Hell Jobs, your place to vent

[lumberjach]

Ok here is your chance to vent and tell everyone about that Contract that went sour. Ever had a job where your help got paid more than you? Ever bust your tail for days and pay out your own pocket. What went wrong?

I'll start with my worst expierience. I refer to it as "Hell week". The contract was clearing about an acre of trees. Through the course of the week we managed to drop an oak on an 044, run over an 029 with the bobcat, get the bobcat stuck in the mud so far back in the woods we had to dig it out by hand and last but not least we stripped out the rearend in the log truck. Needless to say we didn't make as much.

 

[spacemule]

One time I had this job where one logger paid me to sabotage another company's chainsaws. I also had to dig a mudpit so the guy would get stuck out in the boonies. These were labor-intensive and didn't pay very well (he gave me a six-pack of Coors), but what topped it off was having to get all greasy when I put sand in the truck's rear-end. The guy's wife being home all alone when he was stuck digging his bobcat out made it all worthwhile, though.

 

[lumberjach]

Shoot son if I aint home you would have to get in line for my wife. And I know you wasn't the one with the six pack cus we tied him to a tree and told him how purdy his mouth was. lol

 

[spacemule]

In all seriousness, the worst job I had was working in a Tyson chicken plant. I only lasted 4 months. Something about shoveling 55 gallon barrels full of chicken guts out from underneath the grinders on a daily basis and getting splattered constantly and smelling worse than ???? just didn't sit well with me.

 

[stehansen]

I had a 60" dbh cottonwood tree to take down with a fence on one side and a power line on that same side and one limb was hanging all the way to the other side of the road. My guy hurt his back trying to throw the throw ball from in the bucket to a crotch about 40' above his head and was out of commission for a couple of weeks. I partnered up with another tree co. and the first thing he did was to drop a huge limb on my bucket truck smashing the platform down and crunching the cab. The saw started to pinch because the lean was on one side and he just cut on the other side and cut through his hinge and then the wind took the limb ninety degrees from where we wanted it to fall. As if this wasn't bad enough he dropped my 660 and broke the gas tank. Needless to say me and that guy had a "breakup" and then I waited for my working man to get better as I couldn't really do anything by myself with this huge thing. My working man convinced me to drop this other huge limb into the neighbor's driveway so we secured the neighbor's permission and he dropped it and it missed his limbs that were laid out to dampen it's fall and protect the neighbors curb. Cracked the curb to the tune of $800. So instead of taking the allotted 2-3 days it took about 6 days over about a three week period, it took 2 months and about $5,000 to put another cab on my truck. His insurance co blamed me and mine blamed him. My wife was afraid of the guy since he had done some time and wouldn't let me sue him. The job paid $2500. Looking back I think that I could have fallen the tree if I used a 1 1/4" cable and a Caterpillar to pull it as it had a pretty big lean, and I could have been out of there in a day or two. I was being impatient and wanted to get started (it would have taken probably a day to get the caterpillar moved and the cable was about 300' long and pretty hard to handle also). I was fairly new to the tree biz and this was my first big lesson in taking whatever time was necessary to prepare for and gather whatever resources that were necessary for a job. Also I learned to trust my own judgement in the matters and not be convinced by other people.

 

[stehansen]

One time I had this job where one logger paid me to sabotage another company's chainsaws. I also had to dig a mudpit so the guy would get stuck out in the boonies. These were labor-intensive and didn't pay very well (he gave me a six-pack of Coors), but what topped it off was having to get all greasy when I put sand in the truck's rear-end. The guy's wife being home all alone when he was stuck digging his bobcat out made it all worthwhile, though.

I think I would keep this one to myself.

 

[lumberjach]

I Had a job when I first got started that nearly caused me to rethink installing fence. 5 large loblolly pines in the frontyard. All had to be pieced out. Everything was cool until the the last one which was close to the house and over the car port. I let dude climb this one and he limbed it up and was about 20 ft from the top and he asked me to make the call. He had a better look at it so I told him to use his own discernment. I told him from where I was standing I would take less of a top. I think he was tired. Anyhow he notched it and then began making his back cut and his notch popped 90 degrees. He spiked to the side and the top missed him but it turned that carport to shrapnel. The lady drove a lexas and left probably 5 minutes before. I built my first carport that week and I still managed to make a little bit. I still wake up anxious over that one.

 

[pbtree]

I was climbing a dead pine when I kicked my gaf in about 10 feet up from the bottom the top of the tree feel out and just nicked my head lucky it hit me in a hard spot but it did grab my saw and take it with it and almost pulled me out of the tree

I hate it when that happens!

 

[Tree Machine]

I went against my gut intuition and loaned my chipper out to an apprentice. He was kicking me back a commission I felt the need to support him as best I could while I recover from a broken leg.

He had a good-paying job, which meant a good commission for me. Anyway, they blew a cylinder head, a two day job spilled into three, they had to rent another chipper, costs escalated and after all was said and done, the commission was thinner than expected. I spent an entire day running down parts and swapping out the cylinder head.

The I got really stupid. I loaned it to him again for a job where the folks wanted the chips, someone else wanted the firewood, sounded easy. He blew another cylinder head, I spent another day getting more parts and trying to figure out why this was happening, learning the timing was probably too far advanced, and that the way that timing gets changed is for the distributor to rotate. Upon inspection, the distributor was cracked indicating some kind of impact.

More hours dragging my chipper around town to find someone who can set the timing. Automotive guys don't generally know air-cooled 4-cylinders so all sources led to Zero. More time on the internet trying to find instructions on how to do this myself, then having to borrow a timing gun. Finally found a timing gun, got home, got everything put back together, apprentice had left the ignition switch on so the battery was dead. Got the battery charged, got everything hooked up to reset the timing, the light on the timing gun was dead. This is where I am currently, chipper still not running.

In the meantime, apprentice guy was breaking safety rules out on the site of one of my very best clients, one-hands his chainsaw, cuts through the limb and into his arm, sending him to the hospital for stitches and a few weeks vacation, as well as my client's job half-done. He was the only person I've entrusted to refer tree jobs on to, and thus my only source of income while I recover. My business is completely sunk, my chipper is down and I can only handle so much in the way of walking around doing estimates and wrenching on machinery. He has no money to help get the chipper repaired, so I eat it.

Ya know the rule about not loaning your gear out? If you find what you think might be an exception, don't cave into it. Thanks for letting me vent. I feel better now.

 

[stehansen]

Tree Machine, Was this a Wisconsin motor? If so, yeah, not many outfits know how to work on them. I used to farm and we had them on the walnut harvesting equipment.

 

[lumberjach]

Tree machine keep your head up man something good will come out of it. Who knows maybe all of this delay kept you out of an accident. :angel:

 

[lumberjach]

Someone has suggested that my posts aren't positive. On the otherhand I think this is a good opportunity to count our blessings. Besides it is a great way to learn from others. Especially some of us young Bucks. There is a whole lot of wisdom in experience!

 

[notahacker]

Don't you hate jobs you under estimate? For some reason you get to the job and think to yourself, "I can do this for $__________,much no problem." The customer says you're hired and it begins.

Today I worked by myself for 11 hours! My basic mistake was not thinking about the clean-up. I removed two Siouxland Cottonwoods (a Poplar/Cottonwood hybrid). Well they have been standing dead for nearly 3 years.--Bone dry! As you would know, when the stuff hits the ground it shatters into a million pieces. I spent about 1/3 more time than I actually thought I would on this job. My feet hurt, back hurts, and I have a headace. I moved two whole trees today, BY MYSELF. My body is tired and guess what? Tomorrow is Saturday and I still have to get up at 6AM to work!

However, I am so glad I don't have to work in a cubical all day. Even though I missed my mark on this job, I still got climb a tree.--AMEN?!

 

[Tree Machine]

Amen to that.