What a cut ticket usually records
- The ticket number, date and the crew or subcontractor that did the work
- The location, as the nearest address or GPS coordinates
- The service: hanger, leaner, hazardous tree or stump
- The measurement your contract prices by, such as diameter or count
- Photos of the hazard, and of the finished work when required
- The monitor’s sign-off
Which trees, limbs and stumps qualify, and where they are measured, is set by your contract and, on public-assistance work, by FEMA’s current Public Assistance Program and Policy Guide. Those rules change between versions, so check the current one and confirm with your monitor before the work starts.
Where cut tickets get disputed
- Measurement. 20 inches on your ticket and 18 on the prime’s can move a tree into a different rate bracket when the contract prices by diameter range.
- Service type. The same tree recorded as a leaner by one party and a hanger by another.
- Missing tickets. Work you did that isn’t on the prime’s list.
- Wrong rate. A rate from another project or an outdated rate sheet.
- Duplicates. A second copy of a ticket counted as more work.
What to keep for every ticket
- The ticket picture. A clear photo or scan of the signed ticket.
- The supporting photos. Kept with the ticket, not scattered across crew phones.
- The measurement and rate you billed. So the value can be recalculated by anyone.
- Your decision when records disagree. What you accepted or corrected, and why.
- The payment. What was approved, any adjustment, and the confirmation.
Reconciling cut tickets
Cut tickets reconcile the same way as haul tickets. List every record by ticket number, compare service, measurement and value, open the evidence for each difference and write down the decision. The load ticket reconciliation checklist walks through each step.
Paying the crews you hired
When you hire tree crews, pay from approved tickets and keep their invoice, the payment confirmation and a signed release with each payout. That gives you a clean record at closeout.
Doing this in
JK FieldOps keeps hanger, leaner and hazardous-tree tickets with their measurements, project rates and pictures, compares measurements across records, and tracks what you owe your crews. See cut ticket tracking.
This guide is general information, not legal or grant advice. Follow your contract and your monitoring firm’s procedures. JK FieldOps is not affiliated with FEMA or any government agency.