What are you paying your guys?

[PFirebird]

I thought Arborsite would be a great place to find out what other tree men earn. I'm wondering how our employees fare with the others, but around here (S.East Michigan) the competition doesn't want to disclose stuff like $per hour.
Anyway, feel free to post whatever, what you earn, what you pay your guys etc. Try to give a good job description to go along with an hourly rate if you could. Also I know there will be regional differences, we'll just account for that.

One thing I'd like to hear from others is the pay for good groundsmen; guys that drive (and can actually back up) a truck and chipper, feed brush, light chainsaw use from the ground, and cleaning up. Here that's about $13-$15 an hour.

 

[beowulf343]

Six figures a year. Production climber, removal/crane specialist.

 

[luvsaws]

Six figures a year. Production climber, removal/crane specialist.

:jawdrop:

 

[TreeClimber57]

Six figures a year. Production climber, removal/crane specialist.

Are you counting the two digits to the right of the decimal place...

 

[pdqdl]

Six figures per year...

1. winter potbelly is still growing.
2. Spring fatigue; weight still there, muscles are tired but coming back.
3. Summer time, and the fitness is back. Starting to rip through the work.
4. Autumn trim: lean and mean, as fit as ever.
5. late fall doldrums, callused and tough, firewood splitting has put the rough edge onto being in back shape.
6. Winter sets in...starting to feel lazy, just going out and getting more firewood seems like work right now...

 

[treesquirrel]

My ground man and I have been working together for about 7 years now and I pay him 20.00 an hour or at least 150.00 a day even if we have a short day. He is worth every cent of it.

 

[PineFever]

Last year....Climbing, Clearing, and firewood sales, right at 26K.
Did a lot of fishing, hunting and prospecting though, did I mention I'm retired?
Well kinda, I can only fish, hunt, and prospect so much. If there's work available to supplement my nest-egg I'm on it!!
Fishing:

Hunting:

Prospecting:

Results:

 

[beowulf343]

Six figures per year...

1. winter potbelly is still growing.
2. Spring fatigue; weight still there, muscles are tired but coming back.
3. Summer time, and the fitness is back. Starting to rip through the work.
4. Autumn trim: lean and mean, as fit as ever.
5. late fall doldrums, callused and tough, firewood splitting has put the rough edge onto being in back shape.
6. Winter sets in...starting to feel lazy, just going out and getting more firewood seems like work right now...

Lol, that is funny, and if i hadn't negged you a while back, i'd rep you for it.

It's really not that surprising. I make a very good hourly wage. Time and a half over 40. It's an odd week where we put in less than 60 hours. It adds up. I'm more surprised more guys aren't making it.

 

[mattfr12]

Ground guys 12.00 per hr to start
Bucket OP with CDL 15.00-18.00 per hr
Climber Bucket OP With CDL 20.00-25.00 per hr

i put CDL in thier alot because everything we have is basically CDL besides my pickup truck. so without a CDL your always the passanger wich can suck in the process of moving equipment.

 

[capetrees]

$22 hr/$200 day. I charge out $40/hr for him. He's a big strong guy and lumps all day but thats it. He does nothing else and brings nothing to the job, no saws or tools, no drive and no brains. But I gotta keep him cause thats all there is around where I am. Not a lot of year round people that want to do hard work.

 

[treemandan]

Who knows? You would expect to find 15 right off the bat for just showing up but it seems kids today will run a tab up on you so high and the work still will need to be done.
I ran into one making 11 for climbing. But he was just starting out and has no clue. Seems like he wants to though. Maybe next time I see him I will try to get past his shifty eyes and give him a hand. I ended up finishing his tree the other day. Of course I understand the whole thing and that's fine. He wasn't, and wasn't going to tie in high enough to reach anything then he came down after an hour off putzing and stared at it for awhile and then started dragging brush.

I am not bashing on the kid. Without my high fa-lu-ten climbing apparatus-es and my cool very experianced atittude I would still be on the porch dreaming about it too. So I give the guy the credit for just showing up... even with those shifty eyes. Maybe he is just a little worked up, maybe I will try to mellow him out.

But we are not talking about how much it cost but rather what to pay?


I have heard people griping over the 300 I get for a day. I take it to be standard issue griping like when you have to get your car fixed or your teeth pulled.
I would say 300 is what an employer would pay for a top rate employee for a day with all fees included. That would be 25 to 30 per hour to the employee. What makes it hard to pay high wages is the cost of the insurance on the employee. I suppose its them ( ins co's) who are responsible for keeping the wages down here. How much would you expect to pay WC on an office worker? See? That is what gets us. Even plumbers and electritions aren't quite as high I don't think. Say " tree" I dare ya.

 

[treemandan]

Six figures per year...

1. winter potbelly is still growing.
2. Spring fatigue; weight still there, muscles are tired but coming back.
3. Summer time, and the fitness is back. Starting to rip through the work.
4. Autumn trim: lean and mean, as fit as ever.
5. late fall doldrums, callused and tough, firewood splitting has put the rough edge onto being in back shape.
6. Winter sets in...starting to feel lazy, just going out and getting more firewood seems like work right now...

 

[RVALUE]

Last year....Climbing, Clearing, and firewood sales, right at 26K.
Did a lot of fishing, hunting and prospecting though, did I mention I'm retired?
Well kinda, I can only fish, hunt, and prospect so much. If there's work available to supplement my nest-egg I'm on it!!
Fishing:

Hunting:

Prospecting:

Results:

Glad you put prospecting on that photo. For a minute I thought you were related to my wife and building a house!

 

[RVALUE]

Lol, that is funny, and if i hadn't negged you a while back, i'd rep you for it.

It's really not that surprising. I make a very good hourly wage. Time and a half over 40. It's an odd week where we put in less than 60 hours. It adds up. I'm more surprised more guys aren't making it.

Dang, maybe that's my problem why I'm broke. I'm under paid. I'm over 40 and just making time.

 

[PFirebird]

Six figures a year. Production climber, removal/crane specialist.

Not bad at all.

 

[PFirebird]

Who knows? You would expect to find 15 right off the bat for just showing up but it seems kids today will run a tab up on you so high and the work still will need to be done.
I ran into one making 11 for climbing. But he was just starting out and has no clue. Seems like he wants to though. Maybe next time I see him I will try to get past his shifty eyes and give him a hand. I ended up finishing his tree the other day. Of course I understand the whole thing and that's fine. He wasn't, and wasn't going to tie in high enough to reach anything then he came down after an hour off putzing and stared at it for awhile and then started dragging brush.

I am not bashing on the kid. Without my high fa-lu-ten climbing apparatus-es and my cool very experianced atittude I would still be on the porch dreaming about it too. So I give the guy the credit for just showing up... even with those shifty eyes. Maybe he is just a little worked up, maybe I will try to mellow him out.

But we are not talking about how much it cost but rather what to pay?


I have heard people griping over the 300 I get for a day. I take it to be standard issue griping like when you have to get your car fixed or your teeth pulled.
I would say 300 is what an employer would pay for a top rate employee for a day with all fees included. That would be 25 to 30 per hour to the employee. What makes it hard to pay high wages is the cost of the insurance on the employee. I suppose its them ( ins co's) who are responsible for keeping the wages down here. How much would you expect to pay WC on an office worker? See? That is what gets us. Even plumbers and electritions aren't quite as high I don't think. Say " tree" I dare ya.

Yeah, $300 a day may sound like a lot, but, like you say, after employer share of taxes, work comp etc it accounted for, that leaves about $20 an hour going to the worker.
I think the insurance companies are less to blame for rates. Sure the work comp is high, but the lack of standardization in the tree industry I think has more to do with it.

 

[Groundman One]

We charge $125 an hour for two guys. The company gets between 10% and 40% depending on who did the estimate and what equipment we use. The rest gets split 60/40 between the climber and the groundman.

If there is a third guy helping to clean up, he gets $15 to $25 an hour depending on who he is and what equipment he has. If we have an extra climber, he makes from about $25 to $50 an hour (or more) depending on the job.

 

[TreeClimber57]

Dang, maybe that's my problem why I'm broke. I'm under paid. I'm over 40 and just making time.

Gee.. didn't know you were supposed to get paid more when you older.. Guess I am over 40 too then!

 

[newlotstolearn]

hope its fair?

I have been making $15 an hour just doing kind of odd jobs. I am a pro by no means at all. Im not working for a tree service or anything, just people that I know. There was a post earlier about a kid that was new and had a lot to learn, and I would fall in that category. I have dropped a few live oaks blue oaks and pines, limbed them and bucked them up. cutting out brush like manzanita and buck brush. I have climbed a few trees that were leaning over structures and taken out limbs or top sections. Safety is my number one concern. Getting the job done to the customers specifications is next. The people that hire me know that Im not very experienced, and they know Im not going to even try to do something that I am not certain about. Im hoping that as I learn more, I will earn more.