Timberwolf

[nickblack]

Hello,

I wanted to post about this company because I wanted to warn people about what they are getting into before they pay for a work visa go to the other side of planet. I could probably write a rant 6 pages long about how much this company sucks, but I will try and keep it concise.

This is the worst company I have worked for in 7 years of planting. It is horrendously inconsistent. When they tell you vaguely sometimes it can be "slow" they actually mean you could be working 0 to 1 days a week for an entire month straight. But then they want you standing by and available immediately if work comes up. They will ask you to come back and work if you leave to go on a trip, then you come back and work a day or two, then all their jobs have been cancelled. THEY ARE CONSTANTLY LOSING JOBS. They will be like "next week is so busy, don't go anywhere" -then literally an hour later- "everything has been delayed, we have nothing for you, sorry." There was one week they said they had work every day. Then every night they said the job the next day was cancelled. Sometimes they will fly you to different cities where it is more busy. Half the time you get there and they don't need you anymore. There was an employee who drove her own vehicle 10 hours from Melbourne to Sydney to work only to be told when she got there that there was a "miscommunication" and they didn't need her. There were three employees who were flown from Sydney to Melbourne and stayed there for about 5 days. They worked one day and made 80$ each before going back to Sydney. There were 3 Canadians who were told they could easily earn 300$ plus a day and would be working 5 days a week. They were working 2 days a week maybe making 200$ a day, not because they were slow, but because there wasn't enough trees to earn more than that. They also make you use your own car or carpool with someone who has one and you have to pay for your own gas and possible toll fees. On top of that if you are the driver you have to harrass people (that you probably don't know) for gas money and have to deal with a bunch of filthy planters and all their equipment in your car, which you are probably going to want to sell when you leave the country. Tree prices are higher than in Canada but you have to spend 1 - 3 hours unpaid setting up the trees a certain way often in patterns or a certain distance apart according to the landscape architect's site plan before you plant them. The trees are in pots which you have to collect and dispose of at the end of the day. There can also be literally 30 different species on one site all of which have to be in specific areas. Sometimes the plants haven't even arrived at the worksite when you get there. This all adds up to a shitload of time spent doing bullshit that prevents you from planting. They also will make excuses as to why they won't raise the tree price if you are in a site with shitty land. "We can't afford to raise the price every single time the land is bad. Because then we will have no money left when its REALLY bad." When you are actually working you can make decent but not amazing money. A lot of the time they will try and spread out what little work they have, so they will send 3 planters to a site that has 500$ worth of plants. You don't have to be a mathematician to understand that is going to be a mediocre day for an experienced planter. The company seems to have gone down hill a lot in the last year. They are hiring a lot of rookies as it basically has degenerated into a shitshow that takes advantage of backpackers. Experienced planters can still make money and people do. To be fair, I was working in Melbourne which is where their newest branch is, however I have talked to many people in Brisbane and Sydney (where they have a more established clientele), who agree with everything I have described. I left shortly before the Canadian season started, along with like 90% of the other Canadian planters, because everyone got fed up with constantly being stressed and finding out last minute they had no work and would rather fly home and work for planting companies that actually have work. This is a struggling landscaping company pretending to be a planting company. There are a lot of good and fun people working for the company.

[Mike]

Scooter, I believe Tom Stoops has a hand in this project.

One day I'll go to Australia and do a Scotland style review. 3-4 years from now. Also vote to merge with australia master thread, if there is one.

[bushwacker]

totally agree. really more of a commercial landscaping company than treeplanting. planting plants in garden beds. they make you clean up the worksite after planting is done for the day but they are too cheap to buy their own equipment so they tell you to steal brooms from other contracters. they also ask you to steal wheelbarrows to move the plants around.

they don't even have their own trucks, they make the planters use their own vehicles for work. they have planter houses but it is filthy and overcrowded. 4 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor in every room. one of the planters was stealing things. phones, cash, food. would not recommend. for how big the plants are they pay very poorly. very inefficient and inconsistent. wages are high in australia (23 an hour for general labour).

better off getting a different job.

[Blurb]

Super late to the game but I'd say this is super off base to anyone looking to work for this company. My experience with them was fantastic, they never told us to steal anything and already had any equipment we needed, the work was less consistent during holidays but they never lied about that they were always straight up about how much work was coming down the pipe. Extremely friendly people and bosses, you meet people from all over the planet who work hard and do their part. houses were never as crowded as these others have stated and i worked around the same time, if you didn't like the planting house you were more than welcome to go to one in a different city, they had 3-5 options to choose from. They didn't have maids or anything, if these people were living in dirty conditions they must just not be cleaning, the state of the planting house was MAYBE 2 to a room (if that) 90% of the time. It pays well if you work hard and is ideal if you want to take time off to explore this beautiful country. Everyone has their own opinion but lots of these statements made are outright lies.