Thinking of starting

[Bob029]

So I am new to this site and am looking for some input. I am from central Massachusetts and l am looking to start a land clearing/ tree service company. I have experience in both fields and the idea popped into my mind. I know it's a very large range but I am wondering how to go about starting out. What type of insurance I would need(plan on starting out with myself and one other person). How I should advertise, what type of permits would need to be pulled...

I do plan on doing this on the side to see how this all works out.

Any type of input would be great!

 

[Sal C]

Theres no houses going up so theres not really any work for land clearing.

1 million dollars in liability insurance (around 1000-1400 yearly)



Thats all I can think of at the moment.

Good luck.

 

[stltreedr]

starting out

Depending on who your clients are, you may not need to carry $1M in liability coverage. talk to a broker, you may get a $250K coverage policy for $600/ year. If you plan to work for commercial or municipal Clients, you will have to get more, but for the average homeowner you probably don't need it. You will also have to get Worker's Comp. insurance. Check into this through your broker, and you might also look into hiring a payroll service that can include this in their fees. Worker's Comp price depends on what you pay out in payroll...As the owner of the company you won't have to cover yourself, but if you don't have health or disability insurance, you might want to, just in case you get injured and can't work for awhile. WC insurance in my area is about 20% of payroll for tree work. You can mess with the numbers and get this lower.

I got very burnt out doing side work with inferior equipment, you work harder, and get frustrated because you have limited time to get jobs done. So I'm a guy who believes in taking loans for the right equipment for the job.

Good luck.

 

[D&B Mack]

For your bank roll, depends on the customers you plan on working for and size of projects you are planning on doing.

But a sort of rule-of-thumb,

You want enough operating expenses (payroll, fuel, maintenance, etc.) to go 3x as long as your income return is going to be.

So, for many commercial/municipal customers, payment is typically monthly. Therefore, you would want 3 months worth of operating expenses saved up.

If you are working for residential customers, require immediate payment, and you are doing 1-2 day jobs, in theory it would be 3-6 days worth. But in reality, this doesn't work unless you have a full workload to begin with. You will need to fund "down" days.

Plus, your initial costs as previously mentioned such as insurance and licenses.

I personally, would not start a full time business with any less than a month of operating expenses regardless of size. There are always going to be items overlooked or unforeseen when going out on your own for the first time.

Good Luck