Tree Cutting

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

I fell a 60' chestnut tree today. My experience in tree work is very limited and I forgot what fun and a challenge it is to drop a tree in a confined space. I may have to pick Little's brain one of these days as I have a hankering to learn how to climb a tree and disassemble it with ropes, pullies, and a chainsaw. Keith

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[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I am gonna send him a message to see if he can help

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I dropped a few 50' pine trees last year, and I agree. It feels so powerful wielding the chainsaw and watching the tree fall. I had to fight with my other employees over who got to do the cuts. lol

[Steve]

Dave,

How did you estimate that job? Could you give us any tips or pointers?

[Little's]

Hey Keith. I am always available if you need any questions answered, or help with anything. You can reach me at 530-917-3344.
I agree it can feel pretty powerful dropping a huge tree. I also like after a long day of climbing around a tree and then finishing for the day and looking back and realizing that nothing got broke! Thats a good feeling too.

[StartALawnCareBusiness]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Team Gopher @ May 22 2008,1:26)]Dave,

How did you estimate that job? Could you give us any tips or pointers?

All that kind of stuff I just charge a flat hourly rate. I was there with two other guys, so I was charging $105/hour. It was a big job where we were clearing out a lot of brush etc. so I just billed hourly for the whole time we were there.

[Steve]

How many hours would you suggest it would take to do that job?

I don't really know...I usually just guesstimate and tell people that I'm doing so. I try to overquote, so I can come in under the price and make people happy. I did that with a job this week where I had no idea how long it would take. It was a completely overgrown yard that they wanted cleaned out. I ended coming up 4 man hours under my 16 man hour quote, so they were happy.

[comanche]

i usually quote what i think it would take by the size of the tree. The height tells me how long ill be cutting the branches into manageable pieces to fit in the trailer. The width tells me how long ill be digging out roots because the conopy usually tells you how far out the roots go. Then i add on how long i think i would take to clean up debris and add on the dump charge(if their is a fee to take the debris to the dump)and also the time it takes to unload the trailer at the dump. The end cost usually works out. On the quote you need to put that you may need to include extra costs because of not being able to see through to the roots of the tree. Their might be huge bolders that you have to contend with.