One of our esteemed members recently mentioned shooting for $2600/day with a 3 man crew in Detroit, which is an area struggling economically, afaik. Zero doubts that team is worth that kinda coin but just surprised it was achievable regularly. Right in that ball park is what we shoot for and we are located in an area in the NYC suburbs that is generally fairly well to do. And I remember August H mentioning some super high prices for some of his jobs including hedge trimming. I think he lives in a suburban/rural area. So maybe prices are kinda the same everywhere?
Thoughts on treework prices nationwide
- Thread starter cory
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SeanKroll
Treehouser
And you have a bucket truck, loader, large chipper!
Benjo75
Treehouser
For some reason my calls have doubled this year. I had to do something because I was getting such a back log of work. I doubled my prices as an experiment. I guess I should have done that years ago because the calls haven't slowed down and I really have noticed any drop in customer losses due to price. I figured if I double my price and loose half of my customers then at the end of the year I would work half as much and still make the same. Now I'm working more. I have never been the cheapest. I always aimed for the middle to upper on pricing. I don't want the customer base that is just looking for bottom dollar. I never made any money with those customers. Finally got them out of my customer base and it's really helped. If they call I have them call someone else. The ones that call and say I'm getting three estimates and if you're the lowest I'll go with you. Just time wasters. I'm booked out til early November right now and still can't get to all of my estimates.
SkwerI
Treehouser
I've never had the volume of work to be able to quote prices like that. I'd love to, but I struggle to keep my crew working 3-4 days per week. I think I am the limiting factor, since when I'm working every day my willingness to run quotes drops. If I'm booked a week out I feel like I'm doing good. My target is $1500 per day but we work short days (done by 1-2pm most days). $2K on a large removal is fairly common, done in 5 hours. Got one of those this week.
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- #5
Awesome post!
Yeah things are craZy busy lately. A guy wanted a price to cut a 5' tall x 3.5' wide stump low for a new fence installation. The stump had chain link ingrown into it but the bottom 5" appeared to be un-metaled. It looked like a shit job but probably easy at the same time. I told him 400-500 to cut it low and 250 for the log truck to pick it and make it disappear. He said do it, it took 15 min to cut it free of the fence and about 10 minutes to cut it. 5 hundo.
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- #6
Ditto. Plus, having appts after work sometimes hurts the ability to bang out more work during the day and get the back log down.
kevin bingham
TreeHouser
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- Nov 10, 2010
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we shoot for 2600 a day but are not hitting it most days. Detroit is struggling but Oakland county still stands as one of the wealthiest in the country.
I always thought pricing was what the market would bear more or less, and the iron is how much you make/ have to charge. I do my quotes by how much time i think I'm gonna have in it (with extras added for various reasons on a specific job), and because i have sat down and calculated what i need to/ want to make an hour, it comes out about right. I have noticed I'm cheaper than some of the bigger outfits in town, but that's ok because i have wayyyyyyyyyy less overhead.
If i was running multiple employees and tons of iron, my hourly would have to reflect that. Pricing this way also helps make decisions on rentals, what to buy, e.t.c because you can easily add the prices of stuff to your bids and then compare that to what people will pay, and compare to doing it without. Doing work for certain customers also warrants a higher rate because you will have issues there. It's very common in construction to increase the bid by a percentage figuring on time wasted on certain stuff on a certain jobsite, kinda like work down here takes twice as long because you have to x,y,z.
If i was running multiple employees and tons of iron, my hourly would have to reflect that. Pricing this way also helps make decisions on rentals, what to buy, e.t.c because you can easily add the prices of stuff to your bids and then compare that to what people will pay, and compare to doing it without. Doing work for certain customers also warrants a higher rate because you will have issues there. It's very common in construction to increase the bid by a percentage figuring on time wasted on certain stuff on a certain jobsite, kinda like work down here takes twice as long because you have to x,y,z.
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- #9
Benjo, did you literally double your prices or was it simply a major increase? Just wondering cuz 100% increase seems like a lot, but more power to ya if you pulled it off
PCTREE
Treehouser
I always wanted to be everyones best friend! gave most folks great prices and didnt stick it to the rich Too much. After last year I decided to do like everyone else does and just make as much as I can short of gauging folks. In the span of maybe 5 years since I bought my crane I have quadrupled my Gross. Not sure on Net . I have never been busier and regularly tell potential customers that we dont want their business if they are even remotely annoying. Never made more money and never so ready to quit....
Benjo75
Treehouser
Yeah I tried it to see what happens. I was loosing so much work because I was booked out for several months that I couldn't even give estimates. I couldn't even tell them when I might give an estimate and the work would be several months later. We've had a few bad storms earlier this spring and that really put a load on us. I actually still have work from the Easter Sunday storm that I haven't been able to get to. There is a lack of reputable tree services in my area and the customers are getting tired of being screwed and having shoddy work done. They don't seem to mind the price as long as I can get to them. I figure someday I'll start backing off a little as I start getting caught up. I probably can't do it all winter. The last 3 years have been the busiest I've ever seen. The carpenters, roofers and other small businesses around here are all saying the same thing. It may be a regional thing I'm not sure. Four winters ago I got down to just a few days work. That's really odd for this area and now it's just the opposite. Maybe I've been too cheap for the last 20 years who knows.
Benjo75
Treehouser
Pctree I know how you feel. I don't hesitate to turn someone down if I forsee that they will be a pain or try to get a bunch of "while you're here" work for free.
We are about the same
flushcut
TreeHouser
I try and shoot for 1800.00 a day. most days are 1500-1600. Some days are more than 1800.00.
Benjo75
Treehouser
Sven you're right I need some help. I've been at a position for a few years to either get bigger or stay the same and deal with the busy times. Most that I've talked to that went big have regretted it. More headache and about the same money. So far I've decided to stay the same and try to make it works. I'm short on man power but I've already played the hire more people game and it didn't work. If workers were like the were 25 years ago then maybe. I can't even find someone who is decent with a saw. Plus I'm very particular about my work and my business. I have the flawed personality that no one can do it to my standards. But that keeps down on drama and headache on my job. I would rather do it myself. I've always had the fear of going big then not having enough work.
PCTREE
Treehouser
if you have that much work buy a crane. They really arent that hard to operate aand will really double your productivity.
I used to shoot for $5K A week, I did $5500 today by 1 and that isnt unusual
I used to shoot for $5K A week, I did $5500 today by 1 and that isnt unusual
If I owned a tree company(really, any company), I'd have zero interest in being big. I'm more a hands on kinda guy, and when I couldn't handle it in the field, I'd probably shut the whole thing down. Maybe focus on being better Ben, and adjust rates accordingly. I'm not exactly sure what that means; extra clean, extra personal, extra tricky? The high end of the market.
Benjo75
Treehouser
Yeah that's what I've been aiming for the last few years. Working less and making more.
PCTREE
Treehouser
Im not a personable person and can by no means kiss ass so I do best by offering a service that lots of times no-one else can provide. I always do what I say for the price that I quote but really dont want to hold your hand through the process, Ive been soscial distancing for years
Benjo75
Treehouser
I'm the exact same way. Please stand clear and allow me to safely do my job.
Mick!
TreeHouser
Most people will tell you they regret going big, often it’s because they don’t want you to. A bit of the old flim-flam.
Just like you always get those business owners who say they wish they were still freelance climbers, much happier then, no worries, blah blah. It’s just a ruse to keep their freelancers from starting up on their own.
Going big in any profession sounds not fun unless one is in it to build and sell and more interested in business than the actual trade. In the future I would love to build into the budget an office person.
Doing the billing, record keeping, and most paperwork is the the least fun and takes time from what I’m actually good at.
Doing the billing, record keeping, and most paperwork is the the least fun and takes time from what I’m actually good at.
My company I'm with now used to be bigish. I wasn't privy to the economics of it all, but I wasn't impressed with how it all ran. Too much waste and nonsense. IMO, more size=more problems. There's a wide middle ground where you're hands on enough to still have a lot of work, but not hands on enough to keep things under control. You lose agility, and the ability to adapt. When you get huge, it's just a matter of collecting a paycheck, and if it all goes tits up, you can just say "Whatever", and retire. You don't necessarily have that in the middle. Too poor to retire, and a bunch of bills for iron/infrastructure you purchased.
Super true, hard to find that balance. Accountant said larger companies and big equipment owners can be bankrupt months before they know it. But then the owner who does everything and delegates nothing without adapting or having that agility may burn holes through their stomachs and never have time off.
