Don't call another outfit. I'm with Gary around the 2k mark, but it could be considerably less if it could be flopped without too much trouble. There is also a huge difference of you just getting it on the ground vs. you trucking it off, whether you pay to dump or not is almost irrelevant. If you take it, the cost goes up. If you cut it up for them in firewood, the cost goes up. If you chip brush, the cost goes up. If you rig it down to keep the ground from getting damaged, the cost goes up. If you have to rake everything up, so goes the cost. Since your only hauling means are a dump truck, and you don't have a means to load wood, you should be selling the tree work part only if they balk at price, leaving the cleanup and/or the material handling. If you have equipment, you should sell that part, and leave the raking and cleanup part off to drop price. Never ever ever ever lower your price without lowering work accordingly. Figure how many hours it will take for each step, and then bid that with what you should be making plus a bit for unexpected problems. Also bid the stump separately, and make it obscenely clear about that too. Around here and for me personally, since i don't have all the equipment yet, selling the technical tree work and maybe the brush removal helps my income per hour while keeping the cost down for working class customers who don't mind cutting firewood.
How would you bid this?
- Thread starter Rangerbait
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Mellow
BCMA
I've never been very successful at bidding a removal from a picture. I get asked every now and then to ballpark a tree based on pics and I just won't do it any more. Too many variables that a picture just can't capture.
Merle Nelson
TreeHouser
Ditto. I flat out won't even hazard a guess. Just doing it to participate with Eric.
Same for bidding in low light. Learned that the hard way.
Same for bidding in low light. Learned that the hard way.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
The market here, and the market 25 miles away are different markets. 70 miles north, in Seattle, a whole different market.
Where are you?
Where are you?
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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You guys are awesome! I decided to come in at $1,800 for the removal, with another $800 for the stump (my sub quoted me $725)...she responded about 10 minutes later saying that she would like to hire me for both, and that she wants the wood cut to firewood length and left! She also wants the trunk left intact so her brother can slab it for a table.
Behind the fence is also her property...a horse pasture.
The access is straight through a gate from the driveway into a wide open grassy yard with zero mud. Couldn?t ask for a better setup really.
Behind the fence is also her property...a horse pasture.
The access is straight through a gate from the driveway into a wide open grassy yard with zero mud. Couldn?t ask for a better setup really.
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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- #32
Eastern Panhandle of WV...about 1.5 hours west of DC. We?re only a few miles west of the VA state line (and Loudoun County, the highest per capita income county in the nation)...so we have McMansion neighborhoods interspersed with trailers and toothless hillbillies.
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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- #33
I feel the same way, but I have encouraged people to get other bids, and that I?d match the lowest...I?m starting to think that?s probably a bad idea for a couple of reasons. First, the obvious risk of some hillbilly with a ladder and a Poulan giving a completely unrealistic bid, and second, it?s probably the best way to build partnerships with other tradesmen in the area. Thoughts?
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Good show, Erik. Get some picts and let us know how the work goes. Keep track of your hours, see how you made out.
Stay safe, too.
Stay safe, too.
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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- #35
Here it is after I sandblasted, primed, and repainted it Electric Lime! The poor thing was ass ugly when I picked it up...the previous owner made some pretty sweet mods to it too: he swapped the tired 18hp Kohler for a new 22hp Predator, and added a hydraulic feed mechanism...pretty freeking clever really. He fabbed up a feed drum and mounted it to a hydraulic drive motor that?s powered by a secondary 6.5hp Predator. It?s Mad Max af, but it actually works pretty damn well.
That being said, it?ll be the first piece of gear that gets upgraded if I can actually make some money.
I?ll get another pic of the whole contraption tomorrow.
I am all a out subbing work. Especially for a guy just getting started learning the ins and outs of bidding. Walk away with 15-20 percent vrs losing your shirt
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Awesome color!! Interesting chipper, new to me.
SkwerI
Treehouser
Come get my Brush Bandit 9".
sawman
TreeHouser
I'm with you mellow,just last week I looked at a couple trees on google earth. A 1500 to 2000 job turned into 800 to 1000 job.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
You should go for it, Erik! You'll never look back!
Use that nice new paint job to sell it.
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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- #41
Tell me more...
SkwerI
Treehouser
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
There you go, Erik! And from a trusted TreeHouser!
SeanKroll
Treehouser
I'd buy it, but I'm house shopping and need a house more than a second chipper.
Rangerbait
Treehouser
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- #45
Dammit...my new stump guy pulled a fast one on me. I let him know yesterday that we were a go for this job, and he called back asking what I was planning to do with the stump debris. Every other stump guy I?ve subbed out to has included that in the bid...so now I get to follow up after the guy with a shovel. What?s the norm here? I guess I took it for granted that removing the stump meant removing the stump.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
The stump guys around here bid with no cleanup.
SeanKroll
Treehouser
Stump grinding is not stump removal.
Chipping is not hauling.
Chipping is not hauling.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Hmmmm - I dunno about that last part.
If you say you're gonna chip the brush it's a given that you're gonna chip it into a chip truck.
Right? Or does "chip the brush" automatically mean you broadcast it?
I'm thinking NO.
If you say you're gonna chip the brush it's a given that you're gonna chip it into a chip truck.
Right? Or does "chip the brush" automatically mean you broadcast it?
I'm thinking NO.
