Where do we (you/I) go from here?
- Thread starter Sunrise Guy
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urbanlogger52
ArboristSite Lurker
Yeah with your training maby look at municipalities who are getting into risk management in their parks. Pays good and full pension. Also look at what your business generates. We sell our chips for $15 a truck load I know not much but it guarentees us a place to dump 5 minutes from City center. Here is the good one though . Where we dump the compost the chips fo a year and sell them for $20.00 a yard + delivery. Could get you into the black with out a hugh investment if you have the land. Value added stuff. Where I bought my 3 bucket truck they Bring all logs to their yard and firewood it there. It pays one full time workers wages. GIves all emploies firewood for the winter and generates enough CASH for the owner to take a 4 week vacation to somewhere warm every year with his family. Yeah here we are thinking the next year may not be much better than the last but there are sings of a turn. Just hang in and position yourself for the recovery. Best of luck
460magnumMOD
ArboristSite Lurker
With the lack of tree work it has gone from full time job to side job. Had to find something to bring in the money
Ax-man
Addicted to ArboristSite
I know where your coming from Sunrise. We haven't made any real money all year and have been basically shut down since late November. We have always had some winter work even if they were just small jobs but it has been silent all winter except for a few firewood sales and even that has been slow.
I am ready to throw the towel in also after almost 30 years in this business. I have been selling off equipment and saws we don't need just to keep some money coming in. I have even put in a few applications for a regular job but haven't heard anything yet.
I have never seen it this slow. It just isn't tree care, everyone is in the same miserable boat. Everyone I have talked to from guys in constuction,mechanics, painters, plumbers, electricians have all said the same thing not enough work and are struggling to pay their bills. Even my local Sthil dealer confided in me that he was hurting for sales and was looking for grant money to keep his business afloat. It is just bad all over.
I always thought heating and air conditioning would be a good field to get into. I would never start my own business doing it.
Robotics is going to be a big field in the future. That is probaly a little too far into the future.
Anything related to caring for our aging population is going to big. The leading edge of the baby boomer generation is already into retirement with the bulk of that generation to follow.
Opening my own chainsaw shop is looking better and better. I doubt it will happen.
I myself don't see this " recovery " either, once this bailout money that has been circulating fizzles out we will probaly take another nose dive in the economy.
I am ready to throw the towel in also after almost 30 years in this business. I have been selling off equipment and saws we don't need just to keep some money coming in. I have even put in a few applications for a regular job but haven't heard anything yet.
I have never seen it this slow. It just isn't tree care, everyone is in the same miserable boat. Everyone I have talked to from guys in constuction,mechanics, painters, plumbers, electricians have all said the same thing not enough work and are struggling to pay their bills. Even my local Sthil dealer confided in me that he was hurting for sales and was looking for grant money to keep his business afloat. It is just bad all over.
I always thought heating and air conditioning would be a good field to get into. I would never start my own business doing it.
Robotics is going to be a big field in the future. That is probaly a little too far into the future.
Anything related to caring for our aging population is going to big. The leading edge of the baby boomer generation is already into retirement with the bulk of that generation to follow.
Opening my own chainsaw shop is looking better and better. I doubt it will happen.
I myself don't see this " recovery " either, once this bailout money that has been circulating fizzles out we will probaly take another nose dive in the economy.
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My long term idea for a retirement business is electric scooter and wheelchair repairs. With the aging population, I see scooter sales beginning rising in the future.
If you can repair chainsaws, then with some training, you should have the ability to repair scooters.
The other idea is a independent home repair handyman. People may not be spending money on big reno's, but there will always be small things in a house that need repairs, and many people don't have the desire/ability to do it. Like tree work, it's in the marketing. My daughter used to be a receptionist for a company that dispatched independent handymen. They would get calls for handymen to put together IKEA furniture. It's a matter of finding a niche.
If you can repair chainsaws, then with some training, you should have the ability to repair scooters.
The other idea is a independent home repair handyman. People may not be spending money on big reno's, but there will always be small things in a house that need repairs, and many people don't have the desire/ability to do it. Like tree work, it's in the marketing. My daughter used to be a receptionist for a company that dispatched independent handymen. They would get calls for handymen to put together IKEA furniture. It's a matter of finding a niche.
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Ax-man
Addicted to ArboristSite
Not a bad idea. I do know this, retiring at age 65 is not going to be an option for me. I am going to have to do something for some income.
urbanlogger52
ArboristSite Lurker
Here is another one. WE used to do about $38,000 a year doing stumps. We found it so boring we now only do stumps of trees we have cut down.I see a few stump guys have sprung up. Get a grinder and compain other tree services for their stumps. The grinder is realitivy safe and easy on the body work. Keeps ya in the trees kinda also. You can find some good buys here. http://treetrader.com/ Start with a older Say Rayco and get going. There are stumps everywhere.My former partner had a hand out and he would walk block after block putting them into mailboxes of places with stumps. Got maby 30 % call back. Later
Stump grinding in the US is a very competitive business, everyone and his dog buying a machine. The Comox Valley just hasn't caught up yethttp://www.arboristsite.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
clearance
Addicted to ArboristSite
I have cut many stumps off as flat as I could for people to put plant pots on them, when they heard about what it costs to grind them. I know it ain't much, they must have been traumatized from the removal price! Lol.
Sunrise Guy
Addicted to ArboristSite
Good post, man. You echo my feelings, exactly. I tried getting into home healthcare for the elderly, about five years ago, but the red tape from the government was mind-numbing. Also, without an RN after my name, my options are limited. My gf works in healthcare, and that is one field that seems recession-proof, for the most part.
Sunrise Guy
Addicted to ArboristSite
The scooter/power chair thing is the exact business my right-hand man's son-in-law owns and operates. He sells them, too. He is very well off, with the new house and Hummer. Austin has three major companies in that biz, and I don't think I want to be the fourth. Lots of federal red tape in that profession, too.
The home repair handyman is something I've done, before, and it is a bloated market, down here.
Hopefully my buddy in Florida will have some great, novel ideas for a business when I see him, this Tuesday. I'm getting in at 5PM and flying back the next day at Noon. We'll talk through the night and maybe come up with some great plans. A few tree jobs will round out the week, so at least I'll make a few bucks.
Probably not a good plan.
If the chainsaw users are all out of work, do you suppose they will be needing their saws fixed?
woodchux
Addicted to ArboristSite
fishercat
Addicted to ArboristSite
i think.
they mean the DOT #.that is all they have around here and they are strict here.
they mean the DOT #.that is all they have around here and they are strict here.
i thought of this idea years ago, and i've heard of people doing it. on site oil changes. change oil in vehcles at the owners' workplace or right in their driveway. they also make furnaces that burn waste oil so you could potentially make money there also.
gr8scott72
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hard to compete with places doing 20 minute oil changes for $20 including a vacuum.
i was thinking convenience. it might help volume. and remember no high dollar real estate or building costs. low upfront costs, and the kind of work an old tree trimmer should still be able to do. i guess if it was a REALLY good idea it would have already been exploited.
I will check into that before I spout something I am not sure about. I do know that I have been given tickets for "company name not displayed" even though we had our DOT number on the truck.
I'll be looking for the DOT regulation...
Missouri formerly had laws that required the owner of every single pickup to have the owners name and address on the drivers side. You can still spot all the old 50's & 60's pickups in the junkyards with the lettering in place. Apparently that law was repealed or enforcement died out completely.
I guess the way I see it, there are lots of car dealers with service departments, but that doesn't stop people from operating small independent car repair businesses. As the number of scooters grows, especially owned by people on fixed incomes, having a scooter repaired at rates lower than a 'big' operator is appealing.
Tattooing is coming on fast, I hear.
Seriously, sell arboriculture. If there were three of me, we'd all be busy.
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