Montana_Sam
ArboristSite Member
Hello all. I just wanted to take a minute or two and share my experience over the past year starting a tree service company and running it with (largely) satisfactory results. This forum and community were hugely instrumental in my decision to form an LLC and this is my effort to share that experience.
Long story short, I had worked as an arborist and foreman for a large tree company until they sold out in 2019. The company dissolved and I began working for numerous forestry contractors as well as going back to graduate school part-time. During the next year or two I began taking on small tree jobs as purely cash work on the side. Word got around, as it does in a small community, and I soon found myself doing large, complex, high-dollar removals on a regular basis. This was now beyond my comfort level as a private individual working for cash...also my wife was worried about me crushing someone's mansion : )
As frequency, liability and the complexity of these side jobs began to dramatically increase, I really began reading and interacting with these forums to try and gain a complete picture of the process for starting a tree business. I knew that:
By February 2022 I had formed my single-member LLC, purchased a year’s worth of liability insurance, and hired a bookkeeper. I sold the company all my personal tree equipment such as saws, ropes, rigging, etc. I operated the company out of my garage/workshop, using my personal truck, and kept a very diligent log of mileage and plausible utility/shop time. I adjusted my hourly rates to compensate for "going legit", as I explained it to long-time clients, who were more than thankful (and happy) that their trusted tree-guy now had the appropriate insurance and licenses.
The hardest part of this process, by far, was the employee arena. I had zero interest in officially hiring any employees, and still do. I have many contacts and close companions in the tree/wildland fire world whom I trust implicitly and was happy to pay these individuals cash out of my personal finances to help with large tree jobs and thinning projects. Id estimate that 50% of my revenue was in the form of cash, which made paying my hired help that much easier. My bookkeeper was not happy with these arrangements, but I tried to keep things under the allowable limitations (roughly $600/mo here in Montana). I know this is a completely illegitimate way to go about having “employees” and leaves myself and them out on a limb in the event of an accident. However, these individuals were all forestry professionals with years of hazard tree and wildland fire work under their belts, with full knowledge of the risks at stake. We work as a team, keep things slow, safe and controlled, and kick ass.
Again, this whole enterprise was and is a part-time endeavor. My friends were happy to get a monthly break from their day jobs and make some spending money. I was and continue to be stoked to get back out in the woods and canopies with my old mates and do some sweating (and bleeding) while making great money myself. The LLC cleared about $35k in sales over the short summer season, which I find to be fantastic. Between my other part-time endeavors, this made for an enjoyable, educational and profitable year.
In November of 2022 I was offered and accepted a job running large-scale timber management projects for the state. This has been a tremendous blessing which came out of the blue. For the first time in over two decades of tree and forestry work I have a stable income, regular schedule, and benefits. I am optimistic that I can continue with weekend warrior tree jobs to both keep the LLC viable and generate additional income for myself.
Thank you Arboristsite!
Long story short, I had worked as an arborist and foreman for a large tree company until they sold out in 2019. The company dissolved and I began working for numerous forestry contractors as well as going back to graduate school part-time. During the next year or two I began taking on small tree jobs as purely cash work on the side. Word got around, as it does in a small community, and I soon found myself doing large, complex, high-dollar removals on a regular basis. This was now beyond my comfort level as a private individual working for cash...also my wife was worried about me crushing someone's mansion : )
As frequency, liability and the complexity of these side jobs began to dramatically increase, I really began reading and interacting with these forums to try and gain a complete picture of the process for starting a tree business. I knew that:
- I did not want to get very big. No employees, minimal equipment.
- I wanted to work for repeat clients or word of mouth referrals exclusively, to both keep my workload manageable and my clients within a known and trusted community.
- I do not want to do this as a living. Purely to make some money, stay in the tree game and a general love for the work.
By February 2022 I had formed my single-member LLC, purchased a year’s worth of liability insurance, and hired a bookkeeper. I sold the company all my personal tree equipment such as saws, ropes, rigging, etc. I operated the company out of my garage/workshop, using my personal truck, and kept a very diligent log of mileage and plausible utility/shop time. I adjusted my hourly rates to compensate for "going legit", as I explained it to long-time clients, who were more than thankful (and happy) that their trusted tree-guy now had the appropriate insurance and licenses.
The hardest part of this process, by far, was the employee arena. I had zero interest in officially hiring any employees, and still do. I have many contacts and close companions in the tree/wildland fire world whom I trust implicitly and was happy to pay these individuals cash out of my personal finances to help with large tree jobs and thinning projects. Id estimate that 50% of my revenue was in the form of cash, which made paying my hired help that much easier. My bookkeeper was not happy with these arrangements, but I tried to keep things under the allowable limitations (roughly $600/mo here in Montana). I know this is a completely illegitimate way to go about having “employees” and leaves myself and them out on a limb in the event of an accident. However, these individuals were all forestry professionals with years of hazard tree and wildland fire work under their belts, with full knowledge of the risks at stake. We work as a team, keep things slow, safe and controlled, and kick ass.
Again, this whole enterprise was and is a part-time endeavor. My friends were happy to get a monthly break from their day jobs and make some spending money. I was and continue to be stoked to get back out in the woods and canopies with my old mates and do some sweating (and bleeding) while making great money myself. The LLC cleared about $35k in sales over the short summer season, which I find to be fantastic. Between my other part-time endeavors, this made for an enjoyable, educational and profitable year.
In November of 2022 I was offered and accepted a job running large-scale timber management projects for the state. This has been a tremendous blessing which came out of the blue. For the first time in over two decades of tree and forestry work I have a stable income, regular schedule, and benefits. I am optimistic that I can continue with weekend warrior tree jobs to both keep the LLC viable and generate additional income for myself.
Thank you Arboristsite!
