tree planting

[slk]

Hi Folks,

Just curious really, i'm a self-employed tree planter working around west and mid Wales mainly, wandering what sort of rates of pay people get in different parts of the country and how much might be available etc, our gang seems to average out at about a miserly 6p a tree, generally speaking i tend to get about 1600-1800 trees in a day though obviously this goes up and down depending on conditions, but yeah would very much like to know other people's thoughts about rates of pay and if there's any areas of the uk thats crying out for tree planters etc

thanks in advance ash

[daveindales]

is 6p straight planting, in rows on ploughed ground, no guards, spirals etc?

[slk]

 

Pretty much mate we tend to plant mainly into mounds made by a digger, but yes a straight plant no canes or guards, usually get 7p a tree for steep slopes that haven't been prepared

[slk]

Ok so there's no real overheads to the job just motoring costs, and therefore quite a lot of travel time, on a good site I can plant a thousand trees in 3-4 hours which often means we're only actually working  5-7 hrs but with travel and that it's 10-12 hrs a day and sometimes £ 15 a day fuel making a £96 a day average not so good.....

so yeah really keen to hear other people's experiences

[spuddog0507]

6p per tree don't seem much to me , who you working for ? Roughly 250 trees per hour so 8 hr working day = £120 a day then all that traveling on top + fuel expended etc , can you not bnb it and spend more time planting as once your there your there and off set your costs against each other . last time I planted sitka was 2 yes ago on a steepish bank in to unpreped groud and got 15p per tree did some hardwoods last Feb/march and got 75p per tree tubed and staked . if you go on the forestry commission website (which is massive ) you will find guides to pricing don't ask me how to find the page as I couldn't tell you but its a very helpful pays when you find it, but at 6p a tree some one is having your pants down .

[slk]

thanks for replies,

now there's a little food for thought, Mmmm off to browse commission website.........