The Big Ugly

PCTREE

PCTREE

Treehouser
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
6,033
Location
Charlottesville VA
So couple months ago I looked at a tree for a customer who had been given my name by an insurance co. in town who said I was an honest tree guy. She wanted me to put in writing that her tree, which the neighbor was worried about was OK. This poplar leant towards said neighbors house heavily and at 30' had a LARGE wound/hollow and the best part was there was at least 90' of tree above that!!!! I apoligised that I wouldnt be able to put that in writing and furthermore if I was the neighbor I wouldnt sleep in his house! She asked me for a price. She called after last weeks wind and said she wanted it done ASAP. I went to re-evaluate tree and really wished I had not bid on the tree, Ive always done big sketchy stuff but you know Ive got kids now...... sounds sappy but I want to watch my kids grow up and play with them and be proud. I even considered telling the chick I didnt want to do it. But I am a man of my word and I told her I would do it...

topped it out today and now at 4 Im drinking beer and vowing NO MORE BIG UGLIES!!!

Ascended a total of 600+feet today on the Wraptor..........Ill post pics/video as soon as I can
 
Last couple big uglies I refused were more ground ugly than anything.. I was supposed to rig these two bull pine down over roofs and basically junk yard.. I refuse to work in junk yards..
 
I guess whether you take'm or not , Big Uglies are a part of this business . I find that usually these trees have many bids over many years .... It's the "lucky" climber that gets'em ...
 
It's not easy to turn down a job just because it's a big-ugly. Because most of the time they are doable,, and we find an angle to accomplish them. But in spite it so often comes down to going beyond our normal threshold of comfort to do them,, even if it's just to prove to ourselves they can be done.

That's a part of this work that we all come up against every so often. Mostly for the young guys. When you get older you just naturally shy away from trees like that. It all comes from experience,, Hey??
 
Junkyards tear up rope and suck for trip hazard... Homeowner don't care enough to clean it up.... I don't care enough to work in the mess... Also... have had pieces of metal stick to sap (bull pine)and get in the chipper.. More hazardous to work around old metal piled and laying about than in a tree IMHO. Make sure you are up on your tetnus shots also .....:P
 
Big Uglies are all I ever get to do, usually. If I'm lucky I'll have a bucket, maybe a crane. But sometimes...

I've never done any work at a junkyard.
 
Yup, they are easier from a bucket. And around here at least, I can usually get high enough on the tree to rig out and catch the top without getting out of the bucket. If we had lots of 100'+ trees around here then I'd need a taller bucket truck.
 
I've got a few junkyard job stories ... the real hazardous waste is the annual trim / remove inside the dog pen ... nothing like DOGSHIT on a climbers rope !
 
Hell, I had to sign a ten page waiver acknowleging I knew there was unexploded ordinance and incapacitating agents, and would agree not to leave the road bed....do what. Crane JOB!!!
 
No_Bivy said:
Hell, I had to sign a ten page waiver acknowleging I knew there was unexploded ordinance and incapacitating agents, and would agree not to leave the road bed....do what. Crane JOB!!!
Click to expand...


:\:

Have to be careful around here of explosives... This is the gold mining belt of CA
The holes in the ground can cause ya issues too :/:
 
Altissimus said:
I find that usually these trees have many bids over many years .... It's the "lucky" climber that gets'em ...
Click to expand...

That is SO true !!!
I went on a bid for a big ugly standing dead Silver Maple for an old couple. DTE was doing line clearance (only) on it & the folks were informed by the crew that it was a hazard (ya think ?). I underbid it on purpose & asked the line clearance guy if he promised old boy a match on my price ?
"Oh, uhhhm, no, uhhh, I don't do side work."
Really ???!!!???
LMAO !!!
I knew the old couple wasn't going to follow through. He as much as told me he gets a bid on it every year.
 
I try to get as many of these jobs as possible, mainly because I can charge more for them. I do some work as a subcontractor for other tree services around here when their climbers don't want to do something. I like the challenge of trying to figure out a way to do something others can't.
 
I've been there too, boys...just make triple sure you take measures to ensure you can share that beer and enjoy the bragging rights!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #21
Altissimus said:
There is SATISFACTION in that job well done ... as well as brag rights over some BEER !!
Click to expand...

I call BS on that. This tree was huge but not dificult, it just happened that it didnt fail whilst I was in it due to me altering the balance, I have no idea how to asses the level of structural integrity left at the bad point. I rigged it out of 2 other trees so as to not shock the tree I was in. Bottom line is if it went bad I would have not survived, NO WAY. We go back tomorrow with crane to get wood so Ill post pics of bad spot. It will be interesting to make a cut through the spot to get a cross section. Im currently trying to upload a video to youtube.......
 
I bid a big ugly in the late 70s, only because it a referral from a friend. Noyo harbor hillside clearing job above the old Anchor Inn. A commercial fisherman's party spot in its day.

The job,,, dead and dying Bishop pines entwined with poison oak and every other kind of miserable Mffing vining thorny plant there could ever grow all bound up and over head high.

I didn't want to do it. I really mean, " I did not want to do it" So I bid a price that I was sure would scared the living daylights out of the customer into not taking it. But dang, I got it. SOB. So I had to honor it. It was miserable, torture, painful, boring and just plain sicking to have to endure.

And after was over I actually felt proud that I followed through and did a good job. And the crew I hired to share my misery with was happy too.

So we all brushed the dander off ourselves the best we could and went into the Anchor Inn and swilled brewskies with the fishermen til the sun went down and we woke up in the morning happily ever hung over and went to our regular company job.
 
:O Whoa - then wouldn't it have been better to bring in a crane? Even though this is the kind of job I specialize in, I would never consider doing it if there was a fair chance I might die. The point is to make money, which you can't do if you are dead.
 
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