two man crews

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Chris E said:
Recently on various jobs I've run as much as 2 climbers + 5 groundies, 1 climber + 5 groundies. But mostly its 2 or three guys total. Im experimenting with lifting my rates and running two crews where it seems low risk... Got a long term goal of doing 3 days onsite then 1 day sales, 1 day maintenance. Getting the work hasnt been a problem of late so I'm experimenting to see what can and cant be done.
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Really interesting post to a non-businessman like myself. Congratulations on your success, now and in the future. Providing men with work they love and a way to support their families is no small thing. Figuring out a way to do it without killing yourself from overwork is the Holy Grail, and I hope it just falls into your lap.

Tim
 
Chris E said:
I don't like when the client pushes/offers to provide their own "groundies", just another way folks underestimate our business imo
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I ask if they can put a Simple 3:1 on the Portawrap with a friction hitch to pretension to load ?
 
I used to head out in a flatbed bucket with one man, make a big mess, leave and head out to do another job. The clean-up crew would show up to TCOB.

I liked it that way! :beer:
 
I try and look at the long game. I've done enough 2 man days. It wears you down. At least with the size jobs I get. If I want me and the guys to come in every day and be at their best day after day, then we can't just go balls to the wall on every job with too few people. I've proved I can work hard. I wanna work smart.
 
Machines don't care about working all day, every day. Page, a mini and an aerial friction device, or self-lowering with NC friction helps a lot if you are running two-man crews, three man crews, four man crews...

Three man crews can be more effective, no doubt, sometimes.

Some jobs have too little to do on the ground, if pruning.
 
woodworkingboy said:
I like two day jobs with a two man crew. Deuces wild!
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I'm in the middle of one of those today. Two day basswood removal. It was a little slow at times as the climber but it's a fun job. Lots of lifting with the GRCS. We are usually limited by how fast we can move the debris once it hits the ground. Lifting up a 20 foot limb and then having to dice it up to get it out of the backyard gets real tedious. A third guy in this job would be great.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
I have two full time employees and three is definitely the magic number on larger jobs. One of the guys, who happens to be my brother, climbs pretty well, and while he has some areas in which he need to improve, and I always do the technical and advanced climbing, I can trust him to do a high quality day. He's been working with me a year, now. Our ground man, is 19, but motivated enough and has a pretty strong work ethic even if, like today, he still sometimes puts the chains on backwards. He's been with me a year now, too. There have been ups and downs; days when I've been thinking wtf about production, yet days when I've been thinking omg about production. Mostly, though, it's been a great learning curve and it has cut my weeks during the busier times from 70-80hrs down to a less draining 40-50. I pretty well refuse to work on Sunday's, try my darndest to limit my Saturday's to a half day of sales or maintenance at the most, and try to keep OT to a dull roar.

I find that there are jobs where I need to be there, and jobs I can get the lads to do, which therefore frees me up to get admin or sales done or to go out and make some money contract climbing for a few local operators. But, I can sense their morale dip when they feel I've pushed something too big onto them. On the other hand, get to work!

That said, it's been great watching a couple guys grow and knowing that they'd probably fit right in at any other tree co out there were they to be honest about their experiences. But, to the OP, three workers on the job is ideal.

Mostly because I friggin' hate raking. And I do waaaay less of it with 3 guys on site...especially because I'm, er, the boss.
 
I'm sure if he had to explain to enough disbelieving youngsters that raking into little piles is counterproductive he'd not be feeling very Zen.
 
I don't mind raking, when your raking you know that there's no more dragging, standing in spurs waiting, lifting logs, hitting nails/resharpening etc. well, at least until the next day there isn't
 
I like raking too...more when I see how badly some people do it.
Working solo at the moment, but I prefer it when there is someone on the ground to stack everything.
At the moment, I just make a phone call or send a text, and the guys come to pick it all up and take it away. Wish that happened every job.
 
woodworkingboy said:
I can't remember the name of the zen monk that achieved enlightenment when raking, but there was one.
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I don't doubt it- enlightenment generally comes via excruciatingly mind numbing, boring, physical activity like sitting in the lotus position for 8 hours, or, raking up in tall grass after a dead ash removal.

Just finished cutting up a dragging into woods a large cherry leader which fell onto my sister's lawn. If she had come out and said thank you, btw what about the raking, I woulda replied, I don't rake. :drink:
 
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