Day 5: Rainy Day

Today, the weather was terrible here, so we did not do tree work. We knew this in advance so we planned other things to do today. Kevin had an appointment in Boston, so Linus and I had some odd jobs that needed to get done. The first thing we had to do was estimates. Estimates are when a customer calls you and would like you to do work for them. Today we had five different estimates to do, all with a scheduled time to do them at so we could meet with the customer. I learned a lot about pricing out jobs today. I learned there are many things you need to look for. First is the size of the job and tree. The bigger the tree and bigger the job the more money it will cost. Other things that are taken into account are what equipment will be needed on the job, how many men, how long the job will take, and lastly the biggest things is access to the tree. If there is good access to the tree, for the most part, it will cost less because the customer will not be charged for a climbing price because using the bucket truck is a lot less work. On the fifth estimate, Linus gave me the estimate form and said, "This one is all you!" This job that I did the estimate on was a good size job. It consisted of two large White Pine trees on the side of the house and a large Red Oak Tree in front of the house. This job had a good setup, which means that there was good access to get the bucket truck in and a good landing for all the brush. After I did up all the paper work on the slip and thought through the complete job in my head, I came up with a price of $1,800. I talked it over with Linus and he was extremely pleased with how I priced out the job. He said he would have gone closer to $2,000 for a price but after we talked it over, we settled with $1,800. The customer was very pleased with this price and we landed the job on the spot. I found it very easy to talk to the customer simply because I knew the exact trees the customer was talking about because of my study of dendrology in forestry. After we were done with the estimates, we got a coffee, and then had to take the chip truck to get its yearly state inspection sticker. On the way to get the truck inspected, I was behind the wheel. My goal for today behind the wheel was to pull onto Route 128 which is a main highway from a complete stop. Surprisingly I did this without any problem. I have to come to the conclusion that it is all about taking your time and listening to the sound of the trucks engine. After today, Linus questioned me if I have driven a standard before this, and I told him 'no' which is the truth. He is extremely pleased with my progress behind the wheel in just a week. Tomorrow, even though it is a Saturday, we will be going out to do a full days work, rain or shine because we were not able to make it out today.