Tree Jobs and Job Adds

erik smith said:
There you have it. Thats the world we are now living in. $14-$19 an hour for a quality certified arborist? Blasphemy! Man I sure feel blessed to have come up in a time when you could risk your ass, work hard and make a living.
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Could you define "make a living"? Just curious to what your living entails
 
Here on Cape Cod if your a top climber for a top company you maxing out around $25-$27. Like stated, awesome money for a single guy. Did not seem to be much to for much advancement there, but really maybe that was my.lack of patience. I mean I was making $21 and said I got two offers for $25, his response was real quick, we'll pay you that. At that moment I said screw fighting for a dollar here or there, trying to negotiate/ prove worth all the time for a liveable pay rate doing something many don't, can't, or some simply won't (you've met him. "There wires 20' from the tree, too close. That tree has a small wound somewhere, I'm not climbing it" blah blah).
Someone I talked to abpit contracting for them tried to talk me out of it saying with my credentials and resume I should be able to get a job for like 30-35 am hr. I said you want to but a truck and chipper and pay me that?
"Well we don't do much tree work and it's a competitive market....." Yada yada yada.
Ya sure I hear ya bub. NEXT!
 
And some people I talk to about contract climber.
"I just cant keep a good climber they all just move one blah blah blah. What's your rate?"
"$400 a day up to 9.5 hrs"
"That's a little steep I'm looking to get a good climber in here for like $20-$25 an hr."
NEXT!
 
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Here in Aus I'm working for a company that does both line clearance and residential work, I'm a fully ticketed climber, tickets for ewp and various plant equipment, hr truck license and currently doing by Arb course and I'm only on $26hr, our unskilled groundies get $24 all climbers get paid the same. Considering the risks, physical and mental effort it requires you really have to love it for it to be worth doing
 
Lots of great complaints about not being paid like a professional but are you a professional?

What I see is that people with something more than skills alone can take them elsewhere and make more money, people with climbing and chainsaw skills are stuck in the tree climber world and can expect to top out at about $27-20 in private business.

For a company to pay $30 per hour for a climber year round they likely need to be charging at least $75 per hour for any hope of that climber contributing to profit for the business. Does that help to put into perspective why wages top out at what many consider too low a rate?
 
mrtree said:
Lots of great complaints about not being paid like a professional but are you a professional?

What I see is that people with something more than skills alone can take them elsewhere and make more money, people with climbing and chainsaw skills are stuck in the tree climber world and can expect to top out at about $27-20 in private business.

For a company to pay $30 per hour for a climber year round they likely need to be charging at least $75 per hour for any hope of that climber contributing to profit for the business. Does that help to put into perspective why wages top out at what many consider too low a rate?
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i totally get what your saying mrtree. i think to pay a climber who's solely a climber year round $35 an hr out my way is pretty tough. And i don't care if you believe me or not, you don't have to for what Im saying to be true , but i am professional. (I'm fairly confident at this point your just dying to tell me I'm not professional, and thats fine, the way you write makes me have very little concern of what you assume about me). i worked my ass of and was constantly nagging about wanting to learn more, but there wasn't a lot of opportunity provided. all i could really be was the climber. which is fine if thats the offered positioned, but i wanted more so i moved on.

now i do bet that if i had the necessary patience that my previous employer would have sooner or later had an advancement opportunity, so that part is definitely on me, not the employer, and I'm willing to bet thats the case for a few of us if we were real about it.

I'm curious how many companies are constantly working on training their top climber into their next position and the next guy into the next top climber position. I've never seen it. Its gotta be a constant thing, a culture set in the company. it would probably be an attractive trait to people who come to work there.
 
I can certainly understand that different markets and areas drive different pay scales. Where we are, $30- hr plus is a good living, but go two hours east and you can get $5-10 hr more if you want to be in the city. Im just curious though about the type of company those of you who are very quick to say (what Im paying is nothing and that there should be a 6 hr work day) are working for or running. Like I said I know different markets drive different scenarios but I find it hard to believe that theres a lot of outfits that can pay a climber those type of wages or more if your only working 6 hrs a day. By the way we rarely work less than 9-10 hours a day so Im trying really hard to see how it would be profitable in 6 hours to load gear, mobilize equipment, perform a safety meeting, clean up, return to shop, fill out paperwork.......How much time working is that? 3-4 hours? Are you taking lunch as well? Id really like to hear more about this biz model.
 
erik smith said:
No biz model here. We show up, and wreck whatever is in front of us for a fair price. Simple shit. If you read what I said, I was referring to 6 hours of spur time. I started climbing at 15 and am now in my mid 50's and still kicking' ass! I figured out a long time ago that grinding it out for 10 hours everyday is just gonna wear you out, and you ain't gonna last long. If you feel like you have to grind it out for 9-10 hours everyday to make $ then maybe you need to rethink your biz model!
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So far my biz models done me pretty well actually. I employ 5-6 well paid arborists who can provide a good living for there families, give them top of the line equipment to use bennies and a lot more. Im also raising four kids with this "flawed biz model" as well. Just saying.......
 
i make $30 an hour. Wouldn't work for much less because I'm worth more than that. I work 8 hours. Sometimes 8.5 then I go if the jobs done or not. I have onligations to my son. I have 20 years in the trees. I've run a biz. I've managed crews. I'm an cert arb CTSP cdl-b can pass a drug test any day of the week. I take care of the company gear like it belonged to me. I'm trustworthy and accountable. I'm safe I have about 10k worth of tree gear I use for the company that belongs to me and I bring all my own saws. I can run your biz while your on vacation and have many times. I pick up the trash in your trucks and check the fluids and tire pressure. Grease your shit without being asked. Deal with your customers and collect your checks without you worrying I'm gonna skip town. How am I not worth every single penny you pay me. I'm my neck of the woods I'm not the typical climber. That's why I'd rather not work for most than take a pay cut.
 
My last gig initially offered me $50 an hour in tree time. I felt like it was too subjective. Does that include throw ball time or when my feet leave the ground? We settled on $30 an hour all day. Sometimes we do 4 or 5 small jobs a day. I'd loose money on those days plus what am I gonna do, sit in the truck and watch them work?
 
Bottom line our pay isn't what we're worth if we're serious professionals or a reputable biz. It's really not my issue what the boss bids. If he wants to make a profit and pay me what I'm worth he better be good at sales. Luckily mine is very good at sales.
 
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