The Official Work Pictures Thread

[MasterBlaster]

Always fun!!!

 

[Stumpshot]

Working on Saturdays now, Rich? Or is this a personal, weekend job?

 

[treebilly]

Personal job, and on Saturday. Sunday’s are off limits for working to me except at my place. Tomorrow is mow the lawn, making and canning pasta sauce, and hanging out with the kids.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Fi, they get a tad more wobbly after about 25 plus meters.

 

[Stumpshot]

I was pretty close on reach with that one.

Your own bucket, or the company's? Just curious if you're really stockpiling the iron up for a solo run!

 

[treebilly]

My bucket

 

[Raj]

Nice work!

 

[SkwerI]

Nice truck, Rich.

In case anybody else is in the market, Altec has a clean forestry unit like that with low mileage available in Portland. 2005 with only 50K miles, pre emissions crap so no DEF fluid. DT466 will run forever.
https://www.altec.com/products/available-inventory/used/2005-terex-xt55/

 

[Stumpshot]

Interested, for sure -- but perhaps a bit out of budget. Our range is probably $30-40K, we'll work with it for a year or two, then upgrade to a rear-mount.

 

[treebilly]

That’s a nice looking truck I can only guess it was owned by a small company. To nice to have come off of line clearance. Mine is a 2000 with the dt466 and the terex xt55. The altecs are faster but the lack of grease fittings bothers me. Nylon bushings instead of grease. I can’t speak for the new terex booms either. I might take a drive Friday to check them out though. Custom one ( I think that’s the name) just opened a shop on the opposite side of the county from me. Mine is due for its annual soon. I’ve been good since I bought it. I’m kind of expecting to be dropping some money this time

 

[SkwerI]

GP, you will be amazed at how much your budget increases after owning a bucket truck for a couple months. $60K is basically $1100 per month which is about a half day gross income for a crew your size. It's super easy to afford it once you're in it. You can't base your budget on what you currently make without it. And buying a beater for $30K means you will just have more down time fixing the problems, combined with more wear and slop due to the higher hours.

Buy as expensive as you can afford and then go higher. In a year you will look back and realize it was a bargain but you should have bought even newer/higher.

I'm currently paying for two bucket trucks, both bought in the last year. And I'm only running a 2 man crew. I have $100K invested between the two trucks and payments are still easy.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A treeco w/o a bucket is wacko.

 

[stig]

That IMO depends on where you are situated.
Just like we can't get the big chippers you Yanks love into our narrow winding streets , we can't get a bucket truck in there either.

 

[Stumpshot]

A treeco w/o a bucket is wacko.

Thing is, right now 80% of our jobs are non-bucket accessible. I think we get all the jobs others can't/won't do because they don't want to climb or don't have the skills to rig. They want the easy pickings, which pays accordingly.

And with our grapple crane, we can climb & pick a lot of jobs that would be bigger bucket jobs, so that alleviates the need to some degree.

 

[SeanKroll]

Most of mine aren't accessible.

60', if you're directly butted up to the tree, is a good start here.
We did that once at a big fir, and still had to climb 40' to the first live limb (pre-wraptor).

 

[cory]

I think we get all the jobs others can't/won't do because they don't want to climb or don't have the skills to rig.

Tree guys have been saying that about themselves forever.

with our grapple crane, we can climb & pick a lot of jobs that would be bigger bucket jobs, so that alleviates the need to some degree.

That is a plus for sure.

 

[Stumpshot]

Tree guys have been saying that about themselves forever.

But what if it's true?


We know for a fact we were recently handed 2 jobs that the competitors didn't want to do -- the cracked bur oak limb in the back with targets galore that required extensive rigging; and the crackberry split tree no one else wanted to touch (next closest bid was almost double ours)!

 

[stig]

True or not, it says more about your competitors that about you IMO.

 

[squisher]

I had a bucket and we took all comers. You just make bank on the bucket jobs and they're easy peasy compared to climbing. I always got a chuckle out of when you climbed the backyard tree high enough that you could see your fancy bucket truck parked out on the street. Whether accessible or not even in the interior of BC it's very easy to come up against trees that no normal bucket truck is reaching.

Like MB said, seems crazy not to have one.

 

[squisher]

I'll ad too that the best way to have a bucket is with a strong climber. I had a guy who worked for me for a number of years who was a much better climber than me to clarify. Not calling myself a strong climber while in the company of the types of climbers who hang out here, but I could get it done. But what I mean is when you have a strong or even capable climber and a bucket then you don't end up wasting time trying to get a bucket into places it has no business being. But just use it on the jobs it's suited for. Best of both worlds.

 

[Ryan]

I remember going back to a repeat customer 2 years later and the ruts were still in the sod where we tried to pitchfork them up. I was still on the ground and was led to believe you jammed the bucket truck in wherever you could.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Pitchforking only works on the minor ruts, unfortunately.

 

[SeanKroll]

Bucket trucks are great, except when they are exactly where you want to dump pieces or near where you want to dump pieces, especially big pieces, that could bounce funny.

Shooting pieces into holes is often like throwing darts or free-throws for me. Rarely, before it even leaves your hand, you know something is wrong, or most always it just feels right.


Drain pipe extensions are valuable here, on certain jobs. Like if you've mobilized into an area, and a roof discharges along the path, you could be screwed, or you could be prepared.

I watched my old boss slide sideways into a tree a bit while driving the bucket on a minor cross-slope, because the developer put down black plastic and 6" of topsoil, and then the rain came. Downspout dumped immediately next to the house, uphill of the drive path.



Zero bucket access on today's job.

 

[treebilly]

Not really a work pic but close enough and I have to clean it up

I personally used this saw 22 years ago removing a silver maple for a neighbor. He recently gave me the saw because he said I might be one of the few that would appreciate it. I’m going to clean it up and put it on a shelf in my garage as decoration. How many others here can say they’ve used one of these? I know there are a few

 

[MasterBlaster]

Bucket trucks are great, except when they are exactly where you want to dump pieces or near where you want to dump pieces, especially big pieces, that could bounce funny.

I've been there a gazillion time. Just cut smaller and rope it out.