Why I stopped using my climbing spikes on removals near houses

Used to run spikes up every removal without thinking, but after a job last spring where I gouged a customer's siding and it cost me $400 to fix, I switched to using a bucket truck or hand climbing with friction savers for anything within 20 feet of a structure. Has anyone else had a close call that made you change your approach on removals?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarag174d ago

Hang on a second, I gotta push back a little. Climbing spikes on a removal near houses is a whole different beast than trying to fix your own water heater. That's not the same kind of mistake at all. With the water heater, you just save or waste a few hundred bucks if it goes wrong. With spikes near a house, you're risking thousands in damage to siding, gutters, or even breaking a window. It's way more about the potential for a huge, ugly mess than just a simple repair bill. A lot of guys don't realize the actual risk they're taking until they've already messed up a customer's property. Don't you think we should be comparing this to something more serious like dropping a branch on a roof or hitting a gas line?

brooke_murray5d ago

Funny how one expensive mistake rewires your whole approach to everything.

the_rowan4d ago

$3,400. That's what it cost me to learn that I shouldn't try to fix my own water heater on a Sunday afternoon. @brooke_murray you're totally right though, that kind of mistake makes you second-guess every cheap fix after that. I still flinch when I walk into a hardware store.

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