crane cost?

hl_tree

hl_tree

Location
New Fairfield, CT
So I went and looked at 2 tree jobs today with my crane guy and he gave me a rough price, he will be giving me something more solid either tonight or tomorrow morning.

This is what I have to do: (1) norway maple roughly 22" DBH can set up right next to it. Only things to worry about are parking lot, walls, understory shrubs, and busy road on back side not even 4' away.
(2) norway spruces. 1" - 2" off of house, roughly 32" DBH each, roughly 80 - 90' tall each. From farthest tree to center pin is 50'. Things to worry about are: lines about 15' away, house, next to no landing zone, EVERYTHING has to go, very busy road about 15' away from tree. Set-up area is VERY tight.

What do I get? 25 ton crane, maybe a little bigger, for 10 hrs. Certified master rigger for operator.

Quoted price: under $2,500 definately, probably somewhere around $2,000

What do you guys think? Good deal or no?
 
Mark, here's more on the subject.

The guy is a certified master rigger, but all his work is down in the city, down county, LI, or other areas of that sort. He said that a day is 8 hrs, but I should factor in for going over, just in case. Those figures, ~$2,000 <$2,500 reflects included overage hours. Also, his expertise is not in tree work, he said to me that this would be a first for him as well. The only work he has ever done with trees is to lift them onto roof top gardens. There would be 2 set-up locations, figure driving time in a crane truck would be about 25 min. He said that set-up would be about 1/2 an hour. I am supposed to be getting a more accurate quote this evening or tomorrow morning after he has had a chance to do some computations regarding how much he can lift on the larger of the 2 spruce trees.

My estimates for the jobs are respectively $6000 and $1000

I had kind of planned on the cost of the crane being somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000. So it's really not that far off from my initial guess on crane cost.
 
How come he is giving you the estimate. Can't you ask about hourly rates for different size cranes, and then give him an estimate on how long you think you'll need him?
 
$2000-$2500 sounds expensive. I think Mark is in the ballpark, maybe $1000-$1500 for a 30 ton for eight hours.

All companies I know around here have a four hour minimum, charge door to door, and some now add a 5% fuel surcharge.

30 minutes for setup seems like a lot of time for a 28 ton. Is it level terrain or will there have to be a lot of cribbng?

If this is his first tree job expect things to go a little slow.

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My estimates for the jobs are respectively $6000 and $1000

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You mean $6K for the Norway maple, and $1K for the 2 Norway spuce?
 
Still sounds high. We get an 80 ton for that price.

Get an hourly price from a 2nd company. If he never did trees before, being a "master rigger" won't help you one bit, just raise the rates! I'm all for hiring the best, but if you are pricing against another "reasonable" company, you won't be getting that job.
 
I just checked with a friend, he says that $2,000 for a day with a crane of that size is about going rate in this area. However I will check tomorrow with somebody else on the price for the crane.

I figure that to climb the 2 spruce and piece them out without a crane would be about 3 days with a crew of maybe 4 or 5, plus a skid loader. Like this I can do all 3 trees in 1 day plus load the wood without having to bring in a machine.
 
It's hard to say what's expensive in different parts of the country (or world, it is a "world wide web"). Here, and probably most places, you pay for travel time- and cranes are not peppy on the road. Setup in some locations takes nearly as long as the job, especially if you have to stack alot of wood or swing a jib, put on counterweights in pieces, and change positions during the job. When you are fairly used to doing it regularly, like most things you get a good feel for how long it will take. Then it's the different prices for different companies and different cranes, and just about as importantly, an operator you can trust and are comfortable with. There are two companies near here with identical cranes, for example, but one company didn't know how to correctly swing the jib on their cranes, which is not encouraging. One company around here has a 50/70 ton with 115 feet of power boom, another company has one with 132 feet (though they can't use it all without the counterweights). This is getting long-winded, so back to your point about price, check out prices around you for different companies and what equipment they have. Going rate around here for a 22 ton is 90-110 an hour, but that's not likely in your neck of the woods. Check around, but it's the same as anything, cheaper is not always better.
 
Northern Westchester County in NY. I thought I had my location listed on here???? Anywho, I was just thinking about it, figure $2,000 / day is about what they are getting around here for a mid sized excavator w/ operator.
 
I just got the quote and checked with a friend of mine with more experience in this area than I.

The quote was for the larger crane (something around 30 ton) which is needed according to his calculations for the larger / farther away spruce for 10 hrs work time, plus 2 hrs travel time. The price for that is $2,500 plus $150 / hr if I go over the 10 hrs work time.

I checked with a friend, and he said that for half a day around here with a smaller crane than what I would be getting and with an operator who DEFINATELY is not a master rigger it's about $1200 - $1600.

So I guess my guy is right on with the price.
 
I just checked with a tree company down the road which recently aquired a 16 ton National. They want $1,200 for an 8 hr day. Not that I would ever do business with them.
 
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Still sounds high. We get an 80 ton for that price.

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Mark is right--$2000 is expensive. And about the cost of an 80 ton elsewhere.

Today I checked the price sheet for two local crane companies:

--crane: $ per hour. $ per 8 hour day, for two companies:


--28 ton: $125 hr, $1,000 day; 28 ton $110 hr. $880 day

--30 ton: $140 hr, $1120 day;

--45 ton: $160 hr, $1280 day; 40 ton, $150 hr, $1200 day

--60 ton: $180 hr, $1440 day; 60 ton, $170 hr, $1360 day

--70 ton: $215 hr, $1720 day;

--80 ton: $240 hr, $1920 day.


A little off topic, but still relevant--check the load radius and then refer to the load charts. Make sure that the crane can comfortably handle both the height and distance to, the tree.
 
Im glad Ive finaly discovered us brits get something cheaper than you guys... I have a 35t all terrain coming out tommorow, thats costing me $700 for 8 hours INCLUDING the insurance. and thats 8 hours on site, travel time is free...
 
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