quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

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Originally posted by jhe888:

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Originally posted by a1abdj:
I’m all for saving money, but let’s say you hire a kid up the street to cut your tree down.

You’re now the employer. You have no liability insurance, you have no work comp. You are liable when said kid falls out of tree and permanently disabled himself.

Then what?

You are not his employer. He is an independent contractor. As long as you don't tell him how to do it, if the method he chooses fails, he is on his own, barring some dangerous, unexpected condition you didn't disclose.

Now, I'd never suggest hiring a young kid to do dangerous work like that, but you are not the employer of such people.

And what happens when said tree, goes crashing through the middle of your house?

That is not the problem a1abdj was worried about. That is a different consideration. He was worried about injury to the tree man, not the owner's property.

Re the video posted by HRK, above -- I don't think that there is anybody happier, than a redneck with a chainsaw. Seventh heaven!

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
Wow last tree I had taken down was either $2,200 or $2,800.

That's insane.

I have cut down a number of very large trees over the years. Some were in bad spots but I have a lot of experience making them go where I wish. When the time came to cut a huge Oak between my house and the shop, I decided to let the experts do it. I called around and the prices were running $1200 or more just to put it on the ground. I couldn't believe how expensive it has become. While driving home a few days later, I noticed a couple of small signs along the road advertising for tree service. I called and let him know what I was looking to have done. Turns out, he is one of the best around and only charged me $400.00. It pays to shop around.

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You are not his employer. He is an independent contractor.

The tree trimmer may not be classified as an employee by the IRS, but the fact that you hired them makes you the employer. If you hire an employee you're the employer. If you hire an independent contractor you're also the employer.

And as a true independent contractor, surely that kid is properly licensed and insured like all other legitimate independent contractors.

So back to the original question. Kid falls out of tree, has no insurance because you've decided to play word games instead of looking at it from a real life standpoint, and injures himself. What are the odds of you being sued? On a scale of 1-10.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

You are not his employer. He is an independent contractor.

The tree trimmer may not be classified as an employee by the IRS, but the fact that you hired them makes you the employer. If you hire an employee you're the employer. If you hire an independent contractor you're also the employer.

And as a true independent contractor, surely that kid is properly licensed and insured like all other legitimate independent contractors.

So back to the original question. Kid falls out of tree, has no insurance because you've decided to play word games instead of looking at it from a real life standpoint, and injures himself. What are the odds of you being sued? On a scale of 1-10.

Depends his air velocity and; is the kid laden or unladen?

The thread title reminded me of a segment in a Seth Myers stand up on Netflix. “Lobby baby”. It described an incident where his father tried to engage the services of a neighbor’s landscape company to remove a tree stump. Worth the laugh, IMO. Start at 34:26.

We had a tree guy give us a price for removing some trees and cutting some big dead branches back. Our once concern was a big dead birch that was going to fall in our neighbor's yard and crush his fence.

It took the guy 2 months to make it out. A week before he finally got to us the birch fell, destroyed the fence. I had to go cut it up and remove it from the neighbor's yard. Fence needs repair in spring. Apparently tree guys aren't hurting for work.

Years ago, I used to do that work on the side.

I had a friend whose neighbor wanted a tree down.
I went over and looked at it. It was in a great location, an easy task. I knew he was a doctor and he lived in a grand house, but thought it would not be moral to charge him more than I would charge anyone else. I gave him a price and never heard from him. My friend said his neighbor thought I was too low priced, so he went with a guy who was 3 times higher priced.