equipment dilemma

[blackwaterguide]

surgeon told you right. rope technique...well, ok. put on gaffs-keep em on. Saftey first. As you get better with them they leave signinficantly less evidence. leave bucket to line clearance and crap trees you don't want anyway. I'm old for this business but there are just too many jobs the bucket stays home. When di you last leave your chipper at home?

 

[TheSurgeon]

hobby climber

Down here it's gonna be 74 today Florida rocks!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Down here it's gonna be 74 today Florida rocks!

Ya, til a hurricane comes a calling. :alien:

 

[OutOnaLimb]

Go with the chipper and truck. Less than 25% of the jobs I do are accessable for a bucket. If a lift is needed to make a big removal go quicker we will rent a Genie lift for a day.

Kenn

 

[Scars2prove-it]

A decent used chipper truck is $12K and a decent used chipper is about the same. A decent used bucket/chipper truck is $45K. I would get the chipper truck (arbor body) and chipper first. It looks professional and your business will grow. After you find out if your partnership will work out and can get financing, get the combo unit and use the chipper truck for hauling wood.

 

[Menchhofer]

My vote would be to buy everything...the bucket...the chipper...and the chipper truck.

The combo unit is useless unless you are working along the road. Having the chipper on the back of the bucket for residential work is a mistake in my opinion. Brush either cannot be chipped while the "bucket jockey" is doing his thing due to the positioning of the two pieces of equipment in the available area. At times, chipping can be accomplished at the same time as bucket operations, but this usually means dragging the brush all the way back to where the chipper is located. Not productive at all. Usually the chip box on a bucket carries only 1/2 of what a dedicated chipper truck handles.

I have been through this senario years ago and if I could do it over again I would have began with a bucket and a chipper/truck even if the cost is more. Sooner or later you will decide to keep bucket operations separate from chipper activity.

Another added benefit is as one job almost completed, one can take the bucket on to begin another.

Granted, licensing and insurance is an added cost but that is usually paid for in the first few jobs of the year.

Safety and productivity should also add into your equation.

I use my bucket about 3 days average out of every week about 8-9 months out of the year. This year I have made more money than previous years.

True, there is a time and place for buckets as well as climbers. But, it is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier, safer, and faster with a bucket.

 

[lync]

Just my 2 cents. Nothing can replace a fast efficent climber.
But if you can get the bucket in place, a good bucket operator is many times faster than most any climber. As far as buckets for line clearance it's the safest way to go. The quality of tree work isn't determined by whether its performed in a bucket or by a climber, but by the person doing the tree work. My best bucket operator does the bulk of his trim work with a hand saw, and he is fast. I'd go for the bucket/box combo. If your on a budget its only one truck you have to maintain/insure, etc. Of course you have to drop the chipper to get in position many times, but its a trade off. My company just picked up 16 "alturna mats" as a alturnative to plywood, you can drive on lawns etc. with no damage. This may get you into places you didn't think possible. Lastly know the dimentions of the trucks and carry tape measure on estimates. I need 8'10" to get my bucket thru driveway or fence opening. good luck

Corey

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Id say sit down and do the math and see which you can afford more and then which will produce more on the jobs that you do.

Go over all the work you've done so far and find out the percentage he thinks the bucket would have saved money on, and how much.

If you take this the right way you can let him convince himself that the chipper is a good buy. Then if you can affor the combo, and it will work on the type of work you do, then maybe that would be the rout to go.

IMO the combo units are trade offs, rear mount buckets are the only way top go because they give you several more feet of setup room.

 

[Stumper]

Corey, While you are correct that the person doing the work determines the quality, my observation is that most bucket jockeys want to stay in the bucket (reasonable enough) so they wind up cutting otherwise desirable limbs out of the tree to make it accessible for the bucket. My town is filled with lionstailed trees that are the victims of uninformed and or unscrupulous bucket boys.

 

[tinman44]

thanks for everyones input but we have come to a decision. were just gonna go our separate.......just kidding. ok we are basically a climbing team so the bucket is the best way to accent our company. we have crews that do stumps and separate crew for chipping/cleaning. so heres the plan. we're getting the bucket truck. we have a large contract on some complexes that we're going after if we get it then we can get a chipper box after this job. the best advice i have seen (no offense to anyone) having a bucket and a box/chipper is the best way to go that way we can get tree down move on to next while ground men clean up. no i have been kicking around the idea of a flat bed (kinda like the things they transport sheet rock on(like a 17 mb was talking about)) with the crane and get a bucket for it then we will have the bucket, and crane, and flat bed to load large logs. anyways thats just a thought but definitely going with bucket then couple months getting box/chipper. hopefully can get used bucket and box. then finance a new 12'' chipper.