Rusty Hinge wrote:

Hello Rusty

A grand could be realistic, but it might be a lot cheaper
(I've felled and burnt similar trees for half a days work
for two guys, 100-200 quid). But a job like yours, worse
case, might take 3-4 days for 3-4 guys (and I'm talking
absolute worst case).

RH Very, very worst. We took down two poplars in North London.
RH They were polled at about twelve feet, and the three trunks
RH on one and the two on the other were over 120 feet.

Yeah. We used to specialise in the dangerous ones at one time, and
some of the worst were a stand of five 100' douglas fir that grew on
an unstable bank another 20' above a major roadway which in turn was
20' above a busy beach in Salcombe, surrounded by other roads and had
a house directly underneath. Took ten of us (three climbers, three
groundsmen and four muppets) five days to dismantle and remove,
including 3 days hire of a 100' crane and traffic lights so we could
close the road. That was about the most expensive single job we did
and was knocking on the door of ten grand. I was quite happy to be a
groundsman on that job, and not having to work up there. The crane
driver wasn't too careful either, freewheeling lumps of wood down of
about 1/2 a tonne and then slamming the brake on at the last minute,
causing the back of the crane to lift up. Got rid of him after the
first day and used another firm.

RH The main boles were nearly six feet in diameter at the
RH bases, and our 36" Pioneer power saw only just met in the
RH middle when we came to take them down.

Tricky with that size and with rotten boles. We kept a big sthil just
for those sorts of jobs with a 5'6" bar imported from America (not a
fun thing to start on a cold day, and if you stuffed it in the dirt we
were made to sharpen in on our own time - 12' of chain takes a lot of
setting and checking to sharpen so it cuts straight). I've seen a guy
use that saw 30' when taking down a wind-damaged scots pine at
Greenaway House (Agatha Christie's place nr Torbay) - quite funny
since he couldn't brace himself, the torque from the saw kept pushing
him away from the tree.

RH Because there was nowhere to take them down in one go we
RH (about five of us) spent four days taking them down from the
RH tops downwards.

Definately a slow job, and not one you can rush. Need a good bloke on
the ropes, both above and on the ground too. Seen quite a few near-
misses from a manic climber, and more from an inexperienced
groundsman. TBH, I'm quite glad I got out of that line of work.

RH Our charge was one thousand five hundred pounds, but that
RH was thirty years ago. The nearest quote he had to ours was
RH three thousand, and one company wanted ten thousand.

Eek. It's amazing the difference - I'm pretty sure a lot of companies
take one look, think "Bugger that!" and put in a silly quote because
they don't want the job.

--
Simon Avery, Dartmoor, UK Ý http://www.digdilem.org/