Joining the dark side

[Kottonwood]

Well, I just did two things I thought I would never do when I started this business. I went into debt and I bought a bucket truck.

Nice truck 98 ford with 5.9 cummins and 55 ft stick, combo body. It is a great condition old davey truck. Now just to paint it red white and blue and lay awake at night worrying about 500 a month payments...... ugh

I still doubt I will ever fly the thing.... I prefer to climb

 

[ducaticorse]

Well, I just did two things I thought I would never do when I started this business. I went into debt and I bought a bucket truck.

Nice truck 98 ford with 5.9 cummins and 55 ft stick, combo body. It is a great condition old davey truck. Now just to paint it red white and blue and lay awake at night worrying about 500 a month payments...... ugh

I still doubt I will ever fly the thing.... I prefer to climb

LOL, you say that now. Then all of a sudden you'll say, remember when I used to climb? Welcome to a new level of efficiancy and productivity. You'll kick yourself in the nutz for not purchasing one sooner. Your last vid was great BTW.

What boom does it fly?

 

[BlackOakTreeServ]

You Bucket Baby!!...:msp_rolleyes:

nice buy, enjoy.

 

[Blakesmaster]

LOL, you say that now. Then all of a sudden you'll say, remember when I used to climb? Welcome to a new level of efficiancy and productivity. You'll kick yourself in the nutz for not purchasing one sooner. Your last vid was great BTW.

What boom does it fly?

Yup. Believe me, I understand that there's a lot of pride in a climber knowing that he's willing to tackle what most "tree guys" would require a bucket for. But a tree company without a bucket can't be competitive in the real world. It depends on your business goals though. If you want to grow and make more money you have to think about efficiency. If you want to stay small with low overhead you can do fine with a climb only op. I decided I want to grow so I went to the bank 6 mos ago just like you did more recently. Best business move I've made thus far. I can put down twice as many trees as I used to, I get more jobs based on a more competitive bid on easy access trees and I'm much less tired at the end of the day. $500 a month is less than 1 morning's work. Well worth it.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Also. Pics or it didn't happen!:msp_tongue:

 

[deevo]

Yup. Believe me, I understand that there's a lot of pride in a climber knowing that he's willing to tackle what most "tree guys" would require a bucket for. But a tree company without a bucket can't be competitive in the real world. It depends on your business goals though. If you want to grow and make more money you have to think about efficiency. If you want to stay small with low overhead you can do fine with a climb only op. I decided I want to grow so I went to the bank 6 mos ago just like you did more recently. Best business move I've made thus far. I can put down twice as many trees as I used to, I get more jobs based on a more competitive bid on easy access trees and I'm much less tired at the end of the day. $500 a month is less than 1 morning's work. Well worth it.

You said it Blakes, for sure having one this year we did many jobs that were not climbable trees, trees on houses and many more that would not be doable without one. Plus there aren't a whole lot of companies here that have them. For sure a great investment! Also a great advertising billboard if done right! Anytime people see the bucket truck they always seem to come up and ask us to come over to do some work. You can hammer out a lot of jobs in a day with one and like you said, not be as tired as climbing!:smile2:

 

[Kottonwood]

Yep you guys hit the nail on the head. I was getting sick of getting underbid on front yard jobs.... no longer. I take a lot of pride in being able to climb the nasty ones but if we don't need to I will happily send a guy up in the bucket. My goal with this is to do about the same amount of work we have been doing for the same price, just we will be done at three or four instead of six or seven.... the guys are gonna appreciate that.

I will post some pics once I get this bad boy a little customized. I am also waiting on it to come in from out of state, should be a couple of weeks max.

 

[Kottonwood]

It's a high ranger boom, I am not sure what type. I know it has been inspected and that's all I really care about. I don't really know to much about bucket trucks, I figure this will be a learning experience. I have only ever worked for one company that had buckets and I was too cherry to use them.

 

[ozzy42]

Well, I just did two things I thought I would never do when I started this business. I went into debt and I bought a bucket truck.

Nice truck 98 ford with 5.9 cummins and 55 ft stick, combo body. It is a great condition old davey truck. Now just to paint it red white and blue and lay awake at night worrying about 500 a month payments...... ugh

I still doubt I will ever fly the thing.... I prefer to climb

Good for you man.Thinking about taking the plung next year on one myself.
It seems the only reasonable priced ones is the old orange ones down here.
Can pick up 98-2000 GMC forrestry body 17-20k

I really don't want or need the FB but they seem to be more abundent.
Might get one and remove the dump bed and do something else with it.


OTOH, I kind of like the idea of the little one ton jobs for the much lighter weight.
Hard to get one over 40 ft but might have a competitive edge with it since a lot of HOs here have
very plush and very irrigated lawns that the heavier trucks play hell on.[ruts ,broken sprinklers ,etc.] and most of the stuff that really pays off to have a bucket for is the long horizontal limbs and could be done with a smaller truck.
That and palms which are mostly under 40 ft.

Every 60 ft tree has 40 ft of bottom,eh?
Can't make up my mind which one to go with.

One guy here has one of each.
He has the right idea IMO.But it ain't gonna happen for me.

I'm open to opinions.opcorn:

 

[Kottonwood]

Yeah, I went over that in my head as well. I thought I was set on just getting an under cdl bucket, but I found a great deal on a chipper at the same time. I figured what the hell might as well set up a whole separate rig. I figure now I will just send the bucket out to jobs it can be used easily and still climb anything in question. On big jobs it will be nice to have two chip bodies, My 14 yard truck has been known to get full half way through the day.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Congrats on your purchase, Im sure the extra stress will be well worth it.

Try not to eat to many doughnuts.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Not to rain on your parade or anything but are you sure it's under cdl? All the forestry trucks with 55 ft I looked at were cdl B rigs.

 

[tree MDS]

Maybe a more appropriate title for this thread would have been "tree service hits puberty". Lol, run that truck for a year and then revisit this thread.

Congrats on the truck!

 

[Kottonwood]

Not to rain on your parade or anything but are you sure it's under cdl? All the forestry trucks with 55 ft I looked at were cdl B rigs.

No, it is definitely not under cdl. I was saying I was thinking I was going to go for an under cdl stand alone bucket truck instead of the heavier combo body. Once this truck came up I changed my mind at the last minute..... Just the way all the best business decisions are made.

 

[Kottonwood]

Maybe a more appropriate title for this thread would have been "tree service hits puberty". Lol, run that truck for a year and then revisit this thread.

Congrats on the truck!

HAHA yeah I hope I will look back at this and smile in a year

 

[sgreanbeans]

You will love it. Makes a day alot more fun when all you have to do to pull the trigger to get up! Where did ya get it? As for the billboard, ya got that right. I have mine lettered up real big! Probably could read it from a mile away! If ya have any Q's on it, let me know. I have a pretty good amount of experience fixing mine. I bought it from that place not worth mentioning here(someone else said that also, cant remember, MDS was it you?). Had many probs right after I left the place, called, they acted like they didn't know who I was. So like I said, I have lots of knowledge now!

 

[Kottonwood]

Yeah, I am buying this truck off of an owner/operator who is moving on to another business. He got it at auction and put ten grand in it right away. It has new rubber, brakes, no leaks etc. Very meticulously maintained truck. It also comes with hydraulic saws. Can't wait to try them babies out!

 

[sgreanbeans]

One thing I have never used, would love to try them. Guy had some for sale on CL for 1250, I wanted to try them first to make sure they worked, he wouldn't let me! "they work man, trust me" ....................ah,yea..................ok!

 

[tree MDS]

One thing I have never used, would love to try them. Guy had some for sale on CL for 1250, I wanted to try them first to make sure they worked, he wouldn't let me! "they work man, trust me" ....................ah,yea..................ok!

I got a brand new stick saw I might be interested in selling to ya come February. Thing has never even made a cut (other that one or two in my woodpile when we plumbed it up). Every once in a while I bring it to a job thinking I might use it for whatever. I never do. It could come in handy if I ever get a tree burried in the wires though.