Pricing

[topchippyles]

2 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

Les you know it isn't that easy, I'm not trying to put a downer on it but come up against a big job/tree and it's easily fecked up... on day three of what you thought was a 2 day job you are on the phone pushing other work back whilst paying contractors/ staff another days money. You need to know what you are doing to price a job, even with years of experience we all still get it wrong from time to time

Come on now eggs my comment was very fair. Agree what he is able to do with a customer and bring in a contractor for bigger works, Put things in writing. You keeping well mate 

[RobG 86]

Oh fantastic comments not taking any as negative. Daily rate are what I do my garden maintenance, figured I would have to charge more for tree work to pay for the different insurance, kit and other bits. I’ve always told the customer  how long things take and put more time on for things going wrong/ taking long. if I finish a day earlier I can fit one of my regular garden maintenance jobs in between. Thanks for all the feedback all good points. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by RobG 86

[parkertrees]

Like mentioned above, it all comes with experience, and even then we still F*ck it up. After working for a proper tree firm, you'll get a gauge of how long jobs take, how many men are needed, and how much you can get done in a day. Don't be afraid of overpricing (otherwise the industry becomes a race to the bottom), but obviously don't take the piss. Some customers will expect things to be done for free, and you shouldn't be afraid to walk away (they usually end up getting you back to sort out the mess their penny pinching caused). 

some 'nice' jobs you may be a bit cheaper on to win, and other 'aggro' jobs you may want to put a higher price on, then if you win it, at least it'll be worth your while!

 

hope that's of some help, i know it was something I struggled with to start off with.

 

Edit: oh and don't forget, theres always more in that row of conifers than you think!!! 

Edited February 9, 2022 by parkertrees

[Stubby]

2 hours ago, RobG 86 said:

Oh fantastic comments not taking any as negative. Daily rate are what I do my garden maintenance, figured I would have to charge more for tree work to pay for the different insurance, kit and other bits. I’ve always told the customer  how long things take and put more time on for things going wrong/ taking long. if I finish a day earlier I can fit one of my regular garden maintenance jobs in between. Thanks for all the feedback all good points. 

Don't ever tell a customer how long it will take if you are getting a price rather than day rate . And don't , ever , ever under quote for reducing a long, wide , tall connie hedge , ever , in the world , Ahmen , X 10 .

[RobG 86]

47 minutes ago, parkertrees said:

Like mentioned above, it all comes with experience, and even then we still F*ck it up. After working for a proper tree firm, you'll get a gauge of how long jobs take, how many men are needed, and how much you can get done in a day. Don't be afraid of overpricing (otherwise the industry becomes a race to the bottom), but obviously don't take the piss. Some customers will expect things to be done for free, and you shouldn't be afraid to walk away (they usually end up getting you back to sort out the mess their penny pinching caused). 

some 'nice' jobs you may be a bit cheaper on to win, and other 'aggro' jobs you may want to put a higher price on, then if you win it, at least it'll be worth your while!

 

hope that's of some help, i know it was something I struggled with to start off with.

 

Edit: oh and don't forget, theres always more in that row of conifers than you think!!! 

No that makes sense.  Thanks for that message. We all have to start somewhere and it’s a little bit overwhelming and of course because I run my own garden maintenance business in some ways it’s harder because I can’t just go out and work with people all the time.  Bearing in mind I’ve only got my CS 30 and 31 so I will never be tackling big trees at this moment in time I’m just looking for basic work to grow my experience and knowledge. When you start looking at the sizes of gardens and trees within them gardens even with the qualifications I’ve got now it will still be difficult to take down a tree without climbing it. But at the same time when I try and be fair to my customers but then also I can live in. Hope that makes sense. A few beers on a school night 😂 

[parkertrees]

19 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Don't ever tell a customer how long it will take if you are getting a price rather than day rate . And don't , ever , ever under quote for reducing a long, wide , tall connie hedge , ever , in the world , Ahmen , X 10 .

Its when you climb into the hedge, and realise its actually 1.6km wide....

[Stubby]

11 minutes ago, parkertrees said:

Its when you climb into the hedge, and realise its actually 1.6km wide....

Who was the guy on here that got in a bit of a pickle with that hedge and had to back out and take a hit ?

Edited February 9, 2022 by Stubby

[parkertrees]

1 minute ago, Stubby said:

Who was the guy on hear that got in a bit of a pickle with that hedge and had to back out and take a hit ?

seem to remember that. He won't be the last one either!

[Stubby]

3 minutes ago, parkertrees said:

seem to remember that. He won't be the last one either!

He won't . Its a repeat in history from time in memorial ! 😀

[Conor Wright]

If you're already busy with the garden maintenance side it may be worth reconsidering getting involved in tree work.

The only way to make really good money is to be exceptionally efficient as a climber with top notch rigging skills or to invest in machinery to speed up the job and get more work in.

It's heavy going until you're fully tooled up, ie decent chipper,your ideal climbing kit, rigging kit, maybe a mewp, chip truck, stump grinder, back up chipper, log splitter, saws, insurance, mini loader or small digger with grab etc etc.

Until you have kit it's seriously wearing on the body. 

Not trying to put you off, just saying it ain't the goldmine it can look to be from the outside. 

Virtually all that shiny kit you see is on finance. Finance means you have to meet targets. This means long hours in all weather.

The older ones take constant time and money to maintain/repair. This means long hours in all weather too.

As regards pricing, I'm 10 years at trees, having mostly worked in landscaping and organic farming previously and I made a monumental cock up pricing a job I started this week, it happens. Just don't let it happen too often.

(We never speak of the jobs where you allow for three days in the price and your heading home paid up at lunchtime on Tuesday)

If you just want to cut down trees, look at getting into forestry, there's always vacancies for cutters. You'll need more tickets and time to get good at it. it's tough work but it comes with lower overheads and less time spent pricing. You will end up working long hours in all weather though!