So whadja do today?

[MasterBlaster]

FWIW, 99% of my TD's are funky trees, actually.

But I am sometimes required to slaughter an innocent, beautiful , innocent bystander.

I take no pleasure in that.

 

[jkrueger]

Guy,

I work with an exceptional certified arborist, he's great at the pathology stuff and is a Bonzi aficionado. He and garden designers bring me all the specialty pruning stuff.

I keep telling them, "... bigger, please!", and they love my work and throw me a big one from time to time to keep me there.

So, Guy, how about you and I team up. I'll move to NC or you move to PA. You would replace the total tree care stuff for me and I can do what is UP.

Just a thought,
Jack

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Thanks anyway Jack, but I still like getting UP even though health has put me way past my physical prime. And partnerships suit me as well as employee/er status--not.

And mb, what rating system do you use to determine that 99% of your td's are "funky"? The "Every problem is fatal" scale?

Why is a tree's cup always half empty to so many folks? Today's customer said their ash was "on the way out", but after a half hour pruning they fell in love with it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Guy Meilleur
And mb, what rating system do you use to determine that 99% of your td's are "funky"? The "Every problem is fatal" scale?

Hey, what do I know?

And after further pondering, I need to reduce that % to 90.

One in ten could have not been killed.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

There may be no point in it beyond masochism, but what would further pondering reduce it to? Every tree is innocent until proven guilty, and the standard of proof is high. I'd hazard a guess that if I looked at what you're looking at, the % would be well under 50.

Then again I don't own em, so I won't bemoan em. Too much.

 

[MasterBlaster]

So, tell me what I could have done to save this tree???

 

[MasterBlaster]

Whore this 'un?

 

[MasterBlaster]

I guess I coulda saved this one.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Do I need to go on, Guy?

Cuz I got em!

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Ok that looks like 2 out of 3 that were codom tearouts that were hollow. Water oaks? They do not know how to wall off decay; I've recommended keeping some that should have been whacked ASAP. Live and learn.

the last didn't look fatal, but it was way overthinned. It would take a lot of adjusted regrowth to be agood asset. Every tree, every owner, are individuals. But to say 9 of 10 HAD to be killed, well, I'll have to remain :Eye: skeptical on that, sorry.

Trees may grow "like weeds" in LA or NC, unless you're looking at them through the perspective that life is short and tomorrow never knows. then they are all preservation opportunities, not weeds to harvest. Different outlooks for different folks, and so on and so on and shoobeedoobee doobee, oooosahsha, we got to live together..

And I can't help but harp, so shoot me: to an arborist every tree is innocent until proven guilty of outliving its usefulness. For the ones that need to go, there are more waiting to take their place, so in they go.

Like the 3 pines skwerl felled in NC in jan 03; those folks have planted >10 trees to take their place.
And the "stubs" I left from heading cuts are not rotting, and are regrowing into vital branches.:blob6:

It's all good, but it's all better under big healthy trees.

 

[Newfie]

Butch,

Ya got to use lots and lots of duck tape. But what do I know, I'm just a tree murderer, a hired hitman today.

 

[NeTree]

Guy, you don't think average median incomes and demographics come to play in what work will and won't sell?

Gimme a ????ing break.

It's ALL about demographics, man. What work I sell out in the Boston area just doesn't intertest people closer to home base... where there are less yuppies and more farmer types.

 

[John Stewart]

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
Do I need to go on, Guy?

Cuz I got em!

Back at you MB
You go Butch!
John

 

[NeTree]

Nothing wrong with PROMOTING tree care.

But in order to SELL tree care, there has to be a provider and a BUYER, doncha think?

And yeah, I'm in business for money... just like the rest of us, Guy included. Anyone who says otherwise is full of ca-ca.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

True, demographics matter. I'm probably spoiled here. But all people can be shown and sold on tree care, at least to some extent. I agree it is harder to make some people buy than others. But when they see it's a good investment, they will buy.

And money,yeah that's useful. but is it our chief motivator? Not if you're doing what you believe in, no matter what your field.

 

[Newfie]

"And money,yeah that's useful. but is it our chief motivator?"


How altruistic to think that. I think it's pretty safe to say that we all enjoy what we are doing but to say money doesn't matter? It matters when the bills come in and I have to feed my family. The harsh REALITIES of life make it "matter". Otherwise tree work wouldn't be our career or job, just our hobby.

 

[a_lopa]

i didnt really chose to get in this buisness, when i was younger i hated the job for the first 3-4 years.i sure aint leaving now.i want to make as much money as i can,wether its fine pruning or removing.....erik,has put alot of time effort into himself his buisnesss etc i hope he makes millions

 

[MasterBlaster]

Our secret name for Erik is "Mr. Moneybags".

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

We often get called to a jobsite to remove a dead tree, then with a little salesmanship and we're trimming some or all of the other trees. There's money in trimming and other types of tree care, if your not selling it your missing out on a big part of what should be your income.
At the end of the year, about 30% of my work is removals. It's kind of nice doing removals because it doesn't take much knowledge or thinking, and it's usually pretty easy work, but it's not real rewarding.
When I first started, it was all removals, that's all I knew how to do. That, and some improper pruning (raise and gut).
Theres a lot more money in tree care vs. removals, because any idiot with a pick-up and chainsaw can do removals and you end up bidding against these idiots. Proper tree care takes some edumacation and there's not much competition.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
It's kind of nice doing removals because it doesn't take much knowledge or thinking, and it's usually pretty easy work, but it's not real rewarding.

Dam! I wish I could get some of those TD's!!!