What is the best time of the year to call tree service?

[Dmitry]

I have a lot of brush from trees that I've downed. Probably day of work with good chipper and couple guys, may be less.
My "go to" guy gave me a quote of $1000. His usual is $1200 per day, but since I pay cash and he can do it any day when he is not busy with regular customers I got "discount". It was early spring.Then he disappeared and didn't return my calls. Finally , after me saying "what the hell?" in my message he texted me that it's not worth for him to bring all the equipment and people for less then $1300. I said "lets do regular $1200", He said, "No".
I called 2 other tree guys that advertised locally and none of them returned my call. I'm wondering if that's a busiest time of the year and I should wait a bit or it's me having bad luck.

 

[Hickorynut]

Should be someone out there hungry for some work for that much money, wow. Always, unless it is a diar emergency, I don't get a tree service until the middle of the hottest summer when the ground is rock hard because they will absolutely tear your yard up if the ground is soft. Not necessarily their fault but the nature of the work and equipment used. Don't know if that is applicable with your work though.

 

[Omaha419]

Can you just burn it? That's what I've done with all the brush and undergrowth I've cut.


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[jb6l6gc]

Just rent a chipper for the day! Way cheaper

 

[TheAardvark]

Right before Christmas had been good for me. I was getting estimates to remove a big maple and 2 firs from near the house. When the first guy came for the estimate he gave me a price. When I told him I would get back to him when the other guy gave me his estimate he knocked off 200 bucks just to get the cash for the holidays.

 

[HisTreeNut]

The tree guys around me are all about 2 weeks behind right now. The service I am using shuffled things to get to me sooner because I have a tree that is uprooting and it's potentially dangerous.
I have always heard calling them in the winter is when they are slowest is best, springtime the worst.

 

[claydogg84]

Winter will be their slowest season.

 

[Kevin*]

I know this is in a different area but my buddy had some trees trimmed and the branches chipped. About 3 hours of work, 1500 bones.

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[woodhog73]

I work for a tree service part time. Friend of mine. I keep trying to quit but he won't let me. I'm getting to old for tree service work ! It's hard on the body

Anyways to the point

Middle of winter is the best time. Only the most established tree services can manage to find work in the winter and it's generally significantly less production than during the warmer months. And if they have loans out on expensive equipment like chippers and stump grinders or bucket trucks, they want the work and most will discount it to get it.

The guy I help out is a couple weeks behind . He will cancel small jobs ( after communicating with the homeowner) if there is a bigger better paying job or if it's an emergency situation such as tree blown on a house in a windstorm. That goes to the top of the list.

I'm not sure how others price out their tree service but where I'm used too it's hourly based on the size of the crew. So if it's a 3 man crew for 4 hours that's a certain rate x 4. If it's big and a 4 man crew that's rates higher. If a crane is being contracted that's higher yet. And so on

If it's just chipping brush ( and it's heavy brush ) that's 2 men. One guy to drive the chip truck and chipper in tow. Another guy towing the skid steer. If the tree service doesn't have a skid steer, bobcat, etc and they are using human power to drag brush it's costing you more. Brush is heavy. A skid steer can drag large amounts of it and feed it into the chipper in minutes. In 3 to 4 hours it's easy to process tree tops and brush from several trees , for example if we had 4 or 5 or more large oaks the brush would be gone in less than a 1/2 day. The climber would be at a completely different job altogether since he is making $28 hr no need to use him for chipping brush and he would be doing a prune or removal somewhere else and we would go there after cleaning up the brush to process whatever he made a mess of.

A few hours at most. Should cost you under $1000 from a production tree shop. A mom and pop shop without high volume capability using all human power to drag the brush is going to be more to cover their costs and extra hours on the job site. And if it's a lot if brush and they have a small chipper say a 12 inch or something those you need to stand next to to reverse the feed when too big of pieces get in them and for that mom and pop shop they might just give your brush one full day for their entire crew. So other jobs are put on hold and your cost as the customer goes up.

Just my thought.

As for renting a chipper that depends on the size chipper. A 18 inch 150hp diesel chipper is $10,000 lbs or more. you need a 3/4 ton pick up to safely tow it. But if you have a tow vehicle, and you can process the wood chips into the woods or yard somewhere, this is a good option. Depending on the cost to rent the chipper

 

[Dmitry]

I work for a tree service part time. Friend of mine. I keep trying to quit but he won't let me. I'm getting to old for tree service work ! It's hard on the body

Anyways to the point

Middle of winter is the best time. Only the most established tree services can manage to find work in the winter and it's generally significantly less production than during the warmer months. And if they have loans out on expensive equipment like chippers and stump grinders or bucket trucks, they want the work and most will discount it to get it.

The guy I help out is a couple weeks behind . He will cancel small jobs ( after communicating with the homeowner) if there is a bigger better paying job or if it's an emergency situation such as tree blown on a house in a windstorm. That goes to the top of the list.

I'm not sure how others price out their tree service but where I'm used too it's hourly based on the size of the crew. So if it's a 3 man crew for 4 hours that's a certain rate x 4. If it's big and a 4 man crew that's rates higher. If a crane is being contracted that's higher yet. And so on

If it's just chipping brush ( and it's heavy brush ) that's 2 men. One guy to drive the chip truck and chipper in tow. Another guy towing the skid steer. If the tree service doesn't have a skid steer, bobcat, etc and they are using human power to drag brush it's costing you more. Brush is heavy. A skid steer can drag large amounts of it and feed it into the chipper in minutes. In 3 to 4 hours it's easy to process tree tops and brush from several trees , for example if we had 4 or 5 or more large oaks the brush would be gone in less than a 1/2 day. The climber would be at a completely different job altogether since he is making $28 hr no need to use him for chipping brush and he would be doing a prune or removal somewhere else and we would go there after cleaning up the brush to process whatever he made a mess of.

A few hours at most. Should cost you under $1000 from a production tree shop. A mom and pop shop without high volume capability using all human power to drag the brush is going to be more to cover their costs and extra hours on the job site. And if it's a lot if brush and they have a small chipper say a 12 inch or something those you need to stand next to to reverse the feed when too big of pieces get in them and for that mom and pop shop they might just give your brush one full day for their entire crew. So other jobs are put on hold and your cost as the customer goes up.

Just my thought.

As for renting a chipper that depends on the size chipper. A 18 inch 150hp diesel chipper is $10,000 lbs or more. you need a 3/4 ton pick up to safely tow it. But if you have a tow vehicle, and you can process the wood chips into the woods or yard somewhere, this is a good option. Depending on the cost to rent the chipper[/

Thanks for good info

 

[Dmitry]

Can you just burn it? That's what I've done with all the brush and undergrowth I've cut.


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Some pics to get the idea of what I'm dealing with . Too much to burn , and it's still green

 

[CincyBurner]

As flowers pop up, and leaves emerge (or don't) the thoughts of people return to the garden . . .
. . . as leaves fall people head back inside for holiday preparations and away from outside concerns.

Some tree companies (especially smaller ones) will seasonally lay off their workers during the winter after they work down the summer/ fall backlog. A few companies might give you a discounted rate to keep crews working and maintain cashflow. They'll probably have more time and consideration for the client.
This time of year tree companies are approaching their peak seasonal workloads.
With the spread of EAB tree companies have been keeping busy throughout the year.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

Put it up on craigslist and see who bites. Might get rid of some for nothing.......LOL

 

[Dmitry]

Put it up on craigslist and see who bites. Might get rid of some for nothing.......LOL

Yeah, Put this up with "Free firewood"
Gonna end up in "Craigslist laugh of the day"

 

[woodhog73]

If it's just what's in the pictures I would say looks like you have enough safe area to burn the brush. If you can safely burn it that's the cheapest way obviously. Free is always best.

Also if those pictures show everything you want chipped, I'd suggest shop around for tree services. There's very little work there 2 hours on site probably less than that. Drive time to your property too but regardless their is a ceiling on what things are worth. Out where I'm located That's $600 bucks worth of work with 2 guys.

Most likely your tree guy knows that and that's why he said it's not worth his time to drive out their. That's typical with small mom and pops that have only 1 chipper and other better paying jobs they can go to for the day.

A larger high volume tree service may have 3 or 4 chippers and chip trucks in their fleet so little jobs like yours are great for " end of day fillers" or windy days when it's too windy to get up into a tree. Guys are tired but it's only 2pm and need more hours but too late in the day to start another removal, great go chip up some brush and still be back to the shop by 5pm. Quick and easy

You get the idea.

Also by the looks of it you would only need a small chipper if you decide to rent one. It will take longer with a small chipper as opposed to the ones we use where you can put whole trees into them ( small trees up to 18 inches on ours) but that's ok since your just renting it for the day.

 

[CincyBurner]

Some pics to get the idea of what I'm dealing with . Too much to burn , and it's still green

With that bit of brush you might just consider "chowing" down the brush piles with a chain saw yourself, especially if it's not a formal part of your yard. If only small branches they'll breakdown fairly quick. It won't look as neat as chipping it, but it wouldn't take too long and it would save on paying to chip or the hassle of renting a chipper.
Save the larger diameter branches to cut/ lop into kindling.

 

[firefighterjake]

"Too much to burn" ... hehheh ... you should have seen some of my burn piles in the past. One alternative to chipping is to have several smaller fires versus one giant bonfire.

 

[Omaha419]

You can burn that stuff. Green branches will burn easily. I think we have the solution to your problem.


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[sportbikerider78]

Chop it up more with the chainsaw. Get a good hot fire going with dry wood. Start loading this on. It will burn, but it will be smoky. Do it at night.

Love the property. Looks like a little slice of the adirondacks with the exposed rock!

 

[Light in the Dark]

That brush is totally burnable. Just get a nice base ripper going with some dry construction wood and a bale of hay or two. Just feed the fire, and it will be gone in no time.

Do you simply not have time to process the trees? I do see a pile of wood in the rear of one shot (and of course because you are here... you probably burn wood in some form ).

 

[Dmitry]

That brush is totally burnable. Just get a nice base ripper going with some dry construction wood and a bale of hay or two. Just feed the fire, and it will be gone in no time.

Do you simply not have time to process the trees? I do see a pile of wood in the rear of one shot (and of course because you are here... you probably burn wood in some form ).

Yeah ,need some time to process the wood.
May be I should burn the brush. Save some $400 for chipper rental.

 

[Omaha419]

Use that $400 to buy yourself a treat for all that work.


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[Dmitry]

Use that $400 to buy yourself a treat for all that work.


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My mom and my mother-in-law going to visit us in a month for two weeks. Might be good project for them under my supervision

 

[Dobish]

i had a few piles about that big. middle of summer. had a buddy come out with his chipper. it took 3 guys 8 hours to drag and chip it.... i got a hell of a deal at $900.

 

[Dobish]

My mom and my mother-in-law going to visit us in a month for two weeks. Might be good project for them under my supervision

i made my brother and stepfather help me drag 15 loads of brush to the local drop off a few weeks ago....