How busy are you this year compared to other years?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SeanKroll
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One can hope.
This job will keep food on the table till something breaks.
Rob and Kave are more my worry.
Hate to see the Goodman & Cole Tree come to an end. But it might....
 
It’s been a weird year, it seems like work comes in surges get a few then nothing get a few then nothing. Slightly frustrating.

Everyone else feeling the pinch, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes! We are too damned stubborn to call it quits.
 
Financially I’m about in line with last year, which wasnt a record breaker by any means.

The différence is I’m telling peeps I can do it next week (or even tomorrow!) Could be worse I suppose.
 
Staying busy...some but not much backlog of sold work with no advertising or truck signs.

More work keeps showing up to the point that I am having a hard time taking time off. September's the best time of the year to work here.
 
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I talked to 2 tree guys in Maine this week.
One has a 3 man crew, charges 2-2.5k/day and is booked into November. He just finished a 6 day job at a summer camp removing many white pines (24”-30”x140’H) for a new camp building. I saw the stumps, lotta nice Humboldts.
Other guy is a solo climber, gets ground help when needed and also contract climbs for other outfits, is fairly busy.
 
Btw their pricing is identical to mine in CT which I find surprising bc the area is definitely less affluent
 
Yesterday I somehow misread that as $5k a day.

We’re an outlier for equipment/ efficiency I reckon, but we absolutely wouldn’t work as a crew for $2000-2500/day. I’d send one of our part time guys out solo with the little excavator and/or stump grinder for that.

Even before the latest additions, using the lift, grapple truck, and such, a bad to ok day would have been 2x that.
 
Go figure.
During Covid with 3 men, 75’ rear mount Terex, 18” chipper, Kubota R520, large stumper, I’d be averaging 2800. When things calmed down after Covid, 2300-2600 was typical.
 
Things filling out a bit
S’funny, cos when you get into your 60s the die is cast to a certain extent, you’ve only got a few more years in serious business.
The debt load is minimal or nonexistent.
You now know you’re not going to take over the world, but you’ve stayed solvent for 3 decades, running decent machinery, paying your taxes, paying your employee(s)
So the anxiety reduces a bit.
 
Old folks generally report higher happiness levels than young folks
 
I was just watching a logger saying he’s doing other stuff because log prices are low. Have a backup income he says.

I was just reading @chris_girard article about high lead and he said a lot of that came from sailing. More cross-industry skills and eqpt. I use off road recovery gear and forklifts for my tree work. @skwerl was just posting about using his Avant for demo work. I’ve demo’d concrete with forklifts before.

If you’re careful you can blur the lines between industries and develop multiple income streams. The downside of getting very good and gear specialized to one thing is that you’re locked into that job and maybe get tunnel vision too.

My buddy’s dump trailer with a winch in the front and ramp gate can haul all kinds of things for hire.

My flatbed trucks aren’t the best for branches but they work with tall stake sides, and I can haul other things when not hauling tree junk.

Broaden your horizons 🤙🏻

@WoodCutr
 
I've been doing excavation work on the side and hauling for other people but even the local tree and dirt companies are so slow nobody's looking for help

firewoods going for as cheap as $120 for a pickup truck load dried, delivered and stacked so I'm not doing that, not even doing enough tree work to have a supply of logs anyways

putting in applications at 9-5's for stuff I'm experienced in and havent heard back on a single one, about to go flip burgers for $19/hr

I am extremely tempted to do snow removal, but thats a lot to invest upfront for work that isn't guaranteed, we also usually get less than 4 inches in a year and it's gone in 2 days, very, very rarely does anyone actually get to even plow a single parkinglot

offering running my wheel loader for local landscapers in the nice HOA's to avoid messing lawns up and keep getting the "my mini skid is better" talk, can't teach an old dog new tricks
 
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