Am I a wuss?

Geese its not that big of a tree, you need the money now go get some,
Thats what im talking about.
 
At my own peril I'll jump into the fray :/:
I too am a part time "wood tick". I don't have allot of the equipment I want but what I do have is insurance. Whenver I look at a job I show the HO the cover page of my ins. policy and give them a card from my agent and encorage them to have a verifcation faxed to them of simply call to verify. Most don't but that's not the point. It's always in the front of my mind that the biggest investment working folks make is their home! They are tusting me to do a job that may damage or even destory it. Andy, if you do damage, destroy or hurt someone you can, will and should be held liable for it. As a biz owner (part time or full makes no differance) you owe that to your customers. I know you said he's "ok" with knowing you don't have ins. but do you really think he'll say that should something go bad? I also keep all my rigging gear in tip top shape and use only rated items for rated jobs. Why? So as to protect myself as well as the HO.
Lastly, as far as the job being to much for you only you can decide that. Looks pretty straight forward to me but thats only from pictures. We all need to push ourselves to learn more but the trick is not to push too far. I you think it's a "little" out of your league then go for it. On the other hand if you think it's "way" out maybe your better off passing. Good luck!
 
I know you said he's "ok" with knowing you don't have ins. but do you really think he'll say that should something go bad?

I'll second the excellent on that post.

Aside from the risk of the homeowner no longer being "cool" about the lack of insurance should you goof, rest assured, the clients insurance company will come looking for their pound of flesh should they get stuck for a claim.
 
Andy- I meant no offense and was not intending to trash you.
I know you are an intelligent person and quick to figure things out. I was merely pointing out what no one else seemed to want to mention to you.
I cant honestly say Ive never done sidework without being insured. Guilty. But to me it was always sidework and thats it, I never gave a competing bid for a large job (that Im aware of) against a legitimate company.
When I ran my own company, there were times when things were tight and I needed every and any job I could get. Nothing pissed me off more than to find out Ive lost a job to a guy who does work on the side, without insurance, licensing, comp, etc, etc. all the meanwhile Im struggling to make ends meet because I have the overhead of running a legitimate business.
You get what Im saying! Just dont become that guy!

Whatever you decide, be safe, and hire that climber! Dont you dare try to climb that thing yourself. And remember what the others have mentioned above about insurance. Just because he says he'll hire you without it, doesnt put you in the free and clear. You would be held liable for any property damage, injury, or death ultimately, but I assume you know that, and Im sure you dont plan to have any occurrences, but they are never planned.

Not trying to rain on your parade, just want you to see things from another perspective is all.

Be safe my friend!
 
At my own peril I'll jump into the fray :/:
I too am a part time "wood tick". I don't have allot of the equipment I want but what I do have is insurance. Whenver I look at a job I show the HO the cover page of my ins. policy and give them a card from my agent and encorage them to have a verifcation faxed to them of simply call to verify. Most don't but that's not the point. It's always in the front of my mind that the biggest investment working folks make is their home! They are tusting me to do a job that may damage or even destory it. Andy, if you do damage, destroy or hurt someone you can, will and should be held liable for it. As a biz owner (part time or full makes no differance) you owe that to your customers. I know you said he's "ok" with knowing you don't have ins. but do you really think he'll say that should something go bad? I also keep all my rigging gear in tip top shape and use only rated items for rated jobs. Why? So as to protect myself as well as the HO.
Lastly, as far as the job being to much for you only you can decide that. Looks pretty straight forward to me but thats only from pictures. We all need to push ourselves to learn more but the trick is not to push too far. I you think it's a "little" out of your league then go for it. On the other hand if you think it's "way" out maybe your better off passing. Good luck!

I agree. Very well said!
 
I say bring it, woodticks. I deal with it all the time. I live in the land of logging, everyother person around here seems to be a faller or climber/rigger(like I was). I give my price and move on. I'm not really in the market for clients who would hire someone without proper insurance anyways, so losing that customer doesn't bother.

1. Right off the bat the customer told you the price of the other company. To me that is a red flag, they're bargain hunting.

2. They're ok with you not having insurance as long as your cheap, 2nd red flag.

3. They're waiting this long to decide, maybe they won't even bother doing the work or can't afford it anyways, 3rd red flag.

I'd have long ago given my price and forgotten about them and moved on.

Andy if you can make it work and make a buck, the call is yours. You've gotten lots of sound advice.8) I would do that tree in a heartbeat for the prices you're talking.
 
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  • #84
To clairify a couple of things:
They "other guy" that did the bid has no insurance or equipment either. This is all coming to light as we go on. Y ou know how that goes. He's "done some tree work before" kinda guy. So I am not taking anything from a legitimate company to start with. Go figure?
The branches that are over the house are ove my buddies house.
Absolute worst case, I sheath and roof his house. There are no branches over the HO's house to worry about, just over the small trees.
I had to go bid another job today, crown reduction in a LARGE Maple. I have decided to bring the climber in on that one as well. I have it set up to go with him Saturday afternoon and look at both jobs to get his thoughts on both.

Edit: and no Top, I didn't take offense, that is why I didn't respond as I wanted, because it would have come across that way and I didn't want it to.
 
The world is forked. In the beginning Eve handed Adam a bit of forbidden fruit and he asked " Does our insurance cover this?" ...NOT. The industrial revolution was revving up Eli Whitney was ginning cotton and inspiring firearms makers to create mass production and they all asked "Hmmm...., do the rest of you have liability insurance? I think I need waivers of liability in triplicate , a certificate of insurance naming me as an additional insured and proof of state and local licensing." NOT!

Yes I am licensed and insured......and it doesn't make a bit of difference in the value that the thousands of people I worked for before I obtained those things received. Follow your gut and conscience Andy.
 
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  • #86
Wel Justin, if someone "real" wants the job, I will back down in a heartbeat. But the $4k is unrealistic. Even at $2.5k I think I am high, but at this point that is my limit. That gives me a CYA factor and I don't feel like I am cutting anybody out.
I have the utmost faith in the climber I am working with and have conceded that I am not capable of climbing this job.
Right now, my conscience is clear on this one. I just need to find a real chipper:)
 
I'm not being a "hater" here either. I just think it's important for anyone to cover their butt. Sure you can get carried away with it and be paralyzed with fear but that's not what I'm saying. Your clearly a smart guy Andy you know what you need to do. My biggest point is insurance is a two way thing it protects you as much as the HO.
 
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  • #88
The way things are setting up I will have little more to do with this than shag brush!
The climber has a guy that will chip for $100 and hour. Soundshigh until I did the math. $200 for the chipper thats going to mostly suck, $200 for the rolloff that is going to be in the way. So there is four hours. I'm still not sure how much weight it will be so say four tons, that's another $110.
I think that is the way to go on that one. Before it's ove I may just get paid to organize and stand around telling people what to do! I think I could handle that:lol:
 
Wood chips are about 500 pounds per cubic yard, if that helps you at all.
 
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  • #90
BUNCHES!!!!! So if I fill up a 40 yd. rolloff it's ten ton. I think it's about half of that so it's fiveish. 2 ton are included, that leaves three ton at $55, or $165. Plus the $185 and $205 means I can dump $555 into having it chipped and still be where I was without have to do it:D As I have figured six hours for us to chip it, I might even be better off.

Thanks Erik!
 
Ther isn't six hours of chipping there with a decent chipper......but you may use up 6 hours bucking, chipping and raking....if you work alone....slowly.
 
Hell, in land clearing we might do 10 or 15 of those trees in a day.
 
[...] Before it's ove I may just get paid to organize and stand around telling people what to do! I think I could handle that:lol:

That happens every once in a while.
Best money I've made in tree work was on a job I didn't want or have time for. I didn't even pick up a saw, just sold the job, hired a good crew and watched other people work.
 
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