Large tree transplants

Ekka · 9th April 2007, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by osb_mail

Also this is my first post in tree world have read a lot and really enjoying everyones post and threads . I have seen a lot of the same names as on another site and tree world seems to have a little less chainsaw talk so it might be a little more suited for me thanks .

Good on ya OSB.

No point being shy, we're all about trees here. Chainsaws, well they're just another tool to get the job done. Some people really love them though, polish them up, race them, heck ... might even sleep with them

As arborists and tree people our jobs blend across a few disciplines. You have builders/developers doing stuff, you got bugs and fungi doing stuff and then you got us doing stuff ... and hopefully we bring that all together here.

Your always learning, and there's lots of good people sharing their knowledge for us to benefit, I bet you know a few things you could share too.

Good to see you here, have fun.

Sean Freeman · 9th April 2007, 10:44 PM

Ekka's spot on (from my experience) with the relationship of council and developers and trees that have been deemed valuable therefore must be preserved. Unfortunately the quess was not spot on (I wish) now you have to remember that this is the first time this method of transplant has been done outside of Brisbane metropolitan area, so everyone was a bit gun shy plus the developer Honeycombes had no experience in contracting tree transplants. I'm not going to give you the exact price mainly because I work for someone else and that's Steve's business but he and I wish we'd put $120K on it. We didn't loose money on the job.

That also answers the question as to whether this is a good money earner, no its not, unless your business is set up to undertake large transplants. the steel work, manufacturing costs, plant equipment hire costs alone crucify you. If anything goes pear shaped you can have a $400/hr machine sitting there waiting for half a day, and if you aren't mates with the company and get instant standby rates you are royally screwed. try adjusting the price halfway through the job when its taken months to negotiate the contract...

good luck.
However if you can afford to buy the steel, and the other materials burlap(hessian) straps, slings and have friends that are boiler makers and good relations with large plant machinery companies then yes you could make good money from moving big trees, no doubt about it and I know people that do alright from the transplants they do......but bear in mind they can never recover the 100s of hrs of phone calls paperwork prep negotiations and running back and forwards envolved in getting the jobs done let alone the hours of worry about everything possible that can go wrong, nor the hours of post transplant care that you put in above the contracted hours because you actually care about the trees. If you put those costs in the quote...well you'd never get any jobs!!

Neither tree transplant would have been possible without reaaly great help support advice and encouragement from Adam Tom, and Daniel Oaten both in Brisbane.

Number of trees moved (including trees moved before working with Steve)...4, success rate 100%, please realise in the past I was envovled at the ground level, shovelling and getting dirty like the poor guy cleaning out under the pipes for us, over time I have gradually become more responsible for how things progress, these are the first trees that with Steve I have been responsible for what happens.
Total hours including 1st root prune crickey thats a hard one but my estimate up to today, I fed the soil (not the tree!) today 106hrs, three of us in the company estimate 300hrs roughly

JayD, I'd like to chase up those charts because the next tree will be more like 45/50T and I don't want to bend another beam!.

TREE-SURFER · 9th April 2007, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ekka

Good on ya OSB.
Some people really love them though, polish them up, race them, heck ... might even sleep with them

Jeez, that could get a bit saw.

Tim Craig · 10th April 2007, 02:40 PM

Very impressive operation, must have been a lot of pre-job preparation.

Well done.

Were the clients happy?

osb_mail · 10th April 2007, 06:48 PM

for the answers .The place I work has 2 large tree spade . I would have to say they have a success rate of 80% to 85% but they are moving up to 20 trees a day .The trees are not as big as this one .Think that the success rate would be better but sometimes they try moving too big of trees with these things.

osb_mail · 10th April 2007, 06:53 PM

Sean Freeman · 10th April 2007, 08:48 PM

Hi osb_mail, thanks for the photo, I think one of few troubles guys encounter with tree spades is that the job becomes too instant. Prep time is very important of the tree's chances of survival. When you think about it we are going to remove 90% of the trees roots and expect it to live? Common sense alone tell us that there's a lot to be done before and after that trauma occurs. Having said all that tree spades can make moving smaller trees simple fast and very economic.

osb_mail · 11th April 2007, 03:15 PM

Most of it is truck drivers moving the trees and not tree people . They really don t much about this kind of cargo.

mdvaden · 13th April 2007, 08:44 PM

So do the pipes get discarded, or do you re-use them?

History channel showed a bit of Davey Tree's moving last night on cable tv, but didn't show how they do each procedure, like getting the pipes under.

It seems that a person would want to salvage the pipes.

How do you get the pipes out?

Sean Freeman · 13th April 2007, 10:56 PM

Mario, pipes out is pretty easy, by the time you've lifted the tree twice and put it back down the root ball is much looser than when you drove the pipes under, we keep the root ball irrigated the whole time, not flooded but moist. Consequently the pipes pull out easily with a chain.

The pipes were used twice on this job, but they won't be substantial enough for the next job 40T+. There is no reason why with care and patience you can't reuse the pipes again and again.

JohN Dee · 22nd April 2007, 03:47 AM

Great work Boa with the tree removals, you are a very skilled Arborist.

The only pictures I could offer would be me transplanting my baby gum from its pot into a bigger pot :P

Sean Freeman · 22nd April 2007, 04:56 AM

JohNDee, thanks mate but I wish it was all me, it ain't there's three of us up here and Steve who owns the business is the one carrying all the risk on jobs like that one. I like to think I've completely changed his business in the 3yrs I've been working for him, and I think he would agree that is the case, but none of it would have happened without the three of us working together. (and we still have to do crappy coconuts every now and again

)

clementine · 22nd April 2007, 04:13 PM

Ol?,

Fantastic stuff, though it must have cost someone an absolute bundle!

Can't quite beleive the roots were so shallow, do now, seen it.

Takes me back to my underpinning days.

Signing out, in awe,

Nick.

JohN Dee · 22nd April 2007, 04:38 PM

That's great Boa, you've gotta love it when you and your team are like clockwork.

Have you mentioned Tree World to Steve and your other colleauge?

Ekka · 22nd April 2007, 05:05 PM

Those guys want appearance money.

Just kidding.

Sean Freeman · 22nd April 2007, 08:19 PM

Steve, who owns the business does read this forum, I've said to him numerous times he should register and then he can write when he feels like it. But I don't know when he will, he doesn't like typing or writing much...but you're still a nice guy mate!!
Tim does have internet connection but its used a lot by his kids. I think eventually they will both register and add stuff, I know they would both enjoy and benefit from it, I have.

9th April 2007, 10:44 PM	#27 (permalink)
Sean Freeman PDF King & Arborist Extrodinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,521	Ekka's spot on (from my experience) with the relationship of council and developers and trees that have been deemed valuable therefore must be preserved. Unfortunately the quess was not spot on (I wish) now you have to remember that this is the first time this method of transplant has been done outside of Brisbane metropolitan area, so everyone was a bit gun shy plus the developer Honeycombes had no experience in contracting tree transplants. I'm not going to give you the exact price mainly because I work for someone else and that's Steve's business but he and I wish we'd put $120K on it. We didn't loose money on the job. That also answers the question as to whether this is a good money earner, no its not, unless your business is set up to undertake large transplants. the steel work, manufacturing costs, plant equipment hire costs alone crucify you. If anything goes pear shaped you can have a $400/hr machine sitting there waiting for half a day, and if you aren't mates with the company and get instant standby rates you are royally screwed. try adjusting the price halfway through the job when its taken months to negotiate the contract... good luck. However if you can afford to buy the steel, and the other materials burlap(hessian) straps, slings and have friends that are boiler makers and good relations with large plant machinery companies then yes you could make good money from moving big trees, no doubt about it and I know people that do alright from the transplants they do......but bear in mind they can never recover the 100s of hrs of phone calls paperwork prep negotiations and running back and forwards envolved in getting the jobs done let alone the hours of worry about everything possible that can go wrong, nor the hours of post transplant care that you put in above the contracted hours because you actually care about the trees. If you put those costs in the quote...well you'd never get any jobs!! Neither tree transplant would have been possible without reaaly great help support advice and encouragement from Adam Tom, and Daniel Oaten both in Brisbane. Number of trees moved (including trees moved before working with Steve)...4, success rate 100%, please realise in the past I was envovled at the ground level, shovelling and getting dirty like the poor guy cleaning out under the pipes for us, over time I have gradually become more responsible for how things progress, these are the first trees that with Steve I have been responsible for what happens. Total hours including 1st root prune crickey thats a hard one but my estimate up to today, I fed the soil (not the tree!) today 106hrs, three of us in the company estimate 300hrs roughly JayD, I'd like to chase up those charts because the next tree will be more like 45/50T and I don't want to bend another beam!. __________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran

10th April 2007, 06:48 PM	#30 (permalink)
osb_mail Fly'n Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: ohio Posts: 186	thanks boa and ekka for the answers .The place I work has 2 large tree spade . I would have to say they have a success rate of 80% to 85% but they are moving up to 20 trees a day .The trees are not as big as this one .Think that the success rate would be better but sometimes they try moving too big of trees with these things.

10th April 2007, 08:48 PM	#32 (permalink)
Sean Freeman PDF King & Arborist Extrodinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,521	Hi osb_mail, thanks for the photo, I think one of few troubles guys encounter with tree spades is that the job becomes too instant. Prep time is very important of the tree's chances of survival. When you think about it we are going to remove 90% of the trees roots and expect it to live? Common sense alone tell us that there's a lot to be done before and after that trauma occurs. Having said all that tree spades can make moving smaller trees simple fast and very economic. __________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran

11th April 2007, 03:15 PM	#33 (permalink)
osb_mail Fly'n Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: ohio Posts: 186	I adgree with you boa Most of it is truck drivers moving the trees and not tree people . They really don t much about this kind of cargo.

13th April 2007, 08:44 PM	#34 (permalink)
mdvaden Astronaut Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Oregon Posts: 578	So do the pipes get discarded, or do you re-use them? History channel showed a bit of Davey Tree's moving last night on cable tv, but didn't show how they do each procedure, like getting the pipes under. It seems that a person would want to salvage the pipes. How do you get the pipes out? __________________ ____________________________________ Grove of Redwood TITANS Oregon BIGOOT trap

10th April 2007, 02:40 PM	#29 (permalink)
Tim Craig Cruisin' Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Posts: 94	Very impressive operation, must have been a lot of pre-job preparation. Well done. Were the clients happy?

22nd April 2007, 03:47 AM	#36 (permalink)
JohN Dee Astronaut Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 679	Great work Boa with the tree removals, you are a very skilled Arborist. The only pictures I could offer would be me transplanting my baby gum from its pot into a bigger pot :P __________________ Climber with slow climbing speed, must make up with mighty chainsaw roar. Free Tree and Green Industry Link Directory Red : Green : Blue

22nd April 2007, 04:56 AM	#37 (permalink)
Sean Freeman PDF King & Arborist Extrodinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,521	JohNDee, thanks mate but I wish it was all me, it ain't there's three of us up here and Steve who owns the business is the one carrying all the risk on jobs like that one. I like to think I've completely changed his business in the 3yrs I've been working for him, and I think he would agree that is the case, but none of it would have happened without the three of us working together. (and we still have to do crappy coconuts every now and again ) __________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran

22nd April 2007, 04:13 PM	#38 (permalink)
clementine Afterburner is shakin' Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Central Portugal Posts: 252	Ol?, Fantastic stuff, though it must have cost someone an absolute bundle! Can't quite beleive the roots were so shallow, do now, seen it. Takes me back to my underpinning days. Signing out, in awe, Nick. __________________ Meddle not in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and taste of chicken! Builder in Central Portugal

22nd April 2007, 04:38 PM	#39 (permalink)
JohN Dee Astronaut Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 679	That's great Boa, you've gotta love it when you and your team are like clockwork. Have you mentioned Tree World to Steve and your other colleauge? __________________ Climber with slow climbing speed, must make up with mighty chainsaw roar. Free Tree and Green Industry Link Directory Red : Green : Blue

22nd April 2007, 05:05 PM	#40 (permalink)
Ekka Eric Frei Administrator - Brisbane L5 (Dip) Hort Cert III Arb + some Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 5,659	Those guys want appearance money. Just kidding. __________________ Remember to use the "search" function, if you have answers/questions post them so everyone can benefit. Free Tree and Green Industry Link Directory Qualified Brisbane Tree Lopping Brisbane Tree Care, Consultations and Arborist Reports Forum Sponsors

22nd April 2007, 08:19 PM	#41 (permalink)
Sean Freeman PDF King & Arborist Extrodinaire Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Townsville Nth Queensland & Gold Coast Sth Queensland Posts: 1,521	Steve, who owns the business does read this forum, I've said to him numerous times he should register and then he can write when he feels like it. But I don't know when he will, he doesn't like typing or writing much...but you're still a nice guy mate!! Tim does have internet connection but its used a lot by his kids. I think eventually they will both register and add stuff, I know they would both enjoy and benefit from it, I have. __________________ Sean Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness. - Kahlil Gibran

25th April 2007, 01:16 PM	#42 (permalink)
Mike Poor