dirty business

hl_tree

hl_tree

Location
New Fairfield, CT
I looked at a storm damage job the other day in a private neighborhood where I work for the association, and a lot of residents. This large red oak tree went over from one person's yard onto the house of a neighbor. They both use the same insurance company, and were going to be splitting the cost of the clean-up. I was asked to bid removal of the tree and the stump. Seeing how I had a crane sitting down the road for my other clients, it was a no brainer, I had the ability to do the job, and was nearby to begin with. The owner who asked me over has a $5,000 deductable on their homeowner's policy. I bid the job at $17,500 which is fair market value given the location and size of the tree. The owner who did not ask me over was given a price of $18,500 by a company that was unprepared to complete the job. The other company was given the job. In order to complete the job, they asked for my help with several things. In the end they pissed off my crane operator, pissed off some residents of the community, and asked to dump some oversized logs where I keep my equipment so that my firewood guy could suffer, rather than hauling it 1 hr away to their yard which was where the easy stuff went. I told them where to stick the oversized logs. They asked to rent my cribbing from me, and cost me a solid half hour of machine time in having the job looked at. They also asked for help with a spot to dump chips.

After all was said and done, I found out that this company bid $18,500 but part of the deal was that they would kick back the deductable to the owner who hired them. So the owner who had me over is out his $5,000 deductable, while the other one is out nothing.

I'd really like to slash this guy's tires, and bust the windows in his trucks, but don't feel like going to jail for it. I'm ok with turning them in for insurance fraud though. How would you guys react to a situation like this? I can't let it rest... the scum sucking owner of the other company gave me $150 for my troubles through a second party. So it cost me $200+ to get screwed by being hospitable... I want to see it cost them thousands like it should have.
 
I'd be right there with you. Ask the HO for the ins contact, I'm sure he has his neighbors too because of the job. I cannot stand fraudulent people.
mad.gif
 
Insurance fraud is insurance fraud...if you have the evidence, pass it on.

Outfits like that continue to pollute our industry because they are allowed to. The question is, are you going to allow them to?

No good deed goes unpunished and doing the right thing is seldom easy. That is why they call it the high road.
 
All I can think about is.... I'd like to see a picture of a single tree cleanup that is worth $17,500. How is that possible?
 
thats amazing, never have I seen a situation or location that required that much work.

Is the crane bill thousands and thousands on something like that? Crane is that big?

I believe you btw, those figures just blow me away.
 
[ QUOTE ]
thats amazing, never have I seen a situation or location that required that much work.

Is the crane bill thousands and thousands on something like that? Crane is that big?

I believe you btw, those figures just blow me away.

[/ QUOTE ]


Over the last few years I have heard more about individual trees going for these prices. I am dumbfounded by these numbers...

Maybe we that are dumbfounded are the real dummies... What is the risk we take worth??? I have had several discussions of this magnitude. I had a buddy in Florida get a large Oak removal for 20K... Heard of some other crazy #'s like this too! Are we missing the boat...

Sorry for the derail!
 
It doesn't happen all the time but in our area (Washington, D.C.), these numbers are not unheard of. A friend of mine removed a 60" white oak off a house for $26k.
 
A 70 ton crane was required, and that's what we had on site. A 90 would have been nice, but doubt you could get it in there, and if the 70 is there to start and will fit, why not use it. So that's over 2K per day for that, 2 days, maybe more.

2 guys working for 2 days if lucky, with a large compressor, air spade, and maybe a jackhammer. Didn't want to take a chance just bringing in the air spade with all the ledge in there.

Figure 4+ guys for at least 2 days. Backhoe, several loads of chips and wood. Luckily I could dump chips about 2000 ft up the road / 500' up the road. Wood could be dumped less than 5 miles away. Haul out the stump, gotta pay for a dumpster. At least $500 to get rid of that. Might have to cut it in half to get it light enough for crane.
 
One job was on a Sunday with a 150 ton crane the bill was 8000.

The other job I tied into a 90 ton crane and had a 150 to pick the tree and we had to pay the local utility to de energize the main power lines coming into the town.
 
[ QUOTE ]
One job was on a Sunday with a 150 ton crane the bill was 8000.

The other job I tied into a 90 ton crane and had a 150 to pick the tree and we had to pay the local utility to de energize the main power lines coming into the town.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, thanks treemann
 
Your right Eric, we should raise our prices because of the risk and time and effort it takes to do this work. It creates a real problem when there is a bunch of old school cowboy companies giving out these low prices and a company with better qaulified arborist and knowledge give a higher price homeowners think your crazy. David I do contract climbing work near your area and people will pay good money to have good work done. Zale, I do a lot of contract climbing in the D.C. and N Virginia and there is well to do clients out there. The companyni'm helping next week did a storm damage crane removal for $40k, it took 5 days.
 
Just did a 74 inch dbh (measured by the city arborist) very densely brushed Mulberry over headstones, light pole , and three lanes of traffic, for the city of champaign,il for 1850 $ !? I was barely low bid. I have always thought our work is worth the numbers mentioned above but anytime I crane a 5-6 ft dia tree off a house, and the bill is over 3-4 k. I can expect the "third degree" from the INS co. The reason is because INS co's get BURNED by idiots like the guy with the kickback! Imagine the exec's meetings "we've got to watch these tree guys!" People like that are hurting our industry in so many ways!
 
The guy got the tree out with 10 guys in 2 days, 1 day with the crane. They returned over a month later with a grinder for the stump. Took them 3+ days with a 252, pressure washer, electric jackhammer, or a hammer drill. Guy came over to me later on, as if he were my friend. Ha!
 
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