That elm removal in Detroit took me 3 days longer than I told the homeowner

I bid a big American elm on a residential street in Detroit last fall, figured it would be a solid 2 day job with a bucket truck. Turned out the trunk had a massive hollow cavity hidden by the bark, so my rigging plan went out the window. I spent an extra day and a half just figuring out how to piece it down without the whole thing splitting on me. Has anyone else had a tree hide a nasty surprise like that, or am I just unlucky lol?

2 comments

2 Comments

robertgreen1mo agoOG Member

Bark hides a lot of ugly secrets in this business.

lisa51mo ago

Don't you think that's true across most businesses though? The whole "bark" analogy is perfect because people see the nice smooth exterior and never look underneath. They don't want to see the mold and the rot, they just want the pretty tree. I've seen it firsthand with contractors cutting corners and clients just accepting it because the finished product looked fine at first glance. It usually takes a few years for those ugly secrets to really show themselves.