Employee compensation and responsibilities

SeanKroll

Treehouser
Joined
Oct 13, 2016
Messages
12,256
Location
Olympia, WA
I am curious about wages/ compensation you pay/ have paid for ground workers, climbers, and crew leaders.

Do you have people who only do aerial work ( climbing/ aerial lift) and only do ground work?
Do climbers always help on the ground after climbing, or are they done when the aerial work is done, leaving the ground crew to finish?

Do you have people who do it all, taking turns on the climbing?
 
I've never worked a job where the climber would be done and watch everyone else clean up. I've heard of guys who just bury the ground crew and tear the tree down as fast as they can, then go sit in the truck and watch everyone else clean up. Seems like it would lower morale, and obviously production, if the climber was the boss.

I'm solo now but when I did have a couple guys we would take turns climbing. You definitely have to factor in individual skill level and your margins on the bid. If it was a relatively simple job and we had lots of time it would be a great opportunity for the less experienced guy, or even tag team something to get that one on one training. Especially crane jobs where we have the crane on a 4-5 hour minimum and it would only take a skilled guy an hour or two. We do lots of vista pruning here so it's awesome to have a whole crew that climbs on those jobs.

No one I've ever hired or had on the crew wanted to be stuck on the ground long term, but we do get summer help from time to time (college town). unfortunately it's not worth teaching them much more than basics when they're going back to school in 2 months.

Ground guys start out at $20-25 depending on work ethic and if they've got any kind of experience whatsoever. $30-35 for a guy that can drive stick, back a trailer, run chipper and mini skid, and get in a tree safely and do basic pruning or removals. $40 for a guy that can take on about any tree in a reasonable amount of time.

Cost of living is not too crazy here compared to alot of the US but higher than most small cities in NC. I'd say $900-1200 /mo can get you a small house to rent.
 
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