How'd it go today?

My point being I'm overrun with work. Honestly I have my pick because the phone rings so much. No hedges, shrubs, little trees, point and cut. I do none of that because my reputation has established me and I'm swamped with large tree pruning and removals. Maybe if I was in a massive city that wouldn't matter much so most of what I've posted doesn't apply to Nick. But at the same time as my business has become established the oldest tree company in the area went under with a new owner that gouged it up big until the phone stopped ringing.

I'd rather get the referral from treating someone fairly and as I stated earlier still make a bonus on a day if it was over but make it a bonus for everyone involved.

Sorry for the weird post lost half of it somehow?

What I had said 'earlier' is if I'm way over on a bid I figure what I should've made to make a fair rate and then split the difference in the overage. Half as a bonus to my company and the other half as a discount on the customers bill. I've done it many times.
 
Im a sucker, i adjust bids when they are way over. People love it, its good for the soul. When im under people love it too. :lol: ive learned to take those with a positive attitude as they will probably have you back and tell a million people.
 
Heh it does come around. I had a guy shoot me a extra 1500 on a five Lombardi removal this year. For real. Made me tear up a bit. Him and his wife called me back over to their place. I thought something was wrong the job was all done and paid for. They said they knew I ate it on their job and couldn't stand to think that I hadn't made good money for what we had done.

It does come around.
 
squisher said:
Heh it does come around. I had a guy shoot me a extra 1500 on a five Lombardi removal this year. For real. Made me tear up a bit. Him and his wife called me back over to their place. I thought something was wrong the job was all done and paid for. They said they knew I ate it on their job and couldn't stand to think that I hadn't made good money for what we had done.

It does come around.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
That's awesome Justin..
One of my local friendly competition that I have climbed for just closed shop... I am getting referred by him so my phone is ringing... Sad really.
If I buy his chipper, maybe not so sad... but..
 
Business happens. We are having cash flow problems big time. Tons of work, getting tons done on time, but mostly commercial paying 30-90 days, and we are working on all of it now. It sucks, but o well. We will have a pile of it come in right before winter .
 
I'm just getting up enough nerve to properly value myself to big clients. I used not to add in extras when things got damaged, like I wrecked a 20" chain and a sugoi blade getting those big plants out of the pots and split in half. That cost went on the bill this time as they got wrecked on that specific job, not spread out as general wear and tear.
 
We are in a billable cycle as well Keith. I try and stagger billing and cash/check/cc jobs every week so there is always something coming in. HA! Better laid plans......
Two days client got called into work in the bay area.... no pay... we normally bill her anyway..
Another two days at one client (check) client had to leave for the day..... Oh well... Her check rolls in with in two days.
Today, client rescheduled due to a late booking on a vacation rental.
Tomorrow we will do another job together and bill it...
Last week almost went the same direction..
Summer time in a tourist town....
 
I've never added the cost of a chain/grinder teeth etc to a job. I give a form price before hand and it doesn't change unless they add/take away work to be done. How do they respond to you adding that on?
 
Talking about 7k came in for the last calendar month...the rest is hurry up and wait... Our payroll with comp figured in is near 3700$ a week. Plus about 650 on up just in diesel alone. Dump fees, lift lease.. You get the picture. It always stresses me even though I know it's coming
 
To me it doesn't matter the size of the business. Stress affects us all the same. With bigger overhead I doubt I lose more sleep than you do. Yaknow? So I'm not saying that my problems are bigger than anyone else's
 
But IMO stress actually affects us all differently. Some people can't handle any and others can handle huge amounts of it. I don't stress. Much. Lol.
 
This was in no way price gouging. We were the lowest bid price, in fact!

Though the tree wasn't big, the hill was super steep.

Initially the plan was to rig tons of small pieces and hand carry them down the steep hill, have someone climb a ladder pass the log to someone standing on a ladder on the other side of the fence. A ton of work.

When we got there, we decided it COULD be felled.

Then when we felled it, we cut a 8-10' piece ...and it was SUPER light. Rather than hand carry, we tied them to a rigging line and just sorta rolled and guided them down the hill. Sorta trashing the rope, but who cares

Then once the 8-10' logs were at the base of the hill, we had to get them over the fence. It turned out that there was an over hanging tree that allowed us to have 1 guy cut 2-3' logs, then I lifted the log tied to the rope while the other guy pulled the rope to lift the logs up to the top of the fence.

I gave the log a push, it swung out to the street and just before it pendulummed back, the other guy just pushed it into the back of the truck.

He'd throw me the rope back over the fence, while he hopped into the back of the truck to move the log back to make room for the next one.

So basically EVERY component of the job went WAY faster than I thought it could.

We were the only job < $5,000.

They were SUPER happy. Not a single thing got damaged. AND we were hired to do injections for bark beetles on their other 5 redwoods that weren't as far gone as this one was.

We did the injections today for $2,600.

They were happy. We were happy. That's what you call a good deal.


love
nick
 
I am all in favor of throwing a price against a wall and if it sticks, game on. It is a free market if they don't like the price then shop around nobody is holding a gun to their heads and saying " I guarantee one of two things, either you brains or your signature will be on this piece of paper"
I have hit a few high dollar an hour gigs and was happy for them, they make up for the ones where you take a beating on.
 
Generally things that get damaged over time (wear and tear) are built into my rates to start with. The plantt move was different though, very specific to the job. No problem with the cost, but its a steady client, pretty much cost and charge as I do work. They are very happy.
 
If you make a killing on the job, in a scenario where you aren't low bid, rather than give back any money, doing some additional work for them would be a good gesture (would that be a reverse tip/ gratuity?). You get to keep all the dollars you planned to get, and they get something extra. Also, there's the situations were everything doesn't always go right, and you might be buying a thermopane window or the like, or a diesel truck problem for a few grand. Free Market.
 
If everyone else was over 5g on a tree that size that was done by two guys in 4 hrs. Sounds like a bunch of missed bids to me. For real every other bidder was over 5g on a small tree that could be felled? Not in my market.
 
Sounds like a lot of amateur bids. We've all been high, and unfortunately low, but a bunch of bids on a tree like that tells me a handful of guys still learning the ropes of removals.
 
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