Love tree work. Not the tree business.

[Mick Dempsey!]

I have found heroin addicts make good occasional workers, they’re pretty much always available, keen as mustard for a couple of days, and you usually know where to find them.
Just don’t pay them in the evening if they’re due to work the next day.

 

[VenasNursery]

I have found heroin addicts make good occasional workers, they’re pretty much always available, keen as mustard for a couple of days, and you usually know where to find them.
Just don’t pay them in the evening if they’re due to work the next day.

Wow
Joking?

 

[evo]

I found my sometimes guy at a plant swap. He was building a one man landscaoing business, and we clicked. Been friends for years now.

I call those ‘my paid friends’

 

[oceans]

I found my sometimes guy at a plant swap. He was building a one man landscaping business, and we clicked. Been friends for years now.

I can’t like your post without opening an ad, but at least I can reply. We met our sometimes guy while he worked at a bird sanctuary. We took the kids there and somehow started talking. Said he was interested in part time tree work in the future when he planned to leave his position and start his small family farm. That was years ago and he’s still with us. Awesome guy. Awesome attitude. Ready to learn. Unbelievably flexible with the schedule….I guess you just luck out sometimes!

 

[ClimberClyde]

Curious: "...bring someone..." Who is that "someone"? How do you keep access to a helper without giving them adequate hours?

I'm glad to finally have a full time helper again! There are 2 sides to this coin, and I get to decide how to see it.
A) I can stress out about making sure they are generating revenue 40 hours per week (he wants full time work)
B) I can recognize that there are days there isn't much opportunity to generate revenue directly, but there is always training, maintenance, cleanup, etc... to be done, so can let him have the hours and recognize we'll make it up when there are invoices to be written at the end of the day.

I'm also fortunate to have a few part time helpers as well. One or two are happy to help whenever, but don't "need" or expect hours. They are both teachers, so summer only. Another would probably like to work every time he is available (full time student, and he has like 2-3 other jobs so sometimes that's limited) and he's a great worker so I'd like to have him help as much as possible. I recognize this is a temporary situation until he graduates. It'd be great to have him full time...but he's far to entrepreneurial. That's a great thing, but I don't think he'd want to be "tied down" to an employer. As we spend time together I can envision giving him some free reigns if he wants to use that entrepreneurial here, but I have doubts that will be enough to scratch that itch.

All that to say: I'm just curious how other people find good "sometimes" help.

I married my sometimes help
my wife's a badass - she can do it all, but these days I'll only bring her out if it's rigging or I need a spotter. She's earned the right to not do tree work again lol, but she's the best rigger and one of the best tree workers I know.
More than that then my sister in law, who was one of our employees and we trained, is another option.

Working with these 2 other smaller businesses has also netted me a small pool of competent guys who are happy to work the extra odd day.

if it weren't for those then I don't know what I would do - we conscripted the sister in law and trained her because the help that was available was unimpressive lol.

 

[Mick Dempsey!]

Wow
Joking?

Partly.
I had a guy from the village to help me as a third man on a casual basis when I was in the UK over 20 years ago.
We had quite a few run ins, but he was no thief, and if he was ‘there’ he did ok.
In the end (long after I left) he straightened himself out to an extent, does ROW line clearance now, functioning member of society.

 

[VenasNursery]

Partly.
I had a guy from the village to help me as a third man on a casual basis when I was in the UK over 20 years ago.
We had quite a few run ins, but he was no thief, and if he was ‘there’ he did ok.
In the end (long after I left) he straightened himself out to an extent, does ROW line clearance now, functioning member of society.

I’m glad it worked out for you but but no illegal drug addicts allowed on my jobs period.
I’m a business not a rehab