price it at $130 a tree, that's too high. But if you're going out to look at one or two trees, then yes, $35 is too low. You need some kind of minumum, obviously.
Once the tree is over 6" or 8" dbh, it's usually too late. Girdling root repairs at that time just aren't effective. and you risk setting up a hazard tree.