what does our industry pay?

A

AllAboutTrees

Location
Louisiana, Texas
We are looking to hire another Certified Arborist for our Plant Health Care Area of our Business, I am curious of what Others are paying or receiving for this position (for those of you that don't mind telling). I have heard some shocking low #s from some that I have asked and some that were more realistic. This should be interesting to more than just me.

Thanks
~Bill
 
The description of who you are looking for is very vague. Are you just looking for a laborer who passed a test, or are you looking to bring on someone who will can take on a lot of responsibility, has a lot of knowledge, and can also sell work.
 
A ground guy= $12-$18+/hr
Solid climber=$18-$35/hr
"Unicorn", can do it all, run a crew, deal with customers, climb like a boss (prune with out spikes/ rig big and safe) operator of anything with controls, cdl, good attitude, mechanic/trouble shooter...I'd start you at $25/he...prove yourself and you'd be pushing $40/hr cause you'd make me a lot of money.
 
And also remember, fair or not, some potential customers will be price comparing your PHC program to that of TruGreen or something. We very much try to avoid that via demonstrating knowledge and dont try to compete at some price points.
 
Jem4417 said:
Where I'm from your lucky to be getting 28 for the unicorn. Full benefits, 401k, incentive program(it barely works in the employees favor) quarterly safety bonus and equipment bonus, uniforms and your basic big company perks but 28 for a stud is their max around here
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why do you think that is? Too many studs?
Where? Are there a bunch of mature companies (cranes)?

No one around here has a crane. Only one other full time (for 6-8 months) tree service that comes close to our volume and 6 part time guys with full time jobs.


Maybe if I offered 401 and beni's it would be near $25. Union climbers round here make bout $48/hr with benifits after 15 years...comes out to round $24/hr before benefits. I hired one last year for 6 months, he was not worth $20/hr.

Prevailing wage jobs for our work is about $45/hr.
 
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I think the industry wage around here is driven down by hacks and even if you took out all the hacks there's a ton of good tree services around here too. It seems like a big circle of the climbers recycling tree services and tree services expecting a certain turnover that keeps them stocked with young guys or gals. Or even waiting to catch someone for a year or two that came to the different company thinking if they bust ass where they switched too they will get somehwere only to find out the grass isn't greener on the other side. So the 15 year climber ends up starting his own thing driving down prices even more
 
Yea, told somebody recently I'd pay someone $50/hr if they could do what I do. They said, " they would have their own business and be a legit competitor"

That union guy thought the grass was greener in residential tree work, till I had him dropping 16' logs from 100' with a 70cc saw. O god the best was trying to get him to climb 20' with no spikes to prune a few limbs, guy could not do it. Even after me showing him several times. He tucked it back to "trimming" around lines, till he ended up in the clink for heroin.
 
tc262 said:
The description of who you are looking for is very vague. Are you just looking for a laborer who passed a test, or are you looking to bring on someone who will can take on a lot of responsibility, has a lot of knowledge, and can also sell work.
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I just wanted to open the decision and see where it would go.

I'm actually not looking for a climber, Im looking for some one in the Plant Heath care area of our business. A brief of what Im looking for follows:

This position will involve monitoring, evaluating, and providing the plant health care needs on clientele property.
Performs all functions of the integrated pest management program, including administration, scheduling, inspections, sampling, treatments, inventories, equipment maintenance, record keeping, report writing, and customer relations
 
JD3000 said:
Correct. What qualifications and experience are you looking to have for the job? A technician or a diagnostic arborist?
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Yes, I'm looking for some one in the Plant Heath care area of our business. A brief of what Im looking for follows:

This position will involve monitoring, evaluating, and providing the plant health care needs on clientele property.
Performs all functions of the integrated pest management program, including administration, scheduling, inspections, sampling, treatments, inventories, equipment maintenance, record keeping, report writing, and customer relations
 
AllAboutTrees said:
We are looking to hire another Certified Arborist for our Plant Health Care Area of our Business, I am curious of what Others are paying or receiving for this position (for those of you that don't mind telling). I have heard some shocking low #s from some that I have asked and some that were more realistic. This should be interesting to more than just me.

Thanks
~Bill
Click to expand...

Crazy_Jimmy said:
Doesnt the TCIA put out a survey for pay from state to state ?
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I thought that myself and i called yesterday and someone will hopefully get back to me.
 
Good PHC manager would start at about $45K here plus incentives which would include sales and production bonuses. Salary can go up a great deal depending on market share. Would also depend on if they had to do production as well as managerial and administrative duties you outlined. Also depends on market pricing and level of competition.
 
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