Stress

[darkstar]

i dont want to sound like a sissy but heck i am .... man im so stressed out recently ......the other day i began estimating at 7 30 in the morning and at around 7 30 that evening i finally made it home ...estimates all day ..... then the phone had like 15 calls on it ....so i finally got of the horn at 10 50 i couldnt believe this guy calls for an estimate at darn near 11 o clock . oh by the way he cancelled next morning at 7 sharp .... ... ok now it gets better ....i wake up eary next morning ready to do a freakin dangerous crane / bucket / 3 phase removal of a very hollow dead hackberry giant overhanging a 400000 $$$ dollar house and sandwiched in between a mizpah jewish temple .... naturally i had contacted the president of the temple the night befor and okd the tree job ....but he finally shows ....so we began work on this crumbling beast .... 30 mins into the job this rabi :angel: come running up saying you cant do this etc ...we are having a baby naming today .....ikks ........ im like look the president of your church said today was good ... so we shut down for 2 hours and they have a baby naming and a luncheon .... then finally we get back to work after i locate about 7 people dispersed in this huge temple ........ with no help from the rabi and get them to move their cars ..... well we get the job done great and all of our 5 trucks are full ,,,,,,so we load down my f 150 with rakings etc etc .... one of my help has an attitude prob ...hes always looking for the most negative things to say so he starts [[[[in on me ]]]] '' why dont you have some bungees we need some bungees to tie the ladder down on my truck to hold down the debris[[[[[[he goes on]]]]] ...that truck wont pull ???? etc etc by the way he drives a 78 ford 2 wheel drive which i have to keep running for him ......... ok i lose it and start screaming i know i need some bungees i nee d a 32 boom truck i need 2 new chippers i need you to shut the f!@@ up and i scream that about 10 times till we almost fight .......... next day same ???? different day estimates for 12 hours i cant even remember the jobs anymore ....im just filling out the paper work ..... but i know ,,,, i know i should be greatful ..... for the buisness and i am just venting you guys know how it is sometimes ....dont ya ????????????? : its like when should i get another job .....arrrrrgggg

 

[vharrison2]

lol I told yall the longer it is light the longer we work; hope you didn't scream while at the job site! Feeling for you here...Sometimes I feel like the eveready bunny with no batteries

 

[MasterBlaster]

So there is no one you can delegate some duties to?

Yur gonna burn out, dood.

 

[darkstar]

not yet .... im waiting alittle longer till i can run 2 crews ....need one darn good chipper and i think i could start .... but i save ...i pay cash for everything .... i am burned out bro ...... its cool though today its raining alot so im chilling back down ..........this help of mine with the atitude .... hes great worker always on time ...never will shut his mouth and just work ... always tries to bring everybody down but he works great and only missed one day in a year ..... he comes to work like he hates everything ..... my wife says he hates himself that why sometime i really want to lose him but here inchattanooga tennessee its really hard to find good help ...... like darn near impossible .... and rt. now my crew is awesome at actually getting the job done ..............

 

[MasterBlaster]

Dang! His name ain't Brian, izzit?

 

[darkstar]

NAW ...but u guys would have had a heck of a laugh at me screaming at the top of my lungs ..... just shut the f$%^ up over and over is was a real [[[[ive lost it situation ]]]] ...... that rabi had me going already ..early on .... but really i should have been chill ...since we didnt damage anything .... the bottom of this 6 foot diam hackberry was totally hollow and the entire rest of the tree was completly solid .... we swung one limb on a block and you could see the entire hollow cracked up area twist ..... sheeewwww dark

 

[dhuffnmu]

Hey Darkstar,

I know how you feel buddy. Here now that it is getting warm I am here and there and here and there and back here and back there it seems. It just seems you don't get a break to even sit down and think. But in this line of business you got to make hay while the sun shines. So not complaining just doing what I can do the best I can do it and that's it. Good luck don't stress too much tomorow is another day. Good luck bud.

 

[darkstar]

thanx bro ...... here there,,,,,, here there .. no there here or elswhere ....freakin everywhere ...i got ya ..... nobody ever said life was easy ........ at least to me .......dark

 

[blue]

you gotta chill out man,or your heading for a heart attack.sometimes things don't go as planned but just go with it.no point in chucking the toys outta the pram.

JUST CHHHHIIIILLLLL

 

[SteveBullman]

one word........lustral

 

[darkstar]

ill look that up ... i aint goona chuck no toys now ,,,,but if id had my 9 mill id have a dead ex employee...... and id be in jail ..... and relishing the amount of holes in that body ..... 2 clips at least ..... well maybe one and a half .... usually i am chilled out .... so really jus kiddin [i think] dark

 

[Stumper]

Dark, If you are that busy raise your prices-a lot.( I'm talkin' the talk but I have a hard time walkin'the walk-Too cheap again today. ) And fire the griper if he won't knock it off. It doesn't matter that he works hard-if he drags everyone else down you are better off without him. :angel:

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

i once had a guy work for me every other word he came out with was something negative ,several time's i nearly run him through with the 288 he p8ssed me off that much

this week i will be doing a 7 dayer ,i think your like me darkstar are easy wound up ,my trouble with bidding is the constant chit chat about nothing imo tell me what tree work you want doing or i can advise you but spare me the crep about how you bought the tree as a little thing and didnt know it would get that big or the story about how your uncle raised the bloddy thing from a seed ,that i can do without,oh and i can do without fools who book an apointmant with me only for them not to be there when i turn up now that make's me mad

 

[a_lopa]

taking on to much has its down sides,qouting is mentally draining.i felt like you a few weeks back i advertised woodchips and had 10+calls to make every night just for them let alone qoutes and cutting trees.it all evens out thou.id fire that p.i.t.a youve got working there people like that can find there greener pastures

 

[Koa Man]

The rule of supply and demand dictates that you raise your prices about 10%. If you are still real busy, go another 5%. If you are still busy at that point, you can raise it another 5%. If you are still busy, good for you, you are now making 21.275% more than when you started. ($100 + 10% + 5% + 5% = $121.27)

 

[ozy365]

If the guy is smart, sit him down and let him know he is an A$$. I had a couple good boses do that for me and it took. I have finally learned that the glazed look in a listener's eyes is not awe.

A complainer that is right is more annoying than one who is wrong...If the guy is good, MB let him run a show without you? Supervisor pay for the day? You may be further on the way to that second crew than you think.

 

[treeseer]

What % of your estimates turn into jobs? Raising rates won't make for less strain, if you're running around doing free estimates all the time. Why not shrink your territory?

When I think of the days that I gave free estimates, I want to
So much wasted time.

 

[WMTP]

I know right now we are getting about 98% of our estimates be some times poeple call on the way end of our area about 70 miles one way and dont even have the money and nobody does the job it like why call if you were just wondering.We also have alot of hacks or part timers that will do tree work for way to cheap I saw a guy bid on a job againts us on 8 very big pine TDs and all cleanup for $400 I was Like this guy is outa his mind you know the type no bizz card and honestly no bizz doing these TDs took him 3 weeks ripped down a three phase power line and destroyed these peoples porch no insurance just a stupid deal all the was around but I was so pissed I was like serves those poeple right dumb home owner.Same guy recently "trimmed " a cottonwood there was not one live branch left on the tree absolutly no green mass left just like a stump killed a really nice tree.

 

[Koa Man]

What % of your estimates turn into jobs? Raising rates won't make for less strain, if you're running around doing free estimates all the time. Why not shrink your territory?

When I think of the days that I gave free estimates, I want to
So much wasted time.

treeseer,
Do you charge for estimates? I would like to charge even a token amount like $5 to help cover fuel and it would show that the person was somewhat serious. No one here charges for estimates and it would be difficult to do so. I wouldn't charge my repeat customers, but the referrals or those that call out of the phone book would be told of a $5 charge. Of the last 100 proposals I gave out, I got 85 accepted. Those I did not get were the referrals or a neighbor who asked for a bid, 2 were people I did work for previously, but found someone "cheaper."

 

[a_lopa]

When I think of the days that I gave free estimates, I want to
So much wasted time.[/QUOTE]

what were you doing wrong??? :alien: joking guy