Are we reasonabLe on price

[Tom D]

This really isn't about the employees, its about the business owners. Its not like its easy for a newbie to get work in this business, and 100 - 120 a day is good money for a newbie tree worker.

 

The reason we are cheaper than other trades is simply supply and demand. If Dean had quoted the same hourly rate as the dish fitter he would have lost the job. We price our work according to our local market, (not that some couldn't charge a bit more if they tried). If there was a shortage of tree surgeons we would all be making more money, but there isn't. When people ring for a plumber in some areas they are so grateful to get one that they will give him the job whatever he charges. We rarely have that luxury.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I know two electricians running their own setups, both live near me and both live in houses I could never afford ( my wife is a staff nurse and brings in £25k ) and drive cars that I could never afford and have time off I could never afford.

 

Learning electrics and plumbing is easy

[lowerforest]

Tom D said 'If there was a shortage of tree surgeons we would all be making more money, but there isn't. When people ring for a plumber in some areas they are so grateful to get one that they will give him the job whatever he charges. We rarely have that luxury.'

 

How true that is! I'm sure we all have that thought at the back of our minds when we go and price up a job (don't wan't to be undercut by the local competition) so we tend to price slightly lower than maybe we should, or want to.

 

Undercutting of estimates and prices goes on in every trade, but IMHO tree work, fencing and landscape gardening seem to be particularly prone to it, unfortunately.

 

And potential customers seem to know this, too...

[volvo]

The son in law who is a plumber charges £27.00 Ph is that more than tree workers charge?

I doubt it.

There are good and bad in all walks of life.

[Rupe]

I did a year of evening classes for electrics (2 nights a week) and yes it is easy but I have a mind for that kind of thing. I could have done another year and been a "qualified" electrician, but I would have known nothing about how to go about bashing someones house apart and installing stuff. The circuits and standards and maths etc is easy but the rest takes time to get expereince, but the tools are cheap as in comparison to tree work, so a £60 a day trainee sparks is way better off than an £80 a day trainee climber(if hes buying his own kit as he goes along).

 

Trainnee sparks only needs some tracky bottoms and a screwdriver!!

[luftwaffe]

Did a medium sized fairly awkward take down today that I priced at £495, everything had to be lowered and two of us easily finished it in the day leaving site spotless.

 

Customer tipped me £55 which quite shocked me, she insisted I take it. She had just had two different trades in doing jobs, one was a satellite engineer to run a new cable. The job took him 55 minutes and he charged £500 and a locksmith to change her euro locks which took an hour and lightened her purse by a huge amount.

 

She said both men had a small briefcase containing their tools

 

She said that I turned up with thousands upon thousands of pounds worth of equipment, two men, and spent all day sweating like a dog without so much as bending the stem of any of her plants and obviously carried out the job Very professionally for the same amount as they charged.

 

She was absolutely over the moon and said she was pleasantly surprised when she received our quote.

 

Nice to get positive feedback

 

Dean I see where you are coming from, but in the scale of things setting up as a two man tree surgeon is peanuts in comparrison with some other business's,eg timber lorry and crane £140k excavator £90k, timber harvestor and forwarder £500k, Not to mention the huge running costs, insurance, tyres, fuel, etc etc.......all working as cheap as they can to secure the work,

 

I know of a haulier who runs 9 artics and his profit was 47k last year, from a turnover of £980k, a friend of mine spent 500k on forestry kit and made 39k, profit..

 

I think some people here don't know when they are well off.....

[Hodge]

The son in law who is a plumber charges £27.00 Ph is that more than tree workers charge?

I doubt it.

There are good and bad in all walks of life.

 

But what overheads does he have?? Very little I would think, van, tools insurance. The insurance will be nowhere near tree surgeons insurance. Then there is all the saws and chipper, waste carrying licence etc.

[Dean Lofthouse]

The reason I stay as a two man team is quality, stay small, stay reliable and earn a good reputation, that way you maximise profit.

 

One thing I have learnt, the more tackle you have, the more hassle and headaches you have.

 

A five year apprenticeship for plumber/ electrician is quite quick compared to tree surgery, I did three years a long time ago and nine years since I set up again, a total of twelve years and I still only know only a fraction of what is to learn in tree work.

 

Like I say, electrics are easy, auto electrics are a bit harder and plumbing any monkey can learn

[shillo]

yep tis gutting i had a local carpet fitter quote to carpet our whole house, 440 which i thought was resonable at the time. took me all day and night to shift everything outside and make it as easy as possible hoping to make it cheaper, 2 men turned up in tracky bottoms (and both had carpeted toolboxes!) one spent a hour on the bloody phone, i made them both t on tap, they were gone by 4, they still took 440 off me.

 

if only i could do that.

 

that old dear sounds like a right sweet heart.

 

Bet you recommended planting a replacement!

[Swampster]

When you're driving to the job tomorrow and get stopped in a line of traffic, look at the people in their cars around you. They were probably there around the same time yesterday, the day before and they will be again the day after as well. just to go and sit in an office, probably air con'd and maybe with a little view of the world out side. Or under a sink, or or or...

 

I know I'm happy going to climb a tree. Been the same since I was little, now I get paid for it too!

 

PS if you're all going to be Sky engineers or plumbers, I promise to look after your tree clients and in time to come I'll give you a call when the drainage in the lower meadow needs sorting or the TV goes wrong in the east wing!!