Do it yourself Homeowners

[DDM]

I have no problem with someone being self sufficient but this is way over the top. 2 weeks ago today we were taking down 6
rahter large white pines originally there was 7 but it had fallen on the neighbors house 3 weeks ealier.Anyway I'm in the drive watching the bucket truck in action when i notice a
fellow heading towards me from up the road sporting a walker.He gets to me and his first question is Do you ever rent out your bucket truck?Without a second thought i reply Nope never.He then ask's me,You wouldnt park it in my yard and let me use it for a day?Nope not ever is my reply.He then asks Do you know where i can rent one? I replied a 65' lift I believe Hertz rents one.He then tells me I need to find a bucket so i can get all those dead limbs out of my trees. His next statement is I tried to climb one and get the branches down and fell thatss why I'm on this walker.I then asked him Would you like me to give you an estimate to Dead wood your tree's? He replies nope
I want to do it myself.I Cant believe it! This guy is in his mid forties on a walker for falling out of his tree and wants another stab at it? Good Grief! I guess I'll be reading about him in the paper! But then again "It's Just a Tree"

 

[begleytree]

Natural selection at work.

I've always enjoyed the jacka5ses of all trades, especially when they're too stupid to realize when they're beat.

About 2 miles down the road a few years ago a guy was topping out his silver maple that was broken up from the recent ice storm. His way- put a ladder on the trunk, send his 8-10 year old kid up to shinny the leaders, tie on a piece of CATV wire, he'd then go up with a bow saw and cut it nearly off, go down and pull while the kid finished the cut. limbs about 8" dia and 20 ft long. I had to sit and watch a couple cuts, then he saw me/my company truck and had the youngin get down. Tree was finished up a few days later, I'm sure the same way. Did I mention the youngin wasn't tied in in any way?
-Ralph

 

[pbtree]

Just when you think you have seen it all, then you run across a living brain doner... Wowsers...

 

[Lawn Masters]

darwin award contenders.

 

[treeman82]

A couple of weeks ago I heard a story at the local power equipment dealer's.

Guy gets a price of $5,000 to remove a large tree which was next to his house. He felt that, that was too much. So he decided to spend $600 on a new chainsaw. Now apparently if the tree fell one way, it would be fine, however if it fell the other way, there goes the house. So the guy takes his new saw home, puts a winch line from his jeep into the crown of the tree somewhere and procedes to make the cut. Well, the tree decided to go towards the house, and took the jeep with it. So now the guy has the tree going staight for his house, with only the jeep holding it back with its 2 rear tires. Guy goes, calls up the tree company again pleading for help. This time they came back and did it for $10,000.

 

[Newfie]

Some of my most profitable land clearing jobs are from DIY lumberjacks realizing that they are in way over their head or "this work is too hard".

 

[Buzzlightyear]

I saw a homeowner the other day next door to where i was feling a wind blown conifer. He was on the 2nd to last rung of a triple extension ladder re-pollarding a horse chestnut with loppers and a bow saw ! His wife was footing the ladder and everytime he dropped a branch he told her to get out of the way so she didn't get hit by the branch !! Quality, scary to watch though....

 

[daveyclimber]

I don't know what it is with these misguided souls . I think the biggest reason is that most of them are major tightwads and another is to impress their wives or girlfriends . I have done about a dozen jobs where I had to complete the job that a homeowner got injured doing . Not to mention another dozen or so that got injured in the past and called me the next time they needed tree work done . I have also lost friends and aquaintances in this business , they were professionals who made mistakes .I feel most tree guys are like cats , they have nine lives . I have had several very scary close calls that I know of , probably dozens more that I was unaware of . People just don't realize what it takes , I gaurantee that most of these homeowner hacks want to chicken out in the middle of their job but their pride gets in the way from stopping them and they ultimatley get injured or killed . Stubborn cheapskates will never learn uless it's by the hard way . To repeat offenders ... your time will come sad but true .

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

This time they came back and did it for $10,000.

Justice!

 

[KentuckySawyer]

The general public is surprisingly stupid.

Begley said it, "Natural selection."

I guess all those "intelligent designers" were just created dumb.

 

[DDM]

Remember there thinking "IT'S JUST A TREE" Not rocket science,you dont need a license no special skill's Just a 89.00 chain saw from any box store and whatever you can find in the Garage to help out.

 

[PTS]

The general public is surprisingly stupid.

You should try my past profession of Law Enforcement. You will learn what stupid is all about.

 

[Stumper]

Ahh...but in Law enforcement you don't really deal with the general public---Mostly you get to deal over and over with a few extended families of hopeless perps.

 

[Old Monkey]

I used to work at a hardware store and it used to kill me that we could sell chainsaws but we couldn't teach or advise people in their use. It would be great to give chainsaw safety courses at the local JC but no one could afford the liability insurance that it would take.

 

[a_lopa]

i did a stump today a 5' ash,between houses that the owner had taken down with an electric saw,done a good job i must say.

 

[Sizzle-Chest]

Over Thanksgiving I was at my parents, and my father asked me to look at a white-oak tree he was worried about. Well, he had good reason to worry because it was big, deader than dead and hanging over the neighbor's house. At the base, someone had clearly girdled the tree with their saw and made some really deep cuts and then left it to die.

We got the neighbor out right then and there. He starts by saying, "Oh, ya my wife's been on my case about that one. It's actually on our property (which was a relief for my father) so I'll take care of it. I figure I'll put a rope in it and pull it over that way." Pointing up the hill against the lean of the tree.

"Wait," I said, "What are you planning to do?" Just so I could be clear that he was as rediculously stupid as he sounded.

"I'll just tie a rope around the top and cut it up the hill." In other words, he was going to shimmy up the snag with some walmart special rope, tie a little knot around a branch, then maybe have his wife yard on it while he made the cuts??? I didn't want to launch into the details of how bad of an idea his plan was. Not only were several other trees in the way of his plan, but the lean was so bad that the only way the tree could possibly fall if cut from the base was straight on his roof! I thought about mentioning that I work for an arborist that could take it out safely, but after thinking it over I realize, whats the point?

But here's the gem of the conversation. I suggested that maybe someone had killed his tree on purpose because the cuts were so deliberate when he says, "Ya, I don't know what happened to the base there. I think i accidently did it with my saw a little while back." He thinks??? How does a person cut the spit out of their tree and forget all about it? And who does that to a tree leaning over their house and then leaves it!? I will try to get a picture of it soon and post it. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to eventually see an after shot too.

DIY=DIE

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

I'm not a professional tree guy, but I'm doing some work for a lady down the road. I don't mean to step on any local pro's toes, but she's a friend, and this a job I could handle. Her yard was a mess, crowded with trees, all of them big, and all close to the house. I went in and told her what I could do and what I couldn't. Flat out, no way I was gonna get in over my head. My biggest fear was to do just what's been mentioned above-get half way into it and then not be able to finish the job, and leave her with a mess, or worse yet, put something on her house. I must say, no close calls and all went well. The last two we did yesterday were a large cedar and a larger alder. In the scond pic, you can see them laying side by side. This week we buck and mill them.

Jeff

 

[pbtree]

i did a stump today a 5' ash,between houses that the owner had taken down with an electric saw,done a good job i must say.

5 feet tall?????

 

[PTS]

I got called to one last year where the guy had started taking down a pine around 20 inch base probably 30 ft tall with a a sawzall. Got part of it done, started to cut the base and realized it wasn't going to work and the wind came up, tree starts leaning toward his house, and he pulls the OH CHIT cord and calls. I thought maybe a butter knife would have worked

 

[J_Ashley]

PTS, I think I'd have gone to the garage and grabbed the circular saw to finish it up.

Justin