Is a Port-A-Wrap a "must have" if only doing Horizontal Rigging?

Thanks everyone.... ha, but if I listened to some of you I think I would give up now!...

No one is recommending you give up. There are literally thousands of trees that can be cut that don't involve houses, electrical wires or other fragile obstacles that need to be missed. Work and gain experience with those and you will quickly learn what you can and cannot do.


Working safely with trees is like learning any other skill that has a physical component. It takes time and practice.
 
Recently priced a big oak takedown that I did not really want. It had torn a limb out a few months before and they were prime to remove the tree...right beside the house.

Big sprawling oak, no good TIPs, bucket would have been best. I priced it high enough that if I got the job I would have probably subbed it out some of the big guys here (buckets, skidders, etc.) and could have still made some money on the tree.

They didn't use me...no big deal. It was a monster and I really didn't want to do it myself. Whoever they saved money with got the tree down and gone. But the 48" diameter, 36" high stump is still there by the house....somebody cuts pieces off it once in awhile. Ugly sight.

Trees that you cannot safely do either don't try or sub them out is my point. And if you sub it out be on site to learn from how they do the job.
 
The flipside

But conversely, don't price yourself outrageously high to get out of the running; better to simply decline the job, in my reckoning. Case in point: a property owner hired us to take out two walnuts this week. They were in the back, access was somewhat poor but manageable -- close to primaries, but not extremely near (10-20'). The tree co. he'd previously used gave him a price of $7000, likely factored in a crane or else simply didn't want to do it. A bucket truck could've reached it from the back side, just have to thread in near the power lines. Our price was a bargain $1500, we keep the walnut logs, he kept firewood (winter prices -- probably a $2K job in summer). We used our grapple truck to crane out the near tree, then rigged down the 2nd tree and pulled its log close enough to crane it out.1/2 day for us, got to keep some nice milling wood.

But the kicker was, he now is going to give us all his properties tree work. The other tree co. not only bid themselves out of this job, but all future work with the owner. And then there's reputation -- he will recommend us to all his friends as safe, fast, affordable, good cleanup, etc.
 
I'll only add imo if you're going to sub work. Be upfront about it. I was subbed in by other companies at times and it seemed uncomfortable for the 'prime' contractor on a few occasions to explain to the customer why they hired 123 tree service but xyz was showing up to do the work. I never subbed out work myself.
 
I’ve come in as a subby for jobs I priced for my own biz over here.

We all just pretend it never happened and get on with it.
 
When I get a big gnarly removal, with good access for machinery, I have learned to just bid on it and if I get it I pass it right along to a company I work with that has a crane, bucket truck, grapple truck and monstrous stump grinder. I skim a few hundred bucks off the top and schedule something else for that day that better suits my skills. I have never had negative feedback regarding the name on the sides of he truck being different. I have never mentioned it to the customer. And they have never mentioned it to me. People don't care once the price is agreed to and the job gets done. It just makes to much sense. Why bust my ass when there exists iron that can handle it in less than a quarter of the time. We just focus on jobs that we are well suited for.
 
Maybe a cultural difference. I've experienced just the opposite. The customer perceives they are paying a 'middle man' and therefore conclude they've paid to much. Never mind having accurate documentation of wcb, liability insurance, etc. I never subbed out, just subbed in so wasn't really my concern.
 
Does it feel like you left money on the table with the walnuts?
The pricing game changes come Nov. We're just grateful to be working for the 3 slower months. Seasonal rates apply! Summer we like to clear $2K+ per day, winter we're fine with $1500/day. So to do a 1/2 day that met that rough quota + get some keeper milling wood and still left time to do a 2nd $$$ job means we made out fine. I don't think there's any way the customer would've gone for a $7K estimate, so it made him jump into our arms, both for this job + the future. Singing our praises online and to his friends means a whole lot this time of year!
 
You can work a MCRP backward, slowly, if needed, for some reason, such as giving out a bit of rope to slack a knot for untying, FWIW, in case you didn't know.
You know I had been using a normal Maasdam cable puller occasionally for *years* without knowing about that feature. The light finally came on when I saw TreeMuggs Educated Climber instructional on the MCRP. I tried it on the cable puller.., Sure enough! When I bought my first rope puller I read the instructions and there it is in black and white.
 
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