Contract climber diaries

evo said:
If you can get a pregnant woman to pee on your boots it's actually much better.. I have a friend who urine tans fish leather... don't ask
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Things just went from silly to serious real quick right there.

Things are developing on there own a little here with the contract climbing. I've got 4 companies that are all about working withy buddy and I. It's pretty awesome, but I'm curious to see how I feel after going with them all for a bit.
 
CutHighnLetFly said:
Things just went from silly to serious real quick right there.

Things are developing on there own a little here with the contract climbing. I've got 4 companies that are all about working withy buddy and I. It's pretty awesome, but I'm curious to see how I feel after going with them all for a bit.
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So are you contracting as a two man crew?
 
Sometime in the near future I plan on sending emails to all the tree companies and landscaping companies in the area offering contracting services. Do you actually have a contract you have company reps sign? Also, I should probably get isa certified, but getting my old employers to fill out the paperwork isn't going to happen.


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When contract climbing, I am rarely asked about being a CA. If I mention my CPR, and QLCA I normally am a step ahead of their guys and my competition already. While I am sure it would help, my contractors were more focused on results, not paperwork. I have a standing contract with my main guys lineing out wages and equipment use, and then bill per job, the same way I bill customers. I have invoices written up for my contract climbing that look almost identical to my residential invoices.

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As a contract climber, what are the GL, licensing/ bond requirements. I know in OR as a tree service you have to be an OR CCB member, but if one were to contract with another company, how does all of that work?

I've personally gotten one quote for GL and they wanted my CCB info which I don't have (yet)
 
Z'sTrees said:
So are you contracting as a two man crew?
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Pretty much, but we are paid as seperate sub contractors and need to present seperate insurance paperwork. I definitely prefer it, j know exactly what to expect out of who im working with.
I haven't made a contact for other companies to sign. I gave it a little to learn what I need to definitely include, although now that someone mentioned it I realized I've been moving it further back in my mind.
@Tyler Durden my certs have definitely played a role in me initially getting in with some people, and have definitely played a role in me getting the daily rate j ask for. But no one has ever asked me bout them. I think EHAP training appeals just as much as me state and ISA certs.
 
That would be ideal as far as safety and efficiency go, I wasn't sure how that all worked out in the business/legal side of things.
So does your groundsman provide his own tools and transportation? It seems like muddy waters as far as the tax man might see it. Could you, as a sub, hire another sub?
 
I don't think I could hire another sub, but we make sure the company we with knows to pay us /see us as seperate entities, two separate subs.
He actually doesn't provide tools or transportation right now. He's an old friend of mine. I'm sort of creating a work situation that he can learn about climbing safely and about arboriculture, get paid good by the people he provides the service to, and get the ball rolling for himself as a sub. All that in exchange for his excellent groundman-ship (tells me when i can just blow out a top somewhere, runs the 1 or 2 other people on the ground, know when to drag or stage or when he came chip. The little things that save so much time, for thought, and potentially hassle.) and his soul.
He greatly improved productivity below me, so that increases my productivity. Results one day with out him, then one day with him can convince most that he's worth having too.
 
Anyone have a thought on an hourly or a 8hr daily rate to charge for bringing a GRCS and operator for sub work? Mines still collecting dust but only because I haven't needed it on my own jobs yet. It could have been used on some of my ''partners'' jobs but didn't have it with me. There will come a time where it will make a difference on his jobs to warrant use of it. Looking for suggestions on some rates. Thank you in advance for any answers.
 
colb said:
I avoid carrying unmixed gas. But if I did, I'd get the blue can for it, and buy a large enough size for it to be unwieldy. That's how I avoid getting diesel in my saws. My saw tanks are little 1 gallon jobs, which are easy to use and divide among job sites on busy days. My diesel is a 5 gallon yellow tank. I think a lock is the next best bet...
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Bad news if you're caught carrying gasoline in a kerosene can or diesel can or other improperly marked container for a flammable, hazardous material.
 
CutHighnLetFly said:
I don't think I could hire another sub, but we make sure the company we with knows to pay us /see us as seperate entities, two separate subs.
He actually doesn't provide tools or transportation right now. He's an old friend of mine. I'm sort of creating a work situation that he can learn about climbing safely and about arboriculture, get paid good by the people he provides the service to, and get the ball rolling for himself as a sub. All that in exchange for his excellent groundman-ship (tells me when i can just blow out a top somewhere, runs the 1 or 2 other people on the ground, know when to drag or stage or when he came chip. The little things that save so much time, for thought, and potentially hassle.) and his soul.
He greatly improved productivity below me, so that increases my productivity. Results one day with out him, then one day with him can convince most that he's worth having too.
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That totally makes sense and is an ideal situation in my mind, I'm just trying to sort through the legal technicalities. It's hard to be productive and earn what you are charging when you have no clue what you are getting for a rope man
 
Man I've had some interesting experiences lately.
Yesterday I started working with a new company, Monday and Tuesday was the plan. When I originally spoke with the guy he went on and on about how awful his one main employee was and how he wanted me to replace him. Very quickly in the work day I began seeing some of the sources of the employees frustration. Difficult equipment to deal with, poor planning for the day, poor communication, etc. I was in the middle of a poor relationship between employer/employee.
So I kinda felt for the guy, the foreman. We are now working, small removal job, some unchippable wood. The company used a small crane to load the wood. Some kinda shitty Ol' boom for like setting up docks at a marina or something, and it's a tired 30+ year old book. So the foreman tells me he deals with little removals with it too. Nice dude.
So dude decides to use it on this job. Doesnt park close enough cause he didn't want to take the trailer off the truck, so the shit he's slinging you knew immediately was going to violently dump into the crane. It was amazing, I've never been so at the edge of my seat on a tree job. I was confident something was going to happen, something bad.
Never did.
So after a day of that, myself and my contract climber buddy go back for more of the show today. Mistake. More drama, boss wants to send foreman home, no reason why other than he wants to fire him and use me. I tell him I'm not stealing this guy's job, I'm not cool.with that, and I'm not driving his truck. It works out, we go to the first job. More dangerous behavior. My buddy and I have a team huddle and concluded we had to get the f outta there before we were involved in or witness to something very not good.
Had to tell the guy k want payment for day want and I'm leaving right now. I used way more words and said it a bit softer, but I had to get out of there. I smoke, but I don't smoke a lot. I was chiefin' em down around these people.

The owner was wicked sad. Like, just sad. I ruined his day. He was pulling heart strings, giving me the hole story. His side anyway. As much as I'd like to help him out, it's not realistic. His problems are not things that i can or will resolve.
Can't work with everyone! Just cause your money's good don't mean I'll stick around a danger zone.
NEXT!
 
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I do a terrible job keeping up with this thread. One thing I recently learned was it's become easiest for me to tell people $x for the day and $x/hr after a certain amount of time.
Dont deal with people who always have work drama going on unless you have your own ground guy that's for sure.

I started and Instagram to keep people seeing what I do and how I do it. It's good word of mouth locally.
Dunno if there's a way to link it here but if you use it you can just search arbor access and I should come up I think
 
I dunno if everywhere does, but I'm willing to bet almost everyone has slow points to their season. Know what they are and prep. I could sense it. Ever see the movie twister? Dudes likes sniffing dirt n shit?
I had a surplus of work with a small number of people's. I knew things were gunna slow, so ive been on the horn trying to meet people and create more work. It was overwhelming at first cuz you can't cover EVERYONE, but now I got people (mostly the landscapers) saying they'll let me know when some more tree work comes in.
I know I've disappointed people at first without having endless availability, but it's payed off now by having my hands in a few places.
Hope everyone's having a good year so far
 
I can definitely sympathize with disappointing people.
I went from being scheduled two weeks out to being scheduled two months out in a blink of an eye.
But, I have a family to feed so I would rather be two months out and be a shoulder to cry on for companies who can't find a climber with a drivers license and isn't addicted to heroin.
 
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