Daily rate freelance

I guess it depends on a lot of variables aready stated but for me 200-450 a day is typical when you have a ton of our southern neighbors willing to climb for 200 a day or less.

If its 200$ for 1 or 2 hour short easy jobs do it. If its 200$ for a huge workload taking a brutal full day negotiate a higher rate. I negotiate every job before hand.
 
CanaryBoss said:
That’s exactly why we don’t allow it, we don’t want our guys wore out and unsafe or coming in with existing injuries to our jobs.

We try to pay enough to where they don’t even have to consider it. When my guys have time off, I don’t want them to have to think about where they can go get more money. I want them to think about where they can go relax and enjoy the good money they already make.


You can have a great family and the whole world but if you can’t enjoy it, what’s the point? Don’t get me wrong I put in my time and still do. I’m just saying it has to be for something other than work. I don’t live to work, I work to live. I sure do love what I do though!
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Man, the issue isn't the money.
It's the learning and testing yourself. It's the experience.
Tree climbers have a fairly unique opportunity to just make a bud and then get paid to vacation and go make sawdust in a completely different environment.
I very rarely handle anything in my local market that is not for the company that I work for full time, but I'm not going to be prohibited from it.
 
Baja Mike said:
Rates should be based on what contract climbers can bring to the table. Contract climbers that can do any tree provided they have access to the right equipment should be getting a minimum of $500.00 a day. If I personally was climbing I would want $750.00 a day. I agree with @CanaryBoss that rates should be $2500.00 a week for employees that can do what I can do, I still haven’t found one yet. All my perspective employees will come work for a couple days to see if we are a good fit for one another. They show me what they can do and pay is based accordingly. I tell everyone that works for me the more you can do for me, the less I have to do thierfore I can pay you more.
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I agree with the $500 a day for any tree, you said you would want $750 a day. My question is what are you doing beyond "any tree" that warrants $250 more? I do understand the occasionally large, dangerous complicated tree for $750. Are you saying $750 for a standard day rate climbing without large equipment?
 
owScott said:
I agree with the $500 a day for any tree, you said you would want $750 a day. My question is what are you doing beyond "any tree" that warrants $250 more? I do understand the occasionally large, dangerous complicated tree for $750. Are you saying $750 for a standard day rate climbing without large equipment?
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Nothing. He's just saying that is what he would want. Hell, maybe he's pretty good. Even so, $750 a day for a man with a truck full of tools and a bigol bag of tricks is pretty steep. I can't tell you how many monsters in closets I dismembered for $200/day (with insurance and twice the kit of any climber in my city) although I would demand almost twice that now.
My market isn't huge and it is saturated with idiots. Mostly it's just fun to be the badass who keeps the machine moving forward.
 
SomethingWitty said:
Nothing. He's just saying that is what he would want. Hell, maybe he's pretty good. Even so, $750 a day for a man with a truck full of tools and a bigol bag of tricks is pretty steep. I can't tell you how many monsters in closets I dismembered for $200/day (with insurance and twice the kit of any climber in my city) although I would demand almost twice that now.
My market isn't huge and it is saturated with idiots. Mostly it's just fun to be the badass who keeps the machine moving forward.
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Fair point, that's just what he would want, since he doesn't contract climb that isn't tested. I think we are pretty much in agreement. Any serious sub should have a truck load of gear, I assume you mean climb, rigging gear and saws. If $500 means any tree that means you are at least pretty good. $750 to me means super bad ass good to just climb. I hire subs and sub myself so in my area I have a good feel for the sub market. Funny how 2 people get different meanings from the same statement. Lots of idiots everywhere anyhow thanks for the perspective.
 
there are a few threads on this.. I wonder how this has shifted in the last two years.

What are going rates today?
as an independent climber with full gear, including rigging, saws, and carrying insurance and LLC.

I have over 5 years condensed tree work experience (over the past 13 years) and a solid year climbing.

The crew I work with most, I am at $335 / day.
In my searches last year I was offered $25/hr and even $15/hr ! for independent climbing! Assessing the relative safety of those crews, I stayed outta there..

I am talking with some new crews and reassessing my rate. I am aiming for $400 / day, just wondering if I am there with my skillset and how this matches up. Of course, as has been said here, it's all about how this fits in to the bidding.

Over the past year, nothing has come my way I couldn't handle, including felling over sheds near houses, going up skinny oaks in the wind, snapped hung up crazy scenes, and I have studied pruning for over a decade, and reliably produce balanced forms.

Having subcontracted as carpenter, boat worker, now climber, it feels like I need to justify every dollar I ask for. What a wild time. My lady started working full time now so I feel more leverage to "take or leave it" while I am also watching my boys a lot. I am hoping to settle into a decent groove. Working with the right people is more important than getting top dollar. I want to keep uplifting the standard.

Thanks for reading.
 
dspacio said:
there are a few threads on this.. I wonder how this has shifted in the last two years.

What are going rates today?
as an independent climber with full gear, including rigging, saws, and carrying insurance and LLC.

I have over 5 years condensed tree work experience (over the past 13 years) and a solid year climbing.

The crew I work with most, I am at $335 / day.
In my searches last year I was offered $25/hr and even $15/hr ! for independent climbing! Assessing the relative safety of those crews, I stayed outta there..

I am talking with some new crews and reassessing my rate. I am aiming for $400 / day, just wondering if I am there with my skillset and how this matches up. Of course, as has been said here, it's all about how this fits in to the bidding.

Over the past year, nothing has come my way I couldn't handle, including felling over sheds near houses, going up skinny oaks in the wind, snapped hung up crazy scenes, and I have studied pruning for over a decade, and reliably produce balanced forms.

Having subcontracted as carpenter, boat worker, now climber, it feels like I need to justify every dollar I ask for. What a wild time. My lady started working full time now so I feel more leverage to "take or leave it" while I am also watching my boys a lot. I am hoping to settle into a decent groove. Working with the right people is more important than getting top dollar. I want to keep uplifting the standard.

Thanks for reading.
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Thank you for your description of your skills and your current pricing. I think your daily billing will be somewhat dependent upon your geography, as we you would gross about $300/day average as an employee working with us, and we supply all the rigging and saws.

Around here, contract climbers are in the $400-500 per day range, with some really good climbers billing $600/day and everyone here that is any good is booked months out.

If you’re interested in relocating a few hours south, send me a note, we would be glad to take you on a as a full time climber, or I would try to help you get set up as a contractor. There’s no lack of good paying work here, and living expenses are most likely lower than where you’re at now.
 
RI I bet you could shoot for $400, especially if your grandparents grew up on Federal Hill. I hear Boston is like $500 for a good contract climber. Would help to be Irish catholic

Rates in my area are $350 for someone with insurance and ability to remove any tree within reason.

There’s another thread on the business forum where someone in Seattle, or was it Portland? Paying a groundie $27/hour. The market here definitely does not support that!

$335 is a dumb number. They should round up on principal.
 
I do some climbing for a couple of older guys who are semi-retired, but still service long time clients. I bring everything and they show up with gloves and ground saw. I get $50/hr for all hours, including loading wood. I will do as little as 4 hours, but most run 6-9.

I did some for a landscape contractor who bitched about anything over $300 per day, using my gear and insurance, so I moved on from him. I heard he got a guy, and the dude let a piece slip.one day and put it through a nice deck. I imagine that was a $1,500 foul up, all said and done.
 
dspacio said:
there are a few threads on this.. I wonder how this has shifted in the last two years.

What are going rates today?
as an independent climber with full gear, including rigging, saws, and carrying insurance and LLC.

I have over 5 years condensed tree work experience (over the past 13 years) and a solid year climbing.

The crew I work with most, I am at $335 / day.
In my searches last year I was offered $25/hr and even $15/hr ! for independent climbing! Assessing the relative safety of those crews, I stayed outta there..

I am talking with some new crews and reassessing my rate. I am aiming for $400 / day, just wondering if I am there with my skillset and how this matches up. Of course, as has been said here, it's all about how this fits in to the bidding.

Over the past year, nothing has come my way I couldn't handle, including felling over sheds near houses, going up skinny oaks in the wind, snapped hung up crazy scenes, and I have studied pruning for over a decade, and reliably produce balanced forms.

Having subcontracted as carpenter, boat worker, now climber, it feels like I need to justify every dollar I ask for. What a wild time. My lady started working full time now so I feel more leverage to "take or leave it" while I am also watching my boys a lot. I am hoping to settle into a decent groove. Working with the right people is more important than getting top dollar. I want to keep uplifting the standard.

Thanks for reading.
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Would guess you are below what RI can tolerate for a sub. I pay $50/hr but have heard $35-$80 as a range here for subs. W2 is much much less but RI has got to be more than Maine (excluding Portland).
 
Serf Life said:
What?? You folks were hiring at a lot lower salary than other parts of the country iirc, how does the company justify that rate?
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He’s a one man operation. Carries all his own equipment and insurance. He’s the best climber I’ve ever worked with, and we bring him in to do the hardest, most difficult jobs we get. We don’t have any other contract climbers locally that I’m aware of. We just factor his cost in when we quote the work if we know we’re going to bring him in.
 
HigherGroundArborist said:
He’s a one man operation. Carries all his own equipment and insurance. He’s the best climber I’ve ever worked with, and we bring him in to do the hardest, most difficult jobs we get. We don’t have any other contract climbers locally that I’m aware of. We just factor his cost in when we quote the work if we know we’re going to bring him in.
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Wow. Would that it were!
 
Thanks fellas. I was just asked an hourly rate for a new crew I will work with next week. Sound like $50 /hour is a rate suiting where I am. A friend of mine charges $400/day, and he outshines me as a climber, so I wasn't sure if I was pushing it. He can probably lift his rate too! $400 sounds like the new magic number. appreciate the feedback
 
Reach said:
If you’re interested in relocating a few hours south, send me a note, we would be glad to take you on a as a full time climber, or I would try to help you get set up as a contractor. There’s no lack of good paying work here, and living expenses are most likely lower than where you’re at now.
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Thanks for the offer. Maybe we could line up a string of days soon and I could come down. (4 or 5 days, I can camp on some ground) Let's keep in touch in the messages.
 
Rates are all SO location dependent that it makes it hard to talk about on any kind of large scale. Cost of living is wild where I live, I just checked on Redfin and there are literally only 13 homes for sale under $750,000 in my entire county, and gas costs $4.39/gallon. I rarely work for other companies, but when I do I show up on time, well insured, with all my own rigging, climbing and cutting gear, take on the role of site foreman and charge what it's worth. Out here, that is 2-3x what most people in this thread are discussing.
 
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dspacio said:
Thanks fellas. I was just asked an hourly rate for a new crew I will work with next week. Sound like $50 /hour is a rate suiting where I am. A friend of mine charges $400/day, and he outshines me as a climber, so I wasn't sure if I was pushing it. He can probably lift his rate too! $400 sounds like the new magic number. appreciate the feedback
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50/hr sounded like the going rate in ‘08 too. https://www.treebuzz.com/forum/threads/contract-climbers.12294/#post-169763
 
I'm normally between $300 and $500 a day. Varies based on travel, workload, quality of work, respect, etc. If someone treats me well, doesn't make me be the only one banging out brush, has competent ground crew, etc I'll be good to them and hope they're good to me. I've had times where just because I charge 300 I get kicked an extra buck or two, or gear, or a fat steak and laugh after the days done. I've also had guys that have cut my ropes, nearly chipped me (climbing rope into chipper), incompetent crews, disrespectful bosses, and overall poor work environment that wouldn't pay the day rate, which is where the contract comes in. I've made $500-1000 a day once in a while on some super hairy shit, but that's not often. At the end of the day, you're getting paid to perform a specific job at an agreed upon rate. If I sign up for 10 hours of brush dragging, then by golly that's what I'm doing. If I sign for $500 by the end of the climb, and I'm done at noon, I make that $500 because I had the skill to do that quickly. It's a big trial and error, and finding good folks to be repeat clients for. As a contractor, you're running your own business. It just happens to be the business of working to help others when they need it.
 
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