I bid on a job last week. It was for a well known TV producer who has quite a nice property a couple hundred yards from the Hollywood sign. He has 6 big single trunked pines (not sure the exact species), probably about 60-75' each on the top of a decently steep slope (with a deck and stairs underneath) with the house below. For 3 of them, a lot of the wood was going to need to be lowered to avoid hitting his roof and landscape behind his house. They probably had been pruned within the last 3 years and weren't real thick but they were still gonna take a decent amount of work. Everything was also going to need to be dragged up the hill to the street behind the pines which was going to be a pain for my groundies (I am thankful for some great groundies).
The consultation went well and the guy was very friendly. I explained ISA pruning and he was good to go. I figured on 700 a tree (if it was only 1 tree it probably would have been about 1200) and gave him an initial bid of 4200. I told him it would take a 4-6 man crew 2-3 days to do it (2 climbers and 2-4 groundies). He agreed on the price and wanted to schedule it for the next week.
It all blew up in smoke when I emailed him to schedule for Monday and told him I was going to try to get it done a little quicker with a 7-8 man crew (4 climbers 3-4 groundies). He felt that my price was too high (I had already lowered it to 4,000 in a previous email when I sent him my insurance docs) and that he was questioning his decision and wanted to get other quotes. I responded by politely explaining how the larger crew size would be quicker and, while admitting that the price might be higher than some other companies, that I pay my workers well and pay 41% workers comp on top of what they make and that our workmanship is of the highest quality (To give you guys context, most companies top, overprune, and spike trees around here- very few do ISA pruning). I also explained that I had done his neighbor's trees several times (ironically another TV producer) who can attest to the quality pruning that we do. I thanked him for having me over and wished him the best.
I have not used a crew this large before but I do have access to some other great climbers (Beastmaster included). My question is do you lower your man hour rate when you use a larger crew? At this rate if the day were to go 8 hours (which it would probably be 10 anyway) I would be at 62.50 per man hour before hauling off to dump the chips. Plus who knows if there will need to be more clean up the next day. Where would you guys be at price-wise? What could I have done better/more professionally? I was really looking forward to getting a great view of the Hollywood sign from the trees and taking a few pics too! Who knows he might still go with me- I am hoping and praying- we'll see.
P.S. to Beastmaster- I scheduled in a different job for Monday so we're still good to go with work!
The consultation went well and the guy was very friendly. I explained ISA pruning and he was good to go. I figured on 700 a tree (if it was only 1 tree it probably would have been about 1200) and gave him an initial bid of 4200. I told him it would take a 4-6 man crew 2-3 days to do it (2 climbers and 2-4 groundies). He agreed on the price and wanted to schedule it for the next week.
It all blew up in smoke when I emailed him to schedule for Monday and told him I was going to try to get it done a little quicker with a 7-8 man crew (4 climbers 3-4 groundies). He felt that my price was too high (I had already lowered it to 4,000 in a previous email when I sent him my insurance docs) and that he was questioning his decision and wanted to get other quotes. I responded by politely explaining how the larger crew size would be quicker and, while admitting that the price might be higher than some other companies, that I pay my workers well and pay 41% workers comp on top of what they make and that our workmanship is of the highest quality (To give you guys context, most companies top, overprune, and spike trees around here- very few do ISA pruning). I also explained that I had done his neighbor's trees several times (ironically another TV producer) who can attest to the quality pruning that we do. I thanked him for having me over and wished him the best.
I have not used a crew this large before but I do have access to some other great climbers (Beastmaster included). My question is do you lower your man hour rate when you use a larger crew? At this rate if the day were to go 8 hours (which it would probably be 10 anyway) I would be at 62.50 per man hour before hauling off to dump the chips. Plus who knows if there will need to be more clean up the next day. Where would you guys be at price-wise? What could I have done better/more professionally? I was really looking forward to getting a great view of the Hollywood sign from the trees and taking a few pics too! Who knows he might still go with me- I am hoping and praying- we'll see.
P.S. to Beastmaster- I scheduled in a different job for Monday so we're still good to go with work!
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