Do you let customers help with work?

[Fivepoints]

Keep your prices high, and keep in mind that once you are on the job your insurance company owns the property. You have the say on what happens when onsite. Also, BTW, bid the jobs instead of working hourly and set your minimums. It leaves less for them to pick apart.

We do time and materials bids all the time. Sometimes its the only way to be fair to your customers and yourself. It takes care of the, "hey can you also do this while you are here?"

We also do bids for regular straightforward tree work. These are larger weird projects, etc. The last one was picking a tree up with our crane and putting bracing in place.

 

[tomstrees]

Keep your prices high, and keep in mind that once you are on the job your insurance company owns the property. You have the say on what happens when onsite. Also, BTW, bid the jobs instead of working hourly and set your minimums. It leaves less for them to pick apart.

I don't do that much tree work now, have the investment in saws and my own attempt to stay in robust physical condition.

And on insurance, I am not carrying liability, have health insurance but am vigilant on safety issues. Ultimately it comes down to doing the job efficiently. I prefer estimating work, to hourly estimates. What is a job worth? The local market of competent workers in this field, legal workers, affect that. People should not be selling themselves short.

 

[Benjo75]

I don't work by the hour. I bid the job on a written contract with the work written down to the tiniest detail. Then the total at the bottom. That way I do the agreed upon work and they pay the agreed upon price. Whether it takes 5 minutes or all day.