Highest paid tree guys

[cory]

What is the highest rate of pay for a tree guy?

I heard of a guy who works for a well established tree svc in a wealthy area of SW CT who makes $60/hr as an employee, not a sub. He works in the field full time not an office. Anybody else aware of an employee making that much loot?? Good benees too. Pretty impressive.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I don't like to talk about that, online.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Wow.. Can I have his job???LMAO

 

[Arborkeith]

I have a friend not far off from that as an employee. Not in louisiana though...haha. Benefits for tree guys, what's next, safety gear!?!

 

[lumberjack]

Private forums usually elicit more responses on such matters.

 

[bonner1040]

I have benefits, but nowhere near $60/hour. The old timers at Big Green make $30+/hour for sure.

 

[cory]

$30 an hour I can see no problem, but $60 is pretty amazing.

 

[cory]

Private forums usually elicit more responses on such matters.

I don't need names, just wondering how commonplace such a pay rate is in the industry.

 

[Arborkeith]

I can't imagine it to be very common. I know in my area, the highest paid climber is myself, 20$ an hour, no benefits, no retirement and we pay 40 hour guarantee but nobody else does around .

 

[MasterBlaster]

20 bucks sounds like minimum wage.

 

[Arborkeith]

Yeah feels like it too butch, but I'm self employed. Other climbers in lake Charles make 15-18/hr. nobody works as. Sub, all company guys. I pay myself as much as possible.

 

[Arborkeith]

If you get bored, call the tree guys in the phone book for lake Charles and ask what they pay for a climber (except Stevens tree, that's us and it goes to dads phone) they will tell you 250$+ per day, when people start working it drops like a lead balloon.

 

[Tucker943]

There aint a damn thing wrong with discussing this topic. No names or locations were asked for. Simply a question of what have you heard before.

 

[treesmith]

I generally make enough to get by....barely.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Two fiddy a day is a fair wage.

 

[Arborkeith]

Two fiddy is fair, but it ain't happenin here. I've heard that a good climber is worth 10% of the job. Average 1600 a day on non crane work, 20$/he before workmans commp is maxed out

 

[MasterBlaster]

I think 20% is more in line, minus any crane expenditures. Gimme 2, you take 8, see ya.

 

[Tucker943]

I think it depends on the market the job holder is in. Ritzy areas with bigger money on the work should pay one thing, and regions that don't command the same money should pay another. Basically, it depends what the market will bear.

 

[Al Smith]

You probabley hit the nail on the head .WCTFL where ever he ran off to once worked for some high class outfit in South Carolina I believe .It payed more than tree work in Columbus Ohio where he came from which pays more than it does in these parts.

I can't remember that guy from NYC but he made a tidy sum . NYC it takes a lot more to live than other places .

It's a regional thing even how I make a living .Were I in central Florida ,Mississipi ,Georgia or any of the southern states I'd be lucky to fetch half of what I get here in the industrial north .

 

[OTGBOSTON]

Depends on where you are. On perevailing wage jobs in Boston the guys make $48.50/hr.

 

[Tucker943]

Ya but prevailing wage is a whole different ballgame. All the rules change there.

 

[Al Smith]

FWIW the line clearance guys out of Detroit are part of the IBEW and most likely do fairly well considering .Probabley not as high as a class a lineman but certainly more than a groundie .

Then again you're talking union scale and I'm probabley the only one on this forum that would affect even if I were to go back to that which I have no intentions of doing .I'm some dumb not plum dumb .

 

[cory]

Ya but prevailing wage is a whole different ballgame. All the rules change there.

Exactly. And prevailing wage suggests that the 48.50/ hr is higher than normal, which makes the 60 smackeroos seem even more out in the stratosphere.

 

[tophopper]

I don't buy it. Under the table maybe.

 

[cory]

Nope, check, taxes taken out, OT, all personal gas paid for.