What are you guys doing per day??

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I dont own the business i work for but im pretty high on the totem pole and good freinds with the owner.

Our target is 4000 a day, but thats with 6 guys, a crane, 40 yard chip truck, 18 inch chipper, big skid steer, bucket truck, and a 100+ yard loader truck.

Were the largest tree service in our area and do all the work for the two larger towns that surround us. Were the only tree service with a crane as well.

What takes most tree services 2 days, takes us 2 hours. ( In mid alabama anyway.)
 
I am currently on my last couple of days of my day job. I have been running a tree service part time for the last three years. When I take a week off of the day job and do tree work I can most of the time gross 4 to 5k per week. A lot of days are long but you have to make hay when the sun shines I guess. I am taking the plunge due to the hatred of my day job and my wife having sweet family health coverage for everyone. I for the most part enjoy the business part of it and most of the people I deal with are pretty decent. I am looking forward to the variety and challenges this job has. The last couple of years I have grossed 80 to 100k. I have a lot of decent good looking used equipment and have about ten grand owed against it and about ten grand in my business account. I cleared about 28 thousand on the books and about fifteen grand for my front pocket. Last year at my day job I grossed 38,000. I know what I would really want to do with my life. In my area 100 grand will give you the choice of 90 percent of the houses in town for comparison for the cost of living. I can usually do 1100 to 1400 per day sometimes up to 2000 with two guys. My competition does good jobs at removals for the most part but wouldn't know what the difference between a tailpipe and a port a wrap. He doesn't climb. He doesn't even own a wood chipper, and his idea is that top handle saws are a waste of money. His pruning sucks he is a flush cutting tree topping maniac. Plus he gouges people because he had been the only local guy in a 30 mile radius. But he makes a ton of money. I can easily do 125 bucks to 150 an hour with my bucket most days. I bid a job for two pretty easy walnut trees that I could have down and cleaned up with two guys and six hours for twelve hundred bucks. The guy just about jumped on me and gave me a hug! I can only imagine what the other bid was. I am pretty blessed with our market here. I look like a hero and still make good money. For reference a tractor backhoe rate here is 90 an hour a 250 sized excavator is about 150 to 175. I don't want to be a low baller but my goal is to bring proper tree care to the area, with a fair price to the customer and fair price to me also. I want to keep a small, low cost operation for now and see how it goes and do great work for people. I haven't advertised other than business cards and my volume keeps going up and up. I'm not trying to be a millionaire in a year but I just want to make a honest living and not be broke and treat everyone fair.
 
I dont own the business i work for but im pretty high on the totem pole and good freinds with the owner.

Our target is 4000 a day, but thats with 6 guys, a crane, 40 yard chip truck, 18 inch chipper, big skid steer, bucket truck, and a 100+ yard loader truck.

Were the largest tree service in our area and do all the work for the two larger towns that surround us. Were the only tree service with a crane as well.

What takes most tree services 2 days, takes us 2 hours. ( In mid alabama anyway.)
I'm glad you're not in my area. Jeez. I'd be eating ramen.
 
I live in wa state near seattle and we shoot for 2000-2500 in 8-10 hours. 3 or 4 guys truck and chipper.

That's what we should be getting here, near Dallas, TX. It's tough to get more than $1,400 a day for a four man crew with a bucket truck and chipper when you have outfits like Juan's First Choice Tree Care working a six man crew for $800 a day.
 
I am gonna diversify more this and really focus on the installation and maintenance of smaller plant material . Wind breaks ... Privacy live fences . There is some good money in the smaller aspect of tree care . Even street tree installation on new home complexes
 
This is my second full time job so I go job to job, not per day. We have a couple of large outfits here that charge huge sums but the will have loaders, spyder tracks, large chipper, stumper and like 5 to 7 guys per job on most jobs. I get all my work by word of mouth and seem ot get as much as I can do with my son and I. We just took down a 3 lead white pine leaving all wood and brush for 460.00 and it took about 2.5 hrs, for removals I shoot for 125.00 and hr for the two of us. There is alot of guys with a saw, spurs and no insurance around here to eat up all the easy dollar stuff, which sucks alittle because I get alot of hard stuff and I often wonder if I dont charge enough for my skill level. It is a fine line between feeling you are getting what you should and not getting the job.
 
This is my second full time job so I go job to job, not per day. We have a couple of large outfits here that charge huge sums but the will have loaders, spyder tracks, large chipper, stumper and like 5 to 7 guys per job on most jobs. I get all my work by word of mouth and seem ot get as much as I can do with my son and I. We just took down a 3 lead white pine leaving all wood and brush for 460.00 and it took about 2.5 hrs, for removals I shoot for 125.00 and hr for the two of us. There is alot of guys with a saw, spurs and no insurance around here to eat up all the easy dollar stuff, which sucks alittle because I get alot of hard stuff and I often wonder if I dont charge enough for my skill level. It is a fine line between feeling you are getting what you should and not getting the job.


Man I hate jobs like that. I can't believe the amount of calls I get lately for "can you just put it on the ground"

I can understand if somebody wants to keep wood for burning but who wants a pile of brush left 8 feet high in the yard.

Taking the equipment out of a job often takes out the profit as well.............
 
Man I hate jobs like that. I can't believe the amount of calls I get lately for "can you just put it on the ground"

I can understand if somebody wants to keep wood for burning but who wants a pile of brush left 8 feet high in the yard.

Taking the equipment out of a job often takes out the profit as well.............
We have alot of folks around here that live in wooded areas and want to dispose of the wood and brush themselves. I always leave stuff as neat as possible when we do this, I tell my son stack it like you had to deal with it later. I never leave brush in town as I think it looks like some of the hacks around here did it and I am proud of the work we do.
 
Company i work for pulls $1000 per day, per man and this year hes pushing us for 1400. about 15 men. Usually 2-4 men per crew. chipper truck, chipper, a first tier climber, second tier climber, maybe bucket truck, stump grinder or any special gear we need. We just finished a $35,000 gig in 2 1/2 days with all men and all equipment for a big campsite. Were a big company though and have been around for 27 years.
 
If I can gross $1200-$1500 per day regardless of what I do I'm really happy. Usually $1000 per day gross is average. But keep in mind, I don't do this full time.
 
Company i work for pulls $1000 per day, per man and this year hes pushing us for 1400. about 15 men. Usually 2-4 men per crew. chipper truck, chipper, a first tier climber, second tier climber, maybe bucket truck, stump grinder or any special gear we need. We just finished a $35,000 gig in 2 1/2 days with all men and all equipment for a big campsite. Were a big company though and have been around for 27 years.
Ehhhh, could ya define first and second tier climber.
 
Ehhhh, could ya define first and second tier climber.
First tier climbers are the more skilled/experienced climbers and are often the foreman On crew. Second tier climbers are essentially, climbers in training who serve as groundsmen. We only have 2 guys who dont either climb or work from a bucket truck.
 
Company i work for pulls $1000 per day, per man and this year hes pushing us for 1400. about 15 men. Usually 2-4 men per crew. chipper truck, chipper, a first tier climber, second tier climber, maybe bucket truck, stump grinder or any special gear we need. We just finished a $35,000 gig in 2 1/2 days with all men and all equipment for a big campsite. Were a big company though and have been around for 27 years.

Am I reading this right? $15K per day and wants to increase it to $21K perday? what?
 
Yup. We wont be able to pull it off every day but we get quarterly bonuses for every week we average $140 per man, per hour on crew.
 
Yup. We wont be able to pull it off every day but we get quarterly bonuses for every week we average $140 per man, per hour on crew.


Is that on the job time or per man per hour for the whole day from start to finish?
 
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