Tree Surgery...And Parity Between Canberra Tradies

Skyline are excellent – we’ve used them for a heap of jobs, including a really big one, and they were efficient and tidy. Probably not the cheapest though.

Thanks, Tyler! It hasn’t come in as yet – I’ll keep checking but!

In your mailbox Granny! I’m sure it will come in handy.

… or maybe it has a capital G. Try both!

Well, I do have a gmail which I pretty much never check, but I would check it for you Tyler.

: )

granny1963@gmail.com

That would be terrifical, thanks!!

You know you could probably turn that into a report that you could sell … for money even!

*chuckle*

I’m happy to get it to you through JB, if that’s something he is happy to do. I’m sure he’d maybe enjoy the potential benefits as well 😛

Tylers, I would pretty much kill for your tradies list.

: )

ari … removal of dead tree and a new fence thrown in for $1500 = cheap!!!

dealing with tradies is nearly always complete agony – from rip-off quotes, to not turning up on time, to shoddy work….i keep telling my single friends to get some tradie bfs and gfs to form a trade pool 😉

Had a similar issue, ACTEW issued me with a removal order for a vine that had climbed a power pole (along with a list of approved contractors).

Quotes ran around the $800 mark. Fortunately, I had a mate that worked as a linesman for ACTEW…total cost was 2 bottles of JD.

but I’ve don’t my fair

Apologies, that should have said “but I’ve done my fair share”…

To assume that because you pay one ‘tradie’ so much per hour -therefore that is all you should pay someone else (despite the fact that they are doing something totally different) is the height of ignorance.

I think my whole point of this post has been missed by you imhotep. It was posing a question as to “parity” between trades. I don’t necessarily have a gripe, but rather confusion between such varying pricing. I think it’s a fair question, and to throw around accusations of ignorance is ridiculous. Yes, I wear a suit now and I work in an office, but I’ve don’t my fair share of laboring in the past in floor sanding, construction and landscaping. While laboring, I didn’t arrange the pricing, so I never gained an understanding of pricing structures. And the suggestion that because one wears a suit and works in an office makes them a “pube” is also beyond ridiculous. Sounds like you have a bloody big chip on both shoulders mate – best go get that sorted out!

While the suggestions of the job being done for a case of beer is really cool, I’m happy to pay an arborist a decent price for the job.

As for the notion that tradies like to come out for a good look at the customer as much as the job confirms quite a few things for me. I think it pretty much comes down to this type of business can make assumptions based on what you are wearing and the house you own and squeeze as much money out of you as possible. BUT, I am quickly gathering a list of tradies to always use and recommend (there are some out there), and another list of tradies to never use and recommend people avoid. This type of quoting is beyond unreasonable,and I’m sure the people who use this method would hate being treated in the same way. As for me, it’s very quick see when it’s happening, then I’ll avoid them like the plague. Yes, that goes for the business that quoted me $600 today for the same job mentioned in the OP.

Ari said :

I helped a mate in Kambah bring down his dead tree for nothing.

… the new fence cost him $1500, however.

Well, he can’t have everything!

Well said imhotep.

I helped a mate in Kambah bring down his dead tree for nothing.

… the new fence cost him $1500, however.

This may come as a shock to those of you have have never worked at any job which didn’t involve sitting down, but all ‘tradies’, just like all pubes, are not the same.
1) They have a right to choose who they work for.
2)They have a right to choose how much they will accept for their labour.

To assume that because you pay one ‘tradie’ so much per hour -therefore that is all you should pay someone else (despite the fact that they are doing something totally different) is the height of ignorance.

I’m not a tradie, btw. But when I first came here I had a job where some days I wore a suit and some days I wore fluoro. The difference in the way I was treated was a real eye-opener.

BerraBoy68 said :

Why these clowns bother to go to peoples homes and waste both parties time by talking about the work to be done with no intention of ever providing a quote is beyond me. From talking to others this is a frequent problem in Canberra across the trades. As it is I’ve had to break a golden rule of mine and hire a mate to build my deck.

erm. I hate to say this, but I have heard (from many of the buggers themselves) that they like to check out the job first, and the customer! Coming out to do a quote gives them a chance to have a look. They have so much work available, they can pick and choose.

IIRC, I called a number of arborists in Canberra and found that Lachlan from Tree Tops came in with the cheapest/quickest quote more then once. I just checked outside and the trees are definately gone so I would reccomend him for tree removal.

Also you should think about how much Mulch ripping bits off the tree is gonna make. We have like a tonne of it lying there because we said we’d be happy to keep it.

Here’s a list of ActewAGL Acredited Tree Surgeons
http://www.actewagl.com.au/safety/powerlines/treeSurgeon.aspx

Good luck! I hope you don’t get one of those b*stard Tree Surgeons who forgets that people don’t like it when their flowers get stomped on in the pursuit of efficient tree removal.

Some very interesting points. In my mind I think insurance would be pretty much the same for a tree dude or a sparky. Tree falling on houses, or owners of houses being electrocuted due to a mistake are both pretty on par I’d think. As for the availability of arborists, people must have to use them often enough. It seems I need to book a good week or 2 in advance.

That sounds pretty fair.

Tree sugrery ain’t cheap, and the cheap stuff ends up costing you.
But its a peak period for tree surgery right now, everyone wants their trees sorted before the summer storms roll in.

Where’s the job that needs doing?

Tree surgeons have a lot more wear and tear on their tools and safety equipment. Potential, a lot of things can go wrong for them. If he has to climb the tree, then he should have another person on the job.

Ive worked both tree surgery and electrical. I always came home totally wrecked from the tree surgery.

Sounds like a pretty good quote to me.

I know people that will do the job for a slab of VB

Should have been southside after the fires TM. We actually had arborists knocking on our door asking if we wanted trees taken down.

I find having tradies provide a quote to be the biggest challenge. I’m having a deck built at my place and after having had several ‘chippies’ come over in September to measure up I’m still waiting for any quote to arrive either by e-mail or snail mail.

Why these clowns bother to go to peoples homes and waste both parties time by talking about the work to be done with no intention of ever providing a quote is beyond me. From talking to others this is a frequent problem in Canberra across the trades. As it is I’ve had to break a golden rule of mine and hire a mate to build my deck.

Whatever the deal, I’d quite happily pay any tradesman double if he would bother to f%^vking turn up on time.

I think that c’ may be onto something. Also, insurance is actually a pretty big part of a arborists costs, due to the possibility of dropping a tree right on a house….

Is there a “valid until xxxx” date on the quote TM? I’m willing to bet that the cost of your tree surgeon will vary according to the time of year and how busy they are. Many people are looking at tidying up their places at this time of year but relatively fewer in the depths of winter for instance.

What would you hear more often – ‘I had to call an arborist’, as opposed to ‘I had to call a sparky’? Therein lies the answer, I suspect.