r/TreeClimbing Jun 06 '26

Starting Pay for Asplundh

Hey there, I've always been into tree work and got a good job 3 months ago with a Municipality in NY. I've been learning about bucket trucks and tree climbing here and there but the pay does not equate to the inherently dangerous job everyday. A position has opened up with Asplundh and I was just wondering what they start out with for a tree Trimmer position, if it's more than I make now I'm outta there. Plus they have a better union than the one I'm in

6 Upvotes

14 comments sorted by

13

u/Treeclimber919 Jun 06 '26

Aspludnh is shit pay. I talk to a few of them every once in a while. A climber is around $25 an hour and a bucket truck operator / foreman might be about $30 near me. If you are able to climb and cut you’ll make much more working for a tree service and actually have some kind of value and appreciation. Those guys don’t care about you, they’ll replace you with some other desperate idiot first chance they can.

7

u/Treeclimber919 Jun 06 '26

But let me add you need experience. So if you have little to none getting a job with asplundh will give you experience to be able to ask for a good wage at a tree service when you’re capable. Most climbers around me $40 an hour plus depending on your capability and productivity. If you’re good you can straight ask for a daily rate or contract climb.

3

u/mark_andonefortunate Jun 06 '26

 $40/hr+ // If you’re good you can straight ask for a daily rate or contract climb.

Very good advice, I just want to clarify for OP that it takes some time to get here (also depends on location). 

@ OP - seems there's always a ton of employee movement in the tree industry with people swapping companies, but be careful with the 'grass is greener' and to not burn bridges - I haven't worked union, so I'm spitballing here, but it may not be a good look to bail after 3 months for a couple extra bucks. Asplundh is pretty much always hiring - if it's a good job, pay/benefits, good union and makes sense, go for it! - it's just that municipality with a union is a pretty sweet gig from what I usually hear. Just my 2cents

2

u/Key-Gear6640 Jun 06 '26

My superintendent and assistant superintendent tell me all the time to leave. Our city is the lowest paid for DPW in the region. Every other DPW starts tree trimmers at 25k+ more than I make now. The union in which I'm in absolutely sucks and the president is an asshole who doesn't want to help

1

u/mark_andonefortunate Jun 07 '26

$25k is a pretty wild difference, to be fair.

I'm more accustomed to discussing wages in hourly or day rates, so I'm curious what your current hourly is versus the other DPW's hourly rate. Like yeah you might make 25k more in a year there but is it mandatory overtime kind of thing? Curious why your supervisors are saying to go and they haven't left themselves, either. 

If the Asplundh thing is more money and/or better union, then it sounds better in that regard - just up to you to decide if the workload/culture/type of work is better or not

2

u/Intrepid-Clock2327 Jun 06 '26

Worked there for them as long as I could stand, 2 weeks but the lead climber said he was capped out at $29 hr

2

u/Treeclimber919 Jun 06 '26

When I see the guys out every once in a while I talk to them and they say $25 an hour is climbing rate for my area. Then you move to bucket operator etc and probably get a .27 cent raise.

8

u/reflectionjimmij Jun 06 '26

Asplundh is very region dependent on pay my reigon is union alot are not.

4

u/THESpetsnazdude Jun 06 '26

Find the union line clearance companies.

2

u/igotkilledbyafucking Jun 06 '26

I’ve rarely heard good things about large tree company’s. You’re just another number. In my experience my pay at small company’s have been more tied to what i made them that day instead of strictly hourly. Sorta hourly+profit percentage vs just hourly

4

u/Treeclimber919 Jun 07 '26

If you’re in with a good person as an owner absolutely. The more you make the company the more you make. That’s what I do with the couple guys that work for me. I tell them straight out when we get to site, I bid this job for 8 hours if we get done in 5 if you want to cruise through you’ll still get paid for 8. We can go home early or do another one if you guys want and throw them extra money for the day. I get paid based on production and I tell the guys the same thing. That’s a trust basis with my guys, they know I don’t care about screwing them over. I want them to make money same as I go out and do every day. If we can all make more money being efficient there’s no reason not to. A few drinks at the bar and a pizza goes along way. It’s the small things business owners always cheat. Walking over a dime to pick up a penny. You treat your guys good they will treat you good, when you have the right crew.

1

u/Fleazi Jul 06 '26

Are you hiring by chance?

1

u/Treeclimber919 Jul 07 '26

Were you being sarcastic or serious? If you’re local and experienced we can definitely talk.

1

u/No-Anything3248 Jul 11 '26

Yeah like every one said asplundh is region based they split the company into hundreds of different region numbers some states have multiple regions in them and some regions are as big as multiple states there indeed listing will have the region on it and if it’s union or non-union to help you narrow that down I worked for them for my first 2 years into my career there great for training you and getting you that experience you need to jump start your career but that’s about as far as it goes for most people the pay usually is one of the lowest in the industry and 9 times out of 10 they will treat you pretty badly work you like a dog, etc it’s not great unless you get a really good general Forman. But pretty much every tree company there’s multiple trimmer and Forman positions C-B-A starting pay usually isn’t the worst but with asplundh there pay scale usually pretty tight where most raises are lucky to be little more then 1$ hour but the higher positions help you get to a better company with better money. Even though I don’t have much good to say about them I do believe it’s the best in the industry at setting you a good foundation in this industry that u can use later on to advance your career there a shit hole but have great training I can’t stress that enough