Would you still be an arborist?

[Treeaddict]

Let’s pretend for a minute…..
All your bills are paid. You don’t need to work anymore. Would you still engage in arbor care? Why or why not?

 

[Tree09]

What are we talking don't need to work anymore? Leaky rowboat fishing or taking the wife ashore for fine dining while your yacht is anchored someplace sandy and warm?

 

[Jomo]

Regardless of money, which can be as fatal as fentanyl, the act of climbing's a cardio workout, that can indeed prolong your life many years beyond the desk bound modern norm.

The longer yu climb......

Reminiscent of the age old adage of use it or lose it.......

Jomo

 

[cory]

At 64 y o, nah.

You?

 

[SkwerI]

Versus sitting around waiting to die? Heck yeah. After over a year off after selling my business due to health issues, I just went another $80K in debt to buy a compact articulating loader and truck/trailer so I could sub out to local tree guys and get back in the game again. I may not be able to climb or run a bucket truck or feed a chipper but I can sit my ass on a loader and turn a steering wheel.

 

[cory]

Treework is cool and amazing and an excellent, challenging, life choice but don't nobody got a bucket list?

To keep doing challenging, potentially dangerous, personally fulfilling treework to keep the income flowing can be perhaps the simple or easier choice but isn't there more to life?

I used to be filled with respect for arbs I heard about that were 60 and 70 y o and still doing it. Now, I still respect the physical health and longevity required to do that but in term of life choices near the end, not so much

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have a bucket list. I don't want to be surveying fulltime in my 60s-70s, but I could see doing it occasionally if the need arised. Work gets better when you're old cause you don't have to do it. At that point, you're hopefully doing it cause you want to, and can walk away any time.

 

[Pelorus]

Nope.
Likely have to work till I croak, but I'm tired of continually feeling worn out.
Will be 61 in a few months.

 

[cory]

Yeah, my views have evolved over recent years. For a long time I wondered if I could be happy in retirement, not working. Nowadays, though I'm still working, I think the answer will be yes.

Re treework- been there, done that, got the tee shirt, I'm good.

 

[cory]

I'm tired of continually feeling worn out.

Do you have any plans or ideas to change whatever so that you won't continually feel that way?

 

[cory]

One thing I do lately to lessen the stress is not GAF if I don't make the daily number. Of course I want to always make good coin every day but when it doesn't happen I basically don't care because the stress aint worth it, and not to mention the fact that one bad day doesn't have a prayer of making a difference in the year end numbers, just like one big day will also not make any noticeable difference.

 

[Pelorus]

Not gonna invest, (take on more debt, lol) a bunch of coin to upgrade / replace equipment and perhaps buy a lift.
My stuff is depreciating at the same rate as me. Getting rusty. It's a progressive and inevitable race to the finish line!

 

[treesmith]

If I had to work for minimum wage, I’d rather earn it doing tree work than anything else I know of. Framing is the only thing that comes close for me.

 

[lxskllr]

^^^ I think that's how the question should be framed. "You have to work, what are you gonna work at?"

 

[flushcut]

My wife says to me “when we win the lotto and quit our jobs” I say “you can quit”

 

[flushcut]

I may certainly shut the business down but the 4000 acre woods we just bought needs some loving.
There is no way I could quit trees.

If we won the lotto would we have 4000 acres.

 

[lxskllr]

You just bought 4k ac? Did you mention that before? What are you gonna do with it?

I've been toying with the idea of buying or renting a small woodlot just for funsies. Basically a playground, but maybe make a couple bucks in firewood or something.

 

[Tree09]

Yeah holy shit man

 

[Pelorus]

...the 4000 acre woods we just bought...

Awesome, dude!
Bill Gates a relative?

edit - just googled wild billy, and he owns something like 269000 acres.
Which seems mildly dysfunctional

 

[murphy4trees]

I'm waiting to see how the body does after the hip operation in late January. The bucket truck has been sitting all year. I don't trust the hip enough to get into a big tree job, though we've knocked out a few big jobs with contract climbers and lots of notch and drops and storm damage. There's plenty of work so hoping to get back up into some big trees in the spring.

I still love a good tree job and get a great feeling and sense of empowerment from it that seems priceless and unique.

On the other hand, there is a big world out there and as I look back I wish I had gone out to see more of it.

I'm giving up snow plowing.

hoping to travel the winters.

Just checked the year-to-date sales and we did $750 more this year as of last week, while I have been in semi-retirement personally out on the job maybe a 25% of the time I was out there last year. Probably 60K plus more snow this year, so the trees and stumps are off significantly.

And speaking of retirement.. does anyone know what happened to Mick.

 

[flushcut]

My bad! I meant if we won the lotto we would have 4000 acres to manicure.
We’ve only got about ten between the house and the farm.

 

[Jonny]

I’d still climb and do some pruning or removals sometimes. It wouldn’t be much different than life since I got the DuPont gig. I love tree work, I love climbing, but I’m glad I don’t have to do it anymore to stay afloat. I have a say in the matter, and if my say is “no”, we’re all still ok financially.

 

[flushcut]

I love tree work too much to just walk away. It’s the business side that can kiss my ass.
The rigging, the challenges, the gear, the elevation, the view from every different position, the saws, the pure joy of having a dialed in chain, the smell of fresh cut wood, the feeling of being tired at the end of the day after a technical removal is a sense of accomplishment. I need saw chips to survive.

 

[Fiddler]

No need to pretend here.
I do grounds maint. @ the golf course mostly for enjoyment and handle most of the tree care, but I don't take on any other tree work.
This Spring will start my 7th season.

 

[Underwor]

Climbed from 1967 till 2016, stroke stopped me then. Retired for 3rd time then I saw an add for a Timber Management job with American Forest Management. This was what I had studied at Southern Il Univ in the 60's. Don't know when I will retire from this. (Wish I had found it 40 years sooner). I get to work in the timber and am paid to ride my Polaris as well a get a good hourly wage for a 74 year old survivor of Prostrate Cancer, stroke and heart attack. Doc gave me another 20 years after the last procedure. It seems the work had helped force the heart into making a couple bypasses of its own about 20+ years ago, so it did not notice the 99 and 100% blockages as much. I plan to stay in trees one way or another until time to use the ashes to fertilize a couple more. If I was to win a fortune, I would just drive a newer truck out to the timber and update the 2002 ATV, travel around the country a bit more, help out the kids and grandkids and donate to some worthy institutions. My dad and mother told us there should be no fights over money as they were planning to spend it all. They did pretty good, leaving only a paid for house and a lot of good memories.