curious about pricing

[tahufford61]

Hi

I recently gave bids on two tree jobs. The first one was a 35 to 45 foot oak, with two branches over hanging another house's roof and some other branches over hanging a fence. The guy want the tree taken down and disposed of. I bid $600.00 and the guy told me that I was way over priced and he found someone to do it for $200.00. What do you think, am I over priced or is someone underpricing. Second tree, it is a 50ft spruce, I bid $600.00 on it and she also said that I was way overpriced and she could get it down a whole lot cheaper. Same thing, am I over priced or is some underpricing. Thank you

 

[treeminator]

i bet they're lying. (especially the woman...woman always lie to us guys) it's the easiest way to get someone else to lower the price. tell her, "show me the competitor's bid/quote and i'll beat it by 10%".

did this incude stump grinding??? that makes a huge difference. i have local yahoo's with chainsaws underbid me everyday, but i always walk away with the job because they don't have a stumpgrinder. customers want the whole removal and will pay more for it.

 

[John464]

I average about 5 jobs per day that I lose because I get underbid(we do about 10-15 bids per day). Don't really care as there is enough work around for everyone. If you get every job you bid you are working too cheap! Get the right money everytime. You also didnt say if you are chipping, leaving wood or taking, cutting it to firewood size if you are leaving, grind stump, how much travel time it'll take, how much you have to pay your men to get it done, etc etc.

Customers will waste your time, thats part of business and there are always going to be shoppers in this game.

 

[woodchux]

Don't even worry about what other guys charge .
Charge what you want/need to make on the job.
Don't lower your prices , keep bidding.
You'll get lots of work if you do a good job !

 

[clearance]

i have local yahoo's with chainsaws underbid me everyday, .

I love it, the irony, this guy gets climbers that were flipping burgers the day before, pays them $8 hr, makes them pay thier own comp., gives then Craftsman chainsaws and rope from **** Depot, and has the nerve to call others "yahoos", beautifull.

 

[treeminator]

I average about 5 jobs per day that I lose because I get underbid(we do about 10-15 bids per day). Don't really care as there is enough work around for everyone. If you get every job you bid you are working too cheap! Get the right money everytime. You also didnt say if you are chipping, leaving wood or taking, cutting it to firewood size if you are leaving, grind stump, how much travel time it'll take, how much you have to pay your men to get it done, etc etc.

Customers will waste your time, thats part of business and there are always going to be shoppers in this game.

interesting take on the biz. i have a completely different approach. i milk a specific neighborhood dry with low prices and use this to improve the efficiency of the workload because all the jobs are within walking distance to each other. in fact the stump grinder is simply wheeled from job to job they are so close. i had 57 homes this month in the same subdivision and made a killing. beat out all the competitors hands down with this system.

 

[treeminator]

I love it, the irony, this guy gets climbers that were flipping burgers the day before, pays them $8 hr, makes them pay thier own comp., gives then Craftsman chainsaws and rope from **** Depot, and has the nerve to call others "yahoos", beautifull.

whatever Clarice...
i train my own guys from scratch. it's a great system. they make very loyal employees and i don't have to pay them the going rate which is twice the amount. all helps with efficiency.

 

[tahufford61]

responding to questions regarding my question

The first tree was to be removed completely and leave the stump there, and take the tree away and dispose of it, and the second tree that the women wanted done, consisted of cutting it down, grinding the stump and disposing of the tree. I live about 15 miles from both of these people. I feel that they might as well asked me to do their tree's for free. Ironically, I am doing another tree that snap in half, the bottom half is still standing, and the bottom half is about 28 ft tall, and the part that broke off is about 30 ft, and she is paying me $700.00 to cut it up and dispose of it.

 

[clearance]

The first tree was to be removed completely and leave the stump there, and take the tree away and dispose of it, and the second tree that the women wanted done, consisted of cutting it down, grinding the stump and disposing of the tree. I live about 15 miles from both of these people. I feel that they might as well asked me to do their tree's for free. Ironically, I am doing another tree that snap in half, the bottom half is still standing, and the bottom half is about 28 ft tall, and the part that broke off is about 30 ft, and she is paying me $700.00 to cut it up and dispose of it.

Welcome to the site, you have done nothing wrong, keep going, its all good.

 

[treeseer]

"The first one was a 35 to 45 foot oak, with two branches over hanging another house's roof and some other branches over hanging a fence. The guy want the tree taken down and disposed of. I bid $600.00 and the guy told me that I was way over priced and he found someone to do it for $200.00. What do you think, am I over priced or is someone underpricing."

I like think the $200 bid was to prune the offending limbs , treat pests, fertilize, mulch and leave a strong and beautiful tree. You know, like what an arborist does. Instead, the urban loggers prey on tree owners' ignorance--destroying their assets, cutting off noses to fix faces, and throwing babies out with bathwater.

treeminator, when you drive through those raped Florida neighborhoods one day with your kid, will you point to the steaming hot treeless wasteland that you left behind and proudly say, "Look at what I did, son--don't you want to be like me?"

Wait, I'm wrong. That can't happen--there won't be any trees left to rape. The boy'll go in the A/C business, and die of skin cancer at 40.

This thread's not about underbidding--it's about underserving. Urban tree removal is not a sustainable business. Tree care is.

 

[Koa Man]

$600 for a 35 ft. tall tree with branches over a roof is way too cheap IMO. When someone tells me they have someone who can do it for half my price I tell them I want their name so I can sub them all my jobs.

 

[jmack]

Hi

I recently gave bids on two tree jobs. The first one was a 35 to 45 foot oak, with two branches over hanging another house's roof and some other branches over hanging a fence. The guy want the tree taken down and disposed of. I bid $600.00 and the guy told me that I was way over priced and he found someone to do it for $200.00. What do you think, am I over priced or is someone underpricing. Second tree, it is a 50ft spruce, I bid $600.00 on it and she also said that I was way overpriced and she could get it down a whole lot cheaper. Same thing, am I over priced or is some underpricing. Thank you

you are not overpriced, owner says to you your overpriced he is experienced and went for your jugular next time tuck your chin and tell em you are not the cheapest, remind them that this is not cheap like plumbing. someone will always do it cheaper , ask who da clown is and get his # because you will have a lot of work for him in the future

 

[rebelman]

That's my seer!

 

[clearance]

"The first one was a 35 to 45 foot oak, with two branches over hanging another house's roof and some other branches over hanging a fence. The guy want the tree taken down and disposed of. I bid $600.00 and the guy told me that I was way over priced and he found someone to do it for $200.00. What do you think, am I over priced or is someone underpricing."

I like think the $200 bid was to prune the offending limbs , treat pests, fertilize, mulch and leave a strong and beautiful tree. You know, like what an arborist does. Instead, the urban loggers prey on tree owners' ignorance--destroying their assets, cutting off noses to fix faces, and throwing babies out with bathwater.

treeminator, when you drive through those raped Florida neighborhoods one day with your kid, will you point to the steaming hot treeless wasteland that you left behind and proudly say, "Look at what I did, son--don't you want to be like me?"

Wait, I'm wrong. That can't happen--there won't be any trees left to rape. The boy'll go in the A/C business, and die of skin cancer at 40.

This thread's not about underbidding--it's about underserving. Urban tree removal is not a sustainable business. Tree care is.

Treeminator is a troll, take it easy, read the whole thread, don't be fooled again, c'mon.

 

[treeminator]

Treeminator is a troll, take it easy, read the whole thread, don't be fooled again, c'mon.

no Clearance. just becase someone runs their business differently than what your used to and runs it efficiently doesn't mean they're a troll. just because i pay my guys lower and use cheaper tools doesn't mean it's a troll. you must be a hard person to work with because you seem to think you're always right.

 

[treeminator]

"
treeminator, when you drive through those raped Florida neighborhoods one day with your kid, will you point to the steaming hot treeless wasteland that you left behind and proudly say, "Look at what I did, son--don't you want to be like me?"
QUOTE]

the way i see it... if i didn't cut the own, they would have called someone else. there's 100 people with chainsaws willing to do it.

 

[pigwot]

Education is always a good thing... if a tree is truly a hazard and must come down so be it. But if it is healthy, choose to do a little teaching. I recall a woman who called and asked me to take down the plane tree in her front yard 'because it is a dirty tree'. I took the time to go down there and speak with her about her tree. I didn't try to sell her a story about maintaining as much green in our city as was possible. Rather I pointed out the shade her tree provided every afternoon to reduce the workload on her air conditioner, and discussed tree biology and showed her how her tree was quite healthy. Although she already had a few estimates for the takedown she agreed to a pruning and the tree is there to this day. Just because there are 100 other chainsaw-toters willing to cut it down doesn't mean we have to be the 101st. Be the one who teaches an appreciation for a tree. It can make a difference.

 

[doggonetrees]

I have saved many trees from doom by looking at them up close and personnal and asking the owner to close their eyes and imagine this tree gone, how empty the space it has been in will be. If it is a danger tree, then so be it- it must come down. When they try to haggle on the price, I explain all the stuff I have to pay( ins., license, bonding ), and then when they see the inventory of equipment that I have to keep, this pretty much steers them to accept the price. Not negotiable, unless they are disabled, retired, or single-moms. Those people have enough on their plate without having to feel they were raped by a tree-guy.

 

[clearance]

I love it, the irony, this guy gets climbers that were flipping burgers the day before, pays them $8 hr, makes them pay thier own comp., gives then Craftsman chainsaws and rope from **** Depot, and has the nerve to call others "yahoos", beautifull.

He admits to this being true, so he is a troll, or even worse if he actually has a company, which I hope he does not, what a cull either way.

 

[rebelman]

Clarence, you called me a cull before, but I'm a good residential guy, spikeless, standards. I average fifty feet tie in point without spikes, and you're always over one hundred with spikes, You didn't reply back when treeco accused you of doing side jobs pruning with spikes. Your rare silence was loud. I'm not much like treeminator, but I'd rather be what you call a cull than what I call a hack.