A thousand clients....

[Tree Machine]

Established business of over 1,000 clients, all within a 2-mile radius.

14 years worth of carefully cultivated clientele, all within 3-4 minutes of each other. Chip recycling sites also very close by.

4 distinct exclusive neighborhoods.

Estate homes with rivers and small lakes nearby.

95% hardwoods, mature trees.

Abundant, unlimited work, even in the WINTER.

100% of all tree material gets recycled; NO dump fees

Come work with me. The variety of the tree work will appeal to the technical climber, as well as the tree artist.

 

[vharrison2]

Congratulations!

 

[Redbull]

If only I was single with no kids! Good luck Jim!!

 

[PUclimber]

Where you located

I was curious what company you're with and where you're located. I see that your location is central indiana. I'm a Forestry student currently at Purdue getting a specialization in urban forestry. If you have openings or opportunities for summer work and then maybe a full time position upon graduating that would be awesome. Also if interested i'd like to come look at teh operation.

 

[Tree Machine]

Thanks, VHarrison.

I appreciate the thought, Redbull.

And as for you, Purdue University Climber, I'm glad you dropped in to ask about the operation. I'll be happy to share any details you wish to know about. I'm very, very proud of the business that's been created. It's very unique in a couple respects. First, 100% of all tree material is recycled. It is all reutilized very nearby.

Second, the 'zone' in which we work in is all very nearby, where none of ANY of our clients are seperated by more than a 4 or 5 minute drive. We are RARELY 5 minutes from any given job, usually less than that. Home is right on the edge of this zone so when the work day is done, you're about 2-3 minutes from the driveway.

I've carefully cultivated this deliberately over the years for a number of reasons: Low impact on the environment, low fuel costs, low drive-times, efficiency with time, ease of overall logistics, low-stress lifestyle in general. High profit potential.

The operation is located on the Indianapolis north side.

 

[Chronic1]

wow

Nice setup, I'm sure it was years and years of ass busting work for you.

 

[Chronic1]

Tree Machine, wow. Good deal. I'm inspired.
I'm the disoriented, behind schedule ADHD, jobs all over the city, diorganised nowhere to dump guy.lol.

But I take safety and climbing very seriously and my customers love me. Even when I reschedule twice.lol.

 

[Tree Machine]

Chronic, I share those ADHD symptoms. Elizabeth has been trying to get me to go on medication for ten years now. The physicalness of doing tree work has served me well. From being a hyperactive kid, and then growing up, some of the symptoms carry over, like you body craving / demanding exercise, taking on too much in the way of projects, having so many projects going on that it seems to the outside world that nothing ever gets done.... you know what I'm talking about .

Tree work has been phenomonal therapy. You MUST finish, or you don't get paid. There's never enough time to get bored with tree work because every tree is a different, unique challenge. With residential tree service, there's no time to get bored with the setting because you're bringing positive change to the setting, and then you move on. I have the freedom to choose the job based on my mood.... sometime's I'm in an artistic, fine-pruning mood, sometimes in a high-up, technical mood and sometimes I wanna do a big takedown. There's a tree for every mood. I come home at night calm, at peace and well-paid.

 

[Tree Machine]

But back to the tightness of my tree zone. I highly recommend this to anyone who can pull it off. I live in a highly poulated, very tree-dense area. The reality of our work, generally speaking, is the more you work in a certain area, the more work you generate in that area. What I mean by this is, passersby who stop and ask for a card probably live close by. Neighbors and folks across the street see you and if they need tree work they'll approach you. And then there's word of mouth.... your client will often refer you on to someone nearby.

This will happen wherever you go, so if you're taking jobs all over the city, you create little referrral centers all over the place and you end up driving all over the place. That's OK for some. I grew up in the country, small town, farm communities, lots of open space. When I met and fell in love with my blonde princess I was immediately transplanted into a city setting. TRAFFIC was very stressful to me, and still is. Driving during the work day can be considered down time, and you pay MONEY to have that down time, more money as the price of petoleum and gas go up..

So I made a committment. I would drive no further than 5 miles. After those first two years I brought the zone in to no more than 2 miles. After a couple years I had enough clients and word-of-mouth referrals from the three or four neighborhoods adjacent to me that now, I rarely have to drive one mile. In fact, one mile is a long haul. I measure distances to my jobs in terms of how many blocks away, or to which neighborhood. I'm not bragging. I'm hoping to share this with guys entering the industry so they can enjoy the benefits and lifestyle for which I am so very greatful.

Also, I will sell my business some day, and whoever takes over has a gold mine.

Here is Indianapolis:

 

[Tree Machine]

Here is that map, with my 'zone' colored in hot pink, northward of the city center.

The red 'L' is a Lowe's Home Improvement center, and the green X is where I live.

The scale of the map is at the bottom right of the page. Indianapolis-ZONE

 

[Tree Machine]

Here's a map of the 'Zone' with more close-up detail. I included the placement of my two chip sites, both with arrows pointing to the red 'D' (for Dump).

Both are technically out of my work zone, each just over the river. The one to the north is positioned right between a lake and the river, an absolutely beautiful place. Much too beautiful for a dump site, but that's how it worked out. This lake/river chip site is also where I put surplus firewood and where I stow saw logs.

 

[PUclimber]

I was wondering if i could set up a visit whether it be to just come talk to you or to go out on site with you for a day or something. Either way would be a great learning experience and would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tree Machine]

Come over any day this week. I''ve got three really technical jobs, big crown reductions, tip pruning out over structures and wires. Each are day jobs and I've had them on the schedule for months. I'm waiting for a really cold day for any one of them. I've got new ropes, so I'm eager to to try them out.

Come on out tomorrow, if you want (Sunday) we're gonna takedown a 75' maple and drag a giant pile of brush to a burn pile that we created today. The brush pile we forced a bull rope under it (not an easy task), chokered it, and set a pulley over near the bonfire and strung the rope back to the truck, which we used to do the skidding. We dragged the first, big pile like that today, and it was awesome. Then I diced it up. We decided to go ahead and rig pile # 2, and do the pull in the morning. It's worthy of pictures. The I'm gonna set up the time lapse camera for the takedown. It's a classic takedown of a fairly good size tree ~24" DBH, chain link fence to the back side of it. It will go fast. Come out tomorrow. No need to bring a saw, just your hearing protection and glasses. Bring your own food and beverege, also.

Sorry that I.U. beat Purdue in basketball today. I listened to the game on the Peltor radio muffs while I did my cutting.

We start at 10 am tomorrow. I'd like to be done by 4 or 4:30 to catch the end of the Steeler's game. Come on over. If you're in West Lafayette, you're about an hour-10 minutes drive from here. Mapquest 5254 N Pennsylvania, 46220 We could use your help.

My cell phone is 317-407-5113.

 

[Redbull]

TreeMachine. First off, It's cool that you are so eager to share your knowledge and experience with others. This industry needs more like you.
I do have a question, somewhat off topic, but not really. I have been building my business in a similar fashion as you and trying to focus on an area near my house/shop. Do you know of a good place to print off maps so I can make a "war map"? Google and mapquest aren't quite cutting it. I want something that will show somewhat broad area (2-5miles) and still show individual streets. My searches have came up nada. Any suggestions?

 

[Tree Machine]

Redbull, you're totally on track. And you're totally on topic.

My purpose is to share this with all of you so you all can be more organized, efficient and profitable. Also, I'd like a full-time employee-apprentice for the Summer, or ideally, starting now. And I am going through the motions of selling my business, though that may not be for a couple years.

If I share with you the details of my business, I am at the same time sharing critical information with a potential buyer. Just putting it out there to the universe what I want.

If I can, in the midst of getting what I want, help ALL OF YOU organize your businesses more profitably, so be it. That's a win-win for everybody. I am not suggesting anybody do it the way I do, but rather use this as an idea board for creating, or amping-up your own gig. I would hope you could take the knowledge and improve upon it for yourself.

 

[Tree Machine]

What was your question?

 

[Tree Machine]

Do you know of a good place to print off maps so I can make a "war map"? Google and mapquest aren't quite cutting it. I want something that will show somewhat broad area (2-5miles) and still show individual streets. My searches have came up nada. Any suggestions?

Actually, that is an exceptionally awesome question. You need aerial photography!

I think your state has that on their official state website. I got my maps from Indiana.org The web address looks like this: http://arcimsnt1.indygov.org/prod/GeneralViewer/viewer.htm

The map that comes up is not true aerial, it's a map I chose to show streets, rivers, lakes and parks. There is aerial photography to be found there, I just haven't sniffed it out yet.

The attached pic is a Mapquest of Redbull's local library. I got that at missouri.gov

Try this: http://search.mo.gov/search?client=..._occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&sort=&as_lq=

Here's a Wood Energy Tax Credit Application Form for your state, you might be interested.

Here is A most interesting section in your government's website on Worm Ranching. I think that's from your DNR.

I only spent about 10 minutes and I didn't find good aerial photography links for you in Missouri, but they're out there. I think EVERYBODY should explore their state government websites. You might find some very interesting stuff.

 

[woodgnome250]

young climber looking for work

I am a recently unemployed climber with 2 years of production climbing for The Bartlett Tree Experts. I am willing to travel and relocate if the pay is right. I have a good understanding of proper pruning procedures and tree biology. I have 2 years of education in conservation in high school (everything from equipment operation to tree climbing) but other than that I learned in the school of hard knocks at Bartlett. I have all of my own climbing gear and ropes. Please respond with any information that you might have.
Thank you for yout time in this matter, Nick

 

[Tree Machine]

You're hired.

 

[woodgnome250]

lol thanks. If you would like to see my resume supply me with an e-mail address, I can't figure how to attach it on this site. thanks, Nick