temporary workers

[Timothy Kasulin]

my father who is also my ground guy is on vacation for 3 weeks in CA Whil;e he is gone I decided to try out this temp service so I could getb some work done. I aam working on a monster red oak. This guy shows up at my door ready to go to work so we take off. I got to the top of the tree and tied off , put in a let down line tied off my first branch made the cut and about an hour later it was finally on the ground. Looking like a fool up there shouting out orders to this poor guy. I figure maybe its a fluke and ill give him another shot so i tie off 1 more branch. About another hour later that branchg reaches the groud not to mention after he has tangled the rope and branch suspended in the air up in another tree next to it.Finally I came down and told the homeowner that it would have to wait till my regular groundie comes back and offered him the stump ground out for free for thr inconvenience.He was happy with that

Moral of this story is dont try to.cut corners to make a buck Our job as tree climbers is far to dangerous to have just any nucklehead on the ground Experience is the best teacher.Stick with whart works. I wilkl never use a temp service again. Can anybody identify?

 

[treeman82]

Tim, I can most certainly identify with your dilema. I had a friend of mine helping me out over the vacation. I must say, we did some big trees. The kid didn't do bad, buy I would have much rather had my former ground guy there. That guy knew exactly what was going on. On the plus side, I had other people who I could have gotten help from, but they would have worked out not even half as good as my friend from school did.

 

[Timothy Kasulin]

I used to have my wife run lines for me too . she was an awesome ground worker. there is nothing like it when your ground person knows what you want even before you ask forit.
It is hard to find really good workers but they are out there. It is extremely hard when that temp guy cant even use a chain saw the mbranches just keep piling up on the ground beneath the tree and dont get moved till i come bown. what makes it even worse is whern you cant get down because your lifeline is cvered with all the junk he cant move and you cant get any slack in it on your belay so you hang there till he finally frees it an hour leter

 

[treeman82]

Tim, my guy who helped me out was the same way. I gave him a chainsaw to use one day, he wound up throwing the chain on it, so that was the end of that. After that day the strongest thing he used to cut with was an axe. My old guy Angel was pretty good. Always used to dull the saws out, that is why he had one that only he used.

 

[Timothy Kasulin]

sounds like we have both had some interesting experiences. What about when you tell them not to wrap the rope around there hands or thell either go for a ride or break there hand. Here is another funny one. The guy lowers the branch and puts the butt on the ground or just above it but the tips of the branch are stuck about 10-15 feet off the ground tangled in some nearby branches. After he wrestles it for a while and cant move it he decides to let the rope go and try climbing up the branch still partially hanging in the air and jumping on it like a yo yo to see if that will free it . Thats when I said I had enough Ill just finish it when my normal guy comes back.

 

[FSburt]

Hey you guys don't mean to sound like jerk but what do expect out of somebody that has probably never even did this kind of work let alone tied a knot. As important as groundmen are as others have pointed out they did not learn their task overhight especially on a big removal job. When I train my new cutters I do not expect them to actually become productive for at least 3 to 4 weeks. They have enough on their mind just learning how to safely handle a saw let alone fall and buck trees to a productive standard. Don't get me wrong I usually have my kids with me when I do tree work to keep an eye out and send me up stuff but I don't expect high production out of them because I am trying to show them that this can be a fun and rewarding job. When I do need a adult person to mind my lines and lower limbs for me I usually have my friend help me out who knows how to run a saw and work the ropes. I think temp services could work but only if these people had some basic training in what is expected and how it can be done and if you adjust your expectations to account for the learning curve. Who knows you might spark an interest in one of these people to pursue it for a permanent job. Good luck and may all your trees fall where you want them.

 

[treeman82]

Burt, I hear exactly what you are saying. I had my old guy who was the same way. I worked last year with one kid from Ohio. He and I worked extremely well together. He really knows the ropes and the saws and what not, but does not like to climb. I on the other hand do not like being on the ground and am good in the trees. I had invited him to come out and work for a while but he did not have the time to. If I can get him for this coming summer I will definatley do that. I think between me climbing, and him on the ropes that's a pretty nice team right there with a couple of hispanic guys to drag brush and what not. The guy who I had helping me this time is another friend from school. The kid is a bio major though He needed work, and I needed help. So I figured I would give him a shot. Probably not the greatest idea seeing what kind of work we had to do, but overall it did not work out all that bad.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

The only time I've brought in temps is when I needed extra brushpilits and rakers

 

[Timothy Kasulin]

while my wifey is outside splitting wood I figured ID pop in. You are right JPS temps arent bad for the grunt work but when it comes bown to technical stuff you have to have an experienced worker on the ground. I usually dont mind trying to teach someone or even give them some work to gain some experience but not on the huge jobs That was the mistake on my part

 

[Jumper]

TEMPS

Having just started out as a ground guy about three months ago, yours is a very skilled trade, and not all people are suited to being such....witness the three others who have come, and quit since my arrival at our company. Let me say the cream of employees tend not to hang out at temp agencies...I will never work for one again for a wide variety of reasons. For the record I am enjoying my work, learn something new everyday, and might consider this as a second career if I was not quite so old! Who says you can not teach an old dog new tricks. :angel: