urban loggers at it again!

[treeman82]

I bid a job for an "existing customer" of mine last summer... remove about 24 red maples within varying proximity of the house, property lines, and a few other structures... diameters varying from 12 - 24" each... spread the chips around on site to make it nice, cut up all the wood in piles, and grind the stumps out... $7,000... we figured that we could do 8 trees per day with 3 guys, and then I figured a little less than 1 day for the grinding and associated clean-up.

Well... the company who got the job priced it for $1,900... for that... they took down at LEAST 30 trees, including a 3' diameter elm, and gutted a willow oak next to the house. However, at the end of their job.. there was a BIG pile of chips left... they spread nothing. It took probably 9 guys 1 day to make this mess. Other trees were busted up, and several rotten and hazardous trees were left standing, while others that were healthy were taken down. When the log truck came for 2 loads of logs... they wound up ripping up part of the driveway because they didn't use due caution. The third load of logs remains strewn about the back of the property... a pile of about 20 logs in one place, another half dozen somewhere else, and then a few way in the back of the area... not to mention a few here and there. Stumps are all left WAY too high... so they would all have to be cut down in order to grind out (1 1/2 firewood size)... nasty pieces too. To bring in an excavator to rip out all these stumps and push around the pile of chips will cost THOUSANDS because the area is a bit too wet to bury things... and that's illegal anyways. Not to mention the fact that they want to put in a pool... I think the dumping spots now want $20 per yard... so that's gonna be a chunk of money just in dumping.

Sorry for the rant, but I sure as heck hate these urban loggers. Come in for the wood, not the trees.

 

[mckeetree]

Well all I have to say is the dumb azz people that hire them deserve what they get.

 

[gr8scott72]

I bid a job for an "existing customer" of mine last summer... remove about 24 red maples within varying proximity of the house, property lines, and a few other structures... diameters varying from 12 - 24" each... spread the chips around on site to make it nice, cut up all the wood in piles, and grind the stumps out... $7,000... we figured that we could do 8 trees per day with 3 guys, and then I figured a little less than 1 day for the grinding and associated clean-up.

Well... the company who got the job priced it for $1,900... for that... they took down at LEAST 30 trees, including a 3' diameter elm, and gutted a willow oak next to the house. However, at the end of their job.. there was a BIG pile of chips left... they spread nothing. It took probably 9 guys 1 day to make this mess. Other trees were busted up, and several rotten and hazardous trees were left standing, while others that were healthy were taken down. When the log truck came for 2 loads of logs... they wound up ripping up part of the driveway because they didn't use due caution. The third load of logs remains strewn about the back of the property... a pile of about 20 logs in one place, another half dozen somewhere else, and then a few way in the back of the area... not to mention a few here and there. Stumps are all left WAY too high... so they would all have to be cut down in order to grind out (1 1/2 firewood size)... nasty pieces too. To bring in an excavator to rip out all these stumps and push around the pile of chips will cost THOUSANDS because the area is a bit too wet to bury things... and that's illegal anyways. Not to mention the fact that they want to put in a pool... I think the dumping spots now want $20 per yard... so that's gonna be a chunk of money just in dumping.

Sorry for the rant, but I sure as heck hate these urban loggers. Come in for the wood, not the trees.

Have you talked to your customer since they had that "work" done?

 

[ClimbinArbor]

of course you get what you pay for, but 7k does sound a hair high. i was thinking 5 or 6.... maybe they got yours and had sticker shock, then called a few others and went with the lowest. theyll know next time wont they.....

 

[Sunrise Guy]

It's tough to come up with an exact bid without seeing the site, but I think $6-7G's sounds about right. I can't believe the horror story you told. It sounds like a case study in arboricultural malfeasance.

It is interesting, to me, that this client was an existing one. Did you go over the job with him/her to detail exactly what needed to be done? Did you meet any objections, that might have existed, to your price, and explain why you needed to bid what you did?

It is sad when an existing client goes with price over quality, but I find that education is the key, here, unless the client is a dumb-:censored: , to begin with.

 

[TDunk]

Ever since Ax-men started showing, anybody with a chain saw thinks they can cut down a tree. Maybe it's a coincidence but the past couple months i've had alot of "ax-men bubbas" saying they'll do work stupid cheap. But that's just me.

 

[PTS]

of course you get what you pay for, but 7k does sound a hair high. i was thinking 5 or 6.... maybe they got yours and had sticker shock, then called a few others and went with the lowest. theyll know next time wont they.....

High????? I though it sounded cheap.


Each guy cost a minimum of $25 an hour times three is $75 and the company better get something for gas and equipment and insurance so you are looking at at least $150 an hour figure an average 10 hour day is $1500 times 4 days as described is $6000 and that is here in Iowa. New York $7000 sounds like a deal.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I see that crap from time to time. Quite often on the lake bluffs. Then the low ballers just dump stuff down the slope and cut what ever sticks up high. The never cut the logs down or make slash piles. Then when someone needs to come in later, it is like working on a blowdown site.

When we do it we make slash piles that are cut down and weighted with logs, then the bigger wood is placed perpendicular to the slope to slow down erosion. Slash piles on the upslope help there too.

 

[ClimbinArbor]

High????? I though it sounded cheap.


Each guy cost a minimum of $25 an hour times three is $75 and the company better get something for gas and equipment and insurance so you are looking at at least $150 an hour figure an average 10 hour day is $1500 times 4 days as described is $6000 and that is here in Iowa. New York $7000 sounds like a deal.

if it takes three men 40 hours to remove 24 12"-24" red maples ill be a monkeys uncle.

not while im cracking the whip and dishing out checks