Hurricane work Assistence.

baumeister

baumeister

New member
Location
New buffalo Michigan
Our company has signed up for storm assistence through tcia. With Irma, I am wondering:

Is the pay good. ? Although we want to help, we would be leaving our home territory and income to work else where. Do we set a daily amount depending on crews and equipment. ? Does anyone have any experience.
Example: How much does a 3 man crew w large chipper, chiptruck, lift truck, log loader and flatbed get paid ? By hour? By day?

Anyone have any experience w this?
 
That sounds reasonable. Do you have experience doing this? Have you worked for a federal organization doing storm work? I thought maybe the prices or a guideline for pricing were set by tcia or some other organization. There is a lot to be considered ( travel costs,food, lodging and overtime come to mind. ). Some companies may pay more or less than I do. Put that into double time and some large differences come into play. I have no interest in overcapitalizing on others misfortune. I am just curious if there is a general system or guidelines in place for reimbursement. I pay my guys very well to keep and attract good help. Many people in the industry are surprised by the fact I pay my employees full wages to attend conferences. Their hotel and food and the conference itself is also paid for. Is this uncommon in the industry. ? So basically my interest is who sets the prices ? Who do we invoice? Are there guidelines ?
 
TreeVB said:
Just charge what the company needs for its expenses plus its normal profit margins. Be human about it and don't overcapitalize on others misfortunes
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You have to charge more for storm work than your regular work. Double your rates for storm work. If your pulling in 3k a day with your crew doing regukar scheduled work then you need to maje atkeast 6k for storm work.
The work is stressful, dangerous, long hours, increased costs, and a lot of pissed off regular clients who you have to bump. You have to make it worth your while.
In regards to being human about it....this is what insurance is for.
 
Sticking someone in a pinch for an outrageous amount that they are forced to pay is capitalizing on their misfortune. People have to have the funds to self-insure, get insurance, or deal with the natural consequences. They often prioritize their own car/ phone/ private residence over protecting themselves first. Insurance is very affordable, really, in a world of espresso stands, smart phones, driving modern cars, not 30 year old cars that have been fixed again and again and again.

Things will get lost and broken, maybe stolen. You will have lots of increased expenses, and major stress.
Its not pruning small, parking lot ornamentals we're talking about.

Taking a day off mid-storm is sane, sensible, and hard to do. Getting a massage therapist to come to a jobsite for the crew would be doing your crew right, or getting them in after hours. Maybe try to find a hotel with a hot tub or soaking tubs for overworked bodies.

It will cost you money to not be involved in your normal daily life, such as sharing in family responsibilities like childcare, resulting in more expenses.

Your families will be stressed because you're gone to do dangerous work. The wife and kids going out to a movie to take their minds off you being gone doing dangerous work costs money.

Do people right, and do yourself and your crew right at the same time.
 
I have never traveled to do storm work, for myself or an employer and probably never will. But locally I see guys cashing in big time on others misfortunes and an idea that this has to be done now. Sure I can see making your travel expenses, covering meals and lodging and all but getting big money just because the insurance is paying or the owner is in a pinch is WRONG.
A few years back a client called me at 930 in th morning saying he had a few trees up root and land on his house. I was at work and couldn't get there till 230. So I ran out at 230, our local hack'm and wack'm was just packing up the crane and leaving. 15k for 6hrs work max and they rolled with a full logtruck of very nice red oak logs. I ended up spending a week fixing and cleaning up the mess. And the worst part... insurance didn't pay! Only one huge estimate and they wouldn't fix the invoice to how the policy was written. It was all out of pocket.
 
Yup, seen people's taken advantage of. That was the main reason I started this thread. Is there anyone out there that can answer my questions on how the billing works if you are called out of state to do storm work. It's one thing to just travel to a storm and start Trespassing to get work and take advantage of a situation. Iam wondering if there is any system set up prior to engagement. And how that system works My interests are to offer my professional workers, and my equipment to help clean up after a storm. I do expect to cover ALL my costs and am not unethical about any work I perform. There are enough external costs involved as mentioned above that can't be covered like the stress you put your crew and families up to. That is the true help you are offering.
 
If insurance is paying then what's the big deal?

Also let's not forget basic supply and demand: obviously tree companies will be in demand after Irma is done. As demand goes up so does price for work. That's simple. I'm with Royce here though - storm work isn't regular tree work at all. I don't see anything wrong with charging more than usual.
 
Most insurance companies will only paid so much unless you have extra coverage. In the end, it might be the customer who gets it in the end, not the insurance companies. With this amount of damage from two incidences close together, there probably won't be much leniency from the insurance companies.
 
The consumer...or customer has the freedom to choose whatever company they want. In @flyingsquirrel25 example the homeowner paid 15k to have a tree removed because he wasn't patient enough to WAIT!. I see it happen all the time. They want it done and done NOW. "Get that tree off my house" They still have the right and freedom to get multiple estimates for the work.
We have been doing a lot of storm damage work this year....at a high price. But when we leave the property is spotless and the debris is all removed. Not once has a customer bocked at my price. Most are happy to pay and delighted by the professionalsm of the crew and our fast response to their needs.
 
I've been on lots of storm work from tornado, ice and Katrina. The FEMA program will take a while to get paid but with it in the long run. Yes everything goes up. Planning the trip is major because you have to self sufficiency the cost of living for minimum 1 month while away from home. That means you can't asked for a payday loan. I do however suggest to get the life experience when you can.

Sent from my C6743 using Tapatalk
 
Brocky said:
Most insurance companies will only paid so much unless you have extra coverage. In the end, it might be the customer who gets it in the end, not the insurance companies. With this amount of damage from two incidences close together, there probably won't be much leniency from the insurance companies.
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So wait, if you want more coverage, you have that available? And...

I don't expect to get a new car if I don't have Collision Insurance, just Liability.

By leniency, do you mean they won't pay out on what the customer is covered for, or won't pay out for things the customer is not covered for, under their policy and premiums?
 
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