Should I help cut his trees down?

I got a friend who wants a 15-20 trees cut down. his options are A: cut and process the wood for him self. which he has more than 3 year supply now, on a heavily wooded lot. he doesn't burn much. or option B; I told him to drop the tree, clear the brush/branches and I'll haul the logs away. Then he says he's doing all the work and I'm getting the wood for nothing. I said I'm saving him the work of processing the wood. then told him to call a tree service and ask how much they charge to haul the wood away. He is also a 40 min drive from me. I can go 10 min in any direction. and cut someones trees down for free and keep the wood as payment. I've heard him say a few times, we have all these animals now and no one comes to help us. like his adult children never come out to the farm to help with the horses, cows, chickens, goats, guinea hens, etc. then he started telling me, I might need to BRING HIM SOME BEER. ya you read that right. cause he's giving me all this valuable wood.

I then told him I pay $20 per cord to get logs and dropped in my yard, I am the only person in this area to pay for logs. most tree services will drop for free if its convenient for them. but i figure its cheaper than doing it myself. plus makes ppl happy when you grease their palm.

I know what will happen I'll go out there with my big saws, and I'll have to do all the cutting and handling, while they stand around going wow you really get it done fast. ya cause I've been doing it for 30 years. I know a few tricks, and I know the dangers and how to work safe. he has a skid loader, which I'm very proficient on, and he's not. and I'll bring my grapple and dump trailer.

what do you think? should I help with the tree removal?

TL;DR: friend wants trees removed. I'm willing to haul the logs. he wants me to help drop them and clear brush/branches too.

 

Personally I wouldn’t mind dropping them but clearing brush. Nope, don’t do that on my own property. The women are better at that.

 

friends help friends? Nothing wrong with bringing some alkyhol either. But I wouldn't do all the work,
They start standing and yakking, you do the same. Or start packing up and when he asks why, you thought it was quitting time with all the jabbering going on.

 

In my opinion, and depending on how close of a friend I'm dealing with, I'd help drop the trees and assist (not do) with brush cleanup. Brush piled up is my definition of cleanup, not hauled to a remote part of the property.

You have to determine, what's the price of friendship?

 

I'd be picking up the brush/branches from the tree with a skid loader with a grapple bucket. just getting them cut off the tree is the annoying part.

 

very good point!!! I can't drink and work though especially when running a saw and/or skid loader. I know they have never dropped trees before. I asked about how to notch and backcut. they looked at me like Iwas speaking Spanish. so I'm sure I'll end up doing all the hard stuff. plus my 460 will out work 3 of their saws.

 

that's a good point, he has so many trees it will prolly be a good place to get wood for a few years too. plus the guy is a riot!! I usually laugh all day when he's around.

 

Cleaning up the brush is a small price to pay for some firewood. If it were me and I had access to said tree's, I'd process them all. In fact, I'm currently doing it for a neighbor who had several blown over in a storm. The wood ain't worth a chit but helping her is the right thing to do.

 

If I was in your shoes I'd do the same thing. its one thing to help the neighbor lady. especially if she doesn't have a saw, or cut wood. its another thing to help a fully capable couple, 40 min away from home, who have the saws/splitter tools etc... who say they are doing you a favor by letting you cut their trees and haul them away.

 

That's the best idea. Only work when he does.

 

I recently started working in a union shop, it's been a cultural shock to say the least when it comes to working.
I have to do this there, they like to stand around and yak it up while I'm doing the work. I learned fast to stop
and wait till they go back to work. It works.. I don't like it but I'm not there to do their job too.

 

It's two hours out of your day just to get there and back to home. He seems a bit out of touch as to the value of his trees; you're not a logging company, he wants them down and you are an alternative, AND you can get logs for a very small price dropped at your place. Sure is a disconnect there. I like funny people, too, but it would be a bit awkward doing it thinking the whole time that he thinks I'm getting such a wonderful deal. A big part of the negative here for me is the travel time alone. You would be doing him a large favor to do this. Oh, what I would give to be able to get logs for $20/cord!

 

20 dollars per cord of logs dropped at your door? There's no reason to go process that wood for yourself. That's a no brainer.

As for the rest, feel free to bring some beers over and go help him for the day. Have him or his wife provide grub. Take them down and buck them up. He can dispose of the brush another day

 

he's been a factory worker/ grunt work his whole life. he doesn't really have a specialty. I'll prolly end up helping him. just cause i'm bored and I like helping ppl, plus I like cutting wood.

 

What kind of wood is it? If it’s real nice hardwood, I’d probably offer to help, but I certainly wouldn’t pay the guy to cut his trees down. Friend or not, that’s absurd. If he hired a tree service they’d charge him a lot to cut that many trees. Tell him to get prices to take them down, clean the brush and leave a pile of logs, vs dispose of the logs. Won’t be a difference in price and he’ll see it’s not the goldmine he thinks it is. If anything he should be buying you the beer AND giving you the wood.

 

ya its pretty sweet. but its all about convenience for the guy. he's not going out of his way for me. if its closer to drop it here than haul it to his shop he'll drop it. plus he hauls 10 cords on his truck. so I buy the whole truck. could be anything from cottonwood to oak though. some 48inch diameter stuff full of knots on every side. sometimes they have metal sticking out the side of the log. I think the key is, I have never once complained about anything. just say thank you!!! this is exactly what i needed. even if its all cottonwood. but then the next load was all 12-30 inch oak with almost no knots.

 

its mostly ash and oak. and ya that's what I was thinking!! he should buy the beer. I told him I'd pay him 20 per cord to drop the logs at my house. he declined. LOL!!

 

can you use him as a staging area? that might be worth the effort but seriously you'd spend 20 in gas give or take depending on your truck.
My truck would eat close to 40 in gas doing that trip. Not really worth it either considering you can get 2 log cords for that dropped at your place

 

Have him pay to have trees felled. Go there and buck and take the wood you want. If he has lazy kids thats not your problem. You are going out of your way to help him even though you enjoy doing it and are reaping the benefits with "free" firewood.
What type of wood is it Felter ? If premium quality wood then maybe.

I have a similar dilemma. Landlord comes up to the house we rent last week. He knows i love cutting wood. Asks which trees should come down around the yard and then asks which ones i could fell. He is looking to save a buck. Im confident to fell some of them safely, but if i mess up and a tree hits the house??? He is beyond cheap and has two lazy good for nothing grown sons that live with him (two houses down from us) and do nothing to help.
Then the deal had been he gets half the wood if i do all the work. March 2018 blizzard here drops a huge oak over the driveway. I process entire tree and he gets half the wood. The mound was sitting where i processed it for two weeks and i moved it for him. He got mad about that, but it would still be sitting there had i not. Anyhow, the nice mound of splits still sits in a mound on the dirt covered in leaves to this day. He does burn in this beat up old stove.
If i do any work it will be a "thank you" as he lets me store and process wood behind his dumpy house.
Sorry for the rant but i understand what you are going through.