commercial work at night?

hl_tree

hl_tree

Location
New Fairfield, CT
One of my friends, whom I work for has a very good client whom owns a gas station. The gas station is ALWAYS busy except for at night. Early morning (6:00) they are busy. I think 7:00 PM and later they are relatively slow. Anywho, this client of my friend wants to take down 6? blue spruces next to the parking lot. The trees are by no means huge... 30' tops with no real targets.

My friend wishes to cut them down and then drag them across a hill 200'+ to where the chipper will be waiting for them on an adjacent commercial driveway which his client doesn't own. What I recommended to my friend is that we go to the gas station at night... after 7:00, pull right up to the trees, get them on the ground and chipped up. He's not a big fan of this idea. There would be descent, but not great lighting from the overhead lights of the station. There are no residential properties for almost a mile, so I don't think the cops would be complaining to us about noise. There's just IBM across the street, and then a restaurant and a small corporate park behind the station. Plus of course the state trooper barracks maybe 1/2 a mile up the road.

Any thoughts?
 
This time of year a job like that can be attacked with 6 or 8 guys and have it done in two/three hours max with the right equipment and all the guys on there toes and they all know what there specific jobs are for the job. Make it like a manufacturing line with one guy cutting down the trees with a bucket and the second guy cuts the stuff and has some help to chip and so on and so on..........
 
My friend is a 1 man show for the most part, with me coming to help when there is climbing to be done, and maybe 1 other guy on rare occasion. The chipper he has is an old Eager Beaver that is on its last legs... so only 1 or 2 people can feed it small pieces at a time. As for wood... you can't go over 5" or it will jam. He figures 2 truck loads of chips, with probably 1 very small load of wood.
 
I work during the night, no big deal. Get some Petzl headlamps and rent a light tower, (if you want alot of light), or a smaller ligtht stand with a generator, if there isn't a place to plug it in.
 
Check the by-laws to see what the noise restrictions are. Maybe speak to the statetrooper dettachment to be sure they are ok with the time of operation. Rent some additional lighting and make sure you build in the cost.

Remember your allowing him to continue generating revenue by not inconveniencing his operation.
 
Even if always busy, I find it hard to believe that there is no where you can stage up for the removals and still remain relatively out of the way. If the owner is REALLY serious about having the work done he'll be accomodating to help get it done.
Any pics of the site?
Ive done work at gas stations before and had no problems staging out of the way.
 
I belive downtown Chicago has laws something to the tune of only allowing tree work done between midnight and 4AM. So yes, night work is plenty possible, although, they probally have more light. Other than that, I think everyone has great points, head lamp and light rack set up, (added to the bill) let him know doing it this way will allow him to run bussiness as usual, let the local cops know you are going to be in the trees so they don't bother you. And hell, if nothing else, you would get a new toy out of the deal (head lamp)
 
This place is pretty busy during the day, because they are essentially the only gas station in 2 or 3 towns. Plus with IBM right across the street, and Pepsi right down the road... they see a LOT of traffic. These trees border the main parking area, as well as the vacuum pumps. Lots of stupid yuppies would be right in there during the day... Trees don't have to be climbed, just pole saws to get the initial junk out of the way, then a tag line and ground saw to get them down.
 
I'v done night climbs with just a head torch and ambient light from streetlighting ect. As long as there arnt to many ground crew to get in the way, and everyone knows what they're supposed to do you should be fine!
 
We did a night of tree dismantles which were fairly broad but not huge on the edge of a four lane ring road (freeway I think you'd call it) in the middle of Istanbul, Turkey!! I found the old fashioned Petzl head lamps with halogen bulbs to be invaluable, your eyes soon get used to the twilight...watch ruining too much night-vision with the light towers if you rent them, make sure they are angled sensibly away to avoid weird shadows when your're placing your cuts !!! Good luck Frank!!
zzz.gif
I'll be thinking of you!!!!
 
We cut at 1am all the time on storm, and those trees are laying on wires with LOTS of tension. Like others mentioned, let the neighbors know, know where the groundies are, and Let Fly. Good luck.
 
In the area where I live tree work is only possible if still on site from the day and are working. Only when storm damage is done can we opperate at night. Our noise restictions are from 10pm to 730am, unless other wise stated.
 
Well, we went there yesterday around 8:30 AM. We were able to work until about 10:00 and then some people showed up for a car wash, forcing us to leave. That job has to be done at night.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom