Estimated quantity of logs from tree sugury

[Khriss]

I actually believe this and shudder. But now glad my work takes me far away from such. K

[Joe Newton]

4 minutes ago, Khriss said:

I actually believe this and shudder. But now glad my work takes me far away from such. K

Yup, I watch porn like a champion, but guess what, I can never find batteries in the house. 

[Big J]

16 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

 

 

BigJ I’m surprised at you, you’re not one of them and you should know better. 

You wouldn’t price a felling contract from some low quality pictures would you? Your experience on the willows for mates rates isn’t comparable, and just makes everyone on here look like a robbing bastard.

Vesp would call you a robbing bastard for charging £400!

 

 

It's a fair point, and pricing from photos is fraught with difficulty. 

 

That being said, with one 30ft tree and two 20ft trees, the only way I can see that a grand was justifiable was if the trees were hanging out over a crocodile infested swamp and you agreed to let the customer have half an hour with your wife.

 

I know that the example I offered cutting for my friends isn't representative, but even at full price (£800, rather than £400) it was only a few quid per stem. It's probably a case of being lucky enough to have the right kit to do the job really quickly. The stems all got branch logged and having the forwarder to pull them out and stack them was brilliant. Anyway, I only really agreed to the job in order to justify the purchase of a little coppicing saw! ?

[Khriss]

Every boss I have ever worked for uses this tried and trusted method for tree works pricing and volumes. Oddly half of them are bust ( I would blame Brexit ), and it was never mentioned on the professional tree Inspector's course I did, possibly showing how traditional and blinkered these guys are to new technology. K

[Ty Korrigan]

Reminds me...

 We once removed a bog standard 2m x 1.5m x 25m conifer hedge.

Client well happy with the price and sent back the quote signed 'bon pour accord, lu et apprové, which isba formality here.

Yet, client calls up in the evening after the job "where are my logs?" 

He also expected me, me alone, to be there several days, a week almost.

Probably had visions of me shoving twigs into a Bosch 3kv shredderette.

True, I never mentioned the size of my chipper or that I even had a truck or employees as all the client saw was my family car when I quoted.

 Client now felt abused, made itvquite clear, no logs and a grand or so for a days work, outrageous!

 I'm not at fault here at all, signed quote was quite clear, no mention of logs, that was a construct of the clients imagination.

Still, to pour oil over these troubled waters and not without a little mischief in mind, I told him I'd deliver a few loads of logs when passing.

And so one day some time after I filled his driveway over the course of a day with free wood.

 That stowed his gob and made me laugh 3 years down the line when I did his neighbours trees in 2017 and saw the same rounds of organic tree wood ranged along his drive and as far as I could see apart from being stacked otherwise untouched.

  Stuart

 

 

[Sheepy]

No mention of drag, no mention of area, no amount of time stipulated ( anything over 4 hours is a full man day). There was 3 people on site, it might of been a hour from there home base why is £800+vat kicking up such a stink that’s what a business consisting of at least 3 people trucks and tools and insurances needs to bring in a day surely? As for the original poster all I have to say is if you agreed to the price you’ve not been ripped off, you wouldn’t be moaning if they spent all week removing them. As for the logs it’s hard to tell exact amounts from the pictures but I personally wouldn’t bother logging anything less than 7 inch anyways and with these trees being the size they are thats gonna leave lot a chippable material. 

[Mark Bolam]

25 minutes ago, Big J said:

It's a fair point, and pricing from photos is fraught with difficulty. 

 

That being said, with one 30ft tree and two 20ft trees, the only way I can see that a grand was justifiable was if the trees were hanging out over a crocodile infested swamp and you agreed to let the customer have half an hour with your wife.

 

I know that the example I offered cutting for my friends isn't representative, but even at full price (£800, rather than £400) it was only a few quid per stem. It's probably a case of being lucky enough to have the right kit to do the job really quickly. The stems all got branch logged and having the forwarder to pull them out and stack them was brilliant. Anyway, I only really agreed to the job in order to justify the purchase of a little coppicing saw! ?

You aren’t lucky in having the right kit J.

No one gave it to you.

You need to remember what you’ve gone through to earn it.

It will break, it will need replacing.

 

I rock up in my standard Transit and TW, bit of kit and some saws and some twat says ‘It must be easy for you with all this equipment, surely the price for the job should equate to minimum wage for all concerned’.

I can’t remember anyone giving me the kit.

£40k on a bad day.

 

Hard earned, initially by underpricing myself to keep up with the perceived ‘market rate’.

 

Now?

 

Sometimes we are cheap, by means of efficiency and graft, but I don’t get involved with the ‘I’m getting 15 quotes for my apple tree’ brigade.

 

My existing clients get me back because we know what we’re doing and do a good job. 

 

Apart from the NHS.

Those twats are settling an invoice on Thursday, 3 weeks late.

[Big J]

1 minute ago, Mark Bolam said:

You aren’t lucky in having the right kit J.

No one gave it to you.

You need to remember what you’ve gone through to earn it.

It will break, it will need replacing.

 

 

Again, fair point. And it does break and it isn't cheap to fix. 

 

Maybe a better way to look at it is that because I had the right kit for the job, I was able to get it done very quickly and at minimal cost. There are loads of jobs for which I don't have the right kit and I try to avoid them.

 

Sheepy suggested that maybe they had a long drive to get there and other associated costs, but the way that I look at it is that I won't add that cost to a job because I'm not correctly geared up for it. I'll either turn the job down, or gear myself up for it so that I am competitive. 

 

Anyway, as regards this job, I think we're almost all in agreement that the original poster was probably overcharged, but was also probably expecting many more logs than was reasonable.

[Mark Bolam]

?

You and I know just because you’re correctly geared up to do the job shouldn’t make it any cheaper mate.

Easier, faster, more efficient, yes, but never cheaper! I appreciate this was for a mate, different ball game.

We often work out cheaper than local ‘gardeners’ because we can do in a couple of hours which would take them an honest weeks toil.

Sorry Vesp!

 

I’ll look forward to meeting you one day J, we can blow the froth off a couple and put the world to rights.

No excuse not to now you’re a southerner like me!

[peds]

28 minutes ago, Big J said:

 

Anyway, as regards this job, I think we're almost all in agreement that the original poster was probably overcharged, but was also probably expecting many more logs than was reasonable.

Yes yes, we know, but what exactly were you given for lunch? That could make or break the deal!