monkeypuzzle
ArboristSite Guru
Well just don't rip anyone off.
Isabel
- Thread starter John Paul Sanborn
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Bottlenecks
Never chased storms but I am guessing from storm work here, the major bottleneck is not having climbers, it is the lack of having crews,chippers, and chip trucks.
only as efficient as the bottlenecks.....
Never chased storms but I am guessing from storm work here, the major bottleneck is not having climbers, it is the lack of having crews,chippers, and chip trucks.
only as efficient as the bottlenecks.....
Last edited:
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
When I worked hurricane Andrew, clean-up wasn't a problem. All's the homeowner had to do was get the debris to the road - the National Guard was picking it up.
The main priority was clearing houses, driveways, roads, like that. Even then, you had to kinda triage the work you had to do, the most important stuff first. And believe me, everyone thinks their stuff is the most important!
Lots and lots of hard work, and long hours. I allmost passed out from the chainsaw exhaust cutting a tree out of an attic and the bedroom. No electricity, zero ventilation, lots of fun!
At least you know when your knocking off, 'cause martial law is usually imposed, and you gotta be off the streets by dark! You can make some bucks, but it is a high-stress situation.
No fun a tall.
The main priority was clearing houses, driveways, roads, like that. Even then, you had to kinda triage the work you had to do, the most important stuff first. And believe me, everyone thinks their stuff is the most important!
Lots and lots of hard work, and long hours. I allmost passed out from the chainsaw exhaust cutting a tree out of an attic and the bedroom. No electricity, zero ventilation, lots of fun!
At least you know when your knocking off, 'cause martial law is usually imposed, and you gotta be off the streets by dark! You can make some bucks, but it is a high-stress situation.
No fun a tall.
John Paul Sanborn
Above average climber
Originally posted by monkeypuzzle
Well just don't rip anyone off.
How is market economics ripping people off.
If they have the money and we have the time to sell, why should it not go to the highest bidder? As long as we work in good faith while on the clock, good steady pace, no napes or long cigarette breaks.. oh I don't smoke.
murphy4trees
Addicted to ArboristSite
JPS,
There are lenty of situations where market economics could easily be considerred "ripping off".... Capitalism is by no means a perfect system.... Lots and lots of what some would call "imperfections", while others, me included, consider gross areas of dysfunction... Monopolies is probably the easiest example to point out.... That's why public utilities were well regulated for years... Take out the regulation allow "market" forces to run wild and you've got the savings and loan scam or the California energy crisis...
Ask any of the billions of peasants living on dirt floors all over world what they think of "market economics". You might be surprised by how well they understand market forces... Its the rich man in his summer house that is thrilled by the wonders of capitalism, not the billions who wake up everyday and wonder how they are going to get food today...
THAT SAID:
Last winter when Philly got hit w/ 22" of snow, I was charging 200/driveway... Told 'em that on the phone before even showing up... That was the 4th deepest snow we had in the area in the last 100 years... A lot of rigs/drivers couldn't move it.. The streets and back roads were remarkably quiet.... I was driving an '89 Ram Charger 2 door SUV.... Beat it hard but it held up... I also bought a '92 Bronco w/ plow when there was 8" down... Paid 5K for the truck and it cost another 2350.00 to replace the trans after my buddy whooped it on a steep driveway that had 2" of ice under the 22" of snow...
That's the way I play it in deep snow... I wasn't holding a gun to anyone's head... If you don't want to pay me $200, you're free to call someone else or get out the shovel...
Same with storm damage... it's extra dangerous... hard on everything and everybody. So that's the time for us arborists to get our piece of the pie... If you can get 50 or 80 $/hr working as a sub.... more power to you...
Did I mention that I plow snow for free from May until September every year.... Good deal huh?
There are lenty of situations where market economics could easily be considerred "ripping off".... Capitalism is by no means a perfect system.... Lots and lots of what some would call "imperfections", while others, me included, consider gross areas of dysfunction... Monopolies is probably the easiest example to point out.... That's why public utilities were well regulated for years... Take out the regulation allow "market" forces to run wild and you've got the savings and loan scam or the California energy crisis...
Ask any of the billions of peasants living on dirt floors all over world what they think of "market economics". You might be surprised by how well they understand market forces... Its the rich man in his summer house that is thrilled by the wonders of capitalism, not the billions who wake up everyday and wonder how they are going to get food today...
THAT SAID:
Last winter when Philly got hit w/ 22" of snow, I was charging 200/driveway... Told 'em that on the phone before even showing up... That was the 4th deepest snow we had in the area in the last 100 years... A lot of rigs/drivers couldn't move it.. The streets and back roads were remarkably quiet.... I was driving an '89 Ram Charger 2 door SUV.... Beat it hard but it held up... I also bought a '92 Bronco w/ plow when there was 8" down... Paid 5K for the truck and it cost another 2350.00 to replace the trans after my buddy whooped it on a steep driveway that had 2" of ice under the 22" of snow...
That's the way I play it in deep snow... I wasn't holding a gun to anyone's head... If you don't want to pay me $200, you're free to call someone else or get out the shovel...
Same with storm damage... it's extra dangerous... hard on everything and everybody. So that's the time for us arborists to get our piece of the pie... If you can get 50 or 80 $/hr working as a sub.... more power to you...
Did I mention that I plow snow for free from May until September every year.... Good deal huh?
Guy Meilleur
Addicted to ArboristSite
Re: Re: oh well
Subs I had after ice storm (no ins. work--all out of clients' pockets)ranged from 1. casually taking waht was offered if it was close to what they figured, to 2. aggressively billing for everything conceivable but reasonably negotiating the details, to 3. savagely billing for nonsense like drive time home, and ?????ing constantly about not getting enough.
1. is too generous imo, even if it's not ins work, 2. is ok but tiresome to deal with after a while--I guess being a prime is tiring in ways I wasn't used to--but 3. is ugly nasty and brutish. It's not professional to focus on $ so much because that pushes aside job considerations.
Also the Atty General in NC has already posted info on post-storm gougers preying on the desparate, and laws are on the books to prosecute them. I'll say it again--bidding an hourly rate with a maximum if clent/ ins co needs one is the fairest way. I'm a capitalist who believes in free market forces but it ain't ethical to ppush those forces to the maximum.
Izzy stil 105 mph in eye and aimed just to the east of me. The first band of rain just started falling in Raleigh. Now is when the tree hazards Ive ID'd but haven't acted on yet weigh heavy. guilt over damage I could've prevented will come, along with satisfaction when seeing trees I did storm-resistance work on hold up when others don't.
Since the gouging ? came up again I'll repeat this.Originally posted by Guy Meilleur
And of course we all want the extra $; I tack on a 50% surcharge, which imo is different than the "wharever the market will bear" approach, synonymous with gouging.
The financial meltdown murph talks about is likely; ins cos go bellyup, and others drop policyholders who file too many claims no matter how legitimate. So gouging has ripple effects thru society that I don't think anyone wants.
:
Subs I had after ice storm (no ins. work--all out of clients' pockets)ranged from 1. casually taking waht was offered if it was close to what they figured, to 2. aggressively billing for everything conceivable but reasonably negotiating the details, to 3. savagely billing for nonsense like drive time home, and ?????ing constantly about not getting enough.
1. is too generous imo, even if it's not ins work, 2. is ok but tiresome to deal with after a while--I guess being a prime is tiring in ways I wasn't used to--but 3. is ugly nasty and brutish. It's not professional to focus on $ so much because that pushes aside job considerations.
Also the Atty General in NC has already posted info on post-storm gougers preying on the desparate, and laws are on the books to prosecute them. I'll say it again--bidding an hourly rate with a maximum if clent/ ins co needs one is the fairest way. I'm a capitalist who believes in free market forces but it ain't ethical to ppush those forces to the maximum.
Izzy stil 105 mph in eye and aimed just to the east of me. The first band of rain just started falling in Raleigh. Now is when the tree hazards Ive ID'd but haven't acted on yet weigh heavy. guilt over damage I could've prevented will come, along with satisfaction when seeing trees I did storm-resistance work on hold up when others don't.
Ryan Willock
Addicted to ArboristSite
Its starting to get alittle windy. So far in Chapel Hill its just been rain with gusts of maybe 20-30 mph.
Guy Meilleur
Addicted to ArboristSite
Power's been out once already; branches breaking and whole big trees bending. I'm likely out of power for days; anyone certified who wants to come and sub call cel tonight 919-906-0465. i'll be out assessing damge later today and hope to have an idea of damage in Raleigh area then..
later today and hope to have an idea of damage in Raleigh area then..Local news station here was making fun of it as well by having their own hurricane watch here in town. They would go to a live shot (sunny day) and then the reporter would recommend that everyone stay in doors just incase Izzy turns to the "left" and saying "If we can save just one life, it is all worth while......"
To all of you apocalyptic doomsdayers out there, economy and life as we know it in America hasn't crashed yet. 9-11 still doesn't seem like a picnic.....
To all of you apocalyptic doomsdayers out there, economy and life as we know it in America hasn't crashed yet. 9-11 still doesn't seem like a picnic.....
SilverBlue
Addicted to ArboristSite
Here Isabel can be compared to a politician- all talk and no action.
Oh boy I think I heard a branch crack!
Oh boy I think I heard a branch crack!
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
I'm coming with the crane!!!
seanlarkin
ArboristSite Guru
FYI, we will have staff here on Saturday to handle any orders that need to be placed. We'll have phone sales, packing and splicing people here.
On a side note, Isabel almost had a casulty right here at the store-my computer. While working on the fall/winter catalog, we got a power surge and froze my computer. Upon restarting, it could no longer read my hard drive... Luckily, I was able to run a disk utility to fix the hard drive and recover all my data. Whew!!!
BTW, I did say fall/winter catalog...
On a side note, Isabel almost had a casulty right here at the store-my computer. While working on the fall/winter catalog, we got a power surge and froze my computer. Upon restarting, it could no longer read my hard drive... Luckily, I was able to run a disk utility to fix the hard drive and recover all my data. Whew!!!
BTW, I did say fall/winter catalog...
treeman82
Addicted to ArboristSite
Sean, how are things looking outside the store? How much damage?
seanlarkin
ArboristSite Guru
Nothing noticeable around the store, not too much around town. A few downed trees here and there. I think we were very lucky it was more wind then rain, because there was a high possibility of flooding.
Dan F
ArboristSite Operative
Re: Orlando Sentinel article
Got a good laugh the other day when Katie Curic said to Al Roker, as he was getting whipped by wind in advance of Izzy, along the lines of, "Al, you're so skinny now, how are going to keep from blowing away?"
To which Al replied, "Dan Rather's on the other side of the dune, I'll hang onto him!"
But seriously, hope everyone is alright down there. Hopefully, as others have stated, the damage is minor, and the worst part was we didn't loose more news anchors.
Dan
Got a good laugh the other day when Katie Curic said to Al Roker, as he was getting whipped by wind in advance of Izzy, along the lines of, "Al, you're so skinny now, how are going to keep from blowing away?"
To which Al replied, "Dan Rather's on the other side of the dune, I'll hang onto him!"
But seriously, hope everyone is alright down there. Hopefully, as others have stated, the damage is minor, and the worst part was we didn't loose more news anchors.
Dan
SilverBlue
Addicted to ArboristSite
Squirrel help needed!!!!
So after I posted the downed tree calls started coming in so we will be busy through the night. Mostly small branches an leaves everywhere but we have 8 trees to remove as well as baby sit an injured baby squirrel with a possible broken hind leg. What should I do Rocky?
So after I posted the downed tree calls started coming in so we will be busy through the night. Mostly small branches an leaves everywhere but we have 8 trees to remove as well as baby sit an injured baby squirrel with a possible broken hind leg. What should I do Rocky?
