Underbidding: This is getting to be complete nonsense!

[treeseer]

Your telling us your clients don't feel safe hiring Hatian's and Latino's..wow you better be carefull saying things like that around here...:greenchainsaw:

Rolla that sounds like it may have been a little racist, but maybe it wasn't. If one of my clients said that, I would know they were talking about feeling safer with their trees in my hands than a less knowledgeable arborist.

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

So?
I've actually had cutomers ask if I had Mexicans working for me. They didn't want them at their house.
Their perogative.

 

[treeseer]

I've had spics and darkies and kykes wand dagoes and micks work for me, but the one who ripped me off the worst was a cracker.

Mike I agree the client has a right to those preferences. God word earlier on on-site recycling; if a log ain't worth timber or firewood then it is recycled on site. They work well for erosion control.

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

a racist? I am not. I do not hold what God made against a person. I make my judgements on how a person acts and what they do.
Got 10 tatooes and a bunch of facial piercings?
Commit a crime?
Act like an idiot?
Have kids out of wedlock and abandon your responsibility?


I do believe that it is a greater good to let a person make their own decisions (there is some degree to that that we can argue) whether right or wrong than to have the government or do-good liberals forcing their view of political correctness on them.

If someone told me they weren't going to hire me cause I'm a dumb *******, so be it. the next customer gets the excellent level of work I do. and I wont be running to the government crying about being discriminated against.
I guess I expect everyone to act in a mature manner.

BTW, I'd hire any race of person if they have honor, intregity and responsibility

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

My customers do not determine the race of my work crew. Sorry for you dude. You need a better class of client and a better outlook yourself.

Do they ask if you have women in your employ? Or who works at the factory that makes your equipment?

Do you share their ignorance?

Don't worry, I have a dim view of those folks who asked me that question. Probably would not invite them over for dinner.

I lost a job once because I have an NRA sticker on my truck.
So be it.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Rolla that sounds like it may have been a little racist, but maybe it wasn't. If one of my clients said that, I would know they were talking about feeling safer with their trees in my hands than a less knowledgeable arborist.

I think we all know just what they meant....

 

[Ryan Gossen]

Sunrise Guy you have my sympathy, and my company, as we share the same area. Its true that the people underbidding us are very often here illegally, it only stands to reason that a man on a work trip from third world conditions is going to be hard to bid against. But if he has not been dissuaded by the INS, he surely wont be phased by ANZI.

Everyone knows why this happens: people down there have it bad. Jobs left the US for Mexico and then left Mexico for China. International corporations have been able to shift their labor source to reduce costs because they can co-ordinate internationally. Labor interests (thats us) co-ordinate locally, and see what happens: one area is pitted against anther and the lowest common denominator wins. That means the lowest quality job for the lowest pay, and in a job like ours where safety is such an issue, it means our very lives are worth less.

People coming across that border is like fluid moving from high pressure to low pressure. There is allot of debate about stopping it without much consideration for why its happening. The American working man will understand what is happening to him/her only when they understand what is happening to workers globally.

 

[DDM]

i know you're joking, but ironically, that's where i recruit my workers from... fast food places and grocery stores. my best climber is an ex-Subway employee. my best log carrier used to be a stockboy a Publix.

Okay? How can you take a guy out of publix or walmart wherever and send him out to do estimates? What? Does he just friggin guess what its going to take to get the job done?

 

[treeminator]

Okay? How can you take a guy out of publix or walmart wherever and send him out to do estimates? What? Does he just friggin guess what its going to take to get the job done?

i do the estimates. it would cause ALOT of problems if they knew how much money i was making vs. paying them.

 

[DDM]

i do the estimates. it would cause ALOT of problems if they knew how much money i was making vs. paying them.

Hmmmmmmmm

my profit margins aren't effected because my workers get paid $8/hr and the salesmen get $5 per home they sell.

ummm am i missing something?

 

[Freakingstang]

Hmmmmmmmm



ummm am i missing something?

He left out the part that he is a troll with alter ego's...Duh

 

[DDM]

He left out the part that he is a troll with alter ego's...Duh

If he is he's REAL Good at it.

 

[treeminator]

Hmmmmmmmm



ummm am i missing something?

here's how it works. they go out and "sell" to get $5 per home. to clarify...they get the lead all prepped and ready for me to close. they get all the info, talk to the customer, and basically do everything except price it out.

 

[DDM]

here's how it works. they go out and "sell" to get $5 per home. to clarify...they get the lead all prepped and ready for me to close. they get all the info, talk to the customer, and basically do everything except price it out.

O Really? I'm sure they give only the best advice to the customer regarding there oak tree care or was it an orange tree?

 

[treeminator]

O Really? I'm sure they give only the best advice to the customer regarding there oak tree care or was it an orange tree?

i don't do tree treatment (health issues of a tree) or planting because i feel that might hurt my reputation as a good neighorhood tree company. i mainly do trimming, removals, and stump grinding. seems there's enough work in those 3 categories. especially palm tree trimming.

 

[DDM]

i don't do tree treatment (health issues of a tree) or planting because i feel that might hurt my reputation as a good neighorhood tree company. i mainly do trimming, removals, and stump grinding. seems there's enough work in those 3 categories. especially palm tree trimming.

You dont have a brother named SpikedSupra do you?

 

[Freakingstang]

This is a nicely trimmed tree, huh. I think treescalper did this one

 

[Freakingstang]

That might be a removal......they are just waiting to drop the log until the right trucks are there. Hopefully. Anyway it's the wrong species of tree for the location. Looks like sycamore.

Actually, I googled "tree trimming butcher" and it brought that up as a bad trimming, I'll see if I can find a link again, but definately wrong geographical area. Ashpluhde has been doing some serious hacking in my area lately...looks very similar, except they don't have everything gone up top, they leave a couple 3 foot nubs.

 

[treeminator]

Actually, I googled "tree trimming butcher" and it brought that up as a bad trimming, I'll see if I can find a link again, but definately wrong geographical area. Ashpluhde has been doing some serious hacking in my area lately...looks very similar, except they don't have everything gone up top, they leave a couple 3 foot nubs.

no way that's a trimming. it's gotta be a removal waiting to be finished.

 

[Grizzly]

OK, I know our business is getting glutted these days with more and more tree guys and gals. I also know that illegals are willing to work for very little pay. With that in mind, I have been bidding very low (as I see it) on work in my area, but still getting underbid. I'm honestly wondering if I'm going to keep trying to make my living doing this thing that I love.

I went out on a bid today that was not too much work, but no walk in the park, either. Visualize a big hackberry about fifty feet tall. At about thirty feet or so, a codominant leader with a great deal of brushy growth on it, all very healthy, had split and fallen to the left of the tree as you face it. I believe it was a victim of some bad storms we've had lately. The branch was still attached at the crotch and would take more than a little T330 to cut it free. Some of it was resting on the ground, but a good part would need to be rigged down as a fence is directly under it. Half of the branch was in the neighbor's yard, the part not touching the ground was resting on the roof of a storage shed with a corrugated roof on it. From the split we're talking about wood starting at about 16" and then tapering off toward the tip.

I figured that I'd work the job alone and maybe need to make two trips to the dump at $20/load. I quoted the guy $200 and figured I was grossly underbidding, but I wanted to do the job by myself and felt that I'd at least make a few bucks. WRONG! The guy just e-mailed me to let me know that a "crew of guys" can do the job for less and get it done Tuesday. I had told the guy that I would need to do it Wednesday.

What is going on here? Am I the only one experiencing this crap? If I can believe that the guy got a crew who would do it for less, I see three illegals with chainsaws motoring down the branch and then dumping the wood in the park somewhere in the middle of the night for free. They'll probably make $50 each.

So, what is the solution? I left one professional field because everyone and his uncle was getting into it and working for peanuts. I like the nicer things in life and won't be a whore, but I'm starting to wonder if I can still make a living in the trees.

Are you guys finding that you are having to go lower and lower on your bids these days in order to get work? Is your area experiencing more and more illegals invading it? I'd really like some feedback here. Thanks, in advance.

Thats messed up man. Did he even have it done or was he just yanking your chain. i had the same thing happen a few weeks ago on a land clearing job. i bided it at $650 and the next day the guy up the stree mowing the lawn offered $325. I hope they lost their ass for bidding it so low.