Anyone familiar with these companies?

W

Wired_Guy_4383

Hey -

I've been fielding job offers to work for Nelson Tree Service in the Worcester, Massachusetts area for the National Grid, Arizona Public Service, ECI Consulting in the same Mass area for the National Grid and Consumers Energy in Iowa. Is there ANYTHING about these utility firms and tree companies that anyone can tell me? I would have to relocate for all of them, and I want to make sure that it would be worth my time and efforts and patience. Any response would be much appreciated. Thanks
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I've got friends who work for nelson in my area. they seem happy there. I've heard they are against new techniques and equip. They wouldn't even allow my friend to use a split tail or even a micro pulley below his hitch and told him "technology will fail" I've also seen them going back to manual feed "chuck and duck" chippers!
 
Yeck! Not what I wanted to read.
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Does anyone know about clearance specs and typical wire constuction (bare, nominal voltage, 1-,delta-,3-phase, vertical, etc.) for these areas and what in what condition the equipment is in? And how about the cost of living? I appreciate the feedback.
 
HEY I THINK THAT IF YOU LOOK CLOSE ENOUGH YOU WILL SEE A HINT OF ORANGE UNDER THAT GREEN PAINT THATS WHY THEY HAVE THE CHUCK N JUNK
I THINK WE OWN ASPLUNDH I THINK
 
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I've got friends who work for nelson in my area. they seem happy there. I've heard they are against new techniques and equip. They wouldn't even allow my friend to use a split tail or even a micro pulley below his hitch and told him "technology will fail" I've also seen them going back to manual feed "chuck and duck" chippers!

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Many utility co.s in this area (MA) dont allow the climber to use any new climbing styles or gear for that matter. Thats right! No saddles besides the old hip pinchers! Look into the co. before you start very closely.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yeck! Not what I wanted to read.
frown.gif
Does anyone know about clearance specs and typical wire constuction (bare, nominal voltage, 1-,delta-,3-phase, vertical, etc.) for these areas and what in what condition the equipment is in? And how about the cost of living? I appreciate the feedback.

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I can say that 90% of the distribution for the grid in MA is 3 phase openwire, either 4kv or 13.2/13.8 kv. You will find some Hendrix and you will also find a lot ot west and North of 25kv and even 35kv. But the majority around me is what is stated above.
 
Somebody I know works for ECI... he likes it I think. His boss is alright, he gets descent bennies, a truck to take home, expense account for fuel... almost flex time scheduling.
 
[ QUOTE ]
HEY I THINK THAT IF YOU LOOK CLOSE ENOUGH YOU WILL SEE A HINT OF ORANGE UNDER THAT GREEN PAINT THATS WHY THEY HAVE THE CHUCK N JUNK
I THINK WE OWN ASPLUNDH I THINK

[/ QUOTE ]

The other way around:

Asplundh ownes:
Trees inc.
Nelson
 
Treeprez is in there too as well as a bunch of other co's! Largest tree co. in the world and largest privately owned co in this country and maybe in the world? Largest privately insured co around etc etc etc amazing co,.....ON PAPER!
 
Yeah I work for APS in Northern AZ. Answering some of the questions above. Climbers use all kinds of thechiques and knots using spilt tails and eye & eyes. New equipment that is kept it great shape. Work directly for the utility. Great benifits. What position and area are you considering? I would be glad to answer any other questions
 
all the nelson companys out here in jersey run almost all chuck and ducks purely for the fact that they dont remove much more than just small 4 inch limbs, they do have other chippers for the appropriate jobs but not many run with em. a lot of the nelson guys ive talked to are actually pretty good guys but always run into layoffs and the stories they have told me scares the crap out of me but ive never heard of any disagrements about gear. good luck
 
my brother and i both worked for nelson in ny. asplund bought em out and it all changed. so many rules and mounds of paperwork. but with the buyout came the new truck. strangly enough we both moved out west to work for asplund. they had our direct deposit acc number from nelson. as far as im concerned they are the same as the rest only a lot bigger.
 
well my experience as of the last few years with Asplundh has been BAD! In my area there are no english speeking employees on a crew of 12, 3-4 trucks, and the crews are based out of Texas. Their work is no where near standard, and the utility rep. stated that their policy is "they leave one 2"dia 3' long branch on a stalk 15' tall(24"dia)so the root system stays alive and stabalizes the soil". They are also doiing clearences out 30' from the wires, public and private property included.
No offence to true utility guys but these guys give everyone a bad name.
 
the problem with asplundh is that they have too large a piece of the market in most of their areas. they buy up all their competition and then find themselves with boatloads of work and not enough manpower to operate. so in turn they hire whoever, getem to understand, memorize, and operate under their guidelines.when thats done they pump em up with safety, safety,safety....and never take the time to show em how to properly and effectively do the work they were hired to do in the first place. as long as they can fill out the paperwork and not break anything they keep their jobs.there are so many rules and regulations and procedures that the time that should be being spent showing the next wave of line clearence guys how to do the actual work gets put on the back burner. a well trained and tuned in crew is a safe crew.
maybe its not that the guys are lazy, maybe its that they ve never seen or been around a fully functional and productive crew and they themselves dont know how to operate. \\
if you got hired on to do a job and you were never really shown how to do it, is that entirely your fault? Im not really sure of the answer myself but i see it as a definate problem.
also you normally get what you pay for. for the risk involved in line clearence we dont make near enough, yet its steady and guaranteed work and we are able to maintain benefiets. to really put your head into the game you really have to love the work. the ones that dont.......it shows!
 
Asplundh was started in my area, and around my way, they are starting to using larger chippers (I have seen bandit 250's). It appears they are taking down some larger trees that are either in danger of the whole tree falling into the lines or so they don't have to trim the trees again/as often. No doubt they are hugh. I see cuts that look awful, some look good, I guess it depend on the cutter.
 
IN Asplundh as well as most any other large company, it comes down to the GFO, if your General Foreman is a good guy, and knows how to keep the crew in gear, then its great, I worked for Asplundh here in B.C. for 7 years. My GFO's were fair to middlin, with one being a stand out great guy.
They pay the industry standard rate, and have a decent LOA package as well as bennies. Problem for me was all the backstabbing and infighting, theres only so many foreman jobs and everyone wants one, so it leads to a bit of a fight.
Tomorrow I start for Tamarack, a subsidiary of Lewis Tree service.
Just finished up a short stint with another smaller company, Town and Country Tree. There is lots of tree work here.
As for not being able to use your own gear, unless it was worse than what they were handing me, or in same way did not meet specs, Id walk of the job before I had a formean tell me Id use his outdated and crappy gear, there are PLENTY of tree jobs in my area, a boss would have to be a retard to try and pull such immature power plays on an experienced climber.
Bottom line be sure of who you are going to work for, take a trip if you can, check the crews out in action and talk to some boys who work for the same division you would be working for, then you will have a much better idea whether it is worth the move and all that.
Good luck in it all,
-Grais.
 
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