RyanCafferky
Been here a while
- Location
- Hood River, Oregon
After seeing a few articles in the TCI magazine that have negative slants towards contract climbers I would like to bring up this topic on this forum to get opinions from other individuals in the industry.
I have been in the industry since 1997 and after many years of climbing for other companies in the Portland area decided to start my own business and specialize in contract climbing. I am trying to be the best contract climber I can be and to turn the repuation of contract climbers from the hired gun who asks for cash at the end of the day, to a respectable part of our trade. I am fully licensed, bonded, and insured in the state I work in, I drive my own vehicle to jobs, use only my saws, rigging gear, and ropes, and I work for many different customers a year. I have a long list of clients who gladly pay my fees and use my services on a regular basis. I use my time working with these companies to focus on teaching safe work practices, demonstrating new techniques, and tactfully reminding company owners and employees of safety violations I am seeing while at the same time keeping a very high level of production.
I feel that what I am doing is providing a service to tree companies that they don't or can't get from their employees. Training an employee to the level I am at takes years of investment or paying me to work as an employee would be tremendously expensive. Also, I refuse to be an employee of a tree service because no company I've worked for can keep me interested with challenging work, can tolerate my needs for extensive time off, and I like working with different crews and having freedom to choose when and where I work. Even though it would likely be more profitable, I don't want to become a full service tree service because I do not want the headache of employees and the responsibility that running a company with a long list of clients requires.
In the most recent TCI article the topic was about the IRS finding that most people that were claiming to be sub contractors were actually employees. As someone who is paying my own taxes, does work for multiple clients a year, and does jobs for a client without them telling me how to do it, I feel like I am an independant contractor. Anyone care to argue this point or tell me what I might be missing?
What I feel really drives the negative attitude towards people that are doing what I am doing in a legitimate way, is that it takes some level of control away from the company owners and puts it in the hands of specialists. But what it always comes down to in this country is following the money. Who is missing out on money when you use a contract climber? The workers compensation companies aren't getting their important $0.15 to $0.50 on the dollar that an employee would be paid, and the states aren't getting their unemployment tax.
My company is a member of TCIA and I want to support this organization but it bothers me to repeatedly see articles that are attacking what I do for work and what I see as a legitimate and important part of our industry.
I have been in the industry since 1997 and after many years of climbing for other companies in the Portland area decided to start my own business and specialize in contract climbing. I am trying to be the best contract climber I can be and to turn the repuation of contract climbers from the hired gun who asks for cash at the end of the day, to a respectable part of our trade. I am fully licensed, bonded, and insured in the state I work in, I drive my own vehicle to jobs, use only my saws, rigging gear, and ropes, and I work for many different customers a year. I have a long list of clients who gladly pay my fees and use my services on a regular basis. I use my time working with these companies to focus on teaching safe work practices, demonstrating new techniques, and tactfully reminding company owners and employees of safety violations I am seeing while at the same time keeping a very high level of production.
I feel that what I am doing is providing a service to tree companies that they don't or can't get from their employees. Training an employee to the level I am at takes years of investment or paying me to work as an employee would be tremendously expensive. Also, I refuse to be an employee of a tree service because no company I've worked for can keep me interested with challenging work, can tolerate my needs for extensive time off, and I like working with different crews and having freedom to choose when and where I work. Even though it would likely be more profitable, I don't want to become a full service tree service because I do not want the headache of employees and the responsibility that running a company with a long list of clients requires.
In the most recent TCI article the topic was about the IRS finding that most people that were claiming to be sub contractors were actually employees. As someone who is paying my own taxes, does work for multiple clients a year, and does jobs for a client without them telling me how to do it, I feel like I am an independant contractor. Anyone care to argue this point or tell me what I might be missing?
What I feel really drives the negative attitude towards people that are doing what I am doing in a legitimate way, is that it takes some level of control away from the company owners and puts it in the hands of specialists. But what it always comes down to in this country is following the money. Who is missing out on money when you use a contract climber? The workers compensation companies aren't getting their important $0.15 to $0.50 on the dollar that an employee would be paid, and the states aren't getting their unemployment tax.
My company is a member of TCIA and I want to support this organization but it bothers me to repeatedly see articles that are attacking what I do for work and what I see as a legitimate and important part of our industry.
