Raking up is hard to do-Stanley Longstaff

Maybe if one could lay out the chips in beautiful patterns around a tree, clients might be more keen to accept that the chips should be used to mulch the trees?
 
Matias said:
Maybe if one could lay out the chips in beautiful patterns around a tree, clients might be more keen to accept that the chips should be used to mulch the trees?
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I am almost always able to leave my chips which is great because I don't have a chip truck. Around here it's becoming a trend to clean your entire property (often a few acres) down to mineral I can only imagine the long term damage this is doing to the trees.
 
Vicente said:
I am almost always able to leave my chips which is great because I don't have a chip truck. Around here it's becoming a trend to clean your entire property (often a few acres) down to mineral I can only imagine the long term damage this is doing to the trees.
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How's the local wildfire situation?
 
southsoundtree said:
How's the local wildfire situation?
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We've been lucky and our local agencies have been stellar also its pretty far from forest service land so they aren't being told they can't respond and put it out. That being said it could be really bad if one got started on the wrong day, however leaf/pine needles aren't going to be what is the big issue it's ask the people who like having huge amount of brush for privacy or are just too lazy/cheap to take care of it.
 
After years of doing client's leaf raking gratis I came up with a new scheme. If they wanted me to do their fall raking when we did the pruning there was an up-charge. If not the first thing that would happen when we arrived was that one person would get the blower to clear the leaves back from under all of the trees we were working on. Piles were left in place. The time, and space on the chip truck, was amazing. If a client would grumble I reminded them that my company's middle name was 'tree' not 'lawn' Care
 
Tom Dunlap said:
After years of doing client's leaf raking gratis I came up with a new scheme. If they wanted me to do their fall raking when we did the pruning there was an up-charge. If not the first thing that would happen when we arrived was that one person would get the blower to clear the leaves back from under all of the trees we were working on. Piles were left in place. The time, and space on the chip truck, was amazing. If a client would grumble I reminded them that my company's middle name was 'tree' not 'lawn' Care
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Our standard practice is something similar, we blow the leaves out of our work area when we arrive, and we blow them back in and spread them out halfway decent before we go. With the giant backpack blower as of today, it’s not real hard to do. We certainly are not hauling a truckload of leaves away for no good reason.
 
In the sci-fi book 2312, they call these kind of impermanent art pieces "Goldsworthys", i love natural material landscape art. If you're into the zen leaves and haven't seen his stuff check out pictures of Andy Goldsworthy's projects
 
SeanRuel said:
In the sci-fi book 2312, they call these kind of impermanent art pieces "Goldsworthys", i love natural material landscape art. If you're into the zen leaves and haven't seen his stuff check out pictures of Andy Goldsworthy's projects
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Or better yet, look up 'Rivers & Tides'
 
I just leave leaves in place then light rake after. Sometimes the mess of fall makes clean up easier. Otherwise raking is one of my favourite activities at work. The more locust sticks and puzzle bundling to do, the better. That says a lot because climbing is a whole other level. The physical aspect and “zen” of raking, combined with the satisfying accomplishment, is elevating. So when clients complain about all the raking they have to do (not because I didn’t), I remind them that they should thank every leaf and enjoy the raking.


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oldoakman said:
I always hated raking after it snowed.
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My winter solution was to use the ATV to plow the snow before the climber started cutting. This was enough to do a 95% job. This was explained tithe client. Until one spring a client complained about the dab of debris we didn’t get. They wanted a stoopid amount refund to clean up. Truth be told they were chiselers because what was left would have been mow mulched. I had my crew do the rake up. After that my winter take up strategy was to let clients know that I plowed back and we did a really good rake up. If they wanted us to return in the spring I would have to charge $50 or something. No one had us come back. They mow mulched like normal people not like chiselers
 
Tom Dunlap said:
My winter solution was to use the ATV to plow the snow before the climber started cutting. This was enough to do a 95% job. This was explained tithe client. Until one spring a client complained about the dab of debris we didn’t get. They wanted a stoopid amount refund to clean up. Truth be told they were chiselers because what was left would have been mow mulched. I had my crew do the rake up. After that my winter take up strategy was to let clients know that I plowed back and we did a really good rake up. If they wanted us to return in the spring I would have to charge $50 or something. No one had us come back. They mow mulched like normal people not like chiselers
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As with any functional relationship, the setting of boundaries is a must. You can't have too many CYA clauses in your contract.
 
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