HELP! quote on trees and bushes

[kylecal91]

I have a customer who wants a quote on ripping out a medium sized pine tree, 2 bushes (one large and one small) and a hedge about 6-8ft in length (stumps included) . Just wondering what the estimated price would be cause I have no idea what to charge!

[Runner]

What does it cost you per hour to run? In other words, what are your expenses? What do you have to take them out? Tractor/Bobcat? Backhoe? Truck? Shovel? A medium sized tree?????? What is medium sized?
Do you have adequate access to the site? Where are you dumping the stuff? Time, distance, dump fee? How long is it going to take you? Do you have to bring in dirt to backfill the areas as part of the job? This is a totally unanswerable question.
Your best bet would be to spend a while using the search feature, and mostly in the business section and learn how to figure your operation costs. You HAVE to know this first, before you can figure anything else. Heading at it in the direction that "what do other people charge" is definitely the wrong way to go. You can lose your tail, AND lose jobs.

[kylecal91]

Well I can figure out my operating costs pretty easily but I don't know what to charge per hour. I'm guessing somewhere around $35. Some of those questions you have no one can answer till you get into the job. As for ripping them out I have a chain saw, a truck, pick axes and a shovel...not too much. As for the height of the tree I think it is probably about 15-20ft tall. So it's not that bad.

[Runner]

Well I can figure out my operating costs pretty easily but I don't know what to charge per hour. I'm guessing somewhere around $35.
This is all going to depend on what you want to make per hour. If you are able to charge $35/hour for yourself, with using equipment, and pat your expenses, shop, all your bills, have the business make money, and you make money, then hey,...more power to ya. Personally, I couldn't touch it for that, because what I would end up netting, - I might as well be working for someone else.

[/QUOTE]Some of those questions you have no one can answer till you get into the job. As for ripping them out I have a chain saw, a truck, pick axes and a shovel...not too much. As for the height of the tree I think it is probably about 15-20ft tall. So it's not that bad.[/QUOTE]

For the bushes, don't cut them down too low with the chainsaw...you will want some height to pull them out with the truck, chainfall, or whatever you're going to use (if you are going that route). Th tree doesn't sound too bad, but you are still going to be contending with a stump to grind, by the sounds of it. Know the costs of that. Unless of course, you are just going to cut it down even to the ground...that may be do-able if it is a large wide open area anyway, and it's ok with the customer.

[kylecal91]

I don't know how to handle the stump unless i can rip it out or cut it out with a pick cause the tree is on the side of his yard which is a pretty steep slope. So I don't know what that all might entail but I'll give it a try. So what do you think your labor would be for a job like that? Just maybe a ballpark. Also would you buy a chain saw or just rent one? This is my first and only job like this right now.

[White Gardens]

I don't know how to handle the stump unless i can rip it out or cut it out with a pick cause the tree is on the side of his yard which is a pretty steep slope. So I don't know what that all might entail but I'll give it a try. So what do you think your labor would be for a job like that? Just maybe a ballpark. Also would you buy a chain saw or just rent one? This is my first and only job like this right now.

Rent a saw unless you think you'll use it regularly. Even a cheap Box store saw will work if you don't use it very often.

Considering some of the brush I come across, I bought a red-max, 12 inch bar, aborist saw that works great for light duty work. With a sharp chain, I make Stihl owners jealous.

Charge for saw rental plus 25% markup.
Charge labor, sounds like 4 hours worth of work not including stump removal.

If the Pine is 15-20 feet tall then a truck won't rip out the stump. Either dig around it and cut below the surface, or just cut it at the ground. If you need to pull it, decide on a mini-skid to pull it, or a stump grinder to cut it out.

Either way, couple of hours to remove the stump, plus equipment rental, if you need to.

If all else fails, call a tree guy who has all the equipment to do the work.

[CkLandscapingOrlando]

Dont forget the dump fees. I chrge about 100 a load on a 6x12. If I got a lot of heavy wood I'll charge my fee plus the dump fee

[kylecal91]

The problem is I can't get a stump grinder in the back yard it's too narrow on the one side and the other is a steep bank. I told the guy that I might not be able to get the stump out but he might not care. I was adding up the costs and came to the conclusion of around 800 dollars for the whole job. Does that sound too cheap for a kid first year in business?

[rflawnman]

The problem is I can't get a stump grinder in the back yard it's too narrow on the one side and the other is a steep bank. I told the guy that I might not be able to get the stump out but he might not care. I was adding up the costs and came to the conclusion of around 800 dollars for the whole job. Does that sound too cheap for a kid first year in business?
you can rent a small walk behind grinder at Home Depot that you could probably get in there, it's only 25 or 30 inches wide and if you came up with $800.00 add another $200.00 for good measure and grinder rental.


Without seeing the job someone like me could probably do it for $500.00 based on your description but I have the stuff to get it done in a couple of hours where it might take you a day or so, you got to keep that in mind also when you quote the job..

[kylecal91]

I was thinking more around 500 for the job as well. But the more I looked at it the more I thought that tree might take me some more time than I thought. But we'll see. If I bid too high I think he will get someone else to do it (even though he is one of my customers). But I wanted to give him a quote high enough that if something kinked up the works he wouldn't be surprised with a higher bill than what we agreed on.

[White Gardens]

I was thinking more around 500 for the job as well. But the more I looked at it the more I thought that tree might take me some more time than I thought. But we'll see. If I bid too high I think he will get someone else to do it (even though he is one of my customers). But I wanted to give him a quote high enough that if something kinked up the works he wouldn't be surprised with a higher bill than what we agreed on.


Just do what I do, flat out tell him your price, and then tell him the price of a tree guy to do it.

With that said, I charge more for small tree/stump removal than most arborists as I don't own the equipment. But, my customers generally like my honesty and use me anyway.

[kylecal91]

Yeah I am hoping he will get me to do it. I have a guy I know that could take the stump out so hopefully I'll get the job. Thanks for all the feedback.