Man I Love This Work!- ARPlante's Pic Thread

[ARPlante]

Hey all!

As a followup to my post in the new members forum, I thought I would start posting some photos of the work I do.

This first set is from a ROW I cleared in northern MA.

Before and after:

 

[ARPlante]

Same ROW, different section.

Before and after:

 

[ARPlante]

Finally, some interesting terrain I had to "ski" down and some of the equipment I use.

 

[jayste]

ARPlante, nice looking work. You and that equipment turn that underbrush into a good looking spot. That's some nice equipment you've got there. My wife works in a plant here in Oklahoma that makes the hydraulic motors that move the Bobcat machinery. I just found out last month that Bobcat offers a remote unit to operate their skid steers. Designed to operate a piece of Bobcat machinery from outside. Have you ever had terrain bad enough where that would be handy? Looks like interesting work. I'm sure a lot of folks on this site will enjoy seeing what you do for a living!

Jay

 

[jinman]

This first set is from a ROW I cleared in northern MA.

Before and after:

Your work is impressive and mother nature will see to it that you have lots of repeat customers.

I looked at one picture and saw a cinderblock nearby. I also see guy wires and other obstructions that look hidden in the brush. How bad a problem is junk/trash/hidden obstacles? I'm sure that equipment is expensive and so is the equipment to haul your machines to your worksite. You take a lot of risk with your job every day. Insurance is probably pretty expensive too.

BTW: Do you clear in winter also? I bet ice and snow would make those hillsides interesting if not impossible.

 

[ARPlante]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Jayste- so far I have not had a situation bad enough where I need a remote control to run the machine. If I ever come across one of those situations, my machine won't even be there! Anyway, that hill in the last couple of pics has been the steepest I have operated on. Surprisingly those seatbelts work! lol. I just plugged it in and it sucked me to the seat. It's nice to be in the machine to feel how it is reacting to the terrain- something I don't think you could experience as well if you were operating by remote control.

Jinman- Yes, hidden debris is a major problem and expense in my line of work. And yes, insurance is a large expense as well. Even though I am a relatively small operation, I am required to carry the same insurance as a company with several hundred employees.

In terms of the winter, that is the great thing about this line of work as I clear every single month of the year. And yes, hills and ice in winter make for some interesting situations. Here's a couple examples:

 

[JohnDeere4300]

WELCOME TO TBN!

Nice pictures & equipment.

That looks like a great job....Glad you like it

 

[aggiehortguy91]

Very interesting! Those grinders are amazing. Down here, the state bought 5 grinders mounted onto center-articulating loaders for clearing right-of-ways several years ago. There was such a need, there was a huge wait for projects to get them. Now, there are several contractors that do that type of work with everything from skidsteers to loaders to excavators with grinders. They sure beat the old way of cleaning up with a dozer.

I know that regrowth isn't your problem, but I would think that the sumacs would just sprout right back up. Have you ever considered offering herbicide treatment of the cut stumps as a contract add-on? There are several ways to safely apply Round-up or other herbicides to the cut stumps to prevent regrowth that may be cost effective, especially if you can make a couple of extra dollars on a job.

 

[ARPlante]

Thanks guys.

Aggiehortguy01- Great idea on the herbicides! Unfortunately, I subcontract to a national tree company for this work and they are responsible for all the spraying of herbicides. Actually, a couple projects I have done already were in preparation of spraying all hardwoods in the following months. I was just providing access. The addition of services like that will be added in the future, but I just don't want to burn some very lucrative bridges that I have now. Additionally, I work in a lot of watershed areas, and the restrictions on spraying are tremendous. So much so, that the only work done is the mowing, even if it has to be mowed yearly due to regrowth. I just call it job security.

 

[LarryRB]

Arplante, where are you located that you use Leveque, I assume, out of Monson? My old neighbor in Holland uses Leveque all the time.,