Tree removal dilemma?

OK, we have heard some good general suggestions, but not enough about the jobsite. I'd like to hear what you CAN do there. Can you reach the whole tree with the bucket? If not, describe what you cannot reach. Do you have rigging points to get the stuff over the roof? Do you have a landing zone to throw or rope stuff to? Can you even get to the stuff over the roof (I assume you can, either with the bucket or climbing)?

Once you get the brush out, can you chunk out the wood or will it need to be rigged out? Lack of landing area under the tree and not being able to chunk out the wood are two points that make me want to use a crane. If not a crane, do you have sound wood from which to rig a speedline?
 
Howzabout a phased removal? Take down or deenergize the wires on one side and rig that side of the tree down. Come back later & get a line drop/kill and do the rest of the trees then.

When in tight quarters, just add an order of complexity to the job. It's only money!
 
Sounds like a tricky one. One thing caught my eye- the power company can be difficult to convince- I have run into that as well. I wonder is that because they don't want to take the heat from thier customers? Getting the lines de-energized would for sure be preferable. From your description I could see maybe slabbing wafers and chucking them into an lz. Good luck and watch your back!
 
Why dont you just bust out the saw and cut the freakin poles, then when the elec. co. shows, theyll move the lines in order to replace everything and that may give you time to fell the trees. If they wont help you willingly, make them secondarily.

Round here, if we need servie lines dropped, OGE shows up willingly. Now, cable/phone, forget it. theyd rather come after damage has been done.
 
Most places will disco service, getting transmission moved is like pulling teeth.

Destroying the local plant may be a fantasy we all have had at one time or another, but not really practical.
 
I have a friend but I won't mention his name here, who had a problem with the electric company. They wanted $800.00 to drop the lines and 3 weeks notice. After asking a few more of the right questions, he cleared the area (not a busy part of town) flopped the tree right through the power line ripping it down to the ground, called the Electric company to fix his accident which they did within a half hour and they fined him $80. He made their work harder but saved $720.

I do not reccomend people try this as a reputation is an easy thing to dammage and it may not be the safest way to go about it. I just thought I would mention it.

Dave
 
Thansk for all of the ideas. I like to see what people suggest, and have encountered.

Rock, I plan on doing these with a crane for two reasons. 1) The rigging point (and almost all of the tree) lean over the house, lines and landscape. Rigging would be a real pain, but could be done if we had to.

2)There is nothing safe to do with this wood except lift it straight up and in between the primaries. Even cutting fire wood would be a pain, that is if you could even avoid all of the wires and the sidewalk and street. You would have to slam them on the street here.

I will use a bucket (75') since we have them. This will be a simple job IF they cut the power. If they don't, I might (thanks Dave;0)). I think they will.

I don't take electric lines lightly. My great uncle was killed doing tree work near a conductor. I wasn't alive yet, but that was the first (and hopefully last) Chisholm to be killed in this industry. I was taught to treat all wires as hot, unless they are tested and grounded. And, to never turn your back on a live wire.

I am pleased to see so many of you reply to this discussion. It will surely help keep us all in check. I will get some pics up here when I go back to the site.
 
Alright, tomorrow is the day! Well, not really for me, since the power company is sending a crew out to do the top-job. As it turns out, we asked the power co. to look at the scene and see what they would suggest, and they said that they would clear the trees down to the secondary wires.

I will have to have a chip crew there and then a log truck and grinder, but I don't have to do the removal? I will be sure to take some pics for you all, so see you tomorrow!
 
So, how does this affect your contract with your customer? If you contracted to do the removals but tax/ power company dollars pay for removing them, is the price re-negotiated after the power company guys remove everything except the last 20' of trunk? Or is it considered a 'profitable job'? You said you were sending out a chip crew and a log truck to watch the power guys, I assume you are billing the job as if your guys were actually doing the work? Sounds almost like a Government gig!
 
Well, glad you asked. I originally thought "cool" until I thought about it. First, we will get paid the full price as contracted. What I would've done was to have a 4 man crew with a crane do the removals totally by lunch time. Then, move on down the road and prune the hazardous stuff. What happened was, the power co. said we'll clear them below the wires because it is "...what we'd like to do...".

I said fine. I would rather just do them myself with the power cut, but alright. I showed up today with three guys and myself and met the two crews who would do the removals. They said that we had to do clean up during the day.

We shut the road down and set up. I gave my guys some instructions to "let them do their thing and try to clean up and stay out of their way." Sounds good. I went down a few houses and removed a small maple. Then moved down to start pruning the die back of a few large oaks. I was on the same block as them, so I could see the whole deal.

Scary stuff! The power was on and the wires weren't wrapped. They proceeded to tag team the big tree first by cutting and chucking and then some roping. Traditional stuff. Three starnd 1/2" line and wraps on the tree (and then around the pole later). Since the trees were between the wires, the rigging line ran against the wires most of the day. I eveb saw the rope running between the wires a couple of times. Did I mention that they broke a fence and damaged some plants?

When they got down to where there were no crotches, they asked to borrow a pulley (and a larger rope too). When Nick saw that the rigger was trying to tie a timber hitch by running the tail through the eye-splice, he said "wait!" and went up in the 2nd bucket to teach a little class on rigging. Scary.

Then, the got down to a little above the primaries and gave up on the bigger tree. They said something about not having a large enough saw or something?

I watched them start the second tree and absolutely cringed! I never thought that those wires would take such a load and not break! Wow! Unreal!

At any rate, I had a three man crew with them for most of the day (and cleaning up my mess along the way) and we have to go back to finish the two removals again tomorrow. Profit? Hmmm? Doubt it.

They still have to do the hardest part. The bigger tree is still between the wires. Enough said - I'm exhausted with the whole deal.

Here's some photos.
 

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