There will always be a market for professionalism, admittedly its only a small market. Dealing with the average HO who wants the cheapest deal to get his tree topped is a dead end and will lead to frustration and bankruptcy.
I would love to start a little tree service and be semi-retired, but the whole tree buisness thing out here is in flex, and the money isn't there. But I do alright working for a few company's that are above the crude. They deal with clients that know what good tree care is and the long term benefits of having a professional work and maintain there trees. It's a small market, but it's there.
Many Company's have had to restructure and change the way they do business to survive. Smaller crews less equipment, shorter work weeks, contract labor.
Competing against a labor force who has no overhead, cheap labor, and not burdened by conscious or ethics will in the end either break you or bring you down to their level. I know many have no choice, and texas sounds worse then Cali.
Is there a silver lining? No I doubt it. The construction trades have been taking over, as has trucking, and it's only a matter of time here in the SW we'll be put out of work.
I don't care about the color of a persons skin, some of the best trimmers I've known have been Mexican. But I do have issue with illegals, and the people who hire them. You know who you are and it's come back to bite you in your ass.