@ best of luck to you! There are lots of resources here in Ohio. Talk to as many people as you can. Most people are proud enough of their success that they will open up if you ask
Had a guy come up to me Friday on a job asking how much I charged to “cut a tree down”. I told him I’d have to look at it, that every tree is different. He pointed to a tree in an adjacent yard, saying his tree is “about that size”. I told him I would HAVE TO LOOK AT IT.
@@small-town-southern-man3573 hahaha yeah, most people don’t get it. I try to tell folks the three big contributors to price are size, access and risk. They tend to stop asking for a generic price once they get a little more perspective.
@@zaccheusrisk was the one thing I didn't really hear mentioned in the video, but it is a major consideration, and many clients would rather pay someone they trust more over someone they don't know. I've suggested to people that I didn't know that came through referrals that they could call company xyz and they would be more competitive on the price, they said okay, when can you start lol. I think trust is a factor in that, and also the That so many companies won't even return a call (many times that's why I'm there). Thanks for the video.
@@iffykidmn8170 you’ll always do best focus on what you need rather than what others are doing. You don’t want to stoup to a lesser price to get the job if you won’t make an appropriate margin on it, and you don’t want to give an unfair price just because another competitor was trying to rip a customer off.
@@iffykidmn8170 oh, I’m so sorry, I misunderstood. I guess I wouldn’t exactly plan on accounting for neighbors coming and asking for a bid. I normally tell them I can stop by at the end of the day or on another day. I’m not super keen on leaving the crew in the middle of work if they are depending on me for my role in the job at hand.
Very enlightening to me as a consumer of those services. It reminds me of magician Bugs Bunny trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat and getting a lion. I will be less critical of the cost of tree removal in the future. Thanks!
@@mrcryptozoic817 thanks man, there are a lot of guys out there that put a lot of effort into charging fairly, but don’t let your guard down either, there will always be a tree guys out there wanting to charge more than they need to and trying to make a great profit margin than is really fair. Also keep in mind that franchises like Monster and Davey have a lot more overhead expenses and will have to charge more. It used to be that the extra cost meant better service from better skilled individuals, but any more it’s the same guys working for all the different tree companies. As a consumer, would you value a video about an experienced tree guys getting quotes from other companies and evaluating the sales experiences they offer?
@@zaccheus Yes. I have a residential 1/4 acre yard and have 3 big pines to take down (Utah). If it were open field, I have skills and tools to do it myself but not this. Such a video would be a help in deciding which estimate is smarter, both for me and them.
@ excellent! I’ll start thinking how to go about making such a video. I’m not sure I have time in my schedule to make one immediately, but I’ll do the best I can
Wow brother, What a detailed breakdown!! Totally makes sense!! That's pretty much what I do but nowhere near that extent I may have to re-do things!!!🤣
@@JLMTreeService haha well talk to a professional accountant who is familiar with the industry if you want to get it nailed down perfectly. I think a common mistake is to neglect to consider all of the expenses. It gets easy to forget that taking the wife’s car to do estimates or spending your time in the evenings/weekends fixing stuff costs money. A good accountant will make you think of things you never thought of.
Enjoyed the video. Nice hearing your explanation on expenses vs profit. So much more goes into making money in the tree business. It can be a crude awakening when you break down all the figures as you did. But, unless you have a handle on your expenses you'll be defunct in no time. Good job. Appreciate you taking the time to draw it all out. The last suggestion was the best. If you have a fairly big business with a lot of overhead....get an accountant. Thanks.
@@havespurswillclimb I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. It’s a tough thing to think about sometimes when you just want to climb trees, but you can’t climbs trees if you’re not making money 🤷♂️ I’m only a one man operation and I still found it beneficial to hire a CPA to keep my books for me. I’m particularly bad at it plus she offers me lots of financial insight that I find very helpful. It’s money well spent for me.
Knowing what the market is doing and adjusting quickly is the next step. I know I really struggled when covid hit because there were those that didn't do work but being a small operation I was overwhelmed with work. When inflation hit it took me so long to get through my head that a tree or ground work now costs more but in my mind I was still thinking things were still an "$xxxx" project. You hit at the perceived value too and clients can sometimes try and beat you up on price or say "It only took you blah blah blah hours..." My answer is maybe a bit prickly but "How long would it take you?" Don't cut your own throat folks just because we can make it look easy, remember skill and equipment aren't cheap! It can be frustrating when Billy Joe Bob thinks he's a tree service because he has a ragged out saw and a case of beer but there is plenty of work out there don't think you have to win every bid but temper that thought with working for 80% of something is better than working for 100% of nothing.
@@JLMTreeService no problem man! Thanks for your participation in the comments! I learn so much from folks in the comment section and that just in turn gives me more to share in the videos!
@@willaerley7140 absolutely, desperation definitely effects the market price and it is definitely important to adjust accordingly. That almost a whole second video topic.
Hi Zach, thanks for this video on Estimating Tree work pricing. Like everything else there are many variables that go into figuring out the cost to do a job. It is always a fine line in that you don't want to undercharge and on the other hand, keep your price competitive as well. When you mentioned the cost for a Crane, if that is the cost for one like Rick's Crane that is pretty good. That is very expensive to buy so Ideally you have to get a lot of jobs to compensate for the expense.
@@benburns5995 You’re welcome! That’s pretty much the price for a 38 ton crane from any crane service around here. We have several options available and everyone talking to everyone else and they all keep their prices the same 🤷♂️ it’s really more about getting a good operator for the market price and Rick is the best operator I know.
Thank you for going over these numbers, not a lot of YTr's are willing to do this, so it really helps. I lost you tho when you tripled the 'hardware' number by three because you have 3 men - I would have tripled the man cost and put in a single hardware cost, but maybe I missed something. And as long as the market can accept the cost you should be charging the higher number as that is what the competition is charging - that give you a higher profit than you had planned.
@@dhenschel4 I did that because I divided the yearly equipment costs by the number of hours three men were working in a year. It would be the same yearly value if you broke it down by crew hours, but then $30.60/hr would be what you would need to account for when figuring equipment cost per crew hours. It’s just different math routes to the same numbers.
@@RC-Heli835 there is another commenter here who said he breaks is down to a day rate as well. Certainly nothing wrong with that as long as you work consistent length days and don’t base you day rate on an 8 hour day only to find that you typically work closer to 9 or 10 hour days with travel and dump trips and such.
Very useful framework for anyone who intends to start a business. Not enough people do this when starting out and end up paying to do the work. Then they go bankrupt. The worst part is that their competition might struggle as well since these smaller, less calculated businesses drive market prices down in the short term. They're not around for long, but if enough of them pop up regularly, neither will you. On another note, I'd enjoy a video where you discuss another aspect of the commercial part of the business, such as customer relations / customer satisfaction. Judging from your videos you're pretty good at that as well!
@@VP0w3r absolutely man, good thoughts! It’s actually rather important for your competitors to be profitable because if they are not, it’s very difficult for you to compete with them and be profitable. One could say that it might even be quite beneficial for the entire local market if everyone got a good education on estimating. That’s an interesting thought. I’ve never considered myself to be any good at that kind of thing, but if I can assemble some information in a good order, I might be able to do something.
Thanks so much for the explanative video Zach, that was super informative specially for someone like me that is trying to get my own tree service business started with my son and I only really have a basic knowledge of job estimation from some I’ve done in the past and they weren’t really profitable as I grossly underestimated them by a lot 🤦🏻♂️
@@randynewtonsr9659 ohhh, we have all been there! But that’s okay, education always cost something and as long as you learn from those experiences, they will have been worth it. I should have mentioned this in the video, but if you’re in your first year, basing your numbers off of a month can be better than a week or a day. It mostly all works out the same, but monthly might work out a little easier.
I broke mine down into a daily quota instead of hourly and between having two crews and all the right equipment we are generally off between noon and 2 every single day because there is a major incentive to be efficient since my guys are salary. Many hands make light work, give those hands the right tools and it's hardly considered work.
@@troyerthedestroyer that’s awesome man! There are so many way to run a business and incentivize help and yourself and the customer. Thanks for sharing what’s worked for you!
I built a stockade fence for my buddy in Vermont. I estimated 2 full days of work. His quote from a fence company was $5K in labor. I grossly underestimated how rocky, Mountainous Vermont, actually is… 😂. Took 4 full days for the 2 of us.
@@zaccheus yea, the quotes he got sounded pretty high for Upstate NY, but was actually pretty reasonable once I discovered that Vermont was indeed, very rocky. 😂
I know little about this business but my initial thought is that an individual tree has a price, regardless of the crew or time taken. If a company can do it in a day because they have good kit, instead of someone else doing it in two days, surely the price will be similar. The first company has invested in kit, which is more expensive but can do more work per day. If I wanted a tree removed, I don’t care about how long it takes (within reason). I want the best price (and service). The market will fix the price. Thanks for the video, very interesting.
Very good video Zack. Here in my country all these numbers are lower because of the standard is lower. But the math is the same.. and as it is turisty place we have luxury to have much higher price in the peak of turist season.
@@Danilo-visinski honestly I think most places have a peak season and a slow season. I didn’t speak much about it because I think it varies a lot from one place to another, but sometimes you have to make adjustments for the season you’re in 🤷♂️
Zach, I agree. Good baseline, how estimating a job. 50 percent profit a huge number, I would say, closer to 35 to 40 at most. Some of these larger new companies huge amount of equipment 3 to4 crews are maybe 10 percent margin. All about production numbers for them they work so cheap scarry. Around here, Philadelphia area tree jobs still have the same prices we would get back in the 80s, but everything costs 10 fold. I have seen many new start-up companies come and go over the years they can't survive an economic downturn, and as is the case now, EAB is pretty much done in this area. Jobs with 10 or more ash trees at one site are getting less and less every day. And their business can't support all smaller jobs I have heard one company break even cost 20 grand a day and they just purchased another 1.3 million dollar crane. Absolutely crazy to me
@@robertvannicolo4435 you’re right, the industry is changing hard and fast. That’s why is important to look at the numbers often and make adjustments accordingly. 50% margin is a goal. It’s not very often that it actually gets made. It’s better to aim for 50% and end up at 35% than it is to aim for 35% and end up at 20%.
I don't charge by the size of the tree I charge by the size of the drop zone. And can I get a trailer back there or do I have to carry the tree out piece by piece 100 yd out a little tiny gate
Well it kinda depends on the tree service. I have a friend who chips everything his 12” rayco can swallow, and I have another friend who saves a lot of the firewood and sells wood in the winter. The chip happy friend does have the space to process firewood and so he’s just interested in getting hauling the tree off the job as fast as possible. Wood that’s too big to chip he will take to the mulch yard or anyone near him who wants to cut it up into firewood.
@ part of that is also just what makes it into the videos. I know I never flm people putting wood into the trailer. I’ll occasionally grab a clip of the chipper eating a big piece of brush or a huge log getting out in the trailer with a crane, but firewood going in the trailer isn’t super exciting.
@@willaerley7140 not a bad idea. I’m certain I could have found bids for more and bids for less. I wouldn’t want to waste their time and resources just like I wouldn’t want them to waste mine.
@ hahaha, the OP made a good point though. It would have been fun to sample the local market for the purpose of this video. Maybe I can make another video asking for some prices on trees.
@@zaccheusthat would be a really interesting watch, when I work for friends I ask them to get a quote from a different company then beat it. Keeps them happy and helps me with future pricing.
@@zaccheus I guess… I’ve found over the 39 years that I’ve been doing tree work that it is often unpredictable. I’ve had an outfit beat me significantly on one bid, only to be astronomically higher on another. As you say, accessibility is key to lots of it. I was the only one who’d give a bid on a red oak about ten years ago. Sloped backyard, with no access, except for a 36” gate. I took it down, we bunched the brush, I forwarded it uphill to the gate with my Boxer, then handed it off to the Gehl to take it on to the dump trailer. if If I hadn’t the Boxer, I’d have walked on that job. Retractable tracks squeezing through that 36” gate made all the difference.
Shyte..working everyday would be nice. Northeast about 6, possibly 8 months. So dbl your equipment prices. The dump is 30 mins away, and 2 trips 1 hr round trip plus dump time more like 2.5 hrs. What about mini skid? But very very informative..and always always ad 2 extra hours
You didn’t include the payroll for the person answering the phone/bookkeeper and the estimator/arborist. I paid $1900 for a big tree rigged down with good access. Took 4 hours work that I saw. Seemed ok for CT.
@@willaerley7140 you’re right I didn’t. A tree company with only 3 employees probably is on the boarder of having a full time person in a non billable position. You may have seen 4 hours, but there was drive time, dump errands, and maintenance that you didn’t see on site.
@ absolutely, location plays a very big part in the price. Even here in Ohio, the same work will cost almost twice as much an hour both if me as it will an hour south of me.
ive been doing lawn care for 23 years, when people ask me how i charge I tell them. My quality of work speaks for itself.However when it comes to folks on the net the price is NONE of YOUR BUSINESS! Remember SIr its not personal.
This has been the single most educational video I’ve found on this topic in 10,000 videos.
That’s awesome to hear! I’m glad the video was helpful!
@ Currently trying to get my tree service off the ground in central Ohio. Much appreciated 👌🏼
@ best of luck to you! There are lots of resources here in Ohio. Talk to as many people as you can. Most people are proud enough of their success that they will open up if you ask
Had a guy come up to me Friday on a job asking how much I charged to “cut a tree down”. I told him I’d have to look at it, that every tree is different. He pointed to a tree in an adjacent yard, saying his tree is “about that size”. I told him I would HAVE TO LOOK AT IT.
@@small-town-southern-man3573 hahaha yeah, most people don’t get it. I try to tell folks the three big contributors to price are size, access and risk. They tend to stop asking for a generic price once they get a little more perspective.
@@zaccheusrisk was the one thing I didn't really hear mentioned in the video, but it is a major consideration, and many clients would rather pay someone they trust more over someone they don't know.
I've suggested to people that I didn't know that came through referrals that they could call company xyz and they would be more competitive on the price, they said okay, when can you start lol. I think trust is a factor in that, and also the That so many companies won't even return a call (many times that's why I'm there).
Thanks for the video.
“Oh I can send you a picture”
I need to see the tree 😂
@TNTS8105 that's funny.
I got a picture off Google Street view one time 😆
@ yeah then you get there and it’s 3 times bigger
Excellent video..I love how you accounted for the people interrupting you 😂
@@groundpounder24365 haha you have to, they always will 😂
@@zaccheus yes but if it is the neighbor wanting a bid why should that hourly go against the present job and not the neighbors bid?
@@iffykidmn8170 you’ll always do best focus on what you need rather than what others are doing. You don’t want to stoup to a lesser price to get the job if you won’t make an appropriate margin on it, and you don’t want to give an unfair price just because another competitor was trying to rip a customer off.
@ not sure of relevance to my post but ok.
@@iffykidmn8170 oh, I’m so sorry, I misunderstood. I guess I wouldn’t exactly plan on accounting for neighbors coming and asking for a bid. I normally tell them I can stop by at the end of the day or on another day. I’m not super keen on leaving the crew in the middle of work if they are depending on me for my role in the job at hand.
Very enlightening to me as a consumer of those services. It reminds me of magician Bugs Bunny trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat and getting a lion.
I will be less critical of the cost of tree removal in the future.
Thanks!
@@mrcryptozoic817 thanks man, there are a lot of guys out there that put a lot of effort into charging fairly, but don’t let your guard down either, there will always be a tree guys out there wanting to charge more than they need to and trying to make a great profit margin than is really fair. Also keep in mind that franchises like Monster and Davey have a lot more overhead expenses and will have to charge more. It used to be that the extra cost meant better service from better skilled individuals, but any more it’s the same guys working for all the different tree companies.
As a consumer, would you value a video about an experienced tree guys getting quotes from other companies and evaluating the sales experiences they offer?
@@zaccheus Yes. I have a residential 1/4 acre yard and have 3 big pines to take down (Utah). If it were open field, I have skills and tools to do it myself but not this. Such a video would be a help in deciding which estimate is smarter, both for me and them.
@ excellent! I’ll start thinking how to go about making such a video. I’m not sure I have time in my schedule to make one immediately, but I’ll do the best I can
@@zaccheus No hurry. I won't be addressing it until fall.
Wow brother, What a detailed breakdown!! Totally makes sense!! That's pretty much what I do but nowhere near that extent I may have to re-do things!!!🤣
@@JLMTreeService haha well talk to a professional accountant who is familiar with the industry if you want to get it nailed down perfectly. I think a common mistake is to neglect to consider all of the expenses. It gets easy to forget that taking the wife’s car to do estimates or spending your time in the evenings/weekends fixing stuff costs money. A good accountant will make you think of things you never thought of.
Thanks. Was very helpful. Good approach to bidding work, making sure your expenses are paid and profit made first and sticking by it.
Enjoyed the video. Nice hearing your explanation on expenses vs profit. So much more goes into making money in the tree business. It can be a crude awakening when you break down all the figures as you did. But, unless you have a handle on your expenses you'll be defunct in no time. Good job. Appreciate you taking the time to draw it all out. The last suggestion was the best. If you have a fairly big business with a lot of overhead....get an accountant. Thanks.
@@havespurswillclimb I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. It’s a tough thing to think about sometimes when you just want to climb trees, but you can’t climbs trees if you’re not making money 🤷♂️
I’m only a one man operation and I still found it beneficial to hire a CPA to keep my books for me. I’m particularly bad at it plus she offers me lots of financial insight that I find very helpful. It’s money well spent for me.
Knowing what the market is doing and adjusting quickly is the next step. I know I really struggled when covid hit because there were those that didn't do work but being a small operation I was overwhelmed with work. When inflation hit it took me so long to get through my head that a tree or ground work now costs more but in my mind I was still thinking things were still an "$xxxx" project. You hit at the perceived value too and clients can sometimes try and beat you up on price or say "It only took you blah blah blah hours..." My answer is maybe a bit prickly but "How long would it take you?" Don't cut your own throat folks just because we can make it look easy, remember skill and equipment aren't cheap! It can be frustrating when Billy Joe Bob thinks he's a tree service because he has a ragged out saw and a case of beer but there is plenty of work out there don't think you have to win every bid but temper that thought with working for 80% of something is better than working for 100% of nothing.
@@osagejon8972 excellent points, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for helping us all along, love your channel brother!!
@@JLMTreeService no problem man! Thanks for your participation in the comments! I learn so much from folks in the comment section and that just in turn gives me more to share in the videos!
Interesting!!!! Thank you for this info. You explain everything so well. Have a wonderful day!!! God Bless!!!! ❤️
@@grannyshell5425 thank you! I hope you have a great Sunday as well!
I’ve also found that prices go ⬆️ 25% after a major storm. Summer prices are much higher than winter too.
@@willaerley7140 absolutely, desperation definitely effects the market price and it is definitely important to adjust accordingly. That almost a whole second video topic.
Great video with a ton of helpful information! Well done!
Hi Zach, thanks for this video on Estimating Tree work pricing. Like everything else there are many variables that go into figuring out the cost to do a job. It is always a fine line in that you don't want to undercharge and on the other hand, keep your price competitive as well.
When you mentioned the cost for a Crane, if that is the cost for one like Rick's Crane that is pretty good. That is very expensive to buy so Ideally you have to get a lot of jobs to compensate for the expense.
@@benburns5995 You’re welcome! That’s pretty much the price for a 38 ton crane from any crane service around here. We have several options available and everyone talking to everyone else and they all keep their prices the same 🤷♂️ it’s really more about getting a good operator for the market price and Rick is the best operator I know.
@@zaccheus So true, you can have the best Crane but you also need a skilled and competent operator.
@ neither one is any good without the other
Thank you for going over these numbers, not a lot of YTr's are willing to do this, so it really helps. I lost you tho when you tripled the 'hardware' number by three because you have 3 men - I would have tripled the man cost and put in a single hardware cost, but maybe I missed something. And as long as the market can accept the cost you should be charging the higher number as that is what the competition is charging - that give you a higher profit than you had planned.
@@dhenschel4 I did that because I divided the yearly equipment costs by the number of hours three men were working in a year. It would be the same yearly value if you broke it down by crew hours, but then $30.60/hr would be what you would need to account for when figuring equipment cost per crew hours. It’s just different math routes to the same numbers.
@@zaccheus ok right, if it was in $/man hour that would be correct then, thanks for clarifying that.
@ no problem!
Man this is an awesome break down on biding Zack!
Another youtuber with a bucket truck and a chipper says in a nutshell he works for 2000 per day.
@@RC-Heli835 there is another commenter here who said he breaks is down to a day rate as well. Certainly nothing wrong with that as long as you work consistent length days and don’t base you day rate on an 8 hour day only to find that you typically work closer to 9 or 10 hour days with travel and dump trips and such.
@ Yea the job seems to always get bigger and take longer than it looked originally!
@ it’s amazing/annoying how that happens 😂
Very useful framework for anyone who intends to start a business. Not enough people do this when starting out and end up paying to do the work. Then they go bankrupt. The worst part is that their competition might struggle as well since these smaller, less calculated businesses drive market prices down in the short term. They're not around for long, but if enough of them pop up regularly, neither will you.
On another note, I'd enjoy a video where you discuss another aspect of the commercial part of the business, such as customer relations / customer satisfaction. Judging from your videos you're pretty good at that as well!
@@VP0w3r absolutely man, good thoughts! It’s actually rather important for your competitors to be profitable because if they are not, it’s very difficult for you to compete with them and be profitable. One could say that it might even be quite beneficial for the entire local market if everyone got a good education on estimating.
That’s an interesting thought. I’ve never considered myself to be any good at that kind of thing, but if I can assemble some information in a good order, I might be able to do something.
Thanks so much for the explanative video Zach, that was super informative specially for someone like me that is trying to get my own tree service business started with my son and I only really have a basic knowledge of job estimation from some I’ve done in the past and they weren’t really profitable as I grossly underestimated them by a lot 🤦🏻♂️
@@randynewtonsr9659 ohhh, we have all been there! But that’s okay, education always cost something and as long as you learn from those experiences, they will have been worth it. I should have mentioned this in the video, but if you’re in your first year, basing your numbers off of a month can be better than a week or a day. It mostly all works out the same, but monthly might work out a little easier.
Great Info. Thanks.
I broke mine down into a daily quota instead of hourly and between having two crews and all the right equipment we are generally off between noon and 2 every single day because there is a major incentive to be efficient since my guys are salary. Many hands make light work, give those hands the right tools and it's hardly considered work.
Well said.
@@troyerthedestroyer that’s awesome man! There are so many way to run a business and incentivize help and yourself and the customer. Thanks for sharing what’s worked for you!
First rule of estimating - know your costs
@@TonydeBellis-iq6ly absolutely. You’re just shooting at your own foot in the dark otherwise
Zach getting into the nuances with us. What a guy!!! Much love for the small business guys!!! ❤
The world market will get better for everyone as more and more companies get better at estimating. I figured I’d do the best I could to help with that
I built a stockade fence for my buddy in Vermont. I estimated 2 full days of work. His quote from a fence company was $5K in labor. I grossly underestimated how rocky, Mountainous Vermont, actually is… 😂. Took 4 full days for the 2 of us.
@ hahah sounds like that $5k was probably pretty close then 😅
@@zaccheus yea, the quotes he got sounded pretty high for Upstate NY, but was actually pretty reasonable once I discovered that Vermont was indeed, very rocky. 😂
I know little about this business but my initial thought is that an individual tree has a price, regardless of the crew or time taken. If a company can do it in a day because they have good kit, instead of someone else doing it in two days, surely the price will be similar. The first company has invested in kit, which is more expensive but can do more work per day.
If I wanted a tree removed, I don’t care about how long it takes (within reason). I want the best price (and service). The market will fix the price. Thanks for the video, very interesting.
Very good video Zack.
Here in my country all these numbers are lower because of the standard is lower. But the math is the same.. and as it is turisty place we have luxury to have much higher price in the peak of turist season.
@@Danilo-visinski honestly I think most places have a peak season and a slow season. I didn’t speak much about it because I think it varies a lot from one place to another, but sometimes you have to make adjustments for the season you’re in 🤷♂️
@zaccheus sometimes price can go x3 in the season. Especially if it is in busy areas of town. Then you need a special permission....
Thanks for the help
@@brianfloyd8033 you bet!
Zach, I agree. Good baseline, how estimating a job. 50 percent profit a huge number, I would say, closer to 35 to 40 at most. Some of these larger new companies huge amount of equipment 3 to4 crews are maybe 10 percent margin. All about production numbers for them they work so cheap scarry. Around here, Philadelphia area tree jobs still have the same prices we would get back in the 80s, but everything costs 10 fold. I have seen many new start-up companies come and go over the years they can't survive an economic downturn, and as is the case now, EAB is pretty much done in this area. Jobs with 10 or more ash trees at one site are getting less and less every day. And their business can't support all smaller jobs I have heard one company break even cost 20 grand a day and they just purchased another 1.3 million dollar crane. Absolutely crazy to me
@@robertvannicolo4435 you’re right, the industry is changing hard and fast. That’s why is important to look at the numbers often and make adjustments accordingly. 50% margin is a goal. It’s not very often that it actually gets made. It’s better to aim for 50% and end up at 35% than it is to aim for 35% and end up at 20%.
Thanks for the information.
@@natemiller5346 you bet!
I don't charge by the size of the tree I charge by the size of the drop zone. And can I get a trailer back there or do I have to carry the tree out piece by piece 100 yd out a little tiny gate
Absolutely, those are definitely factors that contribute a lot to the cost of the tree
Thanks man.
@@cjmarsh321 you’re welcome!
I have my application ready☝🏼
I even have my own rake 😂
Right on zach 🤙
why do tree companies chip everything usually as a firewood user I've always wondered no one wants to answer.
Well it kinda depends on the tree service. I have a friend who chips everything his 12” rayco can swallow, and I have another friend who saves a lot of the firewood and sells wood in the winter. The chip happy friend does have the space to process firewood and so he’s just interested in getting hauling the tree off the job as fast as possible. Wood that’s too big to chip he will take to the mulch yard or anyone near him who wants to cut it up into firewood.
thanks I watch a lot of videos it seems like everybody chips and no one else would respond
@ part of that is also just what makes it into the videos. I know I never flm people putting wood into the trailer. I’ll occasionally grab a clip of the chipper eating a big piece of brush or a huge log getting out in the trailer with a crane, but firewood going in the trailer isn’t super exciting.
I can't find the part two of you building your tool box were is it?
@@joebennefield3368 I’m sorry, some stuff I ordered for it show up late and I have to delay the video a week. Part two will be next week for sure.
Hey man love the videos
Is the toolbox vid still coming?❤
Yes it is! It will be for sure next week, I got behind on it because some stuff took longer to be delivered than I expected.
You should have brought someone from a tree company to see how close you are.
@@willaerley7140 not a bad idea. I’m certain I could have found bids for more and bids for less. I wouldn’t want to waste their time and resources just like I wouldn’t want them to waste mine.
@willaerley7140…Since his main job is a dishwasher? He RUNS a tree service!
@ hahaha, the OP made a good point though. It would have been fun to sample the local market for the purpose of this video. Maybe I can make another video asking for some prices on trees.
@@zaccheusthat would be a really interesting watch, when I work for friends I ask them to get a quote from a different company then beat it. Keeps them happy and helps me with future pricing.
@@zaccheus I guess… I’ve found over the 39 years that I’ve been doing tree work that it is often unpredictable. I’ve had an outfit beat me significantly on one bid, only to be astronomically higher on another. As you say, accessibility is key to lots of it. I was the only one who’d give a bid on a red oak about ten years ago. Sloped backyard, with no access, except for a 36” gate. I took it down, we bunched the brush, I forwarded it uphill to the gate with my Boxer, then handed it off to the Gehl to take it on to the dump trailer. if If I hadn’t the Boxer, I’d have walked on that job. Retractable tracks squeezing through that 36” gate made all the difference.
Shyte..working everyday would be nice. Northeast about 6, possibly 8 months. So dbl your equipment prices. The dump is 30 mins away, and 2 trips 1 hr round trip plus dump time more like 2.5 hrs. What about mini skid? But very very informative..and always always ad 2 extra hours
You didn’t include the payroll for the person answering the phone/bookkeeper and the estimator/arborist. I paid $1900 for a big tree rigged down with good access. Took 4 hours work that I saw. Seemed ok for CT.
@@willaerley7140 you’re right I didn’t. A tree company with only 3 employees probably is on the boarder of having a full time person in a non billable position. You may have seen 4 hours, but there was drive time, dump errands, and maintenance that you didn’t see on site.
@ Agreed. It wa a 4 man crew. Also, they need to lease and/garage for the equipment. In CT, that’s expensive.
@ absolutely, location plays a very big part in the price. Even here in Ohio, the same work will cost almost twice as much an hour both if me as it will an hour south of me.
1st...ONTO THE SHOW
@@groundpounder24365 the early bird gets the worm!
ive been doing lawn care for 23 years, when people ask me how i charge I tell them. My quality of work speaks for itself.However when it comes to folks on the net the price is NONE of YOUR BUSINESS! Remember SIr its not personal.
@@anthonybanks2979 absolutely, and honestly it’s mostly just folks trying to avoid doing the work of figuring out how to charge.
get a rough idea; then triple it
@@gregy1570 haha triple? I guess it all depends on what your rough idea is 😅