Silly rich people

**Beirut** · 06-08-2007, 11:45

So, we get a five-day contract to clean up the storm damage at a customer's property. Lots of trees all over the place.

This is just one small corner of her property. There are at least a dozen spots like this.

And I still think they're lucky this didn't set off the propane tank.

The "silly rich people" part of all this is that the customers are tearing down their house and putting up a new one fifty feet away. Why? "Because the hallways are too thin. You have to hold the laundry basket sideways to get through to the kid's bedrooms." That's what she said to me.

So...

The crazy part is they left all kinds of stuff in the house. She, the customer, told me the house is getting torn down Thursday so take whatever you want. OK! Me and a few buddies looted the place like madmen. In the pic above you can see the windows that got cut out. Nice double pane crank case windows. We got about a dozen out. We also tore out all the kitchen cabinets (which still had stuff in them), wood paneling, bathroom fixtures, lighting, and a few truckloads of other stuff. They even left brand new stuff in there like a $200 Italian coffee maker which now sits comfortably in my kitchen. The bathroom upstairs had a jacuzzi bathtub and a really nice walk in shower with a glass doors, a 5x6 mirror, and a wall heated towel rack that bolts to the wall. We took the towel heater and the cabinets, but the rest had to stay. No time to take it out.

I also, with some effort, managed to abscond with a 400LB piece of granite which is going in my backyard. (I used small pipes to roll it out onto the balcony and right over the edge onto the grass. It landed and sunk a foot into the grass and stood straight up. Thank you God. Much easier to tip it into the truck.

Right now I'm in my computer room which is stuffed full of kitchen cabinets and chairs we took, and the downstairs is full of drawers and small tables and kids toys they left as well. My buddy loaded two full trucks (Ford F350 dumper) of stuff out of there just for him. It was like Christmas. The customer didn't mind a bit but it take a helluva lotta work to get all that stuff out.

Rich people... I tell ya. I'll get a few shots of the house today. Should be flat by lunch. Can't wait until the day is over, it's been a huge week, Work all day, loot all night, Not a lot o sleep. (But lots of free stuff!)

**Warmaster Horus** · 06-08-2007, 11:54

That must of been fun!

**Csargo** · 06-08-2007, 12:10

I don't see what makes them silly.

**Hepcat** · 06-08-2007, 12:28

So is half the stuff bound for Ebay? Having a garage sale? Or are you going to keep everything?

It might be a good idea to befriend the owners if they are that loose with money.

Actually a similar thing happened at my friend's grandmothers house, people cleared the place out, took everything, even the back door. Except it wasn't with her permission.

Oh and Ichigo:
That's because you are a rich American

**Csargo** · 06-08-2007, 13:05

Originally Posted by Hepcat

So is half the stuff bound for Ebay? Having a garage sale? Or are you going to keep everything?

It might be a good idea to befriend the owners if they are that loose with money.

Actually a similar thing happened at my friend's grandmothers house, people cleared the place out, took everything, even the back door. Except it wasn't with her permission.

Oh and Ichigo:
That's because you are a rich American

Hilarious. They didn't need any of the stuff, so they didn't waste their time taking it out.

**HoreTore** · 06-08-2007, 14:03

A friend of mine works as a carpenter, and he was fixing some guys cabin, when he noticed that the guy was dragging a 50" flat screen tv to the terrace. He asked him why he was doing it, and he responded that he bought the tv a couple of months ago, but he had just bought a new and better one, so he was going to through it off the terrace onto the hanger to his car he had stationed under the terrace, before driving it to the dump...

My friend kindly asked if he could do it instead, and is now the proud owner of a big freakin' TV, with a price tag of 40.000 NOK, or about 6.500 dollars...

Some people simply has too much cash on their hands.

**doc_bean** · 06-08-2007, 12:09

Originally Posted by Beirut

e a $200 Italian coffee maker

Nice !

Though $200 seems a bit on the cheap side for a decent espresso machine...

**Beirut** · 06-08-2007, 22:19

Originally Posted by doc_bean

Nice !

Though $200 seems a bit on the cheap side for a decent espresso machine...

It wasn't one of the electric ones, though I wish it was. It was a stove top model like this. We paid $120 for ours and it makes 2 cups at a time. The one I found, which looks brand new, makes four cups.

The Stranger,

No work - no candy.

I wasn't kidding about the house going up fifty feet away. Where the shovel is, is where the house was. Where the dirt is, is where it's going.

Boy am I glad the week is over. Time to eat, drink, and sleep.

Looting takes a lot out of a man. And stupid me cracked my big piece of granite in two this morning while getting it out of the truck. Gah!

**lars573** · 06-08-2007, 22:37

Originally Posted by Beirut

And stupid me cracked my big piece of granite in two this morning while getting it out of the truck. Gah!

and lots of it.

Also my brother (who worked as a surveyor for 2 years) was wondering why it would take a week to clear out a dozen or so storm felled trees?

**Beirut** · 06-08-2007, 23:41

Originally Posted by lars573

[IMG]Also my brother (who worked as a surveyor for 2 years) was wondering why it would take a week to clear out a dozen or so storm felled trees?

I wish it was as easy as it sounds. It's not a dozen trees, it's a dozen sections of trees. Cutting a tree down is usually very quick. Cleaning it up... ahhh, therein lies the rub. You have to cut it down, then take the branches off, then make piles with the branches and drag the branches to the chipper and chip them either into the truck or into the woods, then cut the trunk in sections that can be carried, then you have to carry the wood to the truck, then you have to pass the rake and pick up the shnut (our word for rakings). Then you have to drive five miles back the yard once the truck is full, dump, then drive five miles back to the job, set up the truck and chipper in the next work area and do it all over again.

The trees that are in the woods on the property within sight of the house have to be dragged out of the bush. Cutting a forty-foot balsam is nothing. Cutting down a dead dry prickly forty-foot balsam that is half down, stuck in other trees is a mess. Then you have to clean up the mess. It isn't fun. Even the stuff that can stay in the bush has to be cut down, unstuck, branched, the trunk cut up, and everything moved into neat piles that you can't see.

Also, half the trees have to be climbed and some of the sections taken down with ropes. The big spruce in the first pic took the climber a half an hour just to get unstuck out of the maples it was in. There was serious tension with all the weight, the maples were bent over about 30 degrees. You have to get into the mess up there and cut it out without the whole thing snapping shut on you and taking your arm off. Also, you have to save the maples because Mr. & Mrs. Customer love their trees and get really mad if you wreck any. (Or the flowers which are inevitably under or near the tree in question. You want to piss off Mrs. Rich Customer - drop a big piece of wood right into her hostas. Goes over real well.)

This is the clean version of the mess by the shed. Compare it to the pic in my first post. It took some time, believe me.

You also have to maintain your tools. Hit a nail in the tree or a rock under a log and you get fifteen minutes of down time at the truck sharpening your chain, drinking coffee. Mmmm....

**SwordsMaster** · 06-08-2007, 23:49

I think I like your job, Beirut. You need a hand for next season?

I can imagine it gets trickier in winter though. Hence your ultra-caloric baking experiments. It all makes sense.

**lars573** · 06-09-2007, 04:13

Originally Posted by Beirut

I wish it was as easy as it sounds. It's not a dozen trees, it's a dozen sections of trees. Cutting a tree down is usually very quick. Cleaning it up... ahhh, therein lies the rub. You have to cut it down, then take the branches off, then make piles with the branches and drag the branches to the chipper and chip them either into the truck or into the woods, then cut the trunk in sections that can be carried, then you have to carry the wood to the truck, then you have to pass the rake and pick up the shnut (our word for rakings). Then you have to drive five miles back the yard once the truck is full, dump, then drive five miles back to the job, set up the truck and chipper in the next work area and do it all over again.

See this is what I though. My brother had the advantage that he only had to remove enough trees and undergrowth to get LOS for the survey gear. Plus they could just leave their junk there for the guy like you to deal with.

Originally Posted by Beirut

The trees that are in the woods on the property within sight of the house have to be dragged out of the bush. Cutting a forty-foot balsam is nothing. Cutting down a dead dry prickly forty-foot balsam that is half down, stuck in other trees is a mess. Then you have to clean up the mess. It isn't fun. Even the stuff that can stay in the bush has to be cut down, unstuck, branched, the trunk cut up, and everything moved into neat piles that you can't see.

Most trees in new developments around HRM are new growth. Not many more than 6 metres tall.

Originally Posted by Beirut

You also have to maintain your tools. Hit a nail in the tree or a rock under a log and you get fifteen minutes of down time at the truck sharpening your chain, drinking coffee. Mmmm....

That reminds of one of my little bro's adventure in tree killing. When the chainsaw kicked and cut-up his hand. Not serious, chainsaw glove took most of it. But my mom (being my mom) acted like his hand had been mutilated beyond repair. She tends to overact.