In the tornado hit area, there was also a very large Tulip tree, uprooted partially, fell into another large Tulip.
I am not exaggerating the size, I will measure diameter for the exact size when final trunk is felled; I'm quite sure it's around 4 foot diameter, maybe slightly over that.
It's height after judging from the crane height (tip of crane 134 feet)was likely around 140 feet. IF 140 feet, it would be likely the tallest tree removal I've done in my career. Before that, some 132 footers or 134 and maybe a 138-140 foot. Definitely in the top 5 tallest or likely THE tallest removal.
Anyway, back to the situation. It uprooted in the tornado, wedged tight into another large tulip tree. Fairly high angle though, with huge 25 foot root plate. So, tree more likely to stand back up verses continue falling.
The home owner normally works with.... say tree company "C". Tree company C looks at it for a little while, shakes his head and said you better call Arbor-X on this one. (the home owner tells me this, as we are not taking new customers).
Now, I applaud tree company C. We on treebuzz have talked about this before; having the sense to recognize and walk away from something that you or your employees are not experienced with. This is a reputable company that does a large volume of work and only has a few jobs they have said they don't want to do.
Well, I look at the tree and I'm in love with the job. I tell them I'm NOT going to price it as an emergency rate job. Just a normal job. Going to price it accurate, what is fair for the time and crane involved. Nothing more, nothing less.
I spent probably an hour on site, piecing it out in my mind. Plus another tree they wanted out.
When i gave them the detailed estimate, I could tell they didn't like the price, because they REALLY thanked me for my time.
A day went by, I texted tree company C and thanked him for the referral but it looked like i was not getting the job.
He inquired with the H.O. He found out that two lawn service companies (one of which was Bane's) and several tree service companies had approached him asking to do the work. One was $3000 less than me, another was $2000 less than me. With the big price difference he was considering them. After tree service C talked to the H.O. pleading with then not to go with anyone else for safety and property sake, the H.O. contacted me and said they think they want to go with me, especially if i could do anything with the price. Tree service C had explained that there was very few jobs they pass and that the other companies submitting estimates were way underqualified to do the job; which could result in a climber death or property damage.
If I didn't love the looks of the job, I would have said NO, the price is the price; as I have done for quite some time now. (it's been so nice getting rid of customers that try to beat the price down). Anyway, I re-wrote it, re-figured it for the absolute fasted we could ever be on it. Then they accepted.
Here are some pictures. I can't imagine it going well for someone without significant experience. It went very smooth for us, but only because we took preventative measures; knowing it could very well stand back up, or could continue to fall. Most of the job is video from a tripod camera and my helmet camera. A few still pictures were taken from the ground, I will show them here.
(one of the lawn guys told the 85 yr old woman next door that she NEEDED to allow them to park a pickup truck in her front lawn so that they could pull the tree with a cable to keep it from falling on the house next door)
