Am I crazy? Tree work (1 Viewer)

[GLTHFJ60]

I've got a bunch of tall pines at my house that I want removed for parking, shed access, and landscaping. I had a few quotes done to remove 6 tall pines in front of my house (50-70' tall, hard to tell accurately) and got prices around $3000 to get it done. They're close to the house (10'-30' away at the base) and that's the cause of the high price I think. I've taken out about 25, 30' sweetgums at my house over the past year and a half and didn't have any issues felling, or bucking/removing, the trees.

Being cheap and having some chainsaw experience, I'm thinking about taking these taller pines myself. Am I crazy?

Renting a boom lift for a week costs $930. I'd get up in the tree, take off the tree limbs and cut the pines down in three or four segments. Add another $200 for a stump grinder, then a fall harness for me, and I'd be invested $1200 in removing all the trees I want, saving $1800 or more, if I am able to take out more trees than quoted.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Anyone with large tree felling experience have pointers or obvious issues I'm missing?

 

[forrest5000]

They just removed a 100+ foot oak out of my yard at a cost of $12000. On the city's dime.

 

[tgadd]

Can't help with tips on felling the trees, but will ask the hard questions:

Will your homeowner's insurance cover damage done if you mess up? Are you prepared to have to find new insurance if they do cover it and then drop you?

 

[NCFJ]

RISK!! That is what you are paying for. Just one of those trees goes bad on you and you can experience some serious property damage or physical damage to yourself. Take a wrench turning job and make the money to pay them while they are taking down the trees at their risk.

Oh yeah, lumberjack is one of the most dangerous jobs in the USA. Just sayin........

 

[Fort Knox]

Let me know when you plan to do it. I'll be there to film it, just in case.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Will your homeowner's insurance cover damage done if you mess up? Are you prepared to have to find new insurance if they do cover it and then drop you?

Good question. I am assuming I would be covered, but I'm not sure how to look this up. Do I have to re-read the policy or is there a faster way? I've got Erie Insurance.

 

[tgadd]

Good question. I am assuming I would be covered, but I'm not sure how to look this up. Do I have to re-read the policy or is there a faster way? I've got Erie Insurance.

Call your agent. Probably don't do that. I think do what @NCFJ recommends.

 

[jamesurq]

I found a local guy - Vietnamese, doesn't speak a word of English but his young daughter does. He took out 5 pine trees, probably 40 feet tall (relatively thin trunks), right next to my pool (so hard to remove) cut and removed off site for $500.

So... no.... Don't do it yourself. Find a good/cheap tree guy.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Look up this on youTube. Search something like "chainsaw fails" or "rednecks and chainsaw disasters" and I think you'll let a professional handle this. There are literally hundreds of folks all over the usa dropping trees on houses, cars, pick ups, other people and themselves.





Chainsaw Fail !!! You don't cut a tree like that-Compilation 4

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I found a local guy - Vietnamese, doesn't speak a word of English but his young daughter does. He took out 5 pine trees, probably 40 feet tall (relatively thin trunks), right next to my pool (so hard to remove) cut and removed off site for $500.

So... no.... Don't do it yourself. Find a good/cheap tree guy.

I'm with you. My concern with a cheap guy would then be liability/insurance, which is why I've been getting quotes from big companies. If some guy I found on craigslist comes and drops a tree on my house, is he insured? Does he disappear and stick me with the insurance claim? Would insurance process the claim the same as me dropping it on the house myself?

The big incentive with the cheap guy is that I would be avoiding injury, but wouldn't necessarily be covered if he dropped one on my house.

 

[AndrewHadji]

ill do it for free, just waive the liability :-D

 

[jamesurq]

my guy had the words "fully insured" written in crayon on his business card.... good enough for me...

 

[roadstr6]

If only you knew a local forester with a feller buncher. It would be a 30 minute job with 25 minutes of that time loading and unloading. The buncher holds the trees so very little risk of hittting the house.

 

[JohnVee]

Ask for a certificate of liability made out with you as the beneficiary. Make sure the dates line up with the expected work dates. We actually had some work done once and caught that their policy would expire halfway through the project. I felt a little off about that but I spoke to the insurance guy and made sure they were paid on their renewal before they started.

 

[RedHeadedStepChild]

I've done a fair amount of cutting and dropped some trees in some reasonably tight spots. I don't think I'd want to do what you're looking to do.
Even if your insurance does cover you dropping one on the house/car/dog/neighbor's child, do you think that payment would come fast and easy? i don't.
You're looking to take down large, brittle trees that are very susceptible to wind. Take them down in sections in tight quarters.
I think there are times you'd tell someone to just bring a motor to you instead of screwing around and possibly damaging it. I think you should employ similar logic here.

 

[S4Cruiser]

Ask for a certificate of liability made out with you as the beneficiary. Make sure the dates line up with the expected work dates. We actually had some work done once and caught that their policy would expire halfway through the project. I felt a little off about that but I spoke to the insurance guy and made sure they were paid on their renewal before they started.

Agreed. When we had a few trees taken out the quotes ranged from 2500 to what we ended up paying 850.

Get more quotes. The best I got was from guys in the area actually doing work. Saw them cutting trees, stopped and asked them to swing by to my place.

 

[jimsmith1370]

As has been said, get more quotes. Estimates will be all over the map, depending on how bad somebody needs the work and you can usually negotiate the price down.

 

[lt1fire]

Not really something i'd want to attempt myself, at least not with out the help of someone very experienced in the matter.

Your agent will be able to tell you if you are covered but like Jim said it wouldn't be a fast turn around if something went wrong and the house was damaged and even worse if you were damaged.

 

[little_joe]

What's your time worth?

What's your risk tolerance? not just property, but bodily injury?

We had a professional take down trees at a former house. A week afterwards, he slipped on another job and quickly departed this earth.

 

[jfz80]

Started to respond but got caught by a client call.... but everyone has hit the key points.

Whats your free time worth and how much do you have?

The cheap bastid in me would always consider DIY to save some money but the business side of me says what can you do in that time to make the money and let a professional handle the task? As said its all about weight the savings vs. the risk.

There is an arborist up here that does good work and I have found recently they do saturday work for cash only at a better rate.
A few years back he lost an employee to an accident, and that was someone that had worked saws for many years.


I do like the feller buncher idea

ok the top down tree mulchers are cool too