Dang, I haven't chimed in on one of these threads in about five years, and said I never would again, but here goes. Some have mentioned having credentials and insurance. I used to bring this up , till I found out that half the country had different rules to play by. I was fourth generation in the tree care industry. I took my Maryland Tree Expert exam in 1999. At that time, just to take the exam, you had to have a 4 year degree or 8 years of service in the trade. We were licensed in MD, VA, and DC. I think PA has similar rules to getting a license. So, no matter how much you want it, it still may take years. Half the tree guys I know started out as fly by night operations. Some turned into pretty good, reputable company's. Some are still hacks. Call your DNR and see what they require for a license. Some states only require you to have a 73 F150 and a Poulan Wild Thing. I think PA is a little more stringent. In MD you have to have a Maryland Tree Expert License to get insurance. You also have to have a state business license to operate a business of any kind. Landscapers that have a MD "Home Improvement License" don't count, they do a lot of tree work, but not legally. Tree insurance is much, much more expensive than landscape insurance. A "Grass Whacker" falls off a curb and breaks his ankle and is laid up for a few weeks. You fall out of a tree and you're just laid "out".
Now, sorry if you don't like the term "Hack", but if you start up without license and insurance, that's what you'll be. As I said, a bunch of guys I know started that way and turned out good. Others already mentioned this business isn't what it was from after WWII till about 20 years ago. We were always booked 6 to 8 weeks out. If customers were a little shy of the price, we would knock off a couple hundred bucks and schedule the fork for Jan and Feb so we would have work in the cold months. We always had work year round. That's why I got out. I went 3 years straight without a vacation. Now, you're lucky to be bidding work today for next week. There are more illegal Tree "Hacks" than you can shake a stick at, and you're lucky to get the money on a job we got 20 plus years ago. There's still money in it, but you need to be in the high end of town. All of our work was in Potomac, Bethesda, and Chevy Chase, the high rent part of MD. Plus, I was lucky coming up in the business, we had 4 generations of clients.
You sound sincere, you can work hard, grow some skin like tree bark and hang around awhile. But, remember, you screw up without insurance and you can have the rest of your whole long life ruined. Not a lecture, just a thought, Joe.
PS: There's nothing like the smell of saw dust or split wood. There's nothing like a 100CC saw with a 52" bar. I'm deaf as a door knob in my right ear from running saws with gutted mufflers, and I have enough nerve damage in my hands I can't snap my fingers, wouldn't trade a minute of it. I took up chainsaw milling so my big saws wouldn't get rust on the bars. Good luck, Joe.
