HELP! Now what?!?!

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

Howdy Everyone,

I'll try to make this short, however, I want you to understand where I'm coming from. I am currently a high school biology teacher. I can't stand it. My passion for teaching and coaching has been decreasing for the last few years. There are many reasons why, I don't want to bore you with that. I've been running saws and splitting, stacking, and burning firewood my whole life. My passion has always been felling trees, the firewood process, and I've recently done some milling with my saws. I've worked some days in the summer with a tree service guy to learn and see the overall operation.

I purchased climbing equipment and have done a bunch of solo work. I have 2 rear handle saws (032 & 291) and a climbing saw (201t). I sold my car and did some tree work for pickup truck. The truck is getting tuned up now. My plan is to start my own tree service business soon! And when it's time, I'll leave education. So, my current equipment is: A pickup truck, climbing equipment, 3 saws, a pole saw, rakes, blower, and hand trucks.

What should be my next purchase? Thank you!

 

[NeSurfcaster]

insurance

 

[arathol]

Arborist license. Many places won't let you work on your own without one.
Get some real training so you have at least some documentation to show that you are qualified to do the work.
LLC to save your butt from getting sued personally.....

 

[sean donato]

I would say a chipper, as taking down the tree is about half the battle.... the clean up work is where most either stand out, or dont get called back. That's kinda hard to do without a chipper and stump grinder... chipper would take priority in my mind.

 

[arathol]

So, my current equipment is: A pickup truck, climbing equipment, 3 saws, a pole saw, rakes, blower, and hand trucks.

What should be my next purchase? Thank you!

Got any PPE or safety gear? You should be using it.

 

[old CB]

All of the above. And you'll need to recruit good help. A solo guy--it's how I started--is hardly efficient on his own. You'll need at least one good person on the ground.

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

insurance

Well said. My research tells me 1 million - 2 million in general liability insurance. Does that sound correct? Also, what does that cost a year?

Thank you!

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

Arborist license. Many places won't let you work on your own without one.
Get some real training so you have at least some documentation to show that you are qualified to do the work.
LLC to save your butt from getting sued personally.....

Good to know. I am looking into that now! Thank you!

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

I would say a chipper, as taking down the tree is about half the battle.... the clean up work is where most either stand out, or dont get called back. That's kinda hard to do without a chipper and stump grinder... chipper would take priority in my mind.

Agreed. Clean up separates the good and the bad.

As far as the chipper goes, do I chip into my pickup?

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

Got any PPE or safety gear? You should be using it.

Yes. Sorry, I forgot to mention my PPE. Safety first, always.

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

All of the above. And you'll need to recruit good help. A solo guy--it's how I started--is hardly efficient on his own. You'll need at least one good person on the ground.

Thank you. I'll start looking now and hopefully find some great help.

 

[sean donato]

Agreed. Clean up separates the good and the bad.

As far as the chipper goes, do I chip into my pickup?

Need to make some sides and a top for it, proper mess with out sides. Chips get blown all over. Ideally a dump truck is what you'd be after, so you can dump the chips out after its filled up. Bit of a pain to have to manually get them out.

 

[jefflovstrom]

 

[arathol]

As far as the chipper goes, do I chip into my pickup?

You aren't going to chip much into a pickup truck. You'll need something fairly large like a small dump truck with a chip box on it if you you are actually going to do trees of any substantial size. A 30k lb GVW 6 wheel dump would be ideal. You could tow a chipper and chip right into the box.

 

[ATH]

.....

What should be my next purchase? Thank you!

If I wanted to do removals full time: a Mecanil grapple saw on a Palfinger crane. Call these guys:
https://www.arboristsite.com/community/forums/tiffin-loader-crane-a-palfinger-company.158/

 

[JeffTheTreeGuy]

@sean donato Good idea. Gotta start somewhere.

@jefflovstrom Cheers!

@arathol Good point. However, I don't have the funds right now for something like that. Not to mention the maintenance. A follow up question to all of this is: Does it make more sense to finance equipment to do more/larger jobs, or start "small" and build cash flow to purchase your equipment?

@ATH I will check them out.

Thank you!!! All great things here. Anything else?

 

[arathol]

@arathol Good point. However, I don't have the funds right now for something like that. Not to mention the maintenance. A follow up question to all of this is: Does it make more sense to finance equipment to do more/larger jobs, or start "small" and build cash flow to purchase your equipment?

Financing a bunch of new expensive equipment right off will require you working all the time, ie a good customer base, hiring help etc. If you don't have the work lined up you won't be able to pay for the equipment. Big jobs need big equipment, and big equipment has big price tags. Like most other businesses its probably good to start small and see how it goes. You will need some equipment at least no matter what though. Maybe a small chipper truck like the utility companies use, under 26k GVW so no CDL needed, or something like a mason dump with a box on it. If its just you and a helper, no need to get in over your head with work. Once you get established you can start growing.

 

[old CB]

Financing a bunch of new expensive equipment right off will require you working all the time,

Besides requiring constant work it will cause anxiety if the work doesn't come and possibly cause you to work cheap to get jobs. Some folks are able to finance great equipment and make it work from the start, but everything has to fall seamlessly into place. Most of us start out small, gaining experience and building up as we go.

 

[CacaoBoy]

I can appreciate the desire to strike out on your own and start your own business, but since your actual experience is limited, and since your finances seem limited (teachers do not make a lot of money and you mention selling your car and trading tree work for a pickup truck) consider going to work for the best tree service you can find. As a teacher you undoubtedly appreciate the value of education, and working for a good boss on a professional crew could provide a great education. Before laying out the dollars, or taking out big loans, to get the equipment to run a successful operation, be sure this is something you really want to do on a full time, year-round basis. Doing "a bunch of solo work" is way different from what you would be getting yourself into. You do not want to find in a few years that you are paying off expensive equipment but your passion for tree work fades just as your "passion for teaching and coaching" has.

 

[markbakovic]

Without insurance you're just a neighbour with a saw. Without some kind of accredited training your insurance premiums (should) be through the roof, if available at all.

Round here if you don't spend a few years dragging and feeding the chipper, slowly helping out ground handling bigger and bigger shares of the drop rigging etc and then climbing with the lead guy on the crew while getting some kind of arboriculture cert at the trade school youre not really a tree surgeon, you're a lopper, and derided as such.

If there's so few arborists in your area that you can make a business (while paying into a substantial retirement fund - you won't be climbing at 70, and a sensible death/income protection cover - you might notice trees and saws are higher risk than teenagers with pipettes) as a self taught lopper then good for you, but if youre just undercutting people who've paid those kind of dues at least
set yourself up as the little guy for the jobs too small for them to want.

A career change is more than just charging for a hobby.