Foreign Objects in trees

[Gray git]

That's why every fencing contractor, builder, well actually nearly every other trade iv come across gives estimated prices which in my personal experience is less than what they end up trying to invoice for because of something that they found and hadn't allowed for.

Strange most people except that from some trades but when a tree company round here started doing it and undercutting everyone with estimated prices then inflated invoices they didn't last long!

[kernowstu]

If I'am on day rate with the Lucas mill and hit stone/metal in the tree the client pays for the re-tip or new blade,but if on set price always add at least 1 re-tip based on what species and where the tree has come from ie plantation/hedgerow

[Maxnaggle]

I don't think there's anything wrong with what the Op is suggesting, big trees are hard work before loosing a day + on the job..

Though I do think you would have to be tactful with wording, not just slap it on the end of the quote, but actually verbaly go through it with the customer, make sure they understand how much of a pita it is and then go from there to come up with some sort of hourly rate should the job go on due to metal/concrete in the tree.

[treequip]

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.

 

We do understand, well I do

 

As the man you stand to make the profit, you also have to accept the risk

[Couldyajust]

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.

If you were clearing a load of conifers & underestimated the amount of time it would take to chip & dispose of them would you expect to be able to charge more to cover the extra costs? Plenty of people make mistakes with them & have to absorb the costs, no difference with contaminants in trees IMO.

[Maxnaggle]

If you were clearing a load of conifers & underestimated the amount of time it would take to chip & dispose of them would you expect to be able to charge more to cover the extra costs? Plenty of people make mistakes with them & have to absorb the costs, no difference with contaminants in trees IMO.

 

Presuming that there have been no un foreseen circumstances and its purely a cock up on the quote, then the excess cost should be absorbed by the arb doing the job.

 

The difference is you can only really guess if you are going to find metal in a tree, and its the potential customers tree, not yours... So why take the risk???

[simonm]

Your lucky if you've never hit a nail in 6 years! My greatest find was an electrical conductor and huge metal bracket, along with no end of nails further down! We ended up leaving a 3 foot section rope around it, pulley in next tree lifted it with chipper & backed van under, still sat in yard now!

You cant account for every eventuality, sometimes its just how the cookie crumbles!

 

 

 

 

QUOTE=Dorset Treeman;1404197]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

[Couldyajust]

Presuming that there have been no un foreseen circumstances and its purely a cock up on the quote, then the excess cost should be absorbed by the arb doing the job.

 

The difference is you can only really guess if you are going to find metal in a tree, and its the potential customers tree, not yours... So why take the risk???

 

The chances of the customer being aware of metal contamination is probably even less likely than me working it out because I would be actively looking for any potential problems when I go round to price the job. If I started charging extra for problems encountered after my quote had already been accepted then I would end up with an awful lot of free time on my hands.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Tricky situation. Difficult to add the contingency into the quote, what happens if you don't find the metal? Give a reduced price?

 

Hedgerow trees fairly likely to have barbed wire (at least.)

 

When I've found it before, I've just left it - explained to customer "I'm not cutting that, it's full of..... " (whatever it is)

 

Or they can stump up whatever extra is needed to sort it out.

[Ty Korrigan]

I wonder what Britain First's policy is towards foreign objects in trees...?

Ty:001_rolleyes: