If I were a contractor, specialized in building decks, and bid on a deck project that was simple and ordinary, then bidding would be easy.
But when I’m looking over a potential ivy (or other invasive species) removal job, I can’t see through the ground to look at the roots. Some areas might have great soil, while other areas are full of rocks. I might run into a yellowjacket nest that slows me down. Roots may go unusually deep… You get the idea. There are a lot of variables.
Also, if I were to bid on a job, to protect myself, I would have to pad the bid to cover unexpected delays and expenses. But that’s also risky because the bid might be too high for the customer, and I might end up losing the job.
I’d much rather give an accurate number that the customer can use to make an informed decision. When I give an estimate, I think of a range of likely costs and pick a number a little on the high end, so that the final cost is more likely to be lower, that higher. I charge by the hour (billed to the nearest minute) and try very hard to match or beat my estimate. In fact, on one recent job, the final cost came in 25% lower than my estimate, but I’m usually more accurate than that.
Working by the hour just keeps things simple and flexible.
Yes! Because this method of Ivy removal is completely chemical-free and long-term, it’s ideal when you want to create a natural backyard habitat. Many of my customers use my services for exactly that.
I don’t bid on jobs; I work strictly by the hour. I know that getting ivy removed permanently isn’t cheap, and I try to get the best value for my customers, so I work hard, spend time inventing new productivity tools, and develop new techniques to be the most efficient with my time. It’s basically about finding the right balance between quality and speed. If I sweep through an area and leave a lot of roots, that’s not good. And if I spend too much time sifting through the dirt, that’s not good either.
I’m guessing that I normally get about 98% of the roots. I consider that number acceptable, because to get much more than that may take an extra 10% of time to get only 1% or 2% more, which means that I’m covering less ground per hour and costing the customer more. Sometimes, like when the ground is sticky mud, I may get a lower percentage, but as long as I can get the rest in a follow up visit, it’s worthwhile to continue. Besides, not all of the remaining roots will sprout, and any that do sprout in a few months will be obvious and can then be removed for good.
I tell my customers to call me back in a couple of months for a follow up visit if they see sprouts, but they rarely need to. By the way, for follow-up visits, I don’t have a minimum fee and just charge my normal hourly rate down to the minute of time I worked. It’s a good deal.
When I have been called back, or I’ve returned to tackle a new section, I will take care of any roots that I’ve missed, and also dig up any new sprouts from seeds that birds have dropped. Just be aware that I’m happy to come back to get missed roots, but it’s not cost effective for me to keep coming back to pull up new stuff. If there’s an on-going problem with new seedlings, look for nearby trees that have mature ivy on them and gap them (or hire me to gap them) so the ivy dies. If they aren’t on your property, be sure to ask permission, but it’s in everyone’s interest to get rid of seed-producing mature ivy. It’s also a good habit for someone to occasionally patrol the area armed with a garden hoe to take care of sprouts. It’s easy to find people that will do weeding and maintain a yard after the ivy has been removed, but hardly anyone is willing or able to clear the ivy in the first place.
Phil started X-Tirp to develop specialized tools to help remove invasive species. He initially targeted English ivy, because it’s such a problem in the Pacific Northwest and is hard to get rid of. Since pulling ivy is such hard work, the idea of the first tool was to make pulling easier. With this tool, there’s a hook at the end of an extendable pole, which you use to grab a bunch of vines. And as you pull, the tool grabs harder. The unique twist is that you don’t pull with your arms, you pull using your body weight. A tether connects between the hook end and D-ring attached to a padded belt that the user wears. It takes some practice, but as you keep your body upright, you shift your hip backwards, so that your moving bodyweight jerks against the roots and rips them out. It’s much more effective than using your back, shoulders, and hands. A lot of time and money went into the design, prototyping, and testing of this tool, and we eventually got a patent – US11,596,140B2.
So, while the Ivy Ripper worked great for what it was designed for – hooking, grabbing, and pulling, it didn’t sell. There were too many parts that had to be bought, machined, laser-cut, 3-d printed, cast, formed, and assembled. It was simply too expensive in the small batch sizes that we could afford to build.
One day, as we were showing the Ivy Ripper to a potential customer, she said, “I don’t really want to buy the tool, I just want my ivy gone”. So, in order to pay the mortgage, it was decided that if we couldn’t sell the tool, we could at least make some money by using it to clear ivy.
The next year really put the Ivy Ripper through the paces, lots of improvements and modifications were made as hooks bent or broke, belt buckles snapped, parts clogged with mud, etc.
And through all this “testing” of the tool, techniques were also being improved. The Ivy Ripper pulled the vines, but the roots still had to be grubbed out by hand. It was found that by using a cordless reciprocating saw with a 12” pruning saw blade, to slice and dice the ground into 2-foot squares, cutting the roots is done in advance of grubbing, so less time is spent whipping out the pruning saw to cut the roots heading off in all directions.
The roots had to be grubbed out, and while a hay hook was used initially for this, with a mattock originally used to just loosen up hard soil, it eventually replaced the hay hook all together because it could get deeper, the weight could power through dirt clods, and it could pry roots up. It was also found to work better when the pick could get under roots and lift them, while also pulling with the free hand.