Had 2 locusts and one maple that have needed trimming for some time. A large dead branch fell the other day so before one went through a roof or hurt someone it was time. Lots of deadwood and a few large branches needed to come down. Had a few companies come give me quotes and ended up going with one that was almost the cheapest and the guy who wrote the quote seemed knowledgeable and confident. Asked if he would be on the job and he says probably not this one, that the crew would have no problems. He wanted 600 extra to take away all the trimmings. Haha, you want me to pay you what to take away precious locust, hahah!!! No thanks, everything stays! Ended up with probably about a face cord of locust. Now the strange part of the tree service. The guys who showed up were all from Sri Lanka. Nothing wrong with that but it’s very strange to see around my area. They worked hard and kept the yard nice and clean. Did a pretty good job on the trees too, there’s a few spots I wished they would of taken some more limbs but overall I am happy. Only one of the 3 spoke English. We talked about how he did tree work back home in typhoon’s and all sorts of interesting jobs he had done. Friendly guy who liked to talk. But when I asked a few questions about how the company runs(how long in business, is the estimator their boss, areas they work) he got real quiet and didn’t want to say anything. Then at the end of the job he asked if I could fill out a satisfaction survey, said boss would make him come back if not. I don’t know, maybe it’s fine but something seemed off. Just hope they’re being compensated properly for the work.
Staffing is challenging these days. I guess you have to find whoever will do the job. The company I work for has had an opening in a very busy location for a couple weeks now. District service manager said he hasn't had one reply to his help wanted add. Great little stash of the good stuff! That'll be nice for the coldest of nights.
Nice to get the hazards removed and have the inventory grow a bit. I wonder if the Sri Lankans didn't work directly for the guy that quoted the job? That he quoted you a low price and is able to compete because he in turn subcontracted the job out to these guys? Looks like they did a good job, and like you said, I hope they're being compensated fairly and not taken advantage of....
It’s a method used to get around paying workman’s comp. There’s a guy/tree service here that sends out mass mailings and than subs out the jobs. I forget what % he gets from each job, but it’s easy money for him.
Figured it was some like that. He drives around, does the estimates and collects a percentage. They’re not his employees so he’s not responsible. He did have a insurance certificate though so I wonder how that translates to subcontractors if at all.
Nice little pile of wood there. Seems they got the length correct. Did you ask them to cut a certain size? My guess is they are subs and willing to work cheap. Cant say ive ever seen tree guys of that nationality. Lots of Hispanic around here.
That is me getting the length correct! They left it in all random lengths. Piled it up nice and neat though, limbs, brush, twigs everything. Was nice that they piled it up but I would of rather them just leave it where it lay. Had to go through and disassemble their pile. Got a little more to cut up but got all the small stuff burned up yesterday.
Got everything cleaned up. Just gotta split and stack. More than I thought was there. About 14 feet long and 4.5 feet tall. That’s work for another day, it’s beerthirty.
