Got a quote last week

   / Got a quote last week #1  

Cat_Driver

Elite Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2008
Messages
2,510
Location
Coachella Ca.
Tractor
2016 Kubota 4060, 2017 Tackeuchi excavator TB260
Got a quote last week to guy down a tree. The tree is small in my opinion, only about 24' tall, trunk about 36" in diameter.
The guy pull up in a bean new top of the line GMC Denali pick up Duramax I know this wasn't going to end well.

The job was just to drop the tree in place. Nothing near it to damage. Just drop it I'll take it from there. Leave the stump in place.

He quoted $1,200.00. I then said let me get this straight, you want $1,200.00 for less than 4 minutes of work? Then he breaks into well my guys have to drive here then they have to drive back to the shop.

Then he asks, what do you want to pay? I said I'll give you $100.00 a minute cut time and you and I know I'm being generous at it taking 4 minutes. He said he would do it for $500.00. At this point, I was just PO'd at this guy going from $1,200 to $500.00 in two minutes.

I said nope, take the $400.00, or leave it. He drove off.

Why do businesses do this, why quote ridiculous prices. That's rhetorical, I know why because there are people that will say yes to ridiculous prices without any argument.
 
   / Got a quote last week #2  
They want all the toys that everybody advertises.
Marketing has brought this on.
Entitled covers a lot of this.
 
   / Got a quote last week #3  
Why not cut it down yourself?
 
   / Got a quote last week #4  
If the story is accurate-no possible damage when the tree falls, fairly small, no chipping, just falling etc. I can't believe the man didn't get a saw out of the pick up truck and drop it for $100.

My brother is an excavator. He needs to cut down trees many times on projects (only does it if there are no hazards with the fall) That work is part of his hourly rate for the dozer/excavator/etc.
 
   / Got a quote last week #5  
The title of this post should have been

“ I offered a guy $100 a minute to do a job, and he turned me down”

I am going through the same kind of thing here Cat Driver, the quotes to do a small addition to our house, (no plumbing or heat needed) are downright ridiculous. Unfortunately, my carpentry skills are not good enough to do it myself.
 
   / Got a quote last week #6  
The title of this post should have been

“ I offered a guy $100 a minute to do a job, and he turned me down”

I am going through the same kind of thing here Cat Driver, the quotes to do a small addition to our house, (no plumbing or heat needed) are downright ridiculous. Unfortunately, my carpentry skills are not good enough to do it myself.

It would realistically take way more than 4 minutes to cut tree that big even if you’re not counting travel time.
 
Last edited:
   / Got a quote last week #7  
The safety meeting alone takes time. And putting on PPE.

Licensing, insurance, workmans comp. Holiday pay, often paying injury claims of employees going back years. I could go on and on. WAY more expense to him than the four minutes to cut down the tree. Kind of like the person who wants to buy a spark plug from a BIG store and ONLY pay for the spark plug.

I think he, as a business owner, he did nothing wrong. If he had quoted 500 and charged 1200 that would be wrong.

Oh, and did I mention that after assuming all that risk, GOV BS and employees, that the guy probably expects some PROFIT for doing all that at the end of the day?
 
   / Got a quote last week
  • Thread Starter
#8  
Why not cut it down yourself?

I only have a small trimming chain saw. I figured I'd call a guy that has a long bar on his chain saw and drop it in minutes.
 
   / Got a quote last week
  • Thread Starter
#9  
It would realistically take way more than 4 minutes to cut tree that big even if you’re not counting travel time.

Min wage here is $12/hr. which is what most employers these days are paying because there is no work. That's about 33 hours of work time is what that $400.00 would garner.

I think there's plenty of fat in there for a drive across my small town that at most takes 10 minutes. So now with travel time, he's got 24 minutes, but let's say with travel time and the cut it takes a full HOUR. His cost $12.00, his profit, less insurance, etc, around $300.00. He could have taken the $400.00 and help pay the wages for a week for his employees. I even calculated paying his guys skilled labor @ $25.00 and he still makes out. Now if you want to calculate the 4 ounces of fuel he uses, the 84 drops of chain oil, etc. NAH, he still makes out.

OK let's talk about travel time etc. The guy then lost money by giving me an insane bid, didn't he? He lost travel time, lost fuel, lost vehicle wear and tear, lost his time again an hour ( now that hour is worth MUSH MORE because he could have used that hour getting a paying customer so the loss is greater)

I ran a business here for 30 years and I would look at making $300.00 as paying a utility bill, paying for fuels for my trucks, pizza for my guys.

Money is money. I never walked away from making money no matter how little it was. As long as I could put money in my pocket I did the job. I lost very few jobs because of the price. If my price was too high we'd talk till it worked out. As long as there was money on the table and a customer was willing to give it to me, I was always willing to take it.
 
   / Got a quote last week #10  
I had eleven trees felled last year by a pro because they were too close to the house for me to do it myself. All were over 100' and most were over 2' at the trunk. A crew of three used a bucket truck to remove the lower branches on some of them in order to clear other plants or the corner of the garage. It took them about 1.5 hours and I paid $700.
 
 
Top