Another TOH groaner

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
Administrator
Location
Retired in Minneapolis
Today I watched This Old House. The new format is a question/answer where they go out to someone's house to solve a problem.

The guy from TOH was talking with a woman about an old dead stump out in the open in the front yard. Looked to be at least 24" across the roots, ad a little for grinding the flair. They rented a baby Dosko grinder. Just like the one Ihave, push around, no self propelled. the operator had glasses but no hearing pro as far as I could see. When he handed off the machine to the woman she had glasses and earmuffs. No helmet or face shields. Maybe I missed it, but they didn't discuss underground utilities, irrigation, invisible dog fence, etc. The guy said taht the machine would rent for $75 per day. They ground and raked back the shavings, no haul away. Here in Minneapolis my guy would only have charged me about $40 and no more than $50 for that job. What would it cost in other areas?

I wrote an email to TOH about the PPE issues and some of the other groaners that we've talked about on the forum. Kind of scary to have thier "professional" tree workers on the show working in flip flops and now PPE. I have to wonder about the other trades people that I don't know anything about. Are their electricians, HVAC, painters, etc. just as low skilled?

Tom
 
Ignorance is contagious! I bet the other "experts are just as low skilled or careless. Are you saying that you sub out the work and pay only $40-50 for it? maybe I should do that. I wouldn't even show up for that unless it was right next door but then I rent a grinder and grind all my stumps on one day about every two weeks. Making it a profitable but grueling day if I opt for the non self propelled machine. They should have researched more and mentioned hiring a proffessional. When my truck is seriously broken I certainly don't try to fix it myself because of past experiences. It is easier to make the money and pay a proffesional to do it, do you agree?
 
Tom,

The company I work for has its own stump grinder, and we would charge about the same, if the you are saying the whole diameter counting the ends of the exposed roots is 24 inches. If the stump itself was 24 inches, than we would charge $100.00. That includes hauling the shavings away. We also have a policy thats says the customer is responible for locating anything underground, and if they don't, its not our liability.

To the other guy's question. Yes we have had a stumper tip over. If we didn't have two workers there to pick it up, it would have spilled hydraulic fluid all over the place. Be careful where you try to take a stumper, because it could land on you.
 
Tom and I have discussed concerns about TOH and a letter I sent them in Dec 2002. They seem not to care and are devoted to their contractors. I receive TOH magazine which had two tree related articles in the Dec issue. I wrote the following letter via e-mail:

To Whom it may concern,
I have been enjoying my subscription of This Old House. I find it full of great ideas and useful information. I was going through my December Issue and was disappointed when I read the article "Yard Work". The piece on crane removals was good until I saw the picture of the "climber" sawing part of the trunk of the Maple. There are two ANSI Z 133 safety violations visible in the picture. Although few if any readers would notice (or care) but would you have a picture of any facet of building that didn't meet codes? Would you hire a contractor for your show that did not know building codes or follow safe work practices? I think there might be serious repercussions and liabilities to This Old House.
The piece on "Trees in Trouble..." was even more disturbing from a Professional arborist view. I will ignore the hype of how bad the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid really is and look more at proper treatment. The view of most Professional arborists is that trunk injections are a last resort treatment. Injections leave permanent damages in the tree trunk. There are other treatment methods that are far less damaging to the tree, less expensive to the client, and just as effective. As far as injections go, the material Bidrin is the most toxic of the Mauget products. The Bidrin could have been substituted with a less toxic product and still get the same results. Lastly, the picture of the applicator wearing shorts and short sleeve shirt is a federal violation of the Bidrin label which clearly states long sleeve shirts and long pants.
Other peers of mine have mentioned similar tings that they viewed on the television show as well. As a Professional arborist with 19 years of experience and on going education I feel compelled to reduce the mis-information that is so prevalent in my field. There is also the potential liability issue for your organization. Perhaps a Professional arborist adviser would be a valuable asset to your organization.
Keep up the great quality work that I enjoy in your magazine. Please contact me if you have any questions or if you are interested in an advisor.

Thank you,

Eric R. Engstrom

Massachusetts Certified Arborist
Massachusetts Certified Horticulturalist
International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist
New Jersey Certified Tree Expert
Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturalist


I received the same type of form letter that Tom got as a response. That was the last I heard from them. Today I got my March 2003 issue and there was a short part of my letter minus credentials. Their response basically backed up the guy wearing the shorts.

I guess I’ll always be suspect of what information they present on other trades.
 
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