Treehumper down and getting back up.

CreTree said:
18% is pretty fair from what i've read about other states. I recall some one saying they pay something like 30%. How can you even function as a business?
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Ours is 25%
Like $7,500 on a minimum payroll of $31,000.
So if you do less then $31,000 you still pay $7,500.

Wc auditor said we (tree services) are up there with loggers and roofers.
Our rates can go don a bit after several years. Nice thing about being in the higher bracket is during an audit they don't need to go through your invoices. A landscaper doing tree work or a builder doing roofing has to be scrutinized to see how much they dabble in the higher brackets.

I have considered starting a landscape biz just for clean ups, hedges, small pruning, and stump grinding. Amazing what landscaping insurance covers. As with gl and wc both are based off payroll, not income. Tree crew just gets the trees on the ground cut up.
 
CreTree said:
Damn! Take it slow and easy.
What were you climbing? I had a Black Oak tear out on me last summer while doing the same thing. Only difference was it was a six inch union and I was saved by the crutch two feet below.
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Wow, six inches. It is difficult to wrap my mind around that one. The fact that you were saved by "the crotch below" is why I like SRT so much. I purposely try to set things up so that the next crotch below my primary suspension point is not too much of a drop. I also like to spread the rope out over multiple support points whenever possible.

Both of these incidents happening to climbers that I'm almost certain have much more experience than myself causes me to want to stick with DSRT. If I have any say in the matter, that is.

I still don't own any swivels, but I can see them in my future. Thanks for your post, CreeTree.

Tim
 
Tim, it's about understanding the forces generated and being patient about setting your TIP. That was my mistake, rushing, getting impatient about setting my line and then settling on a less than ideal TIP. Do your homework on SRT and the different elements used and how they interact. It'll help you gain confidence in it and make informed purchases.

Good luck with it!
 
Thanks, treehumper. DSRT is my typical climbing mode, but I'm not currently nor have I yet been a pro arb. So when I climb, I have in the past had the luxury of taking as long as I felt I needed to get set up in a way I feel comfortable with.

If I end up going to work as a climber for someone else, I can easily see how one could end up feeling pushed just to get up into the tree in order to show progress. It would be tough for a new guy to insist on doing things in a way that seems like it takes way too long to the guys that have been doing the job for years.

This is what has me thinking I might prefer to start really small and simple and to work only for myself, assuming I could ever convince a stranger to hire me in the first place.

Tim
 
yoyoman said:
@treehumper I'm not sure if you saw my video on stress testing support points. I'm sure most of us would feel comfortable on a 4" limb as you decribed. I'd be interested in your perspective of the test.
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I have seen the post but haven't looked at it. I want to be able to focus on it and absorb it. I've been in a more vegetative state of late when I get on here.:aburrido:
 
Rob! man, I'm happy to read these last few pages and read that you are doing so much better and got back up in the trees. Awesome, man!

BTW, last summer, I had a 5" while oak limb break out on my accent, SRT with raptor, I might have been 25 feet high, (I forget, but it's on cell ph vidoe) I fell softly about maybe 10 feet, till another 5 inch limb and 6 inch limb caught, then, maybe 40 seconds latter, BOTH of those broke as well, as they peeled off, I was touching the ground and ran backwards so I wouldn't get hit by the limbs coming down. no injury thankfully to me. There was no defects, but really hot temperature for 2 weeks and the oak was very abnormal. healthy white oak. I actually have it all on cell phone video, because I was filming the ascent just in case I felt like sharing it on instagram. I put out a warning that day on instagram for others to beware of abnormal dry oaks with "sudden limb drop" tendencies. That tree was so odd, you could take a live 1 inch diameter limb and snap it off the tree, like it was a tulip tree. the lowest limbs and interior limbs had the normal white oak elasticity and strength. I might have posted the video on my instagram, I can't remember. I even kinda forgot this happened to me, until I just read these other stories. Some day, maybe I'll write the details. I've only experience trees acting crazy from dry and heat, like 3 times in my whole career and when it happens, it blows you away.
 
theXman said:
Rob! man, I'm happy to read these last few pages and read that you are doing so much better and got back up in the trees. Awesome, man!

BTW, last summer, I had a 5" while oak limb break out on my accent, SRT with raptor, I might have been 25 feet high, (I forget, but it's on cell ph vidoe) I fell softly about maybe 10 feet, till another 5 inch limb and 6 inch limb caught, then, maybe 40 seconds latter, BOTH of those broke as well, as they peeled off, I was touching the ground and ran backwards so I wouldn't get hit by the limbs coming down. no injury thankfully to me. There was no defects, but really hot temperature for 2 weeks and the oak was very abnormal. healthy white oak. I actually have it all on cell phone video, because I was filming the ascent just in case I felt like sharing it on instagram. I put out a warning that day on instagram for others to beware of abnormal dry oaks with "sudden limb drop" tendencies. That tree was so odd, you could take a live 1 inch diameter limb and snap it off the tree, like it was a tulip tree. the lowest limbs and interior limbs had the normal white oak elasticity and strength. I might have posted the video on my instagram, I can't remember. I even kinda forgot this happened to me, until I just read these other stories. Some day, maybe I'll write the details. I've only experience trees acting crazy from dry and heat, like 3 times in my whole career and when it happens, it blows you away.
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That's an incredible stroke of luck! Glad you came out of it intact. Where on the first limb did you set your line?
 
theXman said:
Rob! man, I'm happy to read these last few pages and read that you are doing so much better and got back up in the trees. Awesome, man!

BTW, last summer, I had a 5" while oak limb break out on my accent, SRT with raptor, I might have been 25 feet high, (I forget, but it's on cell ph vidoe) I fell softly about maybe 10 feet, till another 5 inch limb and 6 inch limb caught, then, maybe 40 seconds latter, BOTH of those broke as well, as they peeled off, I was touching the ground and ran backwards so I wouldn't get hit by the limbs coming down. no injury thankfully to me. There was no defects, but really hot temperature for 2 weeks and the oak was very abnormal. healthy white oak. I actually have it all on cell phone video, because I was filming the ascent just in case I felt like sharing it on instagram. I put out a warning that day on instagram for others to beware of abnormal dry oaks with "sudden limb drop" tendencies. That tree was so odd, you could take a live 1 inch diameter limb and snap it off the tree, like it was a tulip tree. the lowest limbs and interior limbs had the normal white oak elasticity and strength. I might have posted the video on my instagram, I can't remember. I even kinda forgot this happened to me, until I just read these other stories. Some day, maybe I'll write the details. I've only experience trees acting crazy from dry and heat, like 3 times in my whole career and when it happens, it blows you away.
Click to expand...

I did a lightning protection installation in a large southern live oak that behaved similarly. It had ~90-95% leaf flush, the 5-10% being my only warning. Well, that and the grid of fire hydrants that encircled the root crown to within 20 ft. on each side... and the mulch/turf installation... went back to check on it this year and the leaf flush was ~15%. On ascent, I climbed to 25' before getting let down to the ground nice and easy. Reset my line and went back up. The whole time I was climbing I was breaking branches off. It's pretty crazy to have your hands out in 1-2" brittle wood.
 
treehumper said:
That's an incredible stroke of luck! Glad you came out of it intact. Where on the first limb did you set your line?
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I would have to review the video and follow up video to be sure , but it wasn't in the crotch, I know that. It was out 4 or 5 feet, I can't remember for sure right now, but it's on the vid. But it was white oak. White oak. a living white oak. Also, the raptor got caught in some brush on the way up, I need to say that. I let off the throttle, cause I thought about it adding pulling weight to the top limb. I let off the throttle, started to remove the brush and the top limb broke. I'll show it all someday. Can't get into it right now.
 
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