should I take urban forestry job

[cchrissy]

I do property maintenance with my husband for a living.We do mostly grass.The weeding jobs and shrubs/hedges etc. on Fridays only.I might be offered job by city.The job is pruning trees from the ground only with long gas powered pruning saw.He said I would be pruning lines of trees approx 10 feet apart that line the city streets all day one after another, maintain them and throwing the branches in a chipper.

He said it is hard work.I am leaning towards not taking it because we hate Fridays because that is when we do hedges all day.We have a long echo trimmer on a stick and both of our shoulders ache that day.We know this is part of our job and do this for customers but both of us prefer grass cutting.

Has anyone ever done similiar job I am applying for and liked it or is it achy like I said..My husband got a hold of guy doing the similiar job and he said take it it's not that hard.

We will be giving up customers if I take the job and then if I hate it and quit will be in bine(sp).

My concern is cutting over and over again without break, lines of trees.Wouldn't this take a toll on shoulders.over and over again.

He said I would never climb etc.. just cut from ground branches.

I have never used a powered saw on stick.Is it heavy and similiar to hedge trimmer on stick?

thanks,
chrissy

 

[M.D. Vaden]

If its the 8' to 11' extendable, I would hate it. I've pruned for 20 years plus and have good arm strength.

If its the 6' to 7' non-extendable, its realistic.

Also, if they would allow fiberglass snap-together poles with a big saw blade, that may be even easier for cuts up to 2".

For 4" or bigger, I use my gas unit, but realistically for employee situations, 4" is fairly big to be dropping on yourself with a gas pole pruner. That's why I think the manual saw is feasable.

If its the lighter gas saw, and fiberglass manual saw, the experience could be indespensible for experience, and for the credential in the future.

Its likely you will be using arborist quality cuts. It should be professional.

The volume and ground you will cover are rarely available in commercial and residential work.

My greatest learning for the time invested was the golf courses. There are thousands of trees in all kinds of soil situations with all kinds of strengths and weaknesses. The experience can hardly be matched.

If they do arborist quality cutting, it would be well worth an investment of one season or year, if you think that that kind of training matches the direction you want to take.

That does not mean you need to be an arborist. It will teach you how to design, do landscaping, and maintain.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

To me it would be like doing peice work on an assembly line (or disassembly in this case.

Walk down the street and hack all the low branches off. Get a parttime job with a good tree company if you need the extra income.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Golf course pruning would of been assembly line to me too if I did it like other greenskeepers. But I had the freedom to do it right, and a superintendant that liked to do it right.

A thirty mile row of trees done right in a year, will teach more in a year than working for an independent arborist.

The second or third year may differ, but if the worker controls their thinking, pays attention and does it right for one year, little will compare.

They will have to deal with citizens that are possessive, learn about traffic control, plan daily workload, see an enormous variety of tree related damage, and coordinate city tree canopies to fit with a myriad of residential trees.

I was hired by a neighboorhood association to do this once in Beaverton. Only had one day at it. I put my chainsaw, loppers and polesaw on a wheelbarrow, and covered 3 miles of planting strip in 6 hours single-handed. I buried 2 three man clean-up crews with pickups.

It was fun for the day, and all the pruning was done with arborist standards.

In my 23rd year, I wouldn't go looking for a month or year of this work, but if I was in my initial years, I'd be more than happy to gain such massive exposure for at least one year.

 

[rahtreelimbs]

Sounds like you made the decision already. Your are listing more cons than pros. Like RockyJSquirrel said (I can't improve on this one) "Follow your heart, not your wallet. Life is too short to waste it hating your job. There ain't enough money to change that."


Tree work is much too hard if your heart isn't in it!

 

[cchrissy]

thanks, for all the replies.They were good.I am still confused as to take job or not but I am leaning towards not taking it.There is nothing worse then taking a job then quiting.I am very frustrated that I can't do the job for a day then decide because I have little to compare to the job.The money is better but if I am not happy the money wouldn't matter.

I don't mind cutting a small branch here and there for customer.One tree per house then go to another house do another tree but if it became an assembly line I honestly probably wouldn't like it.I think it might take all the fun out of it.

With lawns if we do two houses on a block it feels good after your finnished but when we have a block where we do five houses in a row I don't like it as much as doing one house then driving to next.Maybe cause there is no break. It is constant.I do most of grass trimming as my husband uses walker sit on mower and I would have to say I am ready to throw the trimmer at the end of the fifth house trimmed in a row.My shoulders are aching but after we leave and go to next house I am fine again.Mentally at the big block of houses I just feel we will never get the job done cause we are there 2 hours compared to 2 houses maybe 15-20 minutes.

The hedges are similair.If the hedge is fairly small we don't mind but when we go to a house where there is a high hedge around the whole property where we are reaching to get the top of the hedge we hate it.It feels like there is no end in sight.and then again it is the assembly line thing again.the hedge keeps going and going no relief to shoulders unless your out of gas.Maybe if you broke the hedge up into sections.cut it cleaned up, cut another section clean up my muscles wouldn't ache so much.but the city job seems like you cut alot then clean up or one cuts one cleans up like an assembly line.

If he phones I will probably say no it will be to much for me but my detailed answer which I wouldn't get into with him is:

I think it is a combination of more a strain on the musles not strength because of no relief to muscles because of assembly line and mentally draining of no end to job (assembly line) which would eventually take a toll on me.

thanks, for helping me come to this decision.

chrissy

 

[dbeck]

For what is worth, do not be afraid of trees and the work they can create and offer.
I you take the chance on this job, you MIGHT just find that you like doing tree work. Trees are remarkable organisms, much more than animals(including humans). They are able to survive in some cases 1000s of years. Remember, that trees are immobile so that means they cannot move during those 100s of years. Can't get out of the rain or snow or ice, can't go to a warmer area, etc. You get the idea. This is where you can make a difference, if you want to. Don't be afraid, it is fun and ALWAYS different!