Low prices for tree service?

[Paolastreeservice]

I’ve said this a number of times before but I’ll say one more time.
The price you put on a job is based on what your crew and equipment needs to make per hour times the number hours you will be on site. Regardless of the property you are working on. Whether they are wealthy or poor, they all get the same price, because your price is based on your cost of running your business.
That’s called integrity....

I agree and disagree with what you’re saying for a couple of reasons. Although prices should never vary to a certain measure I also think that in certain areas where property or landscape repairs would be higher due to house size/value (if something went wrong) then you should keep it in mind and add a little to your estimate. Now mind you before i did tree work and had my own company I was in charge of a white glove furniture delivery crew in the richest part of Fairfield county, CT, westchester county, NY, and Manhattan. And what I learned during those years was that people who could barely get by were the most generous when it came down to giving me a tip for my work. And the people who lived in multi million dollar homes/condos/apartments were the rudest and cheapest ones. Now that being said it isn’t the reason I believe they should be raped in price although old me might think so lmao. The more logical reason you can be bias on pricing is actually as I said before based on property values. Think about it. If something went wrong and you damage something at a million dollar home repairs are significantly higher then at a 200,000 or 400,000 dollar property. Now if you disagree I won’t be upset everyone has different experiences and beliefs I do believe everyone should be treated the same but after everything I’ve witnessed and dealt with in rich neighborhoods the slightly higher fee is definitely justified.

Would love to hear other opinions and hope I don’t sound greedy but it’s just how I feel from experiences.

 

[ATH]

I see where you are coming from...but aren't you insured? Isn't deductible the same whether you cause $20K in damage or $40K in damage? But yeah...$200 per landscape light vs. $12 per landscape light (below insurance claim levels) makes a big difference!

But along the same line of though, there are higher expectations on some properties than others...clean up may take more time. More obstacles to work around or move out of the way, mulch bed under the tree has to be manicured the way it was before. But all that has to do with what the tree looked like than the income of the owner...it happens that higher income-owned homes tend to be higher maintenance than others, but not always.

I do agree 100% that price should reflect what it takes to get the job done including a factor for risks associated with the job. Rather than tailoring the price to the client, I think of it as tailoring the level of service. If somebody expresses that they are on a very tight budget, we talk about the most "necessary" work. If somebody wants to invest more in purely aesthetic work, I let them know we are happy to do that and offer a bid to get it done and usually discuss alternatives if they want a lower price.

 

[Groundman One]

I’ve said this a number of times before but I’ll say one more time.
The price you put on a job is based on what your crew and equipment needs to make per hour times the number hours you will be on site. Regardless of the property you are working on. Whether they are wealthy or poor, they all get the same price, because your price is based on your cost of running your business.
That’s called integrity....

I hear ya, but it's not always the case.

If there is a nasty tree over the house and it has to go and in one case it's a woman living alone and she's obviously on a limited income, and in the other case it's a guy with a pool and a hot tub and two Mercedes in the driveway, they are not going to pay the same price. The difference won't be dramatic perhaps, but it's gonna happen and has happened. If the rich dude doesn't want to pay my price, he can call someone else. He's not my prisoner, nor am I his. I can charge him $1 million dollars and he can refuse. It's a free market.

We also give family rates for friends and do jobs for free when it's the right thing to do.

 

[Jed1124]

I hear ya, but it's not always the case.

If there is a nasty tree over the house and it has to go and in one case it's a woman living alone and she's obviously on a limited income, and in the other case it's a guy with a pool and a hot tub and two Mercedes in the driveway, they are not going to pay the same price. The difference won't be dramatic perhaps, but it's gonna happen and has happened. If the rich dude doesn't want to pay my price, he can call someone else. He's not my prisoner, nor am I his. I can charge him $1 million dollars and he can refuse. It's a free market.

We also give family rates for friends and do jobs for free when it's the right thing to do.

I hear ya and agree to a certain extent. Job difficulty will always increase time on site, which will lead to a higher price whereas smash and crash will get people a lower price. The more wealthy generally means the more manicured, which will lead to more clean up time. Then there’s the fee if someone is a pain in the arse.
We had a tornado in my work area last May 15th of 2018. There was some serious gauging, and there was some serious low balling. I priced everything for a 3 man crew $2400 day and could not keep up with the work.

 

[Groundman One]

I hear ya and agree to a certain extent. Job difficulty will always increase time on site, which will lead to a higher price whereas smash and crash will get people a lower price. The more wealthy generally means the more manicured, which will lead to more clean up time. Then there’s the fee if someone is a pain in the arse.
We had a tornado in my work area last May 15th of 2018. There was some serious gauging, and there was some serious low balling. I priced everything for a 3 man crew $2400 day and could not keep up with the work.

$2400 a day for 3 guys? Nice!

"Then there’s the fee if someone is a pain in the arse."

F****** A, Bubba!

 

[Jed1124]

$2400 a day for 3 guys? Nice!

"Then there’s the fee if someone is a pain in the arse."

F****** A, Bubba!

I should clarify,
3 guys, truck and chipper, lift, and mini skid

 

[Groundman One]

I should clarify,
3 guys, truck and chipper, lift, and mini skid

Still, not bad I think. More power to ya.

 

[chipper1]

I should clarify,
3 guys, truck and chipper, lift, and mini skid

Gouger . 2400 seems reasonable to me with that equipment and manpower, but our area seems to pay well.
Storm damage is some of the worse to work with .
The insurance companies hardly care what they have to pay to get it off the house/garage, they just want it off and to settle the claim on the h/g so they can be done, ain't nothing happening until the trees gone.

 

[5155]

I took one quote from a pro and about choked. 3 White Firs 20" and a Eastern Hemlock that is 30". All will need minimal climbing and have the space to lay them down.
They chip brush and dump here. Leave all wood. No raking and minimal clean up.
I understand costs, and have been around contracting all my life.
Thought about bringing it up on here, but also understand bidding over the phone or internet is imposable to do proper. I'll be the guy waiting for the right contractor.
Be safe guys, and keep that darn insurance paid haha.
Workers comp is highway robbery in my mind.

 

[chipper1]

I took one quote from a pro and about choked. 3 White Firs 20" and a Eastern Hemlock that is 30". All will need minimal climbing and have the space to lay them down.
They chip brush and dump here. Leave all wood. No raking and minimal clean up.
I understand costs, and have been around contracting all my life.
Thought about bringing it up on here, but also understand bidding over the phone or internet is imposable to do proper. I'll be the guy waiting for the right contractor.
Be safe guys, and keep that darn insurance paid haha.
Workers comp is highway robbery in my mind.

Pro or rather professional, someone who gets paid to do a job; expert, someone who is above average at their job. As I was saying above I am a pro, since I'm getting paid to do the job, but many pros such as myself are not as skilled as others who have been in this line of work for a long time(experienced or even experts)or may not be set up to do the work you need done. I would contact others as your job may be more suited to another crew.
Having been around contracting all your life you know bids can be all over the map.
We still want pictures .

 

[DSW]

I took one quote from a pro and about choked. 3 White Firs 20" and a Eastern Hemlock that is 30". All will need minimal climbing and have the space to lay them down.
They chip brush and dump here. Leave all wood. No raking and minimal clean up.
I understand costs, and have been around contracting all my life.
Thought about bringing it up on here, but also understand bidding over the phone or internet is imposable to do proper. I'll be the guy waiting for the right contractor.
Be safe guys, and keep that darn insurance paid haha.
Workers comp is highway robbery in my mind.

How tall are they? 20 inch at the stump could be fifty feet or it could be hundred. What is minimal climbing? They have to be climbed or not?

So chipper, but no haul. No raking, minimal clean up. What is minimal clean up? Leave wood, that cuts a bit of cost.

You may have gotten an out of line price but take no offense to this, you also may have gotten a really accurate price and you don't understand the scope of the job and the costs involved.

 

[rarefish383]

I retired several years ago and don't come over here much, usually just to see how many of the old guys are still here. I was lucky that I grew up working in the high end of town, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac in the DC area. People do stuff today that we wouldn't dream of doing 40 years ago. We virtually never threw a log down in those areas. Every thing was chunked down, dropped in the same spot, for minimal lawn damage. I told the story of a customer that didn't want any saw dust in the yard, so Dad drove up to Baltimore and bought a couple bales of burlap sheets to cover the whole yard. People now say he was crazy for doing that, but we made more money in the 70's than a lot of guys do now. It was also before the southern border invasion. Guys now will drive a bucket truck across the manicured lawns in Potomac, then bring a knuckle boom in or a skid steer. They just fill the ruts up with topsoil and seed. Tell the customer there is no other way. Since most guys do that now, the customers believe it. There are always other ways, they just might be cost prohibitive now. The fly by night guys used to drive Dad nuts, but, you will always have them. There used to be a company in Culpepper VA that came over our way, no license or insurance. They would go door to door and tell folks they would undercut any written estimate by 10%. They couldn't even work up an estimate. My neighbor had a big Black Locust taken down in his front yard, 3 man crew showed up. The trunk was about 10' high and branched out in three leads about 12". The climber and rope man rigged the lead over the house down in 3 pieces, the other guy started the chipper and jumped on a dingo with tongs. By the time he had the 3 pieces in the chipper the other two leads were down. he grabbed them whole and ran them threw the chipper. The dingo did minimal damage to the lawn, and they did a good job, I was impressed. Modern equipment saves a lot of time, but, I think we did better work back then. Our customer base are all dead and gone now, the new wealth that has moved in could care less about the lawns. We worked for a lot of old wealth back then, and they wanted stuff done perfect, and they paid to have it their way.

 

[chipper1]

I retired several years ago and don't come over here much, usually just to see how many of the old guys are still here. I was lucky that I grew up working in the high end of town, Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac in the DC area. People do stuff today that we wouldn't dream of doing 40 years ago. We virtually never threw a log down in those areas. Every thing was chunked down, dropped in the same spot, for minimal lawn damage. I told the story of a customer that didn't want any saw dust in the yard, so Dad drove up to Baltimore and bought a couple bales of burlap sheets to cover the whole yard. People now say he was crazy for doing that, but we made more money in the 70's than a lot of guys do now. It was also before the southern border invasion. Guys now will drive a bucket truck across the manicured lawns in Potomac, then bring a knuckle boom in or a skid steer. They just fill the ruts up with topsoil and seed. Tell the customer there is no other way. Since most guys do that now, the customers believe it. There are always other ways, they just might be cost prohibitive now. The fly by night guys used to drive Dad nuts, but, you will always have them. There used to be a company in Culpepper VA that came over our way, no license or insurance. They would go door to door and tell folks they would undercut any written estimate by 10%. They couldn't even work up an estimate. My neighbor had a big Black Locust taken down in his front yard, 3 man crew showed up. The trunk was about 10' high and branched out in three leads about 12". The climber and rope man rigged the lead over the house down in 3 pieces, the other guy started the chipper and jumped on a dingo with tongs. By the time he had the 3 pieces in the chipper the other two leads were down. he grabbed them whole and ran them threw the chipper. The dingo did minimal damage to the lawn, and they did a good job, I was impressed. Modern equipment saves a lot of time, but, I think we did better work back then. Our customer base are all dead and gone now, the new wealth that has moved in could care less about the lawns. We worked for a lot of old wealth back then, and they wanted stuff done perfect, and they paid to have it their way.

My question is did they leave any saw dust in the yard .
Some crews can knock a job out in record time, but hows the safety record?