Your bid on 2 oak takedown?

[lumberjack]

Wow, mine was $7850.

 

[Jonseredbred]

Maybe people are put off on how I look, I always thought yellow was my color.

Maybe I should wear something different while estimating???

 

[Bodean]

That's cool Gary.

If anything it (thread) gives you tons of ideas to think about when you're at the tree.

 

[gf beranek]

The last fellow I contracted the climbing for had a set rate of 1200 a day (8 hr.) for the chipper and ground crew, climber was additional 100 per hour.

Before this economic meltdown he maintained a 3 to 4 week back log for years. Now it's a matter of waiting for the phone to ring.

I know a job in Ft. Bragg that a customer takes on for a $1000 bid would easily go double in Santa Rosa and triple in the Bary Area.

Geographic areas dictate more of what a job is worth, or what the customer is willing to pay, than anything else.

 

[Jonseredbred]

You got it Jerry.

 

[pantheraba]

I worked on the tree last Tuesday...my groundman couldn't come until about noon so I spent the AM getting ready. I had 5-6 limbs pre-rigged with slings so I could hook up the belay line, cut and move on to the next. It made things go pretty smoothly. I got probably 2/3 of the limbs out, have to go back Sunday and do same routine again with the limbs and then chunk out the spar.

The flopper (the one with the storage building built around the spar) got changed...the owner has asked for a price to remove the two left large limbs and the large right limb so they don't tear down a lot of side trees when the central lead gets dropped. I'll probably quote an extra 250-300 to take out those limbs.

First pull on the starter cord in the tree and the handle came off...Alex fixed that. Then the nose sprocket on the bar went kaflooey..thought I was going to have to work with my 290. My wife went and got another bar while we ate lunch...I was glad for that. Saw did fine after that.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Cool Pics Gary... Sounds about right on the limb removal price from best I can judge the pics you had before. Sounds like you are doing more and more work too. Maybe almost time for some back up bar, parts or another saw Just in case

 

[pantheraba]

Cool Pics Gary... Sounds about right on the limb removal price from best I can judge the pics you had before. Sounds like you are doing more and more work too. Maybe almost time for some back up bar, parts or another saw Just in case

I have sure thought about a backup saw...so much of getting work done in the tree depends on the small saw. The 200T is first choice but real pricey. I am waiting to see how folks like those Jonsered's...might try one myself if they seem OK.

 

[SkwerI]

Gary, Andrew is selling a nice used 200T right now in the Trading Post forum. Hopefully he'll have pictures up soon.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I am interested in them too.. I have two echos for back up right now that run about the same price. They do sure come in handy...

 

[pantheraba]

Gary, Andrew is selling a nice used 200T right now in the Trading Post forum. Hopefully he'll have pictures up soon.

Haha...yeah, I have been watching that..prices so far from $47 to 10k pesos (?) and nobody has even seen a picture yet. I'll keep gandering at it.

 

[jefflovstrom@sb]

I got a request for a bid yesterday from the neighbor where I did 2 trees last month. These 2 oaks, one on each side of a storage bldg. are declining and the owner wants them removed. I should be able to flop the one that is "part of the building" with a top rope and wedges. It can go straight away from the building into a wooded lot with good openings to throw it.

I plan to bid $300 to do that...may include cutting it up, too...the owner only wants the trees down, he does clean-up.

The other tree has targets everywhere...everything will have to be roped, with at least 2 or more cuts for each limb...they are long and pretty large. I figure to use fishpole system with 2 blocks for most everything. I want to spread out the force on the blocks since some of the wood may be compromised.

He has some 1/4" hardboard (like thin plywood) around which I hope to be able to put on the roof of the storage unit to protect it from deadfall/breakoff.

I figure I need to bid at least $1800 to remove the one tree that has to be rigged down...maybe more? It will probably take me 2 days to do it.

What would you bid?

I love rigging! Dude, I have only read this one first post , but before I read more I would say it looks like prime area for speed-lining.
O.K., now I will check out the other replys.
Jeff

 

[pantheraba]

You have good instincts...my son/groundman could not work until about 4:30 today so I worked on my own this AM. I set up a speedline from about 50-60 feet up and anchored at chest height about 40 feet away...very steep. I dumped some pretty good sized limbs and they fell about 30 feet at which point the line tightened and skidded them towards the anchor tree. It kept the limbs from bouncing into the house and fence.

 

[pantheraba]

I got in about 3 hours after work today...Alex ran ropes, we nibbled it down to only the central lead is left. I'll rig the top and start chunking down he spar tomorrow.

I set up a fiddle block so we could lift as needed. The back block is directly over the fence and shed...there is a 20 foot oak the owner wants to save and the big limbs invariable want to get hung up in that tree or another one nearby. I'm sure a GRCS would be a dream with this tree.

The front block is towards the house, still a pretty tight drop zone.

 

[pantheraba]

An lz shot and some rigging shots...this one happens to show a choked bowline on a limb...I used a clove and two half hitches on most everything. In the event something got stuck in a crotch and had to be lifted I didn't want the choked bowline to have a chance to get loose.

We took out some good sized pieces with the porty...maybe 10 in. diameter and 8-10 feet long...Alex did a good job of using a dynamic belay.

The spar has a bit of lean towards the shed...I figure to use my hoist to tension the spar chunks (maybe 4-6-8 foot pieces) so they break away from the shed, parallel to the house.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

How are you feeling about it Gary? Still on your estimate in time and such?

 

[pantheraba]

I hope to finish the rigger tree today and will know better then.

I have determined that the flopper tree that the owner now wants pieced down is possibly more trouble than the one I am doing now. He wants to save the trees under it and I think they will get trashed without either a GRCS or piecing them out into 5-6 cuts instead of 2 for each limb...and the spar rests against the roof frame. If it shifts even 6 inches as it falls it could rack the structure. I would have to piece down the whole tree, spar and all...I may decline to do the other tree. I don't think he'll want to pay what I would charge.

 

[Newfie]

Don't decline it. Just price it accordingly and explain to him exactly why it is that pricey. Be sure to price it high enough so that if you do get it, you will make money.

 

[Blinky]

Cool pics Gary, looks like the job is going well.

 

[lumberjack]

Good job!

On post 90, second picture, it's generally considered better to have the spine of the biner taking the force of digging in the wood as opposed to the gate.

The only time I use a clove hitch is when I'm sending down several limbs on one rig.

 

[pantheraba]

Don't decline it. Just price it accordingly and explain to him exactly why it is that pricey. Be sure to price it high enough so that if you do get it, you will make money.

10-4...we discussed it today. I told him it needs to be rigge a lot achieve what he wants and for me to do that would be 1800-2000. The tree has some ambiguous leans to various parts of it...for me it needs to be rigged just to help ensure the central lead/spar will go where he wants it to...we'll see.

Yep, Blinky I finished this evening...real glad to be done...it was a pretty hard tree. Pictures coming up.

Carl, I think that biner IS taking the load on the spine...I strive to keep the gate away from any pressure/load. Thanks for looking closely, it's hard to tell in that picture.

 

[SkwerI]

I find it surprising that another treeman would prefer using a clove hitch over a bowline with the reasoning that the bowline might come untied. In all my years doing treework, the only knot I ever had come untied was a clove hitch. I vowed that day to never use it ever again. I've never had a bowline even hint of slipping. The forces on the knot simply won't allow it to pull out.

Anyway, good luck with your clove hitch (and the 2-3 half hitches backing it up-which are actually what's holding the load). IMO one good knot beats a bad knot with 2-3 backups.

 

[pantheraba]

Alex and I put in a full day (less about a 3 hour lunch when he had to p/u Hayden at school and I ate Mexican and chilled some, went by the office and got waylaid there for an hour or so) and finished up.

We set up a vertical speedline to contain the chunks from the spar. I was not sure how far they might bounce. One piece about 24" diameter and 6 feet long hit flat and bounced straight up three feet..very impressive. We had a tether on each piece to keep it away from the house.

 

[pantheraba]

I find it surprising that another treeman would prefer using a clove hitch over a bowline with the reasoning that the bowline might come untied. In all my years doing treework, the only knot I ever had come untied was a clove hitch.

I have never had a bowline come untied, either. I am concerned that if the limb gets stuck in a crotch or on another limb and the belay line gets slack in it that the unchoked bowline will slip on (or off) the limb. If there is a chance the limb/load might get some slack interjected into the system during belay, I use a clove hitch...and 2 half hitches after the clove. I did have a clove hitch turn loose once years ago. One of the few jobs I did with a crane...the 6 foot 10-12" diameter piece that was being lifted out of a trailer-home kitchen came back down onto the refrigerator and kitchen table...didn't really make much difference, the tornado had already done a pretty thorough job of trashing stuff.

 

[squisher]

Looking good Gary.