I get home from work, after doing the thing we do all day, and watch your videos. My boss calls me a freak and that we can work longer days if I'm not feeling fulfilled after work but It's all in good nature. I do this for a number of reasons, however what always strikes me is your wisdom and ability to see things for what they are. I don't know how I haven't seen this video yet because I thought I had watched them all! Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Everybody's commenting on the reaction and making it right. That's awesome and all but I'm also impressed how you guys used the rope to fix the fence. The rigging caused the problem and ended up fixing it, too! You may have lost your cool for a second but you made it back in spades. Great job all around; I'm a fan for life!
Always best to own up to your mistakes! Clients are usually ok with the truth. But most won't be happy with a lie and don't deserve it from someone either.
Humility and truth with integrity are great anchors of a person wanting to have good character. For me loving my neighbor as myself means I don't lie to myself(yeah we all struggle with this) so I don't lie to my neighbor. Your absolutely right about not forcing issues with customers just give them options. Whatever they decide stay up beat and get it done. Do your apologies once up front and thank them for their understanding at the end. Works great as you have found out. Also we all do little tests with ourselves and other people. I am sure you test your workers and yourself all the time.
Sage advice MB, always confess and let go, I can't estimate the number of work that's come my way after re tensioning some wire, Own it and move on, it's how we learn & grow👍
August, I had a gut wrenching experience last Sunday after denting a customers new gutter. As soon as it happen it immediately changed my attitude. There was no one else to blame because I was working solo. I followed the same guidelines you suggested and he was cool with the damage and he paid $50 over my quote. These types of experiences affirm that having good ethics and integrity go a long way. Excellent content as always sir. Have a great weekend.
Hi August, Everyone goofs up once in a while. You still did a great job taking down the tree!!👍👍I think you should go into fence repair. HEHEHE!! Love the skid stear.It just amazes me how much that thing is able too do!!👍👍Take care guys!! Your friend Al.
Honest. Real. Brilliant. Thanks for posting P.S. What kind of person downvotes this video? The guy is 100% stand-up and open with the client. No skulking away; no grabbing the cash and running.
being new to climbing and doing nothing but freelance so far(not climbing for a company but doing 5-6 jobs a week as of now) ive been worrying about breaking something. most of the jobs ive taken are ones that the local companies dont want because of the proxomity to things like fences and houses and the fact theyre inaccessable. this really helped me with the fact that i probably will break something and how to deal with it. the last company i worked for, our foreman broke a saw, 2 fences, 7' of guttering, a pole saw, and the grill of the bucket truck in one week and i quit. i look at breaking things like he did more as a saftey concern. but ive been able to grow through his mistakes. nice video and youre an awesome mentor regardless of if you know it or not. i learn alot from you.
Hi August huniky I did a blooper yesterday also removing a Lombardy popular tree 130ft high rigged all the branches down while the wind hammers me and the tre swaying ECT then started to chop down the stump and van wind took it through the roof of a garden shed totally ruined cost me £300 to the naibour for the shed didn't feel to good doubt my self did not go to work to day because of it told the client that I will be back on Tuesday when my moral should feel better own my company and you video has just made me feel so much better thanks for the good tip mate thanks from Patrick at pb Taylor trees and landscapes
wow thats happen to me over the years so glad to see the fess up part dealing with the consequences is SO scary just no knowing what the client is going to say ..
So impressed with your vids and your character is above reproach need many more people like You in this world .People should be lined up to work for You.
Amazing video!! Now we see that August is also a great teacher and life coach on top of all the other obvious talents. Very well constructed, and necessary teaching for arborists. Thanks so much for sharing this wisdom!!
Looked like such a seemingly simple speedlining job, but a great video that showed how things can go wrong. Honesty, a little grit, and integrity shined through. Nice video. Nice job.
As a fellow climber and child of GOD I love your outlook on the situation. Placing blame and being angry doesn’t help just learn from it and move forward. GOD BLESS.
So, August, I was reading some Emerson yesterday, and he was discussing the value of clear and succinct communication, as well as the purity of character that it often denotes..... and then I watched this video.......and I was reminded that you are truly emblematic of the point he was making. Your explanation of the Tree-Man/Client relationship was PERFECT!!!! You can't imagine the amount of encouragement your words can bring. Today's video was immediately in my top 10 all-time, for this reason. I could almost quote every phrase that you said, before you even said it! Good for you, and Lucky me!!!😉
At first there 'on top of the world', shit hits the fence (literally) and the tree looked a lot smaller, haha! Great vid once again. Looks EXTREMELY dry overthere...
That's what they call a back handed compliment. I suspect August would prefer to say he has not had much practice at fixing mistakes because his team doesn't make many of them. This was a well thought through fix though, and I am surprised they managed to get the pipe so straight.
Anyone who has climb and cut trees for any amount of time has a little incident and some major. Those they have not either are lieing, have been doing it very long or has gotten lucky with cake jobs.
Tree guy? BS, I wish half my "managers" (I'm a Computer Guy) had a 10th of August's Zen. Sure make for a better shop, better results, and a lot less turnover. Real Gold, this vid.
Hi August,appreciate your down to earth videos.I climbed for 20 years plus, and everyone has their stories .Takes a good tree man to admit it.You actually did some deadwooding in my oaks in GP. Can't do it anymore.Mind says yes,body says no.
Thanks for another insightful video that I can share with my guys. "Don't break anything and don't get hurt." That's what my former boss said at the beginning of each job and now I continue the tradition with my crew. For me, when something gets broken there is this sinking feeling of losing time and money, in addition to all the other stuff you mentioned...
kencanoe ya I left the monetary aspect out of it but it plays a big part in how we deal with things as we wrestle with fear over meeting the bottom line.
Hey thanks August, that video was spot on. I have a few mistakes(one in particular) that comes back to haunt me from time to time. It makes me sick to my stomach when even the smallest little thing gets dinged. I'm super critical of my work but, I have learned to move on. And I agree 100% about confessing to the customer and being up front about it. With the few times I've had to do that they were great about it. I still hated that it happened but the customer was happy in the end on every job. I really appreciate you posting this up. It's encouraging advice from someone with your experience. Keep yourself safe my friend. Randy
As always, such an on point video! Things will always happen, it's a law of averages. Dealing with it directly is always the best course, people gain huge respect when the professionals own a mistake, and correct it for them any way that will satisfy them. As always, sometimes there will be that one customer that will complain and expect the world...
My worst experience goes like this. Put cones over landscape lights that were everywhere, moved other trinkets, entered tree on very nice property, started dropping limbs, heard glass shattering noise. Looked down saw a bird bath that I had missed earlier because it was hidden by a bush. Crushed it. Talked with customer, offered to pay him right there, go buy him another whatever he needed. Turns out it was hand made by an artist. Felt awful. Customer was totally cool about it and was partially cool about it because of the way I handled it. Still sucks but you move forward and handling things the best you can.
My biggest mistake was not checking the integrity of a tree stem just before the cut. It was a rather large Castanea sativa with an overhang. I figured I could swing it away slightly from where it was hanging to. Only needed a few degrees to clear the chicken coop that was standing underneath. I climbed out some of the branches that gave it countre weight to the wrong side of the lean, planned everything, tied up a pulling rope in the top and gave the rope to the home owner. I ca still hear myself saying to him.... "whatever you do, pull hard and don't let go of that rope"... I had a new saw, the sun was shining, what could go wrong, right?? I placed my face cut, everything seemed to go great. I aimed it 30 degrees away from where it was leaning, didn't make it too deep, I had a few wedges ready for in the back cut... My idea was to cut in the backcut in smaller angle, to have some extra 'meat' in my hinge on the pulling side to where in wanted to have my tree land.... When I started my backcut, my error became apparent... There was na extra meat, there was no meat at all, but only a hollow where my hinge shoud have been. I cut in maybe an inch, maybe two, and then I heard a loud popping sound, and to my amaze the tree was already going. It had cleanly broken off, there was notting to see in that face cut, but on the back there was almost no wood left. I remember seeing that homeowner holding on to that rope, just like I told him to do, when I was still under the impression that the rope was overkill anyway and it would give him a feeling of being involved... Well, it gave him more than just a feeling of being involved, he became involved. He kept a vast grip as i saw the tree flying by, followed by that rope, with the homeowner still holding on... The chicken coop did not survive, the homeowner had some bruises, my ego howeever suffered the biggest blow... I build him a new coop, everything was nicely fixed, but it took a while before I regained my convidence in my skill. Cheers and have a nice day!
Really like ur videos its nice to see a true professional in their element. U do great work and are able to take the time to instruct all of You Tube. True inspiration. Fyi im in fence construction more than 30yrs. Any time you have a bent rail on chain link fence the easiest way to straighten it wil be step 1untie the section that is damaged. Usually there is only 5 ties in a 10' section easily removed w a pair of pliars . step 2 use a pipe wrench to turn the rail so the bow or bend is aimed upward. Now that it is rainbowed it will be inline with the fence post. With the wire untied at the top you can easily grap the rail by hand and w 2 or 3 ppl pull downward till it is where u want it again. This can all be done in mere mins. Alot less time than hooking up multible rigging lines and finding pull points. Note though that sometimes u may need to put the pipe wrench back on and rotate back to its original position. This is because by doing so it will change the look or symmetry of the fence by moving the angles out at the ends of the piece of raill. When a pro installs a fence if he knows what hes doing you always turn each piece of rail till the unattached end raises up or has the least amount of droop in it. Hope i have explained this well enough for you to make sense of it and you can make use of it. Usually works so long as the rail has'nt been damaged to the point ot collapsing or creased. Generally takes maybe 10 or 15 mins to repair a small whooppied do. By pulling down using the post to brace the rail its much faster and u can focus on the area of concern directly w-o having to move rigging lines or anchor points. Again like to say my hats off to you. Great job keep up the good work. Thank you and god bless. Sincerely Joel Johnson Oakdale CA.
I’ve been watching you for a few months now. This video just popped up. The way you speak about pride of work and and honesty is awesome. I install auto glass and feel the same way. Sometimes stuff happens. In my line of work it’s so easy to hide most stuff but the pride of workmanship to me is more important and being honest about when the stuff happens and taking ownership of it. Great video.
Yep. I tagged a gutter this past summer doing a spruce tree on a day that was probably too windy for the job. Breaking stuff is a terrible feeling. You nailed it with the honesty thing. Tell the customer what happened, 95% of the time they’re cool with it as long as you fix your mistake.
Found a covered lid of a septic tank with a big chog I should have lowered but could not see reason to do so, the smell soon made me wish I had, luckily the client didn't make me retrieve the timber just go get a new lid. You ain't a proper tree man till you have broken something but fixed it Again with what you have. Confession is key to good relationships.
Yeah, dang chain link fences. I have bent a couple top rails. And I go right down to Menards and buy to rails. 10 bucks for a 20 ft stick. And my buddy is a fence guy. So he fixes the rest. It just sucks and I feel terrible to. But I try to make them happy and go on with it.....
Hi August, love the videos. I'm just a part time tree feller, fit it in with the other things I do. I do voluntary work with the council, felling trees in local nature reserves and on cycleways. The trees are never that big, always hardwoods. I got asked to fell a large Lawsons Cypress in someones garden, never done a bushy conifer like that before. The tree was up against a wall. I was doing the cuts from just behind the wall. I wanted to get a small pull through hand winch line half way up the tree, it was very difficult to get the family heirloom of a ladder against the tree trunk, did it in the end, climbed down. I did the cuts from the back of the tree behind the wall which was about two feet high. As I did the back cut I whacked a wedge in as soon as I could. I had not 'brashed' out the tree and so had no sighting of the direction but had a good idea in my head. I told the winch guy who was the house owner to winch, the kerf started to open up, then to my amazement stopped!! The guy asked if he should winch some more, I said yes. There was an awful crack and the tree went 45 degrees off crushing a hydrangea bed. When I climbed over the wall and looked at what had happened, I was shocked to see a shattered ladder on the ground with the tree. I had not taken the damned ladder down. How embarrassing, I had done a few jobs for him before, never a mistake, he had ultimate confidence in me up to that point. I didn't know what to say, I asked him why he hadn't told me the ladder was still against the tree, he said he thought I knew what I was doing. His wife was surprised I had left the ladder against the tree. So confidence shattered, wooden ladder broken to matchwood, hydrangea bushes crushed. Clearing up done in haste and silence, coffee offered but not taken. This was not a cash job more like a mashed job. As I drove home in a dudgeon preparing to tell my wife the events that had just passed with regret became funnier as I ran through the story. I told my wife she said I had tried my best, it just wasn't good enough. We laughed and laughed, it was so weird. It's great for someone like me to watch professional working and doing things correctly.
The lesson in this video is Universal. Every day we are tested, weighed and measured. . . You pass muster August, with flying colours. Stand up fella. Keep on, keeping on. :-)
Honesty is always the best policy, stuff happens sometimes and it’s beyond our control ( shit happens ) . You have very good advice for sure , I’m still very new at tree service and live watching an learning from your videos so keep them coming mr august
Great insights, nicely put! It helps to be a "people person", too, I imagine. It seems you (and your team) have a really good natured, likable, manner with your customers. Tom Hanks's character, the Captain, in Saving Private Ryan is a great example of leadership in all kinds of tough situations.
Oh I ya I forgot about the other time I dropped a big limb on a power drop line the ones that come from the pole to the house . That one cost me all the profit from the job I had two pot headed kids working for me and I mistakenly had them run a lifting and tag line I did pretty much what you did at the beginning of this video I yelled and cursed when I knew it was going to nail the power line . Turned out that the weather head and meter base was super out of date and not to code so the power company would not hook it back up . So I had to hire an electrician and pull purmits and the list goes on . Life is one big lesson.
I had the exact same thing happen to me after taking down huge trees with no mistakes over high voltage primarie lines. it was Last cut of the day syndrome. But the worst part is the client said they did not care about the service drop. But then they changed their mind when it came time to pay up!
havent watched many of your videos 2 or 3. nice to see intergity. subbed. respect! 4 years in the tree industry and i havent broken anything on a customers property other a plastic plant pot and a old weathered wind chime. this spring near the end of a long day, bucket truck & wood truckf ull as can be so were loading the last logs into the bosses personal pickup. we often hear "its not a work truck" lol.. almost running with a log becouse a nub is stabbing me in the shoulder and when i toss it into the truck it slides right up the other logs and smashes the back window into his kids car seat, SH**... and he wouldnt even let me pay for it. the stories ive heard of cover ups and some of the things ive seen still cease to amaze. an ex-coworker had a tendancy to accidently slice the trunk of a trim or the tree next to one hes cutting and he would fill the cut with dirt and walk away. stay alert stay safe!
Great video and being a god honest man will take you long ways and give your business the utmost respect, you ever get a chance you should do like a basic tree climbing or falling video with the ins and outs on how to be safe and make good cuts, everyone that's been in this business for a while always needs a refresher and to keep safety in the back of there head. Stay safe and stay honest
Love this episode! So true! I made a handyman phone call from the tree yesterday. New ground guy did the I’ll do less wraps thing. Then the owwww my gloves are on fire dance.
Very good thoughts here. Alot of leaders could learn from you :) I think its important to talk about these things when you are a team. Back when i started in the Army, i kept gettin frustrated when we were in the field and people were screaming at me. (This was beyond basic training) My opinion was, we're a team, we are all equal and we all make mistakes. We talked about it, and the guy who did the most screaming told me that was just his way of acting "in the heat" and he meant no offense. He was actually a really good guy, except when things went wrong. But afterwards there was no hate, unlike what i expected. I guess his reaction was much like what you are talking about - caring alot about the work that you do, and having alot of pride in not smashing things up ;)
Good call! We have had a couple of small damages, most of the times, the client just said "never mind". No one was ever angry about the situation, I think most of the people understand, that these things happen sooner or later to almost every one in the tree industry.
you handled the inevitable beautifully which keeps morale as stated so Everyone is more inclined to learn from it and move on. true "Craftsmen" ,no matter their field,do tend to be a bigger critique than MOST customers.lol be safe!
Wow I felt with this cloud a while back... I hit a side panel to a trailer from a log bouncing on a root... let’s just say it just got darker from there, it just dragged me on a path to further damage because I let it get the best of me to the point were I grounded my self... it’s very hard to except it when you hold yourself to a high standard and consider yourself a good climber and then have to face the costumer. I will take this video you made with me for the rest of my life thank you.
Sound advice all around, I appreciate the content of your character. One question I have, how much does rope selection in your speedline effect fall of the limb? I've not much experience overall, and even less speedlining, though it's grown on me immensly, and I've pretty much stuck with using my 9/16" stable braid for it as generally static is recommended, though I have used more dynamic ropes when it wasn't available. With as much experience as you have, is there a noticeable difference when using a more dynamic rope? I know many factors play into this (weight, tension, angles, etc) and there isn't a one size fit's all answer, just wondering ball park.
Also, CONFESS, so important, wish I could get all my coworkers to be on board. My main issue there isn't so much with the customer, it's with gear. Huge pet peeve of mine when I go to grab a piece of gear and it's broke. Magically, nobody knows how/why, but with it not being known until that moment when it's needed, it becomes a much larger problem than if somebody would have just let me know Could have fixed it when convenient and not be scrambling around under pressure later.
Static is king in my opinion for speed lining. But I wasn't using it in this video. This was a no-brainer. Boo Koo height, light dead top. Damien with not enough tension and me with adding slack to the system because of the way I anchored it but... anchored it that way for strength because there was a bad spot in the back stem down below me.
I've seen this scenario play out a thousand times and whenever something doesn't go right, it's almost always the climber's knee-jerk reaction is to lay blame on the guy at the other end of the rope. It's rarely the case where it's the groundie's fault - and in this case, it's _definitely_ not Damien's. You could see what kind of tension was on that rope just as well as he could. And before that saw started up again, he should've been told to take out as much slack as you deemed necessary. The drone footage shows a ton of slack on that line, which should never be there without reason imo - so maybe both of you dropped the ball on that one, I dunno. These things are gonna happen from time to time though and I'd say the approach you took to address the situation was 100% the right way to go about it. A good show of professionalism right there..
SineEyed 2020 ya, I introduced slack into the system by the way I had it anchored. But I needed to anchor it that way because the back stem had a really rotten spot down below me a short ways. So the stems were set to work together but needed to have the initial load on the forward stem. He was pulling his tension through a couple wraps of the tree angel rather than tightening it with a half wrap and then cinching it off. I knew it was a little loose but I went ahead because it was light and we had massive height. I was trusting him to judge it right even though it looked loose to me. And he was no doubt trusting me to not make a cut that didn't look right. There was a line of cars waiting also so I went with it expecting the height to compensate for what looked like more slack than I wanted. Yes and then knee-jerk blame LOL.
👍 I think this is my favorite video of yours yet . Why do so many people have trouble accepting responsibility. Everyone makes and every once n a while chit happens.
![ลักพาตัว เอาลูกเอิร์นกลับมา...!! [เอิร์นไดเม่]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/f4NVKlZ5qkk/mqdefault.jpg)
I get home from work, after doing the thing we do all day, and watch your videos. My boss calls me a freak and that we can work longer days if I'm not feeling fulfilled after work but It's all in good nature. I do this for a number of reasons, however what always strikes me is your wisdom and ability to see things for what they are. I don't know how I haven't seen this video yet because I thought I had watched them all! Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Everybody's commenting on the reaction and making it right. That's awesome and all but I'm also impressed how you guys used the rope to fix the fence. The rigging caused the problem and ended up fixing it, too! You may have lost your cool for a second but you made it back in spades. Great job all around; I'm a fan for life!
Always best to own up to your mistakes! Clients are usually ok with the truth. But most won't be happy with a lie and don't deserve it from someone either.
August, this is your best video so far. Honesty will set you free. You are a scholar and a gentleman.
😁😁😁😁👍👍👍👍👍 you are hero too educated climber same as August 👍👍👍👍👍
I actually showed this to my team. Not for the tree climbing but for the knowledge on leadership. Good video. One of your best
Humility and truth with integrity are great anchors of a person wanting to have good character. For me loving my neighbor as myself means I don't lie to myself(yeah we all struggle with this) so I don't lie to my neighbor. Your absolutely right about not forcing issues with customers just give them options. Whatever they decide stay up beat and get it done. Do your apologies once up front and thank them for their understanding at the end. Works great as you have found out.
Also we all do little tests with ourselves and other people. I am sure you test your workers and yourself all the time.
I'd like to hear a TED talk by August. That would be quite something : )
Sage advice MB, always confess and let go, I can't estimate the number of work that's come my way after re tensioning some wire, Own it and move on, it's how we learn & grow👍
August, I had a gut wrenching experience last Sunday after denting a customers new gutter. As soon as it happen it immediately changed my attitude. There was no one else to blame because I was working solo. I followed the same guidelines you suggested and he was cool with the damage and he paid $50 over my quote. These types of experiences affirm that having good ethics and integrity go a long way. Excellent content as always sir. Have a great weekend.
Enjoyed the video. I think every tree guy has been in these situations and you nailed the analysis.
Hi August, Everyone goofs up once in a while. You still did a great job taking down the tree!!👍👍I think you should go into fence repair. HEHEHE!! Love the skid stear.It just amazes me how much that thing is able too do!!👍👍Take care guys!! Your friend Al.
Honest. Real. Brilliant.
Thanks for posting
P.S.
What kind of person downvotes this video? The guy is 100% stand-up and open with the client. No skulking away; no grabbing the cash and running.
I like it when we can fix a "went south" situation. very well done gentlemen! Thanks for working so hard to show what's up in our tree world!
being new to climbing and doing nothing but freelance so far(not climbing for a company but doing 5-6 jobs a week as of now) ive been worrying about breaking something. most of the jobs ive taken are ones that the local companies dont want because of the proxomity to things like fences and houses and the fact theyre inaccessable. this really helped me with the fact that i probably will break something and how to deal with it. the last company i worked for, our foreman broke a saw, 2 fences, 7' of guttering, a pole saw, and the grill of the bucket truck in one week and i quit. i look at breaking things like he did more as a saftey concern. but ive been able to grow through his mistakes. nice video and youre an awesome mentor regardless of if you know it or not. i learn alot from you.
Hi August huniky I did a blooper yesterday also removing a Lombardy popular tree 130ft high rigged all the branches down while the wind hammers me and the tre swaying ECT then started to chop down the stump and van wind took it through the roof of a garden shed totally ruined cost me £300 to the naibour for the shed didn't feel to good doubt my self did not go to work to day because of it told the client that I will be back on Tuesday when my moral should feel better own my company and you video has just made me feel so much better thanks for the good tip mate thanks from Patrick at pb Taylor trees and landscapes
Patrick Berry get back in the game mate. You're human like the rest.
August Hunicke thank you berry much August I love watching g you channel m8 keep up the good work
wow thats happen to me over the years so glad to see the fess up part dealing with the consequences is SO scary just no knowing what the client is going to say ..
So impressed with your vids and your character is above reproach need many more people like You in this world .People should be lined up to work for You.
So glad you did this .. The best of us go through this mental kick in the acorns because we care so much!
Amazing video!! Now we see that August is also a great teacher and life coach on top of all the other obvious talents. Very well constructed, and necessary teaching for arborists. Thanks so much for sharing this wisdom!!
Looked like such a seemingly simple speedlining job, but a great video that showed how things can go wrong. Honesty, a little grit, and integrity shined through. Nice video. Nice job.
As a fellow climber and child of GOD I love your outlook on the situation. Placing blame and being angry doesn’t help just learn from it and move forward. GOD BLESS.
Yay !! Mental approach is key !! Wooden ship lap panels are my favourite !! 🤗🤗
So, August, I was reading some Emerson yesterday, and he was discussing the value of clear and succinct communication, as well as the purity of character that it often denotes..... and then I watched this video.......and I was reminded that you are truly emblematic of the point he was making. Your explanation of the Tree-Man/Client relationship was PERFECT!!!! You can't imagine the amount of encouragement your words can bring. Today's video was immediately in my top 10 all-time, for this reason. I could almost quote every phrase that you said, before you even said it! Good for you, and Lucky me!!!😉
At first there 'on top of the world', shit hits the fence (literally) and the tree looked a lot smaller, haha! Great vid once again. Looks EXTREMELY dry overthere...
The longer the man is in tree work the better he becomes at fixing fences! . . .
There's not a tree guy out there who has never damaged a fence .
or concrete....lol
Ain't that the truth 💯👊
That's what they call a back handed compliment. I suspect August would prefer to say he has not had much practice at fixing mistakes because his team doesn't make many of them. This was a well thought through fix though, and I am surprised they managed to get the pipe so straight.
Anyone who has climb and cut trees for any amount of time has a little incident and some major. Those they have not either are lieing, have been doing it very long or has gotten lucky with cake jobs.
Luv watching your thoughtful, experienced procedures. Be safe. Ya rock.
So true be honest...it goes a long way in this field.awssome videos keep up the good work my friend!
Tree guy? BS, I wish half my "managers" (I'm a Computer Guy) had a 10th of August's Zen. Sure make for a better shop, better results, and a lot less turnover. Real Gold, this vid.
Such great content and advice. I appreciate you and the work that you put forward to the community. Thanks for everything.
Hi August,appreciate your down to earth videos.I climbed for 20 years plus, and everyone has their stories .Takes a good tree man to admit it.You actually did some deadwooding in my oaks in GP. Can't do it anymore.Mind says yes,body says no.
richard hammer yes I remember you. Glad hear from you.
Thanks for another insightful video that I can share with my guys. "Don't break anything and don't get hurt." That's what my former boss said at the beginning of each job and now I continue the tradition with my crew. For me, when something gets broken there is this sinking feeling of losing time and money, in addition to all the other stuff you mentioned...
kencanoe ya I left the monetary aspect out of it but it plays a big part in how we deal with things as we wrestle with fear over meeting the bottom line.
Hey thanks August, that video was spot on. I have a few mistakes(one in particular) that comes back to haunt me from time to time. It makes me sick to my stomach when even the smallest little thing gets dinged. I'm super critical of my work but, I have learned to move on.
And I agree 100% about confessing to the customer and being up front about it. With the few times I've had to do that they were great about it. I still hated that it happened but the customer was happy in the end on every job.
I really appreciate you posting this up. It's encouraging advice from someone with your experience.
Keep yourself safe my friend.
Randy
Thanks August! You're an outstanding leader. Great job as always 👍
Impressive fix to the fence, and great client interaction. You're a Pro!
As always, such an on point video! Things will always happen, it's a law of averages. Dealing with it directly is always the best course, people gain huge respect when the professionals own a mistake, and correct it for them any way that will satisfy them. As always, sometimes there will be that one customer that will complain and expect the world...
Nine people couldn't cope with this mistakes. Great job August!
My worst experience goes like this. Put cones over landscape lights that were everywhere, moved other trinkets, entered tree on very nice property, started dropping limbs, heard glass shattering noise. Looked down saw a bird bath that I had missed earlier because it was hidden by a bush. Crushed it. Talked with customer, offered to pay him right there, go buy him another whatever he needed. Turns out it was hand made by an artist. Felt awful. Customer was totally cool about it and was partially cool about it because of the way I handled it. Still sucks but you move forward and handling things the best you can.
good advices. i think the same,honnesty is always the way to go. thanks
In the news today August Hunicke looses his super powers but is able to gain them back with the help of Vermeer and honesty thanks for the great vid
Damon Reuning hahahaha, that's hilarious/ridiculous 😁
August Hunicke That's called a poor mans college course.
My biggest mistake was not checking the integrity of a tree stem just before the cut.
It was a rather large Castanea sativa with an overhang. I figured I could swing it away slightly from where it was hanging to. Only needed a few degrees to clear the chicken coop that was standing underneath.
I climbed out some of the branches that gave it countre weight to the wrong side of the lean, planned everything, tied up a pulling rope in the top and gave the rope to the home owner. I ca still hear myself saying to him.... "whatever you do, pull hard and don't let go of that rope"...
I had a new saw, the sun was shining, what could go wrong, right??
I placed my face cut, everything seemed to go great. I aimed it 30 degrees away from where it was leaning, didn't make it too deep, I had a few wedges ready for in the back cut...
My idea was to cut in the backcut in smaller angle, to have some extra 'meat' in my hinge on the pulling side to where in wanted to have my tree land....
When I started my backcut, my error became apparent... There was na extra meat, there was no meat at all, but only a hollow where my hinge shoud have been. I cut in maybe an inch, maybe two, and then I heard a loud popping sound, and to my amaze the tree was already going. It had cleanly broken off, there was notting to see in that face cut, but on the back there was almost no wood left.
I remember seeing that homeowner holding on to that rope, just like I told him to do, when I was still under the impression that the rope was overkill anyway and it would give him a feeling of being involved... Well, it gave him more than just a feeling of being involved, he became involved. He kept a vast grip as i saw the tree flying by, followed by that rope, with the homeowner still holding on...
The chicken coop did not survive, the homeowner had some bruises, my ego howeever suffered the biggest blow...
I build him a new coop, everything was nicely fixed, but it took a while before I regained my convidence in my skill.
Cheers and have a nice day!
The Easter Mountain Scion DUDE!! Thanks for writing that out here. Riveting and enjoyable story. So well written!
My pleasure, we are all here to learn from each other!
And sorry for the occasional typing error!
Have a great day!
> I had a new saw, the sun was shining, what could go wrong, right??
That should be a poem... or a country music song!
Yep those things happen. They've happened to any tree guy. That was handled perfectly brother. A big thumbs up from Denver.
Really like ur videos its nice to see a true professional in their element. U do great work and are able to take the time to instruct all of You Tube. True inspiration. Fyi im in fence construction more than 30yrs. Any time you have a bent rail on chain link fence the easiest way to straighten it wil be step 1untie the section that is damaged. Usually there is only 5 ties in a 10' section easily removed w a pair of pliars . step 2 use a pipe wrench to turn the rail so the bow or bend is aimed upward. Now that it is rainbowed it will be inline with the fence post. With the wire untied at the top you can easily grap the rail by hand and w 2 or 3 ppl pull downward till it is where u want it again. This can all be done in mere mins. Alot less time than hooking up multible rigging lines and finding pull points. Note though that sometimes u may need to put the pipe wrench back on and rotate back to its original position. This is because by doing so it will change the look or symmetry of the fence by moving the angles out at the ends of the piece of raill. When a pro installs a fence if he knows what hes doing you always turn each piece of rail till the unattached end raises up or has the least amount of droop in it. Hope i have explained this well enough for you to make sense of it and you can make use of it. Usually works so long as the rail has'nt been damaged to the point ot collapsing or creased. Generally takes maybe 10 or 15 mins to repair a small whooppied do. By pulling down using the post to brace the rail its much faster and u can focus on the area of concern directly w-o having to move rigging lines or anchor points. Again like to say my hats off to you. Great job keep up the good work. Thank you and god bless. Sincerely Joel Johnson Oakdale CA.
Wisdom,Health,Wealth and Happiness! :-) Love your Energy!
Awesome video. I've never damaged any property before but honesty really does go a long way in life.
Amazing video! Well done... Super encouraging as well. Keep it up August. Loving your videos and work.
Brilliant Work Young August, Totally Enjoyed Your Commentary and Commitment Too Being The Best in Your Field With Your Fantastic Team
More absolutely solid advice, thanks August!
I’ve been watching you for a few months now. This video just popped up. The way you speak about pride of work and and honesty is awesome. I install auto glass and feel the same way. Sometimes stuff happens. In my line of work it’s so easy to hide most stuff but the pride of workmanship to me is more important and being honest about when the stuff happens and taking ownership of it. Great video.
Yep. I tagged a gutter this past summer doing a spruce tree on a day that was probably too windy for the job. Breaking stuff is a terrible feeling. You nailed it with the honesty thing. Tell the customer what happened, 95% of the time they’re cool with it as long as you fix your mistake.
This is a great lesson for anyone who does work that can mess up sometimes...which is most everybody.
Great encouragement Gus. Thanks for another good flick.
Been there more times than I care to remember, but honesty is the best (not always the most profitable) policy ... my last slip up coast me $2780... 🙁
Found a covered lid of a septic tank with a big chog I should have lowered but could not see reason to do so, the smell soon made me wish I had, luckily the client didn't make me retrieve the timber just go get a new lid.
You ain't a proper tree man till you have broken something but fixed it Again with what you have. Confession is key to good relationships.
dryad130 wowza! Yeah we always hope there's no smell after the bomb is dropped 🤣
Yeah, dang chain link fences. I have bent a couple top rails. And I go right down to Menards and buy to rails. 10 bucks for a 20 ft stick. And my buddy is a fence guy. So he fixes the rest. It just sucks and I feel terrible to. But I try to make them happy and go on with it.....
Hi August, love the videos. I'm just a part time tree feller, fit it in with the other things I do. I do voluntary work with the council, felling trees in local nature reserves and on cycleways. The trees are never that big, always hardwoods. I got asked to fell a large Lawsons Cypress in someones garden, never done a bushy conifer like that before. The tree was up against a wall. I was doing the cuts from just behind the wall. I wanted to get a small pull through hand winch line half way up the tree, it was very difficult to get the family heirloom of a ladder against the tree trunk, did it in the end, climbed down. I did the cuts from the back of the tree behind the wall which was about two feet high. As I did the back cut I whacked a wedge in as soon as I could. I had not 'brashed' out the tree and so had no sighting of the direction but had a good idea in my head. I told the winch guy who was the house owner to winch, the kerf started to open up, then to my amazement stopped!! The guy asked if he should winch some more, I said yes. There was an awful crack and the tree went 45 degrees off crushing a hydrangea bed. When I climbed over the wall and looked at what had happened, I was shocked to see a shattered ladder on the ground with the tree. I had not taken the damned ladder down. How embarrassing, I had done a few jobs for him before, never a mistake, he had ultimate confidence in me up to that point. I didn't know what to say, I asked him why he hadn't told me the ladder was still against the tree, he said he thought I knew what I was doing. His wife was surprised I had left the ladder against the tree. So confidence shattered, wooden ladder broken to matchwood, hydrangea bushes crushed. Clearing up done in haste and silence, coffee offered but not taken. This was not a cash job more like a mashed job. As I drove home in a dudgeon preparing to tell my wife the events that had just passed with regret became funnier as I ran through the story. I told my wife she said I had tried my best, it just wasn't good enough. We laughed and laughed, it was so weird.
It's great for someone like me to watch professional working and doing things correctly.
"If you get stuck there, then... you're probably takin' yourself too serious"... - August Hunicke, September 2017
Great video August. That was awesome brother.
The lesson in this video is Universal. Every day we are tested, weighed and measured. . . You pass muster August, with flying colours. Stand up fella. Keep on, keeping on. :-)
Such a professional and honest man you are!
Honesty is always the best policy, stuff happens sometimes and it’s beyond our control ( shit happens ) . You have very good advice for sure , I’m still very new at tree service and live watching an learning from your videos so keep them coming mr august
Great attitude August, comendable approach to your customers sir.
Great insights, nicely put!
It helps to be a "people person", too, I imagine. It seems you (and your team) have a really good natured, likable, manner with your customers.
Tom Hanks's character, the Captain, in Saving Private Ryan is a great example of leadership in all kinds of tough situations.
Robert Wood yep great character in that movie
Oh I ya I forgot about the other time I dropped a big limb on a power drop line the ones that come from the pole to the house . That one cost me all the profit from the job I had two pot headed kids working for me and I mistakenly had them run a lifting and tag line I did pretty much what you did at the beginning of this video I yelled and cursed when I knew it was going to nail the power line . Turned out that the weather head and meter base was super out of date and not to code so the power company would not hook it back up . So I had to hire an electrician and pull purmits and the list goes on . Life is one big lesson.
I had the exact same thing happen to me after taking down huge trees with no mistakes over high voltage primarie lines. it was Last cut of the day syndrome. But the worst part is the client said they did not care about the service drop. But then they changed their mind when it came time to pay up!
I like it. It happens as long as your a man and honest about it. Then you can feel good no matter the outcome in the end. Stay safe
havent watched many of your videos 2 or 3. nice to see intergity. subbed. respect!
4 years in the tree industry and i havent broken anything on a customers property other a plastic plant pot and a old weathered wind chime. this spring near the end of a long day, bucket truck & wood truckf ull as can be so were loading the last logs into the bosses personal pickup. we often hear "its not a work truck" lol.. almost running with a log becouse a nub is stabbing me in the shoulder and when i toss it into the truck it slides right up the other logs and smashes the back window into his kids car seat, SH**... and he wouldnt even let me pay for it.
the stories ive heard of cover ups and some of the things ive seen still cease to amaze. an ex-coworker had a tendancy to accidently slice the trunk of a trim or the tree next to one hes cutting and he would fill the cut with dirt and walk away. stay alert stay safe!
Mike thompson “it’s not a work truck” 😁
Great video and being a god honest man will take you long ways and give your business the utmost respect, you ever get a chance you should do like a basic tree climbing or falling video with the ins and outs on how to be safe and make good cuts, everyone that's been in this business for a while always needs a refresher and to keep safety in the back of there head.
Stay safe and stay honest
Honesty is always the best policy!
Love this episode! So true! I made a handyman phone call from the tree yesterday. New ground guy did the I’ll do less wraps thing. Then the owwww my gloves are on fire dance.
Spot on advice mate. Summed up my outlook on character and approach. I know I'm doing the right thing when you're singing from the same hymn sheet :-)
Fantastic topic August 👍
Very good thoughts here. Alot of leaders could learn from you :)
I think its important to talk about these things when you are a team. Back when i started in the Army, i kept gettin frustrated when we were in the field and people were screaming at me. (This was beyond basic training) My opinion was, we're a team, we are all equal and we all make mistakes. We talked about it, and the guy who did the most screaming told me that was just his way of acting "in the heat" and he meant no offense. He was actually a really good guy, except when things went wrong. But afterwards there was no hate, unlike what i expected.
I guess his reaction was much like what you are talking about - caring alot about the work that you do, and having alot of pride in not smashing things up ;)
Ok to get syrup on the fence because rain will wash it off... maybe even oil from sausage and biscuits because the bugs or birds, etc. might eat it.
Good call! We have had a couple of small damages, most of the times, the client just said "never mind". No one was ever angry about the situation, I think most of the people understand, that these things happen sooner or later to almost every one in the tree industry.
Great job with the fence repair, accidents happen.
Excellent advice August. Keep up the good work boys.....
There is a good lesson on business and personal ethics and just plain getting along in the world.
its always great when the silver lining outshines the black cloud
Good advice! We keep fence old wooden pieces around just to be able to match clients old "vintage" fences"
Yo are right about the Vermeers. A friend has a tree service and LOVES his.
Nice job on the tree and the fence!!😁
Love yalls videos.
You sir, are a great leader!
you handled the inevitable beautifully which keeps morale as stated so Everyone is more inclined to learn from it and move on. true "Craftsmen" ,no matter their field,do tend to be a bigger critique than MOST customers.lol be safe!
Beautifully said
This is one of my favorite videos August, take notes fellas
Wow I felt with this cloud a while back... I hit a side panel to a trailer from a log bouncing on a root... let’s just say it just got darker from there, it just dragged me on a path to further damage because I let it get the best of me to the point were I grounded my self... it’s very hard to except it when you hold yourself to a high standard and consider yourself a good climber and then have to face the costumer. I will take this video you made with me for the rest of my life thank you.
You guys are awesome fixing the fence hahaha
Climb safe man :D
Very nice video brother.
Love the work!
Smith Tree Service OWNER- Jesse Smith hey Jesse, miss you since I quit the fb
dont worry, im still watching you brother. keep up the good work!
Vermeer "Swiss army knife" and a little monkey beaver ingenuity... and bit of a blessing from on high... climb on stay safe
Well Whatdoya know August Hunicke IS human after all! Lol
It takes a big man to put that on TH-cam. I have even more respect for you now
Honesty is always the best policy. You are a stand up guy August!
Good job August! That will get you more business for sure.
An important lesson. Cheers for that
Mistakes should be taken how you do, lightly, and cordially. Good show, bro 🤙✌️🤍
Nice fix on the fence ! Good video too.
Sound advice all around, I appreciate the content of your character. One question I have, how much does rope selection in your speedline effect fall of the limb? I've not much experience overall, and even less speedlining, though it's grown on me immensly, and I've pretty much stuck with using my 9/16" stable braid for it as generally static is recommended, though I have used more dynamic ropes when it wasn't available. With as much experience as you have, is there a noticeable difference when using a more dynamic rope? I know many factors play into this (weight, tension, angles, etc) and there isn't a one size fit's all answer, just wondering ball park.
Also, CONFESS, so important, wish I could get all my coworkers to be on board. My main issue there isn't so much with the customer, it's with gear. Huge pet peeve of mine when I go to grab a piece of gear and it's broke. Magically, nobody knows how/why, but with it not being known until that moment when it's needed, it becomes a much larger problem than if somebody would have just let me know Could have fixed it when convenient and not be scrambling around under pressure later.
Static is king in my opinion for speed lining. But I wasn't using it in this video. This was a no-brainer. Boo Koo height, light dead top. Damien with not enough tension and me with adding slack to the system because of the way I anchored it but... anchored it that way for strength because there was a bad spot in the back stem down below me.
I've seen this scenario play out a thousand times and whenever something doesn't go right, it's almost always the climber's knee-jerk reaction is to lay blame on the guy at the other end of the rope. It's rarely the case where it's the groundie's fault - and in this case, it's _definitely_ not Damien's.
You could see what kind of tension was on that rope just as well as he could. And before that saw started up again, he should've been told to take out as much slack as you deemed necessary.
The drone footage shows a ton of slack on that line, which should never be there without reason imo - so maybe both of you dropped the ball on that one, I dunno.
These things are gonna happen from time to time though and I'd say the approach you took to address the situation was 100% the right way to go about it. A good show of professionalism right there..
SineEyed 2020 ya, I introduced slack into the system by the way I had it anchored. But I needed to anchor it that way because the back stem had a really rotten spot down below me a short ways. So the stems were set to work together but needed to have the initial load on the forward stem. He was pulling his tension through a couple wraps of the tree angel rather than tightening it with a half wrap and then cinching it off. I knew it was a little loose but I went ahead because it was light and we had massive height. I was trusting him to judge it right even though it looked loose to me. And he was no doubt trusting me to not make a cut that didn't look right. There was a line of cars waiting also so I went with it expecting the height to compensate for what looked like more slack than I wanted. Yes and then knee-jerk blame LOL.
I feel your pain, bro. You are an outstanding guy.
If you are honest and humble you never have to look over your shoulder.
👍 I think this is my favorite video of yours yet . Why do so many people have trouble accepting responsibility. Everyone makes and every once n a while chit happens.
Well said, Great video as always.