utility or residential????

[371groundie]

for those of you who have done both utility clearance and residential work...

im currently working for a rather large company contracted to do utility line clearance work. i may have an opportunity to work for a smaller company that does residential work. the company i work for now has good pay and great benefits but the work really sucks. im currently a groundman and have done a small amout of training in the bucket. i dont enjoy the work and im scared to death of the wires.

the residential work looks more interesting to me. not sure what pay and benefits the other company would have.

so my questions is do any of you have a preference between utility work and residential work? why? pros and cons?

thanks guys.

 

[371groundie]

oops, i meant for this to be in arborist101 section. ill leave it up to the mods if they want to move it or not. im sure theres guys in here who will have an opinion too.

 

[Blakesmaster]

I don't think I could ever work next to the juice every day. Man, lectrics give me the heeby jeebies. Res work is a blast though, always different obstacles, hard jobs, easy jobs, fun jobs, bad jobs. You get it all. Eff those power lines and the same ol' #### everyday.

 

[markct]

one thing to think of in the long term is utility work may be more steady thru the ups and downs of economy and such, when money gets tight people put off pruning that nice maple in the front yard or taking down that dying tree in the backyard, whereas utilities sorta have to keep up on there maintenace for the most part. my "real" job is a truck and heavy equipment mechanic, i work for a garbage hauling company, they have everything from tractor trailers and payloaders to pickup trucks for small private communities trash pickup. i dont mind the job, but a few years ago i was considering going to take a few different jobs doing the same thing but in a construction company, yea a little better pay not much tho, seemed like it would be more interesting different jobsites and all. well now that this crisis obama is working hard to fix has struck, i sure am glad i stayed where i am, we still have trash to haul but most of the construction guys around here are cut way back or laid off, im still doing 45 to 50 hrs a week.

 

[ronnyb]

I worked utility for seven years. I didn't care much for it either. I went to college and got my degree in arboriculture/ horticulture, ISA certification and went on to work for several residential tree services and municipalities. Now I own my own company, and couldn't be happier. If your not happy, move on. Utility work is the grunt work of the tree world im my opinion. Get your certifications and credentials and see what you can earn.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Utility work is the grunt work of the tree world im my opinion.

That and Muni work, it's sorta like working on an assembly line. The question is whether you want a job or a career in tree work. Any type of ROW will allways be just a job.

 

[tree MDS]

That and Muni work, it's sorta like working on an assembly line. The question is whether you want a job or a career in tree work. Any type of ROW will allways be just a job.

Yep, utility work sucks. I've got a buddy thats an over the road mechanic for the big L, covers the western half of CT. I've gone out with him before and got to check out some of their equipment carnage first hand, now I know why those guys never work out for me when I try and hire them. He's had like 6 chippers jackknifed with the radiator guards stuffed into the radiator so far this year, he just gets a new radiator and torches off the bent gaurds. Buckets smashed into the pavement and broken off, new buckets all dented up....on and on. Ever get to look in one of thier toolboxes and see what these guys get to work with? lol, I guarantee you aint gonna find no GRCS thats for sure. Not my cup of tea....but steady work, thats true, and the pay is better than most residential guys pay as well.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Ever get to look in one of thier toolboxes and see what these guys get to work with? lol, I guarantee you aint gonna find no GRCS thats for sure.

Asplundh had to come out to a landclearing I was working on due to primaries running through the parsal. There were a bunch of peckerpole boxelders over the lines,a nd this wiry little squirrel of an old timer is bouncing around this with a handsaw and an 009t

I asked him "WTF is that?" and he flipped out "The biggest GD tree company in the ****** world and they can only afford a POS like this for their to ****** climbers!!!!!"

 

[tree MDS]

I didnt realize they still made those saws john, I can remember getting shocked by the spark plug (once the boot gets cracked) on a regular basis.

I almost threw an 011 out of the tree at one of my old bosses, just before I quit and went on my own. The thing wouldnt stay running and he came out and started yelling at me because I didnt listen to his instructions - he told me one way to do the job, and I did it a quicker way, he wanted me to milk it working for this old couple hourly. He was yelling "YOU WORK FOR ME! YOU WORK FOR ME!", I'm yelling back "NOT FOR LONG! NOT FOR LONG!" and pulling on that POS, trying to get it to start, lol. I already had my chipper and truck anyways. Ahh, the good old days.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I didnt realize they still made those saws john, I can remember getting shocked by the spark plug (once the boot gets cracked) on a regular basis.

It was around ten years ago time flies. For all I know the 019 was the replacement for that.

I just recently used an 014 in a bucket, that is a nice saw for the size I suppose the 170 or 180 is the replacement saw for that

This one has the EasyStart System on it

 

[clearance]

Utility can be a lot of fun, if you are into excitement and danger. Res. is ok, but there isn't the constant chance of electrocution. Many speak as if any one can do utility work. Fact is, hazardous removals around power are about as serious as it gets. You lose a top in res. oh well, insurance pays. You screw up bad doing utility and its over. So, you are in control of your destiny, and it is satisfying to cut down big trees over the line.

And then there are the side jobs. A little more work after work and you go home with some cash in your jeans.

 

[tree MDS]

Utility can be a lot of fun, if you are into excitement and danger. Res. is ok, but there isn't the constant chance of electrocution. Many speak as if any one can do utility work. Fact is, hazardous removals around power are about as serious as it gets. You lose a top in res. oh well, insurance pays. You screw up bad doing utility and its over. So, you are in control of your destiny, and it is satisfying to cut down big trees over the line.

And then there are the side jobs. A little more work after work and you go home with some cash in your jeans.

Maybe if you work for someone else its no big deal if you "lose a top", but if you are your own gig nothing travels like bad word of mouth.

BTW, utility still sucks.

 

[371groundie]

And then there are the side jobs. A little more work after work and you go home with some cash in your jeans.

and if you get caught you get fired canned! one thing ive found is that in utility im very beholden to the other idiots they hire! some guys know too much so they cut corners, other guys know nothing and do everything the hard way. here i am stuck in the middle and havent found a crew i fit in with.

ive got a call into the residential company. boss was out yesterday, heres hoping...........

 

[clearance]

and if you get caught you get fired canned! one thing ive found is that in utility im very beholden to the other idiots they hire! some guys know too much so they cut corners, other guys know nothing and do everything the hard way. here i am stuck in the middle and havent found a crew i fit in with.

ive got a call into the residential company. boss was out yesterday, heres hoping...........

If you are doing it on company time, sure, after, depends on how much you produce. No gf in his right mind gets rid of a big producer for doing a side job.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Same ol stuff?

I think not. The utility work I do during the week is hardly mundane. There are always new challenges, and often times I'm faced with the same challenges that you find in any residential gig, plus power lines.

Not to mention all the exceptional challenges provided by storm work. :biggrinbounce2:

Howbeit, I've done enough residential, commercial, and side jobs to know which gives me more gratification altogether. That's easy. I'd rather prune a tree for health and aesthetics and have the owner that asked me to do it be taken aback by the efforts, than have to overcome irate owner's tirades that assume I'm there to do what the last guy did last cycle.

Most people in this part of the country are pretty good about it though, and the ones who aren't are generally pleased with my personal efforts, and some even want to know what I can do with their other trees. Hence the side gigs.

371, glad to hear you're scared to death of the wires. That's natural. However, too much fear can lead to disaster as quick as fearlessness, both of which are rooted in ignorance. A good, solid, healthy respect coupled with sound knowledge is all that is required....even then things can go wrong, but it's the best you can do.

I'd stick with the clearance crew until you've learned all you can. You just might find you'll get more trigger time in the tree with a clearance crew than a small residential outfit.

Yeah, the work can be hard, but I like it...poison ivy, thorns, and all. I like all the characters I get to work with, especially when we all get together at a storm. We're motley, but we get the job done.

Year before last I put the word out with a couple of residential outfits that I was available for the weekends. I was willing to do anything.(I'll drag brush with anyone) One blew me off at the interview cause he didn't feel like talking that day, but invited me to come back some other time. LOL! The other told me he had absolutely no use for me.

That's fine, I'm their next door competition today, but I'm usually too busy abroad to be much of a threat locally, so far anyway.

At any rate, it really depends on your goals I suppose. Are your goals centered on just working for a service and grabbing a check, or going beyond that? How long have you been in this industry?


Sometimes you just need to give a job more time.

 

[oldugly]

Utility work is never easy, always dangerous, can be boring, but my hats off to anyone who can stick with it. I got my start with the great pumpkin, went into residential, and after having my own company for awhile held a small utility contract. Work is steady in utility work, in the residential end there are so many hacks in this area, I find it hard to keep busy. I'm the only ISA certified Arborist in the area, but most people don't care...they only look at price. There is another utility contract coming up soon, and I am seriously working to get it. With Obama trying to soak me for every dime he can, I need the steady work. My advice 371, is if the utility work is scary, or boring, or you don't "fit in with the crew", residential work won't pan out for you either.

If you need the job, and you're just worried about the liitle things like "fitting in" I have some not-so-easy-to-hear advice. (the same given to me by my favorite boss of all time)---grow up, dry your eyes, and get back to work.
He was a bitter old great pumpkin foreman, with a great attitude, but did not care whether we liked eachother or not....just that the job got done, we all came back alive, and every minute we were suppose to be working, we were.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

He was a bitter old great pumpkin foreman, with a great attitude, but did not care whether we liked each other or not....just that the job got done, we all came back alive, and every minute we were suppose to be working, we were.

With the turnover he probably had to work with, he did not see workers as human until they lasted for a season or two.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

With the turnover he probably had to work with, he did not see workers as human until they lasted for a season or two.

Fact. I remember losing my first crew. I apologized to my super. He laughed and said I'll be doing good if I keep one in ten. And not to put too much stock in them till they've made it a year.

 

[oldugly]

Actually inspite of being very strict, and very harsh, he was fair, and kept his crewmen quite awhile. I worked for him for a little more than six years, and I think the majority of his crew had been together for over four. Several were with him when I started there, and were still there when I left. He always challenged us to do better, but made it very clear there wasn't any time for the personality conflicts, or the little jealousy crap that went on in the other crews.

His focus was production, then safety. Other than that he didn't care much. If you put out the production, he made sure you got the promotions you deserved, if you broke the rules, he would bust you down from "A" climber, to "B" and all the way back to C in a hurry. All things considered except for my drill sergeant probably the most challenging person I ever worked with, but the most enjoyable job I ever had.

 

[371groundie]

thanks for all the perspective guys.

the residential work didnt pan out. so i buckled down to make the best of the situation i was in and monday i got switched to a new crew. things are definately looking up. im still not in a hurry to learn the bucket, but mabey that will come in time.

my new foreman is great. im really glad i found a crew i fit in with. mabey that makes me a wuss, but it sure makes the day go by better. mabey im spoiled, ive been basically self employed or working for my father since highschool. this whole being-an-employee thing is gunna take some getting used to.......