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Large fallen limb removal pricing

11K views 43 replies 10 participants last post by  tundraman 
#1 ·
Plant Natural landscape Branch Road surface Tree
Ok, so I've never done any tree removal before, but I have a chainsaw and I know how to use it. :)
This large limb fell over the driveway of this house so I left one of my fliers. I'm thinking about 4 hours to remove..? I don't know how ppl generally charge for labor for this kind of thing. I try to do $1.5/minute on my other work. That would put this job at $360. Does that sounds decent to cut it up and haul it off?
I'm not sure what the dumping fee would be, I'd have to find that out. I also have no idea what the market price is for this kind of stuff in my area (memphis, TN). Any input would be appreciated.
 
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#18 ·
They'd happily pay 150 to 200 if they couldn't do it themselves. And wanted their driveway back. I do some storm clean ups . Not my fav thing to do. I don't go looking for it. In my past experience most don't mind a reasonable price. Most the time their insurance company pays it anyway.
 
#20 ·
That's a 25'+ limb, roughly 26" around at the butt end. There is at least one full cord of split wood in that. Which is 128CF of firewood. That sells here for 400 bucks alone. Then 2men 3 hours of cutting and loading to bare lawn. Never mind the 10CY of trailer space you will need.
400dollar wood cost
6 man hours at 65/hr=390
790+ Equipment time, vehicle time, overhead, fuel=1000 before tax.

And people wonder why this industry cannot find employees or price anything properly.
 
#22 ·
Yep. And thats in an area where everyone and his brother has a chainsaw and woodburner.

Would you charge the same hourlylabor to cut grass as lay a patio with pavers?

Why charge your lawn rates for specialty work?

Also, make it expensive enough to claim on homeowners. Nobody will pay a 500 deductable on 500 dollars of work...
 
#24 ·
Yep. And thats in an area where everyone and his brother has a chainsaw and woodburner.

Would you charge the same hourlylabor to cut grass as lay a patio with pavers?

Why charge your lawn rates for specialty work?
I was guessing $75-85 per man hour for 4 hours, I wouldn't know how to price that job, and wouldn't quote on it, hard to tell from a little picture anyway.
 
#25 ·
What you call a "cord" is not a "cord", and try selling one here as such, expect a not-so-nice visit from the weights and measures guy.

A cord is 128cubic feet of wood. 8foot by 4foot by 4 foot.

A FACE cord is 8 foot by 4 foot by 14-16 inches. Or one row.

Roughly 3.5 face cord per full cord....so, 450-500 at your prices.
 
#32 ·
Lol I'm not in the firewood business. There are guys here that send 53' trailers to Dallas wood is 250/300 a cord there. Pricing is allover the place. Depending where you are. Only wood I can really make money on is green red oak. A local BBQ place will pay a premium price for it.
 
#35 ·
Well I'm not gonna go poking around on someone's property without them there. I've got another quote to go give tomorrow before I have to go to my full time job, so I probably won't go solicit the homeowner either. Unless I have spare time when I pass by tomorrow. If that happens I'll try to let y'all know some dimensions so somebody doesn't get knifed up in here.
 
#36 ·
I would probably charge $350-$500 as that's about half a days work for me by my self if I'm just taking it to the dump. Price would vary depending on how close the nearest dump is and if they wanted it for firewood. If they wanted the wood cut for firewood I would be in the $500 range as that's more processing/labor.
 
#39 ·
I need a bigger truck and trailer. It would only take me 30min to an hour to cut it up but then to load it and make multiple trips to the dump would add time quickly. I only have a Tacoma and 5x8 trailer so it would take me much longer than someone with a dump truck and dump trailer. That being said I'm also not going to claim I'm the fastest person at felling, bucking loading and unloading. I'm still new to it and I have a pretty healthy fear of my saw.
 
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