Rural Area Tree Companies

[treeman82]

Dan, I would assume that you are also going to be competing with a company called "Terry Tree Service" From what I understand, they have VERY deep pockets, but their main thing is clearing, however they do, do a bunch of residential work.

 

[treeman82]

Dan, one of the kids who I am going to school with. He lives in that general area and he said that there are some people who will spend $$$ to prune their trees. However he did mention that the bulk of the people out there are not educated as to what an arborist is. Possibly a marketing technique would be some form of column in the local paper? Or a Q&A type deal on a local radio station? Talking to certain groups?

 

[Stumper]

I've played this game in 2 small towns since fleeing the city. Your area may be different but my experience has been that local newspaper advertising is powerful and ,like everywhere else -word of mouth is preemminent! Best wishes!

 

[NeTree]

Rocky J has hit the nail on the head.. again. The town I live in is only 2500 or so. I get maybe one or two calls a year in town, and those are usually removals. Most of my work is done in greater Boston (where I moved from). Demographics can be killer.

 

[Newfie]

So called tree services in my area are almost exclusively into line clearing, land clearing or storm damage removals. Most are little more than a logger with a bucket truck. It can be tough to pitch "maintainence" in a rural setting where incomes are lower and everyone has at least one chainsaw.

 

[NeTree]

Newfie, you're not too far from me, so you should know exactly what I'm talkin' about.

Quoted a yellow birch for removal, right next to the house, and 2 feet from the road, with telephone lines running thru it. Not very large, only about 14" DBH. A fairly easy removal, but some time will be involved because of the prox of the house/lines/road. I said $100, figuring on about 45 minutes worth of work, including chipping.

I know I could have easily gotten $300 for the same tree in say, Andover or Brighton.

But man, I swear I'm not making this up.... The guy looks at me and says " For THAT price I hope you're taking the wood and brush away!" And then he says something about the value of firewood in the tree off the price! Firewood!?! Okay....

1) Birch is worthless as firewood as far as I'm concerned.
2) Even if it wasn't, there'd be maybe 1/8 of a face cord. Which would have to be split. And dried. And delivered.

So how many of you guys run into situations like this? I left feeling a little offended, and frankly, I'm not sure I'm even going to bother with it.

 

[jblimbwalker]

Rural work

I worked for a backwoods tree service a few years back. This guy called his company 'John Doe Tree Surgeon', but in reality knew very little about complex tree removal. He had very little competition and they were 'on his level', so to speak. A ceritified Arborist setting up shop around there wouldn't have made a difference to someone in the market for tree removal as these people were totally ignorant concerning tree care/maintanence. We rarely did pruning....I mean, butchering. Instead, alot of removals and those country folk love a good top out. I now work for a metro Atlanta tree service and the cliental are opposite. Willing to spend the money to have the job done right and some are even semi-educated in proper pruning techniques. We fertilize and offer root control, services you can't sell in rural areas. Gotta be careful with those delicate yards though. I just don't see making the big bucks in a rural setting. Down To Earth mentioned there was a tree service and a Davey crew doing line clearance in Naples. In most small towns that line clearance crew alone would take all of your business, can't compete with a crew that has no overhead.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Most small towns that I have been through lately have replied "arborwhat???" "hey! come listen to this! this guy says topping is bad for trees!!! ya' ever heard such a thing?"

 

[Franz]

Well, since you're moving into my back yard, sort of, mayhaps I can fill you in a bit. Welcome to the land og HIGH cost & TAXES.
Workman's comp rates here are pure HE!!, and that's the tip of the iceburg. You can at least license your bucket as a crane, and only pay about $5 a year for the plates.
Naples is a bedroom community for Rochester, and yuppie 5 acre farmette community with everybody growing grapes and pretending to be a wine maker.
Davey, is the current owner of Monroe Tree, or at least part of it, and is a division of a Philadelphia company. Another big outfit called Lewis seems to be tied into that lashup, but I can't be sure how the deal works. They may all be divisions of a holding company.
Line clearance work in the area all goes to NULCO, for both RG&E and NYSEG since they are both owned by the same holding company. The line clearance guys won't be competition, none of them are real interested in working, and they get paid for sitting in the truck all day.
Major competition will be coming out of Rochester from a dozen Tree Killers and lawncare companys. Everybody with a bucket in Rochester also has a chainsaw and is a tree expert.
You have arrived at a VERY opportune moment in time though, and may be able to pull a neat trick. WHAM radio (50kw AM) just lost one of their Saturday call in programs, "Doc & Kati Abraham" who ran a garden show for over 40 years. They are still around, and run a garden center around Naples, and it would be real smart to look them up. The station manager is Jeff Howlett, and he don't let go of a nickle till the buffalo craps twice for fertilizer, so he would probably be very happy to get an Arborist that would do a call in show on Saturday. That could bring in a lot of business cause none of the local Tree Killers do much advertising with WHAM.
Other than that, it's a Yello Page bottom buck business in this town.
Good luck.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Thats what I like, a positive attitude!!!!

 

[treewhisperer]

wow major deja vu!!

i grew up out side victor, ny, and worked for ted collins associates (recognized monroe tree). i was back in that neck of the woods last summer, looks like alot of people are moving down there into lake country. I would say if you dont mind traveling a little, towns like geneva and canadaigua would probably be profitable. whereas it doesnt seem like dansville would produce alot of work (really blue-collar). i grew up skiing at hunt hollow. what made you decide to move back there? are you from that area? i was in ithaca last summer and said that it would be a great place to live.

 

[Franz]

Dansville went from Blue Collar to DESTITUTE a few months back when Foster Wheeler slammed the door permanently shut.
Naples/Canandagua is kind of a strange area, along with Victor. Lot of folks there who drive BMWs and "live the good life" as ong as Master Card keeps getting accepted.
Rochester itself is drawing agonal respirations, thanks to the administration of a brilliant mayor, and downsizing of Kodak, Xerox and Bausch & Lomb. Hillopotomous came thru during her campaign and assured us she would cure all of upstate's unemployment and economic downturn, and she must have done it cause burglarys are up.
Canandagua must be doing something cause there are a lot of car dealers putting up huge new buildings along the main road.
One thing I definitely would NOT do in that area is give credit to anyone, Master Card or CASH only. The DA in Monroe County won't even prosecute bad checks and all the people who write them know it.
Can you make money in the area, ABSOLUTELY, if you can't make money here, you can't make money anyplace. If you think you're going to take Collins customers and make money, you ain't, you have to build your own market, and out in Yuppieville, the ARBORIST should be the gimmick that works. Ted Collins is a lawn and tree care vendor, not a professional ARBORIST.
Your arrival is timed right, we just went thru a big Ice Storm, so there are plenty of trees and plantings in need of RESCUE. If I was doing it, I'd be talking to the Abrahams, and looking for referral work because I'm a SPECIALIST. I'd also be busting my ass to get name recognition by doing half an hour or an hour on a 50KW transmitter on Saturday morning. Nobody else is doing that, and you're too late to get in the phone book this year.
In Naples there has to be a hell of a lot of work for a consulting ARBOR:IST with all those grape vines too, they just don't know it yet. You just gotta build your own market, and convince people they NEED you and not the cheap guy. Are you going to get rich in a couple years, probably not, but if you are willing to plow the field and plant it, a few years down the road you'll harvest nice crops.
BTW, Collins is doing a lot of contractor clearing work to keep his equipment working 40 hours.
The current hitter on that side of town is Tony's Tree Service, basicly an overpriced clown with a few buckets and a bunch of druggies with attitudes working for him. Tony runs TV ads after every storm, and does free tree work for reporters in exchange for his trucks getting on the news when there's a storm.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I think the demographics are changing in many once rural lake comunites. The moneied people from the cites are moving in and are expecting a better level of service then was available in the past.

Dave Ryan is finding this out in Green Lake, WI. all the people from Chicogoland who are buying summer homes up there, a few people from MKE too. Most of our people go farther north though.

A few things he has found productive is to get in good with the property management folks in the area. These are the ones who make sure the spring cleaning is done, and the firewood is stocked, take ccare of the drips and cracks for people who don't have time to manage a second (or fifth in some cases) home.

Many of the homes are being renovated, so the add-on builders have done him some good.

Maybe he will get tired from wrestling with his kids and join us for a while again, now that he has recoverd from the SARS .

 

[treewhisperer]

also, i would agree jim edwards is a quality guy, and from what i have heard does a great job. my good friend back home used to play hockey with jim at pittsford sutherland. the other thing about geneva and that area is that you might be able to find some half way competent employees from the college (hobart).