Mostly take each day as it comes. Scheduling is the boss’s problem.
Occasional interactions with tenants/customers/groundskeepers (“We’re here to do X, the property manager should have informed you”), and suppliers (chainsaw shop, fuel) but for the most part it was “here’s a pile of job sheets; one for each job; reasonably detailed explanation on each”. Some customers do want to walk you through what they want, and some neighbours are insane, but generally the interaction is quite purposeful rather than endless smalltalk. I’m more on the ADHD side of things than Au, though.
I found it was generally a good mix of novel and routine, and you could both be a perfectionist (it usually has to look good) and say “it’s nature; it’ll never be perfect”.
It’s hard work but if you’ve got a chainsaw, everything looks like it can be cut smaller if necessary. We have a very mild climate (other than wind, which there’s a lot of). Being paid to build muscle is nice and you definitely feel the difference after a few weeks/months. You’re outside in the sun/overcast/mild rain amongst greenery (even if you’re chopping it up), which is supposed to be good for mental health.
Random unexpected paid days off due to poor weather but not tree-uprooting weather is nice.
That said, there’s downsides:
You are going to be working in a team of minimum two, probably 3 ish. If you don’t agree on processes, safety etc., things don’t last.
Bigger contractors with multiple trucks will have more, but we only had one and that meant sick leave and annual leave was a bit of a mess because you really can’t do much alone, but you can’t usually fit more than 3 in a truck.
Health and safety at small companies is a mess. I never got more than a few small cuts but especially as you get older, screwing up ankles and shoulders starts becoming an issue. Tree work is bad for high-impact low-probability risks and small businesses are terrible at managing those.
Thank you so much for a super detailed reply! I imagine a huge part of how the work feels is down to your partner(s) and how well you get along. As someone who struggles greatly in social gatherings where I have to interface with more than 1 person at a time I can see the appeal of working in a 2 man team.
What kind of tree work?
Mostly residential and light commercial (e.g. schools) climbing, limbing, felling, trimming, some hedge work etc.
That does sound fairly satisfying. Probably not too much stress or social interactions?
Mostly take each day as it comes. Scheduling is the boss’s problem.
Occasional interactions with tenants/customers/groundskeepers (“We’re here to do X, the property manager should have informed you”), and suppliers (chainsaw shop, fuel) but for the most part it was “here’s a pile of job sheets; one for each job; reasonably detailed explanation on each”. Some customers do want to walk you through what they want, and some neighbours are insane, but generally the interaction is quite purposeful rather than endless smalltalk. I’m more on the ADHD side of things than Au, though.
I found it was generally a good mix of novel and routine, and you could both be a perfectionist (it usually has to look good) and say “it’s nature; it’ll never be perfect”.
It’s hard work but if you’ve got a chainsaw, everything looks like it can be cut smaller if necessary. We have a very mild climate (other than wind, which there’s a lot of). Being paid to build muscle is nice and you definitely feel the difference after a few weeks/months. You’re outside in the sun/overcast/mild rain amongst greenery (even if you’re chopping it up), which is supposed to be good for mental health.
Random unexpected paid days off due to poor weather but not tree-uprooting weather is nice.
That said, there’s downsides:
You are going to be working in a team of minimum two, probably 3 ish. If you don’t agree on processes, safety etc., things don’t last.
Bigger contractors with multiple trucks will have more, but we only had one and that meant sick leave and annual leave was a bit of a mess because you really can’t do much alone, but you can’t usually fit more than 3 in a truck.
Health and safety at small companies is a mess. I never got more than a few small cuts but especially as you get older, screwing up ankles and shoulders starts becoming an issue. Tree work is bad for high-impact low-probability risks and small businesses are terrible at managing those.
Thank you so much for a super detailed reply! I imagine a huge part of how the work feels is down to your partner(s) and how well you get along. As someone who struggles greatly in social gatherings where I have to interface with more than 1 person at a time I can see the appeal of working in a 2 man team.