Charlotte area??

[TC262]

So the wife was offered a job relocation to Charlotte NC. We are seriously considering going to get away from the crappy winters and just took a trip down there to check things out. As we pulled into a few of the surrounding neighborhoods all I could see were horribly topped trees everywhere. Atleast 50% of the trees on some streets were either just topped or previously topped. I was really shocked at the amount of low quality tree work down there.

So are there just way more uneducated tree guys down that way or is it them just failing to educate their clients and giving them what they want? I'm pretty sure of the answer but figured I'd ask anyway.

And how many good tree services are down there? Wife really wants me to hang up tree work if we go. All of my work currently comes from referrals and I figure I'll have a tough time starting up not knowing the area or anybody out there. But I figure it won't take long to make a good name for myself after seeing the hacking that I saw.

 

[greengreer]

Not from charlotte, but for what its worth...
Charlotte would seem to be a good market, it is becoming a financial center, and lots of other large corporate headquarters there. This means lots of white collar jobs so possibly a good market. That being said there are a lot of "mcmansion" developments where they like to bulldoze everything, build houses, then plant trees.
As with alot of NC,there are older neighborhoods with nice trees that need someone other than the tree cowboy type that, as you have witnessed, are very prevalent. Also there are alot of old folks that like to hack the snot out of their trees, ie maples with the entire canopy removed. It is difficult to persuade these people on how to prune properly. But when it boils down to it, its their money and their trees. I love trees and and hold work ethics in high regard, and know that people can be ignorant or stubborn, but it's also a job and keeps my family fed. I wish you success and hopefully you may be able to create a viable business that keeps trees from being topped and spikes out of pruning jobs.
I may not be in charlotte but I deal with quite a few people from there that have vacation homes in our area.

 

[treeseer]

I moved to NC from SE WI in 1985. I wish I had a wife who told me to stop working!

Which neighborhoods were you in? Lots of good tree care in Charlotte area. Check Heartwood Tree, Paul Bunyan, and the Charlotte Arborists Assn.

 

[Adamgaspo]

I live in charlotte and also work for one of the most professional tree services in the market (Heartwood tree). Charlotte is a huge market with a lot of potential.
There are a lot of "hacks" in the surrounding suburbs where the locals mingle and practice horrible arbor culture.
Unfortunately there's little that can be done about these fly by night companies.
I am the VP of the charlotte arborist association and we promote proper arbor culture with free service days, educational classes to advance the urban arborist and a climbing competition every April.
If you have any question shoot me a PM with your number and I can tell you more about the area.

 

[TC262]

Ha, she doesn't want me to stop working just stop working in trees! I'm a machinest/tool and die maker and started doing trees on the side for myself, friends and family and it grew from there into a decent sized operation.

We were mainly looking in the Gastonia and Rock Hills areas because her new office will be built on the SW side of Charotte. We wanted to be within a 30 to 45 minute drive for her to work and still live in a semi rual area like we do now. Some of the worst areas I saw for being topped were subdivisions near the Gastonia airport, I really should have took some pics.

 

[TC262]

I live in charlotte and also work for one of the most professional tree services in the market (Heartwood tree). Charlotte is a huge market with a lot of potential.
There are a lot of "hacks" in the surrounding suburbs where the locals mingle and practice horrible arbor culture.
Unfortunately there's little that can be done about these fly by night companies.
I am the VP of the charlotte arborist association and we promote proper arbor culture with free service days, educational classes to advance the urban arborist and a climbing competition every April.
If you have any question shoot me a PM with your number and I can tell you more about the area.

Thanks for the offer! Yeah all I could think about while driving around was the potential for the area (well that and the horrible hackery). I'll send ya pm with my number.

 

[TC262]

We're back in Charotte again! Checking out houses and seeing what this place has to offer. Beautiful area but damn does the traffic suck! Not sure if I can live down here and keep my road rage contained...

 

[luckydad]

We're back in Charotte again! Checking out houses and seeing what this place has to offer. Beautiful area but damn does the traffic suck! Not sure if I can live down here and keep my road rage contained...

How would you ever get your fleet across the country ??

 

[TC262]

Try to sell half of it, wife wants me to sell everthing. Ideally I would just bring down my bucket truck, 1 chip truck, chipper, and my pickup. My big dump trailer would be a real ***** to bring down here but looking at the metro area seems like I could focus on pruning and get away from the big removals that have the higher costs (bigger equipment, more fuel, disposal issues etc...)

 

[luckydad]

So did you ever move ??
Or you still snowed in ??


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[TC262]

We decided to stay in WI but thankfully we're not snowed in. I'm still waiting for a few good rains to wash some of the salt off the roads. My wife is job hunting now. We were really excited about moving down there and getting away from the cold. We were expecting a lower cost of living but discovered the Charlotte area would be a little higher than here. The higher cost of living combined with me probably only making half of what I make now were the biggest reason we couldn't pull the trigger and make the move. I really loved the area outside of Charlotte (not big on citys) and am a little disappointed we couldn't justify moving. It's a beautiful area, maybe when I'm ready to retire I'll get to move down that way.

 

[miko0618]

We are looking to move near Rock Hills. I live in western PA right now. The economy, weather and heroin here is pretty bad. Do you have to go near the city traffic to make decent money?

 

[TC262]

We are looking to move near Rock Hills. I live in western PA right now. The economy, weather and heroin here is pretty bad. Do you have to go near the city traffic to make decent money?

Depends what you consider decent money.

 

[miko0618]

Steady work that isn't for beer money I would take more work over high pay. Where I live now, me and 1 guy get $400/day as a base. $600/day if it's got any risk. I normally bid by the job and not by the day. But I do day rate work a fair amount. I charge $200 per man per day base. So for 3 of us, $600 per day base. Thats the best example i can give. I would rather stay busy though. So i guess i am asking about volume and price.

 

[mauldinoutdoor]

The wife and I want to get out of metro Detroit also. I'm grew up in NC and still have family there but when we're down there the poor trim jobs stick out everywhere. We want to move the business but reestablishing is daunting as well as emissions compliance and the thought of competing price for price with companies that are still topping trees seems like an uphill battle. Secondarily considering moving to west Michigan but again hourly rates are much lower than here.

 

[TC262]

You won't win a pricing war down there and live comfortably. If you are the cheapest guy around you'll never get ahead. You need to market your quality and professionalism. There are people willing to pay to have the job done right. No one will take your word for it that you know what your doing, you need to prove it by looking, sounding, and acting professional and have certifications to back it up.

 

[TC262]

Steady work that isn't for beer money I would take more work over high pay. Where I live now, me and 1 guy get $400/day as a base. $600/day if it's got any risk. I normally bid by the job and not by the day. But I do day rate work a fair amount. I charge $200 per man per day base. So for 3 of us, $600 per day base. Thats the best example i can give. I would rather stay busy though. So i guess i am asking about volume and price.

What??? Your talking about a wage for you and another guy? Are you running your own show with your equipment or sub contracting just climbing? Your post makes zero sense. If your trying to run a buisness like that it'll probably never work for you.

 

[mauldinoutdoor]

We're in one of the most competitive markets now and went from start up to 200k a year in 10 years with one crew. There's at least 100 companies in my county and competing with established companies and paying for marketing and trying to grow and be competitive is always a problem. I figure from experience spending 5 - 10k a year for marketing and after 3-4 years the repeat business will keep you busy. But targeting commercial and residential management companies and estate management has worked for us. The problem with going to a rural environment means that homeowners are more apt to do removals or have a friend help instead of paying. That leaves trims as a bulk and harder to make margins.

 

[mauldinoutdoor]

Most people will pay for quality over lowest price but convincing customers that proper practices are worth the extra has a cost of consulting for the company in longer estimate times as well as convincing the customer that paying 50-75% more than the hack job that is prevalent in my brothers area in NC.
The solution would be diversifying into other areas where my current equipment I have could keep my income up with fewer won jobs until reputation was established and customer base education caught up with modern practices.

 

[miko0618]

Luckily, my wife has 2 degees that pay well. And i install part time for lowes. Which i would do full time if we relocated. It wouldn't bother me as much to relocate and start a tree business from scratch. I wouldn't need the income.