barrjr1
ArboristSite Lurker
I was wondering what the going rate is for foremans climbers and ground guys. I live in Illinois and am trying to compare!
Job Pay
- Thread starter barrjr1
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Tree Wizard
ArboristSite Operative
If you are a member of TCIA you can get the annual wage & benefits survey which is broken down by regions of the country.
Koa Man
Kahuna giganticus
The wage survey may or may not be accurate. It depends on how many and which companies and responding. When I was a member on that organization, I never replied. I am currently paying my climber $37.50 an hour. At that rate, it is CLEAR to him that he is responsible if he breaks stuff. On a dicey situation, I will tell him how I want the rigging to be set and if something breaks, I bear the responsibility.
He lucked out big time when he went up a coconut tree and did not bother to move an expensive table under it. He broke a custom made $1200 travertine table top. The wife of this very rich client said, "I didn't like it anyway, I'll just replace it with a glass top." When I offered to pay for the glass top she said, "We have some in our storage, don't worry about it." I wish all my customers were like that. He is learning to move stuff and check out what is under the tree before going up.
He lucked out big time when he went up a coconut tree and did not bother to move an expensive table under it. He broke a custom made $1200 travertine table top. The wife of this very rich client said, "I didn't like it anyway, I'll just replace it with a glass top." When I offered to pay for the glass top she said, "We have some in our storage, don't worry about it." I wish all my customers were like that. He is learning to move stuff and check out what is under the tree before going up.
tophopper
ArboristSite Guru
Koa Man said:
Dang, thats some good pay. Payed straight as a sub?, or as an employee with benefits and such?
Part time? Full time?
Just trying to do the numbers, at that rate on an average 2080 hours per year, he'd be grossing 78,000 per year.
Id pack up and move to Hawaii without hesitation if i could make that as an employee.
TreeJunkie
ArboristSite Guru
Around here a foreman/climber should expect between 17-22 plus benefits. An average climber 14-18 hr. ground man 10-15 hr.
Sub climbers usually end up between 30-45 depending...
Sub climbers usually end up between 30-45 depending...
Koa Man
Kahuna giganticus
tophopper said:
He has his own business lic., so he is like a contract climber and works exclusively for me, except for jobs he picks up on his own for weekend work. To avoid having the IRS consider him my employee, I have some of my customers write a check directly to him, thereby meeting one of the key rules of whether or not he is an employee, and that is, "Does he offer his services to the general public or is almost all or all of his income from you." He works for me 5 days a week, unless I decide to take a day off or something.
Cotreewhisperer
ArboristSite Lurker
I need to move!!! Anybody know what the TCI wage survey says for the rockies/colorado? Wages seem really low here! I know guys in the boulder area that have close to ten years experience and make 17 an hour. I dont even want to mention what I make!! whats the pay like in the south and south east? My girlfriend and I are going to move next spring, just have to narrow it down where.
TreeJunkie
ArboristSite Guru
Make sure you keep in mind some of these areas spoken of have a much higher cost of living than where you may be. However i wouldn't think that of the Boulder area.
Always keep in mind not all "good climbers" are created equal. There are probobally 100 tree care companies here in K.C. and by most of our standards we wouldn't consider more than a dozen of those companies climbers to be "good". Let alone consider than more than just a tree monkey.
Always keep in mind not all "good climbers" are created equal. There are probobally 100 tree care companies here in K.C. and by most of our standards we wouldn't consider more than a dozen of those companies climbers to be "good". Let alone consider than more than just a tree monkey.
Cotreewhisperer
ArboristSite Lurker
I think the low wages are why we have so many small companies. alot of quality guys get fed up with working for next to nothing. On the other hand, I would agree with you that alot of the climbers or tree guys around the boulder area dont fully have the concept. That spring blizzard (april 2 years ago)kind of hurt things around here. People were coming out of the woodwork claiming to be "tree services" and now the market seems kind of flooded.
People are weird about having tree work done around here. I work in boulder on a daily basis and it seems every job is someone who hasn't had anything done for years. Daily we have someone walk up and ask us if we are cutting that tree down, in a very aggressive manner.
People are weird about having tree work done around here. I work in boulder on a daily basis and it seems every job is someone who hasn't had anything done for years. Daily we have someone walk up and ask us if we are cutting that tree down, in a very aggressive manner.
$37.50 is cheap per hr for the right subby.this end of our market is similar to excavation hire you take the cheap backhoe at $60 and he takes all day,the "gun"operator at $80 is outa there before lunch, etc.it craps me when someone wont pay a climber a day because they got the job done quicker,them relationships dont last the distance.
I met a good climber a while back who lives 30miles away,we were both down on our luck and happened to sub for an underpayer on the same day for $117pr day climbing big chit,we both laugh about him now we only did a few days each lol
I met a good climber a while back who lives 30miles away,we were both down on our luck and happened to sub for an underpayer on the same day for $117pr day climbing big chit,we both laugh about him now we only did a few days each lol
