Subbing out my chipping/hauling...what?s a fair split?

Rangerbait

Treehouser
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Feb 13, 2018
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I already have a percentage in mind, but want to hear what my esteemed Tree House brethren think.

My stump sub has recently acquired a 15? Morbark, and is about to invest in an articulating mini loader with a grapple.

He has approached my with a proposition to handle all of the chipping and wood hauling side of my business, since I do not have to requisite iron to make it not suck.

The deal would be that I continue to drum up all of the business and handle all of the customer interface, all removal/trimming, and an equal share of the bucking if the customer opts for our ?you keep the firewood? package.

So what percentage of the job is reasonable for what he is bringing to the table?

TIA.
 
A flat percentage doesn't make sense. A tree in a tight area vs a job felling trees in a open area shifts the quantity of work either way.

Hourly, day rate, etc might be another way to look at pricing the work.
 
Possibly a price per load might work better in some circumstances. More closely equates to the amount of work involved, and easier for you to bid jobs knowing how much the hauling and disposal will cost (assuming you correctly estimate the volume of debris).

But yeah, a daily rate or truckload rate are your two best choices. Why should he make better money on higher priced jobs that are much more technically challenging? He's not rigging the tree down from over the tile roof.
 
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  • #4
Price per load would be tricky in this market due to the number of customers who want to keep the wood, and my debris estimation skills are not great.

I definitely agree about how the complexity/risk of the job would leave me paying him far more than I should for certain jobs.

I wonder if some sort of tiered split would work to even it out? The really technical jobs would shift the split x% more in my favor, and vice verse.
 
Same problem with per load, a tree next to the street is far different than that technical tree in the back of the back yard covered in dog crap.


Hourly rate plus disposal expense could be the easiest route.


Do ya'll do a percentage on stump grinding? I doubt it.
 
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  • #7
Same problem with per load, a tree next to the street is far different than that technical tree in the back of the back yard covered in dog crap.


Hourly rate plus disposal expense could be the easiest route.


Do ya'll do a percentage on stump grinding? I doubt it.

Surprisingly, he agreed to 60/40 on the grinding.
 
IMO be prepared to be paying more than you think for clean up it only takes five minutes with a saw to make a few hours of clean up. Plus if they brick on the clean up it's your name that is attached to the job. There are very few I trust to make a yard spotless if I am unable to be there for all phases of the job.
 
Regardless of the method, the important thing is to figure out how much he wants to make per day in order to be happy. Obviously some days are better than others, but you need to find out what his desired rate is and then structure it so he can make that and you can be happy as well. You start out be saying to him "Hey bud, how much do you need to make per day in order to be happy?"
 
60/40 of what?

Right? Who is setting the price? Forget splitting anything. Set your own price and if they want to use you, fine. If not it won't be worth it to you. You need to figure out how much it take for you to make money, then up it a little because you are probably not figuring on something breaking.
 
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  • #13
Well, this thread is now moot...turns out my sub and I have incompatible visions for my company, and so we have parted ways. I am now in the market for some new equipment, so I will start a dedicated thread to that end. Fortunately, this finally gives me a reason to hire a new guy that I?ve been hoping to find a place for.
 
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