anybody else having a record year?

[ZinTrees]

Record year for us and not in a good way, first of this year the phone stopped ringing basically, last 2 years we were doing 20-30 jobs a month average, this year I think we've done maybe 40 jobs total, and despite our prices not going up any, we've been losing closer to 90% of our bids where we used to lose 60%

nothing has changed in how we do business, I guess the election year and how crazy the economy has been just washed all the work away, I've been considering running 3 hours east to do storm work, but thats just far enough that I would have to be sleeping in the truck instead of driving home every day, and I don't think theres any money in it.

of course, the small companies with no insurance are staying busy because they are working for almost free, or actually free to keep the wood!

I might actually go get a 9-5 and only do tree stuff on the weekends till work picks back up, last 2 years we were working 4-6 days a week every single week of the year, now I don't have a single job or quote scheduled, and almost every job we've done this year was small half day jobs


this is going down in our records as the worst year to date, fingers crossed over the next few months work will start coming back to normal as the election gets behind us!
hopefully nobody else here is having a year like mine, if this year went like the last 2 I would have bought a crane and a lift by now, ended up selling my bucket truck to pay some bills and the burn out is setting in hard

 

[sean donato]

2 arborist/tree crews, and one landscaper I work on equipment for have had a great year. At the point one of them is turning work down. The other is booked out into next year. May be a regional thing you're experiencing.

 

[sundance]

Record year for us and not in a good way, first of this year the phone stopped ringing basically, last 2 years we were doing 20-30 jobs a month average, this year I think we've done maybe 40 jobs total, and despite our prices not going up any, we've been losing closer to 90% of our bids where we used to lose 60%

nothing has changed in how we do business, I guess the election year and how crazy the economy has been just washed all the work away, I've been considering running 3 hours east to do storm work, but thats just far enough that I would have to be sleeping in the truck instead of driving home every day, and I don't think theres any money in it.

of course, the small companies with no insurance are staying busy because they are working for almost free, or actually free to keep the wood!

I might actually go get a 9-5 and only do tree stuff on the weekends till work picks back up, last 2 years we were working 4-6 days a week every single week of the year, now I don't have a single job or quote scheduled, and almost every job we've done this year was small half day jobs


this is going down in our records as the worst year to date, fingers crossed over the next few months work will start coming back to normal as the election gets behind us!
hopefully nobody else here is having a year like mine, if this year went like the last 2 I would have bought a crane and a lift by now, ended up selling my bucket truck to pay some bills and the burn out is setting in hard

Is the work you're loosing bids on being done? If so it says your price is too high. Doesn't mean it isn't the right price, just others will do the work cheaper. Compete or walk away. If you sold the bucket truck sounds like walking away (at least for now). Hate to see a small business fail.

 

[ZinTrees]

Is the work you're loosing bids on being done?

no way of telling as I'm not driving 30+ minutes to go look and see if a job was done

If you sold the bucket truck sounds like walking away

sold the bucket truck because it was a pile of **** and I needed the money to put towards my new truck, not walking away

my prices are about as average as you can get, 95% of my bids are within $100 of any other bids, problem is half price harry's coming in with no insurance, equipment or overhead and doing $5000 jobs for the firewood, there's hundreds if not thousands of tree companies within 20 miles of me, market is so saturated you cannot go down one single road without seeing signs for different companies, at this point my company is one of the 10 or 15 oldest in the area which is crazy to me


the economy is also so bad that long time friends and repeat customers are going with cheaper bids despite always using us, nobody can afford work, they would rather some crackhead potentially destroy their house if it means they save $200 on a tree, as of lately we've had to cut back a lot in work quality just so we can work for cheap enough to keep any jobs coming in, people don't want to pay for the extra time to clean up or mat the yard, so for now we are just coming in, getting the tree(s) done as fast and safe as possible and onto the next, I kinda like it but id rather make more from cleaning up

 

[lone wolf]

no way of telling as I'm not driving 30+ minutes to go look and see if a job was done



sold the bucket truck because it was a pile of **** and I needed the money to put towards my new truck, not walking away

my prices are about as average as you can get, 95% of my bids are within $100 of any other bids, problem is half price harry's coming in with no insurance, equipment or overhead and doing $5000 jobs for the firewood, there's hundreds if not thousands of tree companies within 20 miles of me, market is so saturated you cannot go down one single road without seeing signs for different companies, at this point my company is one of the 10 or 15 oldest in the area which is crazy to me


the economy is also so bad that long time friends and repeat customers are going with cheaper bids despite always using us, nobody can afford work, they would rather some crackhead potentially destroy their house if it means they save $200 on a tree, as of lately we've had to cut back a lot in work quality just so we can work for cheap enough to keep any jobs coming in, people don't want to pay for the extra time to clean up or mat the yard, so for now we are just coming in, getting the tree(s) done as fast and safe as possible and onto the next, I kinda like it but id rather make more from cleaning up

Yup it is slower because of inflation and all no doubt about it!

 

[ZinTrees]

Yup it is slower because of inflation and all no doubt about it!

I knew it would get bad, just didn't know it would get this bad!

September of last year was the perfect time to go out and buy a new machine

 

[lone wolf]

I knew it would get bad, just didn't know it would get this bad!

September of last year was the perfect time to go out and buy a new machine

Diversify a little bit and do leaf clean-ups or something to get some money. I bought a new diesel truck and spider lift! Whenever Dems get in the economy takes a dump!

 

[ZinTrees]

Diversify a little bit and do leaf clean-ups or something to get some money. I bought a new diesel truck and spider lift! Whenever Dems get in the economy takes a dump!

I've been considering it, I could probably snag a leaf vac off marketplace for cheap, and either mount it on the dump truck, or build a box to add to the dump trailer, already got rakes, blowers, and a exmark lazer Z with the bagger kit (mine has a big belt drive blower, it will almost suck the grass off the dirt)

I would have to get a mower trailer and probably a big billygoat, I know a guy with both thats getting out of lawncare, and a 7K trailer would be under CDL behind my dump truck so that could be an all in one setup

I don't want to do leaf cleanup, but I could, need a little capital upfront but nothing more than 3 or 4 grand


I was looking at my last 2 years of expenses and profit (I have a spreadsheet where every recipt is wrote down, and every time I get paid for any work it's also wrote down, so I have exact numbers for what was made/spent every day)

my main expense has been just flat out buying equipment, ropes, saws, parts, etc, stuff like equipment payments are a drop in the bucket compared to what I spend at the sawshop and arbsession, I'm basically done buying stuff tho, other than chains and fuel

lately each job's income has been spent on repairs, getting caught up on everything that's broke over the year, chipper cracks, truck tires, wiring issues, just all the little odds and ends, but thats all done for the year, at this point I have 2K worth of payments each month, my insurance is only about 3 grand per year for GL and my trucks, and I've got truck registrations which are $1000 a year

so, now that all my stuff is bought and fixed, I should be making pure profit till the next thing breaks, that being said it seems that theres no such thing as "pure profit" no matter how well things go, always a catch somewhere