TCIA accreditation

[defensiblespace]

Anybody out there have TCIA accreditation? If so, did you see any improvements in your business after the accreditation? Not just more customers or phone calls, but lower insurance rates, etc. I'm in California and am a licensed tree service contractor and certified arborist. I am getting my timber operator's license soon as well. I'm trying to get whatever licenses or affiliations I can to improve my business and set myself apart from the competition, but at what point is it considered overboard? My other thought was joining the Better Business Bureau. We are a small company. We are a partnership and do all the work ourselves, but of course we are looking to grow. The amount of competition here is growing exponentially it seems. I'm looking for any way I can to make my company stand out amongst the others. Any ideas or insight from people who have more experience than I do would be helpful.

 

[BRCCArborist]

The company I work for is accredited. It seems ok, some things are kind of silly. Work orders and proposals must include the ANSI standard for the work being done. This means you must wade through all the ANSI gibberish to figure out what you are doing specifically. You also must include the trees height and DBH, no big deal there really. You must do the same set of safety meetings every quarter, which totally sucks. You have to hear the same safety meeting four times a year, and it becomes redundant and ineffective IMO, but may depend on the company. Not sure if you get more business, since TCIA doesn't quite sell itself like ISA, but the industry benefits are probably better. All in all, it seems like a good enough deal.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

TCIA accreditation seems to be important only in certain regions of the US. A fellow arborist down here in Austin got it and his company was featured in the TCIA mag a few months ago. He is a good guy and very honest about the new banner he can now fly at his business. From his point of view, the accreditation process was not that important for getting more business but, rather, it forced him to streamline and tighten up his office procedures and work documentation processes. For him, that was worth it. Look around at your competition and see if the "big guys" are in the TCIA fold. That may give you a better idea if you want to dive in and go after it. It can be a pretty painful process, from what I've heard. You can contact Nevic, the Austin fellow, at: http://www.texasarboriculture.com/index.php?page=nevic_donnelly. His phone number is on that page.