Bid that tree!

5 blocks is not important to the market value.

If you personally want mulch and have a chipper/ firewood and a saw, that also does not affect the market value for hauling/ disposal.

We're you at risk of damaging anything if something went wrong?



Suppose you have a $500 minimum charge and it is a $350, job.

"So, (customer's name) what you're asking for is less than our Job Minimum/ New Customer Minimum. We'll be able to prune your Siberian/ Chinese/ American Elm to provide 10' of vertical and horizontal Building Clearance, plus Hazard Mitigation Pruning of dead and detached limbs that are larger than ___" in diameter and/ or ____" in length, with thorough cleanup, hauling and disposal for $500. You can see the type of hazard branches over your driveway/ shed/ skylight that I am talking about right here and here (laser pointer).How does that sound to you?

Pause.

Pause..

Pause...
 
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Neill said:
Reload!
I knocked out this elm prune today- about a 9” limb over the house and driveway+ a few hangers.
Great lift access. Forestry bucket would have been ace on this one- no street parking but decent driveway

What would you put on it?



View attachment 100027View attachment 100028
Click to expand...
Off the top of my head, I would probably quote it at $600-700, and based on the time it took you, we would survive at $600 and be happy with $700 for that. I won’t put anyone in the air for less than $500, and that won’t get you enough time to rig anything from over a house.
 
That’s kinda what I’m getting at. If a plumber goes to that dude’s house it’s $150/hr and beyond a van, all he’s got is proof of education and training.

Based on the skillset and knowledge you worked hard to attain, if you went with another hand and it took 3 hours, $750 would be fair IMO. That would be charging $150/hr for the climber and $100/hr for the ground support.

Not trying to yell down from an ivory tower, and everyone needs to work/eat, but I’ll just say this…
Word of mouth is the strongest advocate and you ultimately want your client base to be hiring you because they see your value. if getting your foot in the door is low prices, you’ll finish your career trying to give low prices. If you get your foot in the door by knowledge and skill, people will pay for that.
 
$70/hr with overhead and quoting and liability etc is not enough! One tactic to basing price: target net income (subtract every stitch of overhead and taxes and buffer), divided by realistic months/weeks worked, then 6-7 hrs/day. Work more and that goes to savings or new equipment, travel etc. I get that the surrounding market is what it is, scaling can help with that, but we get one body and yours is worth much more than that amount!
 
All good points, thanks for the comments and suggestions.
At this point I’m happy for the work but of course I’m interested in improving. everyone’s combined knowledge will certainly help speed that along!
Nothing on the schedule for today so I plan on taking some time to reevaluate pricing, profit margins, etc
 
Hope the description is good enough... pre-coffee/ small screen. 44" dbh/dshx 150-170' douglas-fir.

The branch with the tip with the bottom-most 5' feet of brush blocking water view ( just above the madrona and and touching the far shoreline, as seen from the master bedroom's bed...wake-up view...Mt. Rainier is out of view to the left).

The tip of the branch is 20'-25' away from the trunk . It's about 50' long, attached 30 feet higher than the tips (80' up the trunk). 10-12" on the butt.
Clean shot down to a concrete slab below the high tide line. Lower the piece(s). Uphill haul on a grass covered gravel boat ramp. 60' to the truck, 15 vertically higher than the drop zone to where I can back in a trailer.

If you look very closely you can see the branch up and left of the climber, left of the sky-view 'hole' in the canopy.



7 minute commute.

Hauloff.

Massive limbs so a TIP is easy.


Reduce it to a growth point a handful of feet away from the trunk to avoid a big collar cut.

You can see a 12" pruning wound next to the climber where a stub was not practical in this good compartmentalizer.
image000001(2).webp
 
Hard to tell, but by the description it sounds like 3-4hours on site and perhaps the logistics of getting setup and brush out being the most tedious part?
Half day rate or thereabouts
 
southsoundtree said:
Hope the description is good enough... pre-coffee/ small screen. 44" dbh/dshx 150-170' douglas-fir.

The branch with the tip with the bottom-most 5' feet of brush blocking water view ( just above the madrona and and touching the far shoreline, as seen from the master bedroom's bed...wake-up view...Mt. Rainier is out of view to the left).

The tip of the branch is 20'-25' away from the trunk . It's about 50' long, attached 30 feet higher than the tips (80' up the trunk). 10-12" on the butt.
Clean shot down to a concrete slab below the high tide line. Lower the piece(s). Uphill haul on a grass covered gravel boat ramp. 60' to the truck, 15 vertically higher than the drop zone to where I can back in a trailer.

If you look very closely you can see the branch up and left of the climber, left of the sky-view 'hole' in the canopy.



7 minute commute.

Hauloff.

Massive limbs so a TIP is easy.


Reduce it to a growth point a handful of feet away from the trunk to avoid a big collar cut.

You can see a 12" pruning wound next to the climber where a stub was not practical in this good compartmentalizer.
View attachment 100036
Click to expand...
1 Climber and 1 Ground Support
Chipper Truck & 12” Chipper w/Winch
Disposal Fee
$1,300 ~ $1,500
 
Probably fall within half day min crew x2 and be done in 2 hours if the throwline went well.
Or under my min if a full day with just myself. Done in 3 hours probably at about the same cost.

No haul macro mulch, probably cut a deal and solo it for half a day.
 
oceans said:
1 Climber and 1 Ground Support
Chipper Truck & 12” Chipper w/Winch
Disposal Fee
$1,300 ~ $1,500
Click to expand...

My daily driver is a 1 ton crew cab PU that is fully packed with my gear. It always goes out, with or without either bigger truck.

I'll cut firewood rounds from that 4-10" diameter wood onsite or later ( dense wood...I've seen dense branch stubs sink in fresh water), and if the micro chipper is in that trailer, already, I'll chip the 2-3" stuff.

I can load my Arbor Trolley and using a couple redirects, power-pull (truck or capstan) it up the slope to a trailer. I would need a second driver to also take my chip truck and chipper instead of a trailer, any have a bit more trouble getting it close.

Strange to many people to hear that I rarely use my chip truck.

I do lots of chip-onsite into a useable piles on the ground / dispersed into the forest.

I'm chronically low on wood chips at home.
I planted a bunch trees/ shrubs this summer and chipped brush on-hand for mulch.

I have a big pile of brush from small pruning jobs that will be grapple trucked away ($600 for a 23' box that's 5-6' tall).

My neighbor has a burn pile and a log -loader that he occasionally uses to dump non-dump trailers (comical to me how it's like giant Tonka toys when he just lifts the whole trailer to dump) . AlternatelyUsually 1--4 grabs with the BMG empties a 10' trailer of most of the load.
 
Probably 5-6k for urgent priority service, 1,200-1,700 normal. If hauling logs a bit more but typically insurance only covers what’s on the house only.
I’ve had good luck with needing to clear obstructions to reach the work area getting covered.
 
She assessed, prepped, cleared the roof and blew it off, solo, in 3-3.5 hours in the rain. Hauling tomorrow. Flat ground. Arbor Trolley and/ or hand truck for the wood. She doesn't care for unloading/ loading/ securing the Mini-loader, which would require 2 trips. She will probably make it in one load with a trailer. Punky, so not heavy.
 
southsoundtree said:
She assessed, prepped, cleared the roof and blew it off, solo, in 3-3.5 hours in the rain. Hauling tomorrow. Flat ground. Arbor Trolley and/ or hand truck for the wood. She doesn't care for unloading/ loading/ securing the Mini-loader, which would require 2 trips. She will probably make it in one load with a trailer. Punky, so not heavy.
Click to expand...
Missed the context. So is the question on a price of debris hauling or insurance compensation for her work?
Good thing I’m not an adjuster, as a dead hemlock like that seems to be a plainly obvious hazard to the layperson.
If paying out of pocket for debris hauling I’d probably just do a flat $1000, and depending on how my back is feeling bring the mini or not.
 
southsoundtree said:
Insurance compensation for the removal and $500 of debris removal.





How is one to determine what exhausts a $500 budget???
Click to expand...
Show up/set up time, hourly rate and disposal costs... Prob leave only 1-2 hours of loading time at a reasonable rate. If I liked the client (which I already do by her own gumption) I'd prob do it for a flat $500
 
ahh I get it now, employee doing the work and not the homeowner clearing their own house and getting comped by insurance...
Insurance typically pays for the material on the roof as part of the shabang. Honestly I price it as a unit, and then do extra work as needed. I've successfully removed a leyland cypress trunk on the ground that uprooted and slid off the metal roof on the log cabin. Used the mini of course but I had to cut my way into through the debris to get the remainder limbs on the roof.
The adjuster was there so I was able to have a conversation. Seemed silly to pick up trunk and limbs to pile on the side when the chipper was closer. At first he grumbled by then came to reason that the chipper was the shorter route.
Wood stayed on site, but had to process and move to a convent location to clear a safe work area for the roofers and other contractors to fix the damage. Sometimes debris handling is just part of the job, like in your photo, are you suppose to step over the log on the ground to get the material that was cleared from the house?
 
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