contract climbing pay

I pay 300 a day for a climber. However, most of the time he runs the ground and I climb. I usually bring him in on larger jobs.
 
These are prices for fully licensed, bonded, and insured subcontractors in the Portland area: $35-40/hr for a great climber with only climbing gear or for a good climber with some gear; $50/hr for great climber with substantial gear; $65/hr for super productive great climber with substantial gear; $85/hr for super productive great climber with substantial gear and a dump truck. A lot of tree services cannot afford to pay the higher rates and I think for these upper tier rates, the climber needs to establish themselves with a number of tree services and demonstrate exemplary integrity and capability. Hope this helps.
 
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So if you hire a contract climber and you pay them in the 500 range, are they climbing all day? Do you expect them to just climb and do no ground work? I ask because I have a contract climber that I use. I hire him and pay him 300 a day. I think that is pretty good pay for this area. However, I really enjoy climbing and often we hare the climbing on a job. He will climb one tree and then I will climb one. So he spends some of the time working the ground. He is a good worker, and he is skilled on the ground. Should there be a separate rate for when he is on the ground? I have mixed feeling about it.
 
My climber does whatever to facilitate the job. He does the climbing then helps on the ground as needed as he really can't seem to sit still or watch someone else work.
 
Personally, I am in such high demand as a contract climber that I am not flexible on my rates at all. I do whatever needs to be done to get the jobs done. Dragging brush, chipping, raking, blowing, cutting firewood, ect. If someone is paying me a high rate to do a menial task that they could pay minimum wage for, that is their prerogative. I would much rather be climbing and giving them the best value for their dollar but oftentimes the contractor is understaffed and didn't plan well enough so that is just what happens.
 
Getting the job done is the name of the game.

My climber has done everything from raking to climbing to grinding stumps to sitting in an excavator shovelling dirt for the better part of a day to roof repairs to building an awesome 10' bunk bed for the kids since I laid my thumb open. His pay is also relative to the day's production. Doing "storm work" (wide open for weeks on end) gets paid double time. One day this year he worked 16 hours of storm work. He took the next day off and we were back at it Monday.
 
I've never really heard of contract climbers before. Where I am you either works for a company or do your own work. Why/when is it necessary for you to bring on a contract climber and how would you go about finding one?
 
Sometimes companies that don't have a climber on their staff will use me on an as needed basis, a guy that only does bucket truck work will call when he gets one just out of reach he can't finish, other times they will use me when there is a tree that is above their climbers skill level
 
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