Winter Storm

[Dan Flinn]

Oh boy, have I got some work to do! This does seem like the perfect time to send a letter - something like "we dodged a bullet this time, but lets be prepared next time!" I generally send Christmas Cards to my better clients, I might drop a note in with the card.....

DDM - David - I was just talking with someone about networking with someone in Greenville. We have a spare day or two if you need some help. I don't have alot of equipment, but I have an 1 ton and a Bandit 200+ ready to roll! I'll be working in Taylors on or about the 17th of December - Family stuff.

Shopeman - we DID dodge a bullet with this storm compared to down east. The guy I started my business with now lives and runs his own business in Hendersonville. We are Pinnacle Tree Service - He in Hendersonville, me in Asheville.

Bob Underwood - Man I can't even imagine working in that cold weather!

Dan

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Hey Bobbie, you should go out and work for Dan durring your holiday break, maybe bring one of your better students with you. Warm them old bones up a bit.

 

[r/ctree]

One question I have for you guys is why do you bother billing the insursnce companies. Sign the client up for the bid amount and let them deal with the insurance company. its their company let them deal with them. I will probable be heading to NC tues for a couple weeks of T/M work. Going to be a good christmas .

 

[treeclimber165]

I need a good Christmas!

Somebody give me a call, work is real slow here right now. I can be there in 24-36 hours with transportation, 3 saws and all my climbing/rigging gear. Email me for my phone number and we can discuss rates and other details.

 

[TREETX]

Charlie Brown

Gonna be a Charlie Brown Christmas here. No ice and no floods like in the past years means no surplus and no snowboarding in Austria like the last 3 years. That is good, keep me grounded and I haven't spent Christmas with the folks in a few years.

Good luck with the storm work. It can be really dangerous as you all know. Remember the motto - a paycheck is no good to a dead man.

Let us know how it goes.

Nate

 

[Eric E.]

I could be available for a week or two if the price is right. I can pack my pick-up with my personal climbing gear, piles of rigging gear including GRCS, personal use saws, and possibly bring my Hood jr grapple (you supply the skid steer). E-mail me to exchange phone #s.

 

[Tim Gardner]

We are leaving for North Carolina at 3:30 am in the morning so we can be there for a full days work Monday. Another crew is coming along with us. I don’t know if we are going to be working together or not. I hope we can get a full week or two.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Lota work down here if you find the right person. Wood ticks are everywhere though.

Huge willow oaks with busted tops. Lotta climbing and grunt rigging. Cannot get too technical with it.

Fun work, dawn to dark.

Cold and rainy now so we are taking a break.

Plenty ofmwork for everyone, for a good long time.

Probably be abck a little before the holidays.

 

[Oxman]

Here it is after a week of climbing in the aftermath of the ice storm. Talk about culture shock! A whole new population of unfamiliar species, along with dealing with the footprints Godzilla left across the upper canopy. I'm not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy, I'm in North Carolina.

The devastation is universal across the neighborhoods we climbed in this week in Raleigh. It is a type of natural selection of weak trees and tree limbs that are all busted up. Mostly trees with poor structure poor were damaged. The ice load from last Thursday added so much weight to every twig & limb, that it was as if those weak structures were heaved on until they snapped or ripped over. Lots of individual trees are down or broken, possibly 5-10% of the total number in some areas.

Comparisons with Hurricanes Fran & Hugo are common among long-term residents. There are piles of brush in all the parkways left from clearing the roads and driveways. The municipal governments are contracting out large scale skiploader operations to load brush as piled into construction tub dump trucks. Homeowners & tree services alike are piling their cuttings on the curb.

We attended a meeting at the Raulston Arboretum at North Carolina State College last night. 175 specimen trees were affected. We have lots of good pics, but limited computer access (at the local library) prevents downloading from the camera, photo processing, and uploading to the internet. Sorry, no laptop.

 

[Tim Gardner]

Lot’s of climbing. Removing large broken limbs out of trees and off of houses is mostly what we are doing. The trees have lost a lot of their shape but most will recover. A week of climbing those large hardwoods was a lot of fun but very hard work. We are getting on the job at first light and unloading tools in the dark. We will be back for another week starting Monday.

Didn’t get a chance to stop by Sherrill and spend some money because working, eating and sleeping is all there is time for. I hope to stop by the local Vermeer dealer if I can find one close by.

 

[CityUF]

Try this for the future...

Have a deal with someone you know 100 miles away or whatever. If you need help they come to you for a set price or you go to them for a set price. It can be beneficial to both if one of you has a crane and the other has 70' aerial truck... for example.
Think of it as mutual aid agreement.

 

[treeclimber165]

If anyone up there needs an extra climber:

I'm real slow down here in Orlando. I'm well equiped with all my climbing gear, extra ropes and saws. I can be there in less than 24 hours, only ask for a week's work min. to make it worthwhile to come up. Email me using the link on the bottom of this post to exchange phone numbers and set up details. I'm fairly fast and very safe. I also have quite a bit of storm damage experience.

 

[Toddppm]

Well we finished our mini ice storm work here in Va. from Wednesday , great timing! Only did 2 days of work but should have more coming since most of the emergency stuff is done. Nothing like NC but it was a nice boost before xmas.

 

[DDM]

Heres a picture of one of the victims.

 

[DDM]

Most of the Emergency storm work has been completed here.But theres 1000's of broken branches to be removed and people are scared and Not postponing removals. Picked up a New MS200t, another chipper and a 4 wheeler. Did get some new toys out of it.

 

[treeclimber165]

I'm heading north tomorrow

I was able to line up some work for a week or so, I'm packing tonight and heading to North Carolina tomorrow. I'll probably be up there a week, but don't know for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing just how good JPS and Oxman really are!

 

[Kevin]

I'm packing tonight

Packing?
What is there to pack?
Don`t turn this into a frig`n vacation now.
Saddle, rope and saw, just grab it and go.

 

[Dan Flinn]

Well, finally got a breather! The damage from the ice storm was minimal, but here in the mountains, we have these things called micro bursts. These weather patterns form large burst of winds that just hit neighborhoods. I have work that thankfully can be be put off until January.

I am sticking with my customers. One actually had a guy come by and say that he would do a job for half the lowest tree companies price. He is a loyal customer and I got the work!

Looks like I'll be renting a bucket again the first of the year.

I've learned a couple things:

Make sure to take pictures and stipulate that I am not responsible for additional damage during removal of trees from house.

I need a loader! I'll probably start a new thread, but if you guys were in the market, would you get a small 4x4 tractor or a skid steer?

Oh well, I'm sure that will spark some discussion!

Be safe,
Dan

 

[Dan Flinn]

Oh, by the way, I would really like to meet some of you folks working in Raleigh. Swing by Asheville on the way home if you can!

Dan

 

[treeclimber165]

Hi Dan,
Don't think I'll be able to do that. I'm told Ashville is 4 hours west, sort of out of my way. Looks like I'm going to be here at least a week. Tentative plans are until the 23rd. Hopefully I can skip down to SC and stop in on Dave (DDM) on my way home. I think he told me he had a couple jobs I could help him with.

I sure hope Santa can find me up here in the boonies. Where I'm from, Santa comes in shorts and T-shirt.

The storm damage here is rather widespread. The roads are cleared and power is up, but mountains of debris is piled along all the curbs. Tree companies are working everywhere, there were 3 working within eyesight from where we were working today. I haven't seen this much damage since that last weak hurricane blew through Orlando about 9 years ago. Looks like Guy will have work for at least another month just from this storm.