Bidding Pruning Jobs?

macrocarpa

macrocarpa

Branched out member
Location
Midwest
When bidding pruning jobs, how many buzzers specify the size of deadwood being removed? For example:

"To prune 1 white oak to remove all deadwood over 2in diameter."

I am wondering because chasing small .5-1in diameter deadwood can take a lot more time.

Do you break it into class 1-3 prune and give them the option?

In general what size deadwood do you chase and how much more do you charge if the customer wants all deadwood removed?

Thanks
 
Our default is to prune to 3" diameters. Usually the climbers will still knock out the 2" stuff. Some 1" comes out too, but the contract with the client only stipulates that we are going for 3" and larger.

Cleaning out smaller dead takes more time. Estimate it. Pay attention to how long your jobs take and over time you'll figure out your metric.
 
I'll specify at times; If I feel the customer may not have a whole lot of money to put into the tree. For example, if I see an old Cottonwood with huge hazards... I'll break it down in 2 ways: Hazard Prune down to 2" diameter or their choice to clean out all dead wood... say down to .5". Because, as you pointed out, time is money and I sometimes break that down for them to choose.

Our default on small/medium sized trees is to take all dead wood out of the tree.

However, I really strees to customers that a "Crown Clean" isn't merely pruning out dead wood. By definition, it is the "removal of dead, dying, disease, crowded, weakly attached, and low-vigor branches from the crown of the tree."

With that said, I know most of my competitors will only prune out the dead wood. I emphasise our thoroughness to the true definition of "Clean". This seporates you from your competition, IMO.
 
I always specify to 2". We end up going after more, but it is nice to have those parameters in place. With drive time, it would suck to get a call back for some small twig.
 
In our contract definitions the specification is 40mm (1 1/2") at point of attachment to the tree unless noted differently by a > ___. Deadwood removal falls under "prune" along with addressing CD's, damage and conflicting branches. I think this works out better than specifying the size of the cuts that are to be made. I don't particularly like using "class ___" for pruning because without a definition included, the customer will have no clue what you mean. When I first started it was a daily discussion on the crew as to what the work order meant as well.
 
Pretty much on board with what has been said. Speaking strictly deadwood, our standard is 2" and larger at the point of attachement. However, we let the customer know that if there is smaller stuff within arm's, or a short pole's, reach as our climber is working he will get some of that smaller stuff as well.

We will go after a smaller diameter piece if it has enough mass or volume such that it looks like it could cause damage when it cuts loose on its own. We don't specify that in the work order rather do it as a value added courtesy.

We also give the customer the option of saving money by setting a larger diameter threshold as well as a more thorough approach by going with a smaller diameter.

We do try to help the customer understand that when they go for smaller diameters the time involved does not grow in a linear fashion rather in a quickly expanding curve.

Just as the "perfect" tree branch diagram implies the number of cuts grows exponentially the smaller you go.

Outside of fruit or ornamental trees we try to not go less than an inch in diameter for a variety of reasons, but mostly because the time involved goes way beyond what the customer truly wants and, IMHO the tree is very adept at shedding such deadwood on its own and the hazard presented by those naturally falling twigs is generally acceptable.

Over the years we have found the best balance, depending on species, to specify deadwood 2" or 1.5"

More important is that we are now bidding the job by the hour. We now bid prunng jobs by the hour with a minimum time to be charged and a maximum time to be charged always covering our bases as best we can. Then we do our level best to get in and out, doing the job right, somewhere between midpoint and the high mark.

We also remind the customer that the actual time will depend on what we find in the tree that we cannot see from here on the ground.
 
Thanks for all the advise. I think the 2in and larger is a good standard and anything smaller is much more time consuming and expensive.
 
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