A tree service work saga. There is a guy local to me who does tree service work and he's real good and I always thought he was reasonable. He has a bucket truck, a large dump trailer and a chipper. This fellow mostly travels to distant jobs hundreds of miles away (or wherever it is really) but does local work when he comes back for family time. He has three workers. Today, I had him look at a big, dead red oak (34" DBH) in my yard that needs down, I am not willing to drop it because it has a bad lean, powerlines in the way, and I am surprised that the bark at the base is rotten, I am a bit leery of its wood. It's recently dead, this past summer. He agreed to get it on the ground (and I will buck it for firewood, my splitter is right there) for $300. I'll pay that! Some other stuff surprised me at the cost. There is a huge water oak and a huge limb (with many branches) is overhanging my house. Just to take that big limb off so nothing overhangs the house (and I use almost all of it as firewood)... $800. Yikes, that was a shocker. Then I have a large shortleaf pine, 32" DBH, that is just kind of in the way of my firewood processing area and this pine has a bazillion pine cones perpetually. Was shocked... $1,000 to remove and clean up. Another pine, 18" DBH, and not many limbs, not 2 feet from my driveway (that my dear, late father should never have allowed to grow so close because it buckled the concrete)... a bargain of $100 to remove and clean up. And then remove the two bottom limbs from another huge (36" DBH) loblolly pine that overhangs my house... $100. Said he'd do all of the above for $2,000 instead of the $2,300 total. The expensive overhang, $800, he said it's just labor-intensive, just takes lots of cuts. Nibble, nibble. Cut a small piece of a limb, chunk it down away from the house, keep working back to the trunk. I'm really surprised it's that much, actually. The $1,000 large pine removal, surprised it would be that much. Actually, I am more surprised about that one than the overhang. Granted, this tree has a bazillion small limbs and pine cones. Kind of confusing in that he said that that's the problem with that one, cleanup, but that there would not be much of a discount if he just got it on the ground and then I clean it up. That seems a contradiction. I dunno what I will have done, if any, other than the red oak that has to go. The two pines I mentioned that he would remove, I might could do those myself. Everything will be just fine as long as I fell them where I intend to! The other stuff is not a must-do, I've survived many, many years as is. Gotta think on this one a day or so. We have another tree service in this area that is much higher than this fellow. I will never call them. They charged my elderly, 100-year-old neighbor $3,000 to remove a large oak and this was about ten years ago. There wasn't anything particularly difficult about that tree; they just overcharged her IMO. It did take them all day but three grand seemed high. They didn't have to rig up lines or anything, just piece it down with the bucket truck. I thought half that amount would have been 'reasonable' back when they did it. Other people have also complained about their prices. They are good, I will say that. But this guy I will use is, too. So, if you have a problem tree, get some money saved! I know that this stuff is not cheap but I just have to figure out what I am willing to spend because only the dead red oak has to be done.
Years ago at my old house I took down quite a few trees. Had a couple I didn't want to do myself, got a quote for those and one large scarlet. The quote for the scarlet was really low, and honestly that scared me more than a high price. My neighbor ended up getting another tree guy to do some work, so I had that fella cut the couple of problem ones I had. As an aside, a big July thunderstorm with some major straight line winds put the big scarlet on the ground summer before last. Took down the powerline spur, but no other damage due to the direction it fell, which was very lucky. If I were you, I'd probably have him do the dead oak and the overhanging limb. What's the direction of lean for the water oak?
Dropping trees is cheap. Climbing pruning ground guys chippers etc is all $$$ Giant 40” pin oak looming over my house. 3 quotes, 1: I don’t want to do it. 2: 2500 3: $2000
$2000 for the package deal seems reasonable IMO. I know tree work ISNT cheap as one has to look at the equipment involved and the skill to do it safely and correctly without any property damage. Most make it look simple as they know what they are doing. I do simple chain saw/tree jobs from time to time. Anything out of my level i refuse. I have a job like that now. One tree i can easily fell myself. The other is a huge dead pin oak in the yard. I think i could fell it safely, but will get a tree guy i know to do that and ill do the rest. Go for the $2000 deal. Get it all done and give yourself the piece of mind...and you can sleep better when theres a big storm during the night! Have you made him a cash offer Bill?
I used to do a LOT of tree work. For the most part you're doing a best guess at making a buck. If your mind adds difficulties the price goes up. Just plain out ask him the questions you're asking us. Maybe it will click and he will rejumble the numbers or you can have a I didn't think of that moment. From first glance his total does sound reasonable.
Did you get a qoute for them to chip and leave wood in chunks for you to clean it up? I know thats where most of the grunt work id for them, plus many dont want the wood.
Liability insurance and payroll taxes are a killer in this industry. You can always get other estimates and see if he's trying to gouge you or not, I'm leaning toward he's in the ballpark.
My thoughts exactly. I'll cut and drop stuff myself but I always say for any tree work near utility lines, buildings, fences, roads, etc. - I want someone with insurance! The prices you noted seem fair to me.
He first had the total of all the mentioned trees wrong, told me it totaled $2,800 and he would do it all for $2,300, saving me $500. I pointed out that I thought his total was wrong. He added again and said, Oh yeah, it's $2,300. I'll do it all for $2,000. I don't mistrust him, we were walking around looking at the trees and he was giving me prices and nobody wrote anything down. I think (assume) he made an honest mistake. I really don't think he's out of line with the pricing as I think he knows his business. I am just surprised at a couple of those trees costing what he said. The water oak... yep, leans toward the house. I did not offer to pay cash but I will. No idea if that will make a difference to him. If I had my druthers, I actually would like even more done than what I have mentioned but, of course, this is not cheap! If I didn't have powerline concerns, I could do everything except what must have a bucket truck or a tree monkey! Any of the oak work done, he knows that I will just keep it for firewood, this is all within 100 ft of my processing area.
A few years back, we had some large oaks taken down. 1k per tree. Involved crane work and chipping of tops. Wood left behind. Yout single oak was $300, as he would probably be there by himself, no crew. The other work sounds like bucket truck work and a crew to pay.
Every time someone gets a quote from a tree service, seems they get some sticker shock. Nothing new. Just consider the reasons you are getting this done. Or wait until there is a tragedy and wish you hadn't waited. Better safe than sorry.
I recently saw an ad from a company looking for a climber offering $100/hr. I doubt a bucket truck + CDL + guy in the bucket working around power lines ends up much cheaper. Once you start talking about big trees near houses and/or power lines, I think it's bound to get expensive. It's risky work on the best day, both from a human perspective and an insurance perspective.
That's because he needs to account for paying a guy to spend the next day cleaning the sap off his big saws. Seriously, everything else sounds like a bargain. $800 for a big limb over a house where you need a bucket and rigging, so paying two guys, plus equipment wear and tear is very reasonable. I'm guessing he just don't want to mess with the big pine for whatever reason, so he threw out a number high enough to make it worth it.
Thee years ago when we moved into our farmhouse there were 3 red oaks that averaged 38" diameter close to the garage and wood shed. One was 8' from the garage and that forked at knee level. The second tree was had a huge crown and shaded the drive, it was well within reach of the garage and wood shed. The third tree was 2' from the woodshed, the bad part was decades of shade and leaves on the woodshed caused it to rot. Had a tree service come out and they quoted $1,000.00 per tree to just drop them, based it on climbing them, and the amount of time to get them on the ground, no cleanup. If we wanted the branches chipped it was another $4,000, due to the processing and hauling off chips. I ended up with 7 cord of red oak firewood from those 3 trees, and also learned when I cut the stumps low that farmers use to use concrete to fill in holes in a tree to stop it from rotting. I ruined a good chain on the 372 with that lesson.
Around here that would be a no brainer. These guys aren't cuttin a fat hog by any means at that rate (from the sounds of the scope of work). As mentioned already the cost to the owner alone to get there with reliable help and proper equipment to perform the work is crazy. Simply the liability insurance alone..... Take pics and be safe. Before a storm makes you take bad pics of damage. If that's a concern? I have a monster Elm at my place that is failing. It could destroy my home and garage if things went bad. I'll be spending similar $ just to get that one tree on the ground. Ouchy!
BTDT with a large elm close enough to the house to be a concern. Had a tree service get it down and I did all the clean up. It was the only safe way to handle that tree.
Here's what $500 buys you here in Minnesota. I think the guy had a truck, a sign and a chainsaw. Didn't quite judge the lean of that big branch too well. I think the guy did throw in the tarp free of charge though. Caveat Emptor.
My thoughts exactly I won’t work for bargain shoppers or tire kickers… too much headache. Equipment costs, insurance, workman’s comp, labor costs, etc. it all adds up and that’s before any work is even done. Even a small potatoes tree service can easily have 100k just in equipment. As you horders know wood is heavy and difficult to move. Especially when levitating over your highly valuable house! If I’m not making bare minimum 1k a day I’m losing money. That number needs to be double for me to thrive.
