Ripped off by tree surgeons

[MattyF]

I priced a job a few weeks back £450 for the day , it involved two men and over 40ks worth of kit on site , the man went in to a turn because of the cost , I tried to explain the gear needed but realised he could not see no difference between a plumber who turns up with a bag of £100 tools and some one who turns up with high maintenance Machinary with the insurance and all the other costs of trying to run a tree business..
I gave up explaining and have no need to justify any costs take it or go.

[Ty Korrigan]

There is a thread about kickback started by a victims father which at the time of writing this has a mere 2 pages to the 18 of this thread.

In that context, I regret participating in this discussion.

   Ty

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Brilliant that you came back with a comprehensive reposte Martin 

 

As ever, here comes the “but”...

 

But, I’m confused.....

 

You say you’ve been through the mill with various trades, and, as a consequence,  had a go at some things yourself (tree felling included - which ended badly), and you’ve been generally unhappy with some elements, and gone so far as court action.....

 

And I can relate to all of that having also renovated an 1830s farmhouse from near dereliction. I feel you Bro!

 

But the but is....

 

The biggest lesson from my journey was CHOOSE THE SERVICE PROVIDER WISELY! Sometimes £50, £100, £150/day cash for a casual labour type scenario is entirely appropriate, sometimes is just isn’t. 

 

The “I wouldn’t get out of bed for less than £100/day” quote seems to have made quite an impact upon you. But frankly, the ‘cost’ to an employer of providing a man (or woman) @ £100/day is close to 1 ½ times that so why would anyone bother to get out of bed, to get someone out of bed, to work for £100/day?  

 

That just leaves the option of ‘the man from the pub’ who will do it for £50-100 cash to top up thier Social (whilst undermining the very principles of the Welfare State so as to have more disposable cash to throw ale down their Gregory.)

 

Take the cheap option and shoulder the responsibility of what happens if things go bad....

 

or

 

Outsource the job AND the responsibility to someone that you can hold to account if things go bad....

 

Rarely is it possible to have both!

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by kevinjohnsonmbe

[Stere]

Hard to say from pictures but looks like is leaning over the steep bank/river & may get hung up in thoose other trees on the other side if felled from ground.

 

Looks more like a job for a climber?

 

 

 

[Vespasian]

3 hours ago, MattyF said:

I priced a job a few weeks back £450 for the day , it involved two men and over 40ks worth of kit on site , the man went in to a turn because of the cost , I tried to explain the gear needed but realised he could not see no difference between a plumber who turns up with a bag of £100 tools and some one who turns up with high maintenance Machinary with the insurance and all the other costs of trying to run a tree business..
I gave up explaining and have no need to justify any costs take it or go.

As far as the customer is concerned you might well turn up with an axe and chop it down for all they care..  you buy your equipment to save time, thats it..  you don't buy it and then demand a customer pays for it, you buy it so you can become efficient. all the better to compete against your rivals..

 

How much time does having a woodchipper you paid thousand for save this fella having two stems felled and left on the ground?..  None.

your point is mute..

[Stubby]

11 minutes ago, Vespasian said:

As far as the customer is concerned you might well turn up with an axe and chop it down for all they care..  you buy your equipment to save time, thats it..  you don't buy it and then demand a customer pays for it, you buy it so you can become efficient. all the better to compete against your rivals..

 

How much time does having a woodchipper you paid thousand for save this fella having two stems felled and left on the ground?..  None.

your point is mute..

I think you have to amatize  the cost of things like a 20K chipper or you are just treading water .

[Ian C]

Martin it seems to me you generally want everything for sfa, you need to understand business is business and they don’t run on 50 quid cash jobs just because you think they can, try running an arb business it really ain’t as flash as you seem to think!

 

[eggsarascal]

1 hour ago, Vespasian said:

As far as the customer is concerned you might well turn up with an axe and chop it down for all they care..  you buy your equipment to save time, thats it..  you don't buy it and then demand a customer pays for it, you buy it so you can become efficient. all the better to compete against your rivals..

 

How much time does having a woodchipper you paid thousand for save this fella having two stems felled and left on the ground?..  None.

your point is mute..

No one is demanding anything. The price is the price I want, if the customer does not want to pay that price they are free to get whoever they want in to do the job.

 

If the customer doesn't pay for the equipment who does?

[Rich Rule]

Well the job has been done...  I think the guy who did it deserved a bit more than 150 knicker.

 

What say you Vespa?  Easy isn't it?

 

 

[MattyF]

The job I was talking about was a completely different job that required heavy machinary to lift and mill a huge oak Butt but emphasis the point customers don’t see the cost ... unfortunately are industry is riddled with jack of all clowns like you who think they are experts with no training or overheads creaming off easy jobs and having accidents making are insurance go up and have to apply more HSE regs to are crews to prove we are not as dumb which in turn requires more paper work and training and cost which I’m sure you won’t apply to your work and continue how you are as a liability , I quite agree with the OP that is not a £400 job but we have no idea or really care why he was quoted so high... he is not obliged to take the quote and won’t !