Foreign Objects in trees

[Dorset Treeman]

I've been really lucky that in the 6 years since I went it alone, we've had no problems with metal/stone in trees. That was until about 3 months ago. Unfortunately in the last few months I have had 3 incidents where the trees have been riddled with the stuff. So much so that one job it put half a day on it, one job it added a day and a half (it was an 8ft diameter beech) and another job it added a day.

 

On these occasions I have had to take the hit financially as I price by the job, not a day rate.

 

I now need to write a condition into my quoting to cover such events, as I can't keep taking such a financial hit, but I'm not really sure how to structure it. I wondered how others in the industry were tackling this sort of thing?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Alan

[tree-fancier123]

obviously it blunts the chains, but what methods did you use to cut the beech trunk once you discovered the metal? I mean does it involve making a gob cut and getting an angle grinder in there, or what?

I can imagine,not just barbed wire fencing, but even old larger diameter railings and all sorts from a hundred or more years ago, completely enveloped

 

A quote should be firm I believe - an estimate ok room for maneuver - if you work out the frequency of these events and have developed a grasp of which trees could be dodgy maybe add a clause just on some quotes, otherwise customers may feel they're leaving themselves wide open

 

metal detector?

Edited January 2, 2016 by tree-fancier123

[treequip]

You can do day rate or FPLS but I doubt any customer is going to take you on with an open ended agreement

 

You take the profit, you take the risk simple as that.

[Dorset Treeman]

They were all huge trees. We were having to use bars between 3ft and 5ft on an MS880 so not sure how else we could have cut them up really and they were full of stuff from years ago. One we even got a forwarder to come and take away in 8 ft lengths but had to cut the stem sections in sixth's for him to be able to lift. We just kept hitting and blunting. Very frustrating.

[Couldyajust]

Part of the job, you get the quote wrong you take the hit. Finding a lump of angle iron or an old metal sign embedded 3' into an oak or beech trunk is not unusual neither is tin sheets that got stuck in the canopy during a storm & have since been absorbed by the tree or of course the old netting, staples nails etc...

I have been known to wave a metal detector across trees before pricing jobs but you still miss bits particularly on the big trees where they don't scan deep enough.

 

If you don't want jobs with foreign objects in trees then stay well clear of anything on agricultural land & anywhere with a history of neighbour disputes.

[devon TWiG]

Foreign objects in trees are quite common in my experience .... on 1 occasion i kept hitting metal all along the fallen trunk and it turned out to be horse shoes banged in to the trunk to create steps/ handholds !! another time an ivy clad beech turned out to have a bricked up cavity ( like a small church door shape ) on one side with concrete poured behind it ! Around Slapton area which was used by the Americans in WW2 for training with live firing many trees are known to be shrapnel laden and timber merchants just are not interested in anything from that area .... unfortunately it issjust part of the job , but a real pain to keep damaging big saws !!!

[Gray git]

Had this 1 but at least I could see them. Had cast iron tree guard 18" into a tree before which wrecked a few chains and a lot of grinder teeth but sometimes you just got to take it as much as it hurts unless it's obvious that it's contaminated.

We did some along a river edge and I new we would destroy a few chains and possibly bars on all the grit in the bark and cavitys so itemised this on the quote but said if we got lucky I wouldn't charge it, 5 chains later job done and clients were happy to pay as they realised it was going to be a problem.

[eggsarascal]

I've been really lucky that in the 6 years since I went it alone, we've had no problems with metal/stone in trees. That was until about 3 months ago. Unfortunately in the last few months I have had 3 incidents where the trees have been riddled with the stuff. So much so that one job it put half a day on it, one job it added a day and a half (it was an 8ft diameter beech) and another job it added a day.

 

On these occasions I have had to take the hit financially as I price by the job, not a day rate.

 

I now need to write a condition into my quoting to cover such events, as I can't keep taking such a financial hit, but I'm not really sure how to structure it. I wondered how others in the industry were tackling this sort of thing?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Alan

 

If you were having a new fence erected around your garden and the fencing contractor kept hitting rocks/stones whilst installing the posts, in turn taking the contractor more time than he put on the job would you expect to pay more than the original quote?

[Dorset Treeman]

A builder always charges extra for unforeseen problems. Why should I be out of pocket.

 

If the fencer told me before hand that I would have to pay more for stoney ground, I would understand. I'd want to see it for my own eyes though!

 

Thought my fellow arborists would be more understanding on this.

[Couldyajust]

No use on the big stuff but these come in very handy felling & logging up smaller diameter stuff that you know/suspect is contaminated.

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