Will Not Work For Free

[Slvrmple72]

Amazing how people want work for free! I have gotten several calls where I show up and give them a verbal quote and hear "That is high, I had a fella take down blah blah trees in the front and one in the back for 180 bucks." I bid 625 for two Locusts, no stumps and a 20" DBH White Pine, stump ground out right near a buried power line. All hauled away to the mulch makers. They also wanted me to give them a quote for the owner of the duplex next door which has three pines he wanted removed. I gave them an extra card to give to him kindly telling them that he needs to call me and schedule an appointment. I don't expect a call. At least the larger outfits will be happy that I am not dumming down the prices but I feel bad for the hungry guys.... your gonna be working really hard for scarce little.

 

[pdqdl]

It's called sticker shock, and they are just using a common method to get you to work for less money than you quoted. Get the cheapskates on your side by complaining about the ridiculous price of gas, your high worker's comp insurance, the cost of equipment, and the outrageous expense of advertising. Tell them how you really need the work they have, and how you already quoted a lower price than you should have. (ALL, probably true!)

So long as the customer thinks you are not getting rich off of them, they usually agree to a reasonable price quote. Especially if they like the man that gave them the quote.

 

[ropensaddle]

Amazing how people want work for free! I have gotten several calls where I show up and give them a verbal quote and hear "That is high, I had a fella take down blah blah trees in the front and one in the back for 180 bucks." I bid 625 for two Locusts, no stumps and a 20" DBH White Pine, stump ground out right near a buried power line. All hauled away to the mulch makers. They also wanted me to give them a quote for the owner of the duplex next door which has three pines he wanted removed. I gave them an extra card to give to him kindly telling them that he needs to call me and schedule an appointment. I don't expect a call. At least the larger outfits will be happy that I am not dumming down the prices but I feel bad for the hungry guys.... your gonna be working really hard for scarce little.

Let me get this straight three trees cut cleaned up for that?
I don't know about any one else but the pine should have been that.
No wander I don't get half of my bids ,sheesh bid higher people this job
is dangerous!

 

[Slvrmple72]

Guess I am just getting tired of "milking the cow" and all it will give up is "powdered" milk! Blah, blah, retired, blah, blah, fixed income, prices are going up on everything can't you give me a discount? Looks like the wife is gonna get her bathroom remodeled this summer afterall! Heck, might as well replace the windows in the house while I am at it! Won't need to burn as much wood this winter! ( already up to 6 cords- Cherry, Maple, Oak)

 

[Slvrmple72]

Rope, the two locusts are drop and chops, horribly topped, and small enough to drag to the chipper and run through. Put them out of their misery, bet he thought it was such a deal when the fella offered to top them for beer money!

 

[reachtreeservi]

I went last week to look at a job here in Georgia for a multi millionaire who lives in Montanna.
Walked the job and talked to the guy over the phone and marked 5 trees.

Four 24" to 30" pines cut and removed. Limited drop zones, all have to be climbed. Some of it can be cut and chucked, maybe 25 % would need to be roped down.
The smallest one is a 50 degree leaner hung up in a poplar tree.
And one tree trimmed back off the front of the rental home.

I would take one ground guy with me , pay him 150.00 for 6 hours

I figured it would take not quite one day , bid 900.00 for the whole job.
Went low to try and get his tree work in the future, guy has alot of rental property.



Guy called me back and said he wanted to get another guy to come out and bid.

I told him to just have that guy do the job and I wasn't interested in bidding any more work for him.

I figure if a multi millionaire wants to knock me down on a cut rate job, I would never make anything off the guy.
Better to cut thru the crap at the beginning of the relationship.

Times are tough.

 

[ropensaddle]

Rope, the two locusts are drop and chops, horribly topped, and small enough to drag to the chipper and run through. Put them out of their misery, bet he thought it was such a deal when the fella offered to top them for beer money!

One thing I can tell ya I don't want those clients. I get them too, but
they usually see my lazy eye twitch and either get the job or they say
they will call but never do

 

[capetrees]

I find the internet to be the best way to give estimates. Most of the people that I work for aren't home during the week and they describe to me the work they want over the phone, sometimes while I'm on site with the cell. I then go home and quote them the price by email. That way, no whining. Either they agree or they don't. No haggling and I don't get beat down. Its easier to tell someone no by email. Most of the time though, they agree to the price.

 

[Gunsmoke]

I was out grinding on Friday and had a guy call me to bid 4 stumps about 12" to 18" across. I called him from the back yard and told him $150. They were pines and I knew I couldn't be there more than a hour. He told me he had a guy give him an estimate of $80. I told him to call this guy back before he sobbers up and have him do the job. He laughed said that he appreciated the time I took to come out. Sunday I gave a bid to grind out an elderly ladies slvr maple stump 25" for $100. She was happy and I ground it today and ended up w/ a $25 tip. I was there from unload to load 1hr. (she like to talk and we shot the bull for awhile) Walked across the street to the neighbors and informed them that I was grindin' across street and had noticed that they had a stump. Oak about 30" I told them $100 Lady called hubby and he said that he could rent a grinder for $35 a day! I laughed and told him to enjoy his Saturday that he would spend grinding ALL DAY w/ the walk behind grinder!!! I've sold jobs I never thought I would then lost the ones that I thought was in the bag! I have to make this work or it's back behind the wheel again.

 

[Slvrmple72]

Cape, I like the e-mail bid submission too! Dealing with internet savy people who seem to be up on the costs of professional tree care and will not waste my time thinking they can haggle a lower price out of me. It is what it is and that's all there is! You got a 7.3 in that 99 F-350?

 

[clearance]

Some people....Once we were doing line clearance and this guy came up and asked if we could cut down a tree after work. Cut down and chipped, firewood stays kind of deal, buddy tells him $400 cash. Tree was about a 70' fir. Would have taken us about two hours max. The guy was angry "Thats crazy, I'll do it myself" Buddy says "When you gonna do it?" "Why" Buddy "I want to come and watch, I'll bring my lawnchair, case of beer and a camera"

I know the guy didn't do it himself, it was good to see the look on his face. I'll bet no one else would do it for $400, idiot.

 

[capetrees]

no, Triton gas 5.4. The diesels aren't worth it anymore. $4-$6K upgrade for the motor, higher fuel prices and the same or less mpg. I'll stay with gas in the regular truck but the diesel is in the designated work truck, the 92 GMC beater.

LOVE that thing .

 

[Slvrmple72]

Hey Gunsmoke, you need to videotape the "ease" of grinding out a stump with one of those portable rental units and make copies of it to give to homeowners who think they can do it themselves and "save" money. I like the ones who say they will just dig out the stump. LOL! I got about 4 cords from Bill's on Saturday! Too bad it wasn't Oak

 

[Gunsmoke]

I like the lawn chair camera reply... That is priceless!!!!

 

[Gunsmoke]

Good deal on the wood man! I had the "I'll was gunna pull it out w/ my truck but decided to call you instead" on Friday. The guy had a 30+" pine and a ford ranger!!!! LMAO!!!!

30" pine to grind out... $120
2000 ford ranger... $8,000
If could have seen this guy try to pull this stump... FREAKIN' PRICELESS

 

[treeman82]

I had a small altercation with a lady tonight over money.

This landscaper I know sent me over to one of his customers to look at a tree. A norway maple I think??? (8:30 at night when I went to look at it) failed at a split at the base, hung up in some other (smaller of course) trees... keeping it from falling on a utility shed and a lamp post for a neighboring restaurant. The other half was still standing, but rotten, and leaning badly over another neighbor's garage. So I told the witch it would be $1,500 for the broken half, and then another $700 for the half over the building... wood gone, chips gone... not a half day job by any means.. and its gonna take some skills to get it done without any damage. A crane would be nice... but those guys want 3K per day for a small one. Then the lady wants a pignut hickory down that's about 75' tall, co-dominant stem, it's on top of an older stone wall that it's slowly pushing over... a dry wall and this thing is right on the edge. A small gravel driveway separating the wall from the office building. That would be my LZ.. so at least I can park a truck under it. ROFL. $1,750 for that one... again, wood gone and chips too... nothing big enough nearby to rig out of, and nowhere to just drop it either. Then a tulip up in the woods that's got a vertical crack going through the trunk... while it goes up over a cement pond, septic system, garden, and of course the wall... again everything goes.. that one is maybe 90' tall??? $2,500 for that one.... if not more.

After I gave her the price for the last tree... she said she was insulted by the prices I gave her, and that I clearly didn't want the work, blah blah blah. Apparently she had somebody else come by this past morning (a reputable company that she refused to name) that gave her a price which she refused to divulge. I gave her the numbers for a few other local guys who might want the work. Apparently my landscaper buddy was supposed to come and do the 1 part that was over the utility building this past weekend... not sure how he was gonna do it though without a climber????

I wanted SO badly to just tell her to get bent. Then she starts making accusations, and this and that. Made me thankful to have the customers I do.

 

[pdqdl]

Hey Gunsmoke, you need to videotape the "ease" of grinding out a stump with one of those portable rental units and make copies of it to give to homeowners who think they can do it themselves and "save" money. I like the ones who say they will just dig out the stump. LOL! I got about 4 cords from Bill's on Saturday! Too bad it wasn't Oak

I rented one of those rental units about 15 years ago. Once.

It took me about 8 more years before I even thought about buying a stump grinder. I had already concluded that stumps didn't need to be ground up, they were happy where they were at.

 

[treeman82]

I too rented a few self propelled little crap ones a few times. 1 machine was an insult to grinders everywhere. Another one however... that showed some promise for tight spots. Gave a price for 1 sugar maple stump last year? $300 for grinding... no clean-up. Big enough stump, 3' diameter? Guy (a doctor) decided to rent a small grinder himself and do it. Took him 3 days to put a dent in the thing.

 

[treeclimber jul]

Had to rent a walk behind stumper once.............. WHAT A PAIN:angry2:
vid would be priceless

 

[ropensaddle]

They think just anyone can do it, no skill is required! I bid a large
cut and lay, lightning killed oak 56 " dbh. Told him 900.00 + 150.00
for the stump. He said he had someone that would clean it up for
that! He called me apologized and asked if I would finish the tree,
the hacks got run off of. They fell limbs through his roof four big
holes and tore up a sculpture under the tree! I finished the stub
for four hundred and told him next time just take my bid and he
said he would!