Newbie

[WannaBeArborist]

I'm a high school student possibly interested in a career as an arborist. What education, equipment, and experience do you need to become a certified, independent arborist?

Is the job in demand? Anything else?

Thanks,
Jake

 

[Stumper]

Welcome Wannabe. There is more than one approach. In recent years college degrees in arboriculture have become a reality. After you finish high school, college studies are a real option . However, a degree is not needed to become a certified arborist. Most people in this trade started out working for someone else and learning the ropes. This site is a great place to begin.

 

[Proarbor]

A good choice if you want a fun and interesting career wannabe. You never get bored.
Many people pay big money to climb on weekends, so to get paid for it is a bonus.

I would stongly advise getting arboricultural qualifications, otherwise it unfortunatly seems that it is to easy to become a removalist only climber.
Definately start with an established quality "arb" firm though as book knowledge can only go so far.
All the best and good luck.

 

[treeman82]

I am not sure if you have a vo-tech school by you, but you might want to check into it. The local vo-tech center over here had an urban forestry program which I spent 2 years in. We would climb, use chainsaws, a backhoe, learn plant ID, take some trips, etc. It was fun, and a good way to start to learn about arboriculture.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

my advice to you is pick another carreer ,for the following reasons ..poor wages ,hard work ,dangerous work,often very little job satisfaction,often horrible working conditions rain, snow, frost, wind ,heat,...anyway all this aside welcome to AS..you mentioned what equipment do you need ,well to have the rite stuff you need the best part of $100,000 worth

 

[MasterBlaster]

Geez, it ain't that bad, Rolla!

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

c'mon Butch you know and i know if most of us on here had put our efforts into another career most of would be rolling in it..i have a pals who run plumbing ,construction businesses etc who make probably 3 times what i make and with a lot less hassle

 

[SteveBullman]

but do they look as cool as you do hanging out of a 70ft tree ona windy day

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yup, I'd rather be a brain surgeon. I'm sure if we all had our druthers we wouldn't pick treework, but ya know? Treework picked me.

 

[Stumper]

What can I say? I LIKE what I do. If I were picking for the most money.....I picked wrong-but I knew that to begin with. I love trees and honest physical labor.

 

[tshanefreeman]

If you don't think that you are making enough money............diversify! Bring in new aspects of the field or that of related fields that will allow you to continue serving your clientel, while also providing more services that will increase both your gross and net annual incomes. For example, start supply nursery stock, install it, and sell the client of a PHC maintenance program. There are so many ways to go in this trade that it is almost impossible to define what an 'Arborist' actually does. Don't limit yourself to simply removing trees! We should take a lesson from the agricultural sector and see how their diversification seems to define who will be successful and who will go belly-up. I personally find that mixing things up keeps the job very interesting and gratifying. If you honestly hate what you are doing................then it may be time to make a judgement call.................life is too short to continue doing something that you hate!

 

[TheSurgeon]

I don't make as much money as I would like, but I LOVE my job!!!

 

[hooks]

TREE WORK IS A DESEASE/ Ive been infected for 46 years. You got to love it.

 

[056kid]

hay wannabe i also am in high school and am planning on being a tree man. Get all the experience u can now. Learn from some old timer. U have definently found a good web site