Sticker Shock

[INCase]

Any easier to put the wheels back under the trailer and move that?

I tell the guy that as long as it's not two grand, I guess we ought to get it done.

The quote was for less than that amount.

I would kind of agree. from what you said it sounded like you wanted him to come over and do the job for less than $2000 so i'm not surprised he was upset. I would be if i went out of the way to come over. I would say that does seem high based on the pictures. would be nice gesture to send him a $100+ for his time/fuel as you mentioned.

about 5 years ago i used our covidd $ to have a large maple taken down that was over a shed, close to our fence and neighbors fence and some high power lines. Aamish guy put it on the ground for $1,200. dented the drip edge on the shed some but not bad enough to worry about.

need another one taken down which i'm surprised the storm Sunday afternoon that took everyone else's healthy maples down didn't touch our 1/2 dead one go figure. this one i can take some down myself and maybe save some $ but will want someone else to do the power line side. would be nice to do it before the maple seeds and leaves start to come on but with all the other tree damage everywhere I probably won't get him anytime soon.

 

[farmersamm]

Close this one out I guess.

Communication errors..........yeah, I agree. My side "less than 2K". His side, refusal to give ballpark figure over the phone. At least a "minimum" would have saved a lot of trouble.

Business models..............

VS.

A 600 dollar pole saw will win every time I guess........depending on the job.
The guy that did the job, took the time to come, and look, at the job before quoting. Then came back in the evening after he finished his other work
The other guy didn't. Here's where the communication error popped up.

I'm happy as a clam, and so is K'kins. She was really not thrilled when we made a special trip to Tulsa to pick up the saw I was going to attempt to use. Kept telling me I was going to kill myself.

Compare the little thing I picked up, to the saw the pro used. https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-12...Shaft-Extending-to-12-1-ft-PPT-2620/303711399

We'll breakout the Uranus Inc Model 405 grapple for the big stuff, and use the Uranus Inc Load Buddy (rated at 4000#) for the little stuff.

Some things are beyond your capacity. K'kins was right......she always is.

A closing thought................................

This part of the State has been through a monumental change. Land has been sold to people who come in, and build McMansions on a 1/4. All of those 1/4's used to be farmed, or grazed. All 3 pieces of our land are surrounded by newcomers. That land is out of production.......

Most importantly, is a change in household income. The new people are, by in large, very well off. They don't blink at high prices for work done. This has changed the equation. People like us don't have those deep pockets. We can't pay the freight for guys that own that fancy equipment.

K'kins bought a "new" car recently. It took her YEARS to save for it. She's been driving a 2002 Grand Am that was already old when she bought it. The new 2015 Mooostang is like a luxury car to her.......and it's been a joy for her to own. She deserves it. Her boss knows a guy, who knows a guy........ On the Tulsa saw buying trip, a guy in a Charger pulled up next to us on the turnpike, and kept pace with us, then punched it. K'kins said if the dood only knew that a 60yr old woman was driving the car................ROFLMAO.

Me.........I'm still rollin' in my 30yr old trucks. Homey's savin' up for a motor rebuild on the loader tractor.

Is what it is.

I shouldn't kill myself cleaning up the remaining mess. We ought to be able to handle it. She'll supervise the job

 

[jddrawbar]

I will stick with my Echo 56 volt
Two year longer warranty out of the box
Larger volt battery
Larger Ah battery
Uses the same 16" and 18" bars and chain as my gas powered CS 400
Cost $100 less

At my Echo dealer, 56 volt $299.......CS 400 $319. I'd hate to guess how many hrs. are on my 400 in the last 7 years.

 

[UAFitter]

Close this one out I guess.

Communication errors..........yeah, I agree. My side "less than 2K". His side, refusal to give ballpark figure over the phone. At least a "minimum" would have saved a lot of trouble.

Business models..............

View attachment 109406

VS.
View attachment 109407
A 600 dollar pole saw will win every time I guess........depending on the job.
The guy that did the job, took the time to come, and look, at the job before quoting. Then came back in the evening after he finished his other work
The other guy didn't. Here's where the communication error popped up.

I'm happy as a clam, and so is K'kins. She was really not thrilled when we made a special trip to Tulsa to pick up the saw I was going to attempt to use. Kept telling me I was going to kill myself.

View attachment 109408
Compare the little thing I picked up, to the saw the pro used. https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-12...Shaft-Extending-to-12-1-ft-PPT-2620/303711399

We'll breakout the Uranus Inc Model 405 grapple for the big stuff, and use the Uranus Inc Load Buddy (rated at 4000#) for the little stuff.

View attachment 109409

Some things are beyond your capacity. K'kins was right......she always is.

A closing thought................................

This part of the State has been through a monumental change. Land has been sold to people who come in, and build McMansions on a 1/4. All of those 1/4's used to be farmed, or grazed. All 3 pieces of our land are surrounded by newcomers. That land is out of production.......

Most importantly, is a change in household income. The new people are, by in large, very well off. They don't blink at high prices for work done. This has changed the equation. People like us don't have those deep pockets. We can't pay the freight for guys that own that fancy equipment.

View attachment 109410
K'kins bought a "new" car recently. It took her YEARS to save for it. She's been driving a 2002 Grand Am that was already old when she bought it. The new 2015 Mooostang is like a luxury car to her.......and it's been a joy for her to own. She deserves it. Her boss knows a guy, who knows a guy........ On the Tulsa saw buying trip, a guy in a Charger pulled up next to us on the turnpike, and kept pace with us, then punched it. K'kins said if the dood only knew that a 60yr old woman was driving the car................ROFLMAO.

Me.........I'm still rollin' in my 30yr old trucks. Homey's savin' up for a motor rebuild on the loader tractor.

Is what it is.

I shouldn't kill myself cleaning up the remaining mess. We ought to be able to handle it. She'll supervise the jobView attachment 109411

So the guy you wound up using made two trips to your house before he was done doing the job and still charged you $150 all in. He only lost about $200 doing your work.

 

[jddrawbar]

So the guy you wound up using made two trips to your house before he was done doing the job and still charged you $150 all in. He only lost about $200 doing your work.

Is that the NEW math I've heard so much about?

 

[Not db4600]

So...............I gotta tree..............

View attachment 109145
View attachment 109147

Something has been killing the Oak trees around here. Is what it is.
This thing is getting ready to fall on the double wide.
The double wide is an extremely expensive trailer I moved onto the place to take care of my parents before they passed.

So...................I call around to see how much it would cost to remove FOUR limbs that are in danger of falling on the roof. Not the whole tree, just the 4 limbs. And I don't need them hauled off..........just lay them down on the ground. Neither dood, that I could get in contact with, would give me a ballpark estimate.

One guy says he can do it today. Says he'll pull his equipment off another job, and hit it on his way home. This is bogus........but we'll get to that later.

I tell the guy that as long as it's not two grand, I guess we ought to get it done. I'm figuring around maybe 600 bucks to lay them down.

Dood shows up, makes a huge production of blocking traffic on the highway to back his trailer in the driveway. I told him to leave it on the highway while we look at the tree. No soap. Tells me about how the stuff on the trailer is worth 300K, and the rig weighs over 30K (I got a Class 8 rig sitting in the yard that moves almost 3 times that) Dood is sorta immature I guess.

We go to look at the tree.

The tub of lard tells me, without blinking................SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS TO LAY THE LIMBS DOWN.

Told the dood I can't pay that, and I won't.

Then I spend the NEXT 45 MINUTES LISTENING TO THE MOPE TELL ME THAT I OWE HIM MONEY FOR COMING OUT TO DO THE WORK. TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS TO BE EXACT. Bein' as I didn't accept the bid, I owe him for the estimate.........which he never mentioned on the phone.

It's getting pretty heated. Guy keeps telling me how much his equipment is worth, and how it costs money to move it. NOT MY PROBLEM. Fatso tells me he doesn't get out of bed for 600 bucks.

I carry on my place. This is getting out of hand, he ain't moving his trailer out of the driveway, and I'm thinking about whether the lil' .38 will make a dent in this whale. It's sittin' in my back jeans pocket. This is getting pretty bad.

I finally turn, and walk up back to the house. Next move is his.

This is the sorta stupid crap that gets people killed, and people living a lifetime in jail. This ain't lookin' good.

Porky storms back to his truck, and leaves. I breathe a sigh of relief. I had visions of this loser trying to take me down.

Bein' as this is crap country. lotta ignorant folks....................I call the guy, ask for a mailing address, and tell him I'm gonna mail a check for a hundred bucks to cover his "estimate". I don't care to get burnt out in the middle of the night, and wake up in a burning house.

So...............the mental midget walks away from 600 bucks, which would make a dent in his overhead. I don't feel I share any blame in this. I figured 600 would cover about an hour's worth of work. I guess I'm behind the times. AND THE MORON COULDA TOLD ME A ROUGH FIGURE TO DO THE WORK. We coulda avoided this whole fiasco.

K'kins, and I, are gonna tackle it in the morning I guess.

So..............about the bogus thing in the whole deal. If he did have a job going somewhere else............he woulda have had to pull his equipment. Wind is set to run steady at 20mph tomorrow.........with gusts to 34. Nobody does high work in that kind of weather.

But we willView attachment 109149

Lord...........I miss my loader.

Is this The Arborist site?
nuts!
How do I get to YTmag?

 

[cjunrau]

View attachment 109321
View attachment 109322

$150..................1 hour and about 45 minutes. This guy is an artist. Did the whole thing with a very long gas powered pole saw, while standing on the roof. For the last North-South long limb (parallel to the house), I hooked 3 cargo straps to his rope, which he'd tied to the tip of the long limb. My end was tied to the bumper on the 1 ton. Put stress on the line, he cut it about maybe 2/3 through, then signaled me to back up. Cleared the doublewide handsomely.

He wanted to down the long limb in the second pic. It was getting late in the day, and was getting dangerous to walk around in all the trash, let alone setting up a ladder. I decided it was a good days work, and paid the guy. We'll get it next time. I have more work for him when he gets caught up on his other stuff. It was doggone decent of him to come over after supper so that we wouldn't be facing dangerous 40-50mph overnite winds with the tree hanging over the house. Besides.......he was wanting to go beyond the original deal. All I'd asked was to remove anything overhanging the roof. Now that all that weight is gone, it's bought us time to get the rest of the tree down.

K'kins told me to call him in the FIRST place. I didn't know he was set up to do this type of work, and called the other guy. This fella does tons of work for her Mother in town.

Moral of the story. There are still people out there that work as hard as I did in my younger years. And get by with the minimum bit of equipment. They make up for it with skill, and smart work practices.

Insurance......................probably doesn't have insurance I'd guess. My risk, which I was willing to take. I have good liability coverage on the farm should somebody get injured. The house........if I'd done the work, any damage would have been on my dime anyway. I call it a wash.

This whole thing brings to mind the last 2 contractors that worked for me. One was a guy with a skid steer, and a Turbo Saw..........hired him to clear Cedars off the pasture. He worked like a slug........slow as molasses......and I caught him sitting staring at his phone a number of times. The second was a fence builder. Kept hitting me up for more money, or he was gonna quit. Ran 'em both off.

I do all my own fence now.............and bought my own Turbo Saw to use with rented skid steers.

That is how businesses should operate. Make a living not a killing. Glad you found somebody to do it. Less toys more work.

 

[mechanicfred]

I paid 700$ two months ago to have a 65' 36" at the stump white oak taken down. I could have had a grandson climb up and tie a cable to it and hook a tractor on it to keep it off the house as it was about 10' off the house and leaning that way. 700$ was cheap for me, 3 guys 2 1/2 hours and one of the machines shown above. I charge for what I do good and I'll pay for what someone else does good.

 

[E.B. Haymakin']

You guys have a point I guess............about my comment ON THE PHONE, about 2K. I guess I shoulda added a sarcastic emoji. 2K, to me, is stupid crazy. And, I assumed it to be taken that way.

About "ignorant", you'd have to live in this part of the country to understand(shrug).

About missin' a loader........................
View attachment 109163
Ain't rocket science. Tie the length of crap ya wanna cut, cut it, it drops, and the rope keeps it from hitting the roof. Sorta like chopping a carrot up in lil' bits...........take a small bit of the apple each time. Stand on the roof to cut the light stuff with a pole saw, and cut the thicker stuff using the man lift. Thicker stuff is beyond the edge of the roof. Man lift, with a pole saw(gas) gives ya about 26' reach(shrug). Used to do it all the time. It's why I built the man lift. K'kins was pretty good at operating the loader.

See if you can rent one and do it yourself. It's why I will not willingly live in this world without a loader tractor.

 

[UncleTom]

I paid 700$ two months ago to have a 65' 36" at the stump white oak taken down. I could have had a grandson climb up and tie a cable to it and hook a tractor on it to keep it off the house as it was about 10' off the house and leaning that way. 700$ was cheap for me, 3 guys 2 1/2 hours and one of the machines shown above. I charge for what I do good and I'll pay for what someone else does good.

$700 is a bargain.