Ice storm Gemini... Upstate NY

I used to get the same feeling for storm stuff and regular clients. Suddenly you can't keep up with the calls and the carpenters are wacking your trees. I'd feel so bad I'd keep the pricing the same as regular or throw some freebies. Then I had a small amount of property damage on a rush, help the guy out freebie. There's a bunch of reasons to charge 1.5x at least for storm work.

The panic only lasts for a week or two then it's storm cleanup mixed with regular work as normal. The best is to find a two week job and hide out during the panic part. Campgrounds and trailer parks are good for that.
 
Thankfuly we did not get any calls. We are quite back logged and it would be nice to get caught up and get some maintenance done on the equipment for once during the winter....and some skiing when the snow gets deep!

So many people I see around always ask about how I must be happy from storm work. I agree with many of you... I explain it is the least rewarding work I have done. I prefer some one wanting me to work for them, with them happily handing me a fat check for an awesome job, as opposed to profiting from some ones misfortune when they do not have much money.
 
Oh I don't know, welltree's guys who've worked around the clock since Sunday to put the lights back on in 3 major Toronto hospitals and continue to work in the rest of the city might argue with it being the least rewarding part of their job. No they're not doing it for free, but right now they're out helping in the freezing cold, away from their family.
 
Unlike the guy on the bike, it's not the tree's doing. When it comes to trees we've worked on recently being bashed its all in the nature of the work we do. I accept that and am glad that I can be of service to people when nature comes knocking hard. To me it's better then sitting around waiting for the lights to come back on.
 
Seems like things might be a bit different across the border?
Our hospitals (for profit) all have generators. The lights don't go out for more then a moment. And all the other getting the lights back on is done by the utilty companies and their corporate associates (Nelson's, as plungers....)Home owners can be "saved" for free in most cases by the local (volunteer in most cases) fire departments. Besides this is the north country were everyone has a chainsaw or the neighbor does. All we are left with usually is cleaning up messes and restorative pruning. Not too much hero work allowed around here. I have got to remove a tree from a car and several roofs. These folks were on edge of a mental break down, freaking out that I could not get there soon enough, sorry not my niche. Glad it works out for you guys north of the border.
 
Yes quite a difference between the utility, restore the essential equipment workers and the residential work. I remember one guy leaving a couple desperate messages a day for a week about a small tree across his path to the lake. Meanwhile back in the campground I'm removing tree after tree that has cut a trailer in half.
 
After ice storm of '98 up here the national guard and FEMA rolled in to help clean up. National guard would come and open your drive way and allow the power utility in to restore service lines. FEMA set up a tub grinder yard that anyone could bring and wood to, and FEMA hired all the able bodied deralicts (mentally ill) to cut and chip road side right aways and get this, anything a home owner (or Treeservice ) stacked on the side of a state road. I just gratuated college and thought it would be fun to work with FEMA... I think it was two days before some one died. A tree got dropped onto someone. I did a lot of traffic control work by choice to distance myself from the chaos.
 
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