hourly rate for climber

[likeitorlumpit]

I wouldn't rate a self employed climber until I knew what he can produce in a day. I've met plenty of guys that can produce plenty, from their mouths.

The difference between a good climber and a good tree surgeon is like the difference between the sun and Pluto!

 

A good climber will give everyone confidence and the job goes smoothly.

An average climber will have everyone hanging around wondering why we arn't using a good climber. The job will get done but frustratingly.

A bad climber will just make everyone look bad.

If he's never done a takedown then he will be learning at the firms expense and shouldn't expect too much money wise. Once he builds experience then £8 upwards PAYE. £10 upwards freelance

[Gnarlyoak]

To be honest Hedgesparrow, if he has no tickets at all at the moment, then he would find it very hard to get into any tree firm. As a minimum most firms would expect you to have CS30/31 before they'd give you sniff off a job.

 

Also he would need to have passed these before he even attempts to go for his climbing tickets. Once he has his climbing tickets it could another 2-3 years before he his confident & competent enough to be considered a half decent climber capable of handling most tree jobs in most circumstances. There is no fast track in this game, so he would need to be prepared for the long haul.

 

If he is serious, then his best bet would be to gain his basic CS chainsaw tickets, then try and get into an already established tree outfit, prove his worth, willingness to learn and hope that they pay for him to take his climbing tickets to help him progress forward.

 

Even with his basic tickets, without a proven track record of work experience arb work he probably could'nt expect much more than minimum wage to begin with (maybe £7 per hr) and even as a climber with 2/3yrs experience it may not rise much above £12 per hr.

 

Working as a freelance climber, well there are probably a lot of skilled competent climbers on here, with years of experience, that are only making £120 per day (£15 p/hr). But you may not have work every day of the week, every week of the year, you've got all your kit, PPE, fuel, transport, taxes, other overheads etc. to be paid for from that. A good climber can make a living, just, but he won't be driving a Ferrari!

 

He also needs to bear in mind that the colleges these days are churning out an ever growing number of wannabe tree surgeons, with tickets and qualifications chasing a finite number of positions. It is a very crowded market place these days, giving potential employers a lot more choice, but they in turn have more competition from other tree companies which means that payscales generally across the board are kept depressed.

 

You only have to look at some of the threads on this forum that competetion for jobs in a saturated market can be fierce, even some of the college boys end up touting their services for free as a trial just to get their foot in the door. I'm not suggesting its impossible, but your son in law if he decides to go for arb work needs to be prepared that it can a long hard haul, for less than sensational rewards at the end of it.

 

Wish him all the best for whatever he decides to do. Best bet would be to train to be a banker or senior civil servant, that way he can make life a misery for everyone else, whilst pocketing a massive anual salary and be rewarded for incompetence and failure with a big fat bonus cheque each year. I sometime wish I had.......... but then I hug a tree and feel better.

[Mark Bolam]

Honest post there Gnarly.

 

You can be operating a 360 for a long time after you've hung up your spikes.

[High Scale]

Honest post there Gnarly.

 

You can be operating a 360 for a long time after you've hung up your spikes.

 

[Le Sanglier]

If I was starting out again I would do Landscaping, patios, fencing, ponds etc.

Nice little 2.5 tonne digger etc.

Trees have been good to me (probably better than I have been to them!) But these days.......

[Marc Lewis]

If he is a hard worker like you say, then Tony Thornton (based in Romsey) might be prepared to give him a go (especially if he is over 25 with full driving licence). Give him a call 07802390801, he currently has alot of work.

[hedgesparrow]

he has a lot of experience with 360,s makes them talk. but it comes down to same thing needs his cpps ticket or blue card to even get a sniff getting on sites then will not take him as he has done plenty of freelance private work but not with any construction firms so is in the same boat.

thank you fro contact will get him to give him a bell and see how he gets on may be the opening of the door for him. has his lantra brush cutter ticket and pa1 and pa6 nptc along with me.

[Marc Lewis]

The experience with 360's will put him in good stead with Tony as he has alot of machinery and plant he uses at work

[Littletree]

son in law is in a bit of a downer. just been made redundant just before christmas.

can not decide to get all his arb tickets to be able to do climbing work.

or go and get his blue card to drive 360,s.

he is a monkey when he climbs and would be good at it just trying to show hime it may be the way forward to go rather than a 360 which is hard to get into and with all the rain not much around.

any veiws. i know it is quite at mo but its between christams and new year.

 

Hi there at this time and with his exp he will earn much more with a 360 ticket. I have my 360 ticket 10 tone and above and also all my climbing tickets and IRATA rope access PTS and dumpers wheeled / tracked so I am Always flat out with work non stop as have several strings to my bow that contractors all want and work up and down the country for weeks at a time .

 

For him if he is a new climber with tickets he will only pick up about 60 a day working on the books , even for good climbers the average is around 80 to 90 a day on the books doing rail work and then he will have to really scratch around for the work in the beginning until he gets known and good at it .

 

If he is making a choice between gaining his climbing tickets or going for a 360 digger ticket then I would say to him go for his 360 hands down as even with his red card he will have work by the very next day on a min of between 11/12 an hour , and for blue cards is up to about 12 to 14 ph the is masses and masses of work for 360 and telehandler drivers as long as he is prepared to travel he will never be out of work again as long as he is a carefull and good operator

Littletree

[LGP Eddie]

Hi there at this time and with his exp he will earn much more with a 360 ticket. I have my 360 ticket 10 tone and above and also all my climbing tickets and IRATA rope access PTS and dumpers wheeled / tracked so I am Always flat out with work non stop as have several strings to my bow that contractors all want and work up and down the country for weeks at a time .

 

For him if he is a new climber with tickets he will only pick up about 60 a day working on the books , even for good climbers the average is around 80 to 90 a day on the books doing rail work and then he will have to really scratch around for the work in the beginning until he gets known and good at it .

 

If he is making a choice between gaining his climbing tickets or going for a 360 digger ticket then I would say to him go for his 360 hands down as even with his red card he will have work by the very next day on a min of between 11/12 an hour , and for blue cards is up to about 12 to 14 ph the is masses and masses of work for 360 and telehandler drivers as long as he is prepared to travel he will never be out of work again as long as he is a carefull and good operator

Littletree

 

Littletree, I would guess you've been Operating machines for some time and have now gained enough experience and contacts to be able to keep regular workload plus adequate rewards for your talents.

 

I would suggest that breaking into Operating Plant has always been tough, and at present is almost impossible on a local level for people not wishing to jump on the Agency or chase work around the country?

 

I've luckily been out of the general plant game for several years now, but very much have my finger on the pulse as it's my immediate default setting if my own kit is idle.

Fortunately I have contacts who will usually find something with a simple phone call, as the deal is simple? They have a machine that only earns with a man in the seat and they know I should be up to the task and will look after their kit.

However it takes a few years to reach this point and most Plant Hirers I know are currently having calls constantly with guys looking for work, many experienced operators with years experience who are having seriously bad times.

 

As for someone starting out fresh and looking to get their Red card then straight onto site at the rates you describe, I think it's not going to happen?

The Red Card is just about as described when it comes to employers, they simply won't have it except when it's just adding some category to an existing experienced operators portfolio.

The Blue Card is what's required to get a foot in the door and possibly into the seat, then it's down to the individual to prove their ability and worth at the controls.

Again I feel you paint a fairly rosy picture of the job as a whole, which can be a very challenging environment to work in now with little respect from any personnel on site.

 

There has been a massive shift towards Self Drive machines with Agency Operators to keep costs down, and this is impacting the industry badly by allowing 'seat fillers' on minimum wage money to take the place of a skilled operator.

 

I very much think the Plant Operator game is just as saturated as any other occupation at present and certainly no pot of gold to be found?

 

Eddie.