There are all kinds of us small time tree guys out there who do it every day.
There in lies the rub. As I mentioned above, many of the good workers go off and start their own buisness after a few years.
We've heard it lamented on this site on many occasions, "I'm sick of training my competition!" The ones with excellent work ethic, but a disinterest in actual Arboriculture drift off to other industries that pay better, construction, concrete, trucking.
The only companies that have a high tenure of production employees are the ones with enough crews to work them regularly at a high wage.
How can the little guy, who does everything; sales, production, repair, collections, bookkeeping... expect to keep good people if he will not pay more then other industries.
The bigger company that needs to winnow the chaff for entry level employees has to lower the bar, the small guy laments the dirth of willing applicants because he does not have the resources to mine for that diamond in the rough.
Yes there are qualified people out there, but the reported unemployment rate is still less than 95:5. If five out of 100, or 1/20th of the population is not working, how many applicants are;
- with violent felony convictions
- suspended/revoked DL
- truely mentally challenged
- LSoB's
- carrying anger management issues
- think they are worth more then their demonstrable abilites
- quit after 2 days because the work is too hard
The above list is compiled from conversations with my clients who advertise with starting wages above industry standard.
A couple have gone with Hispanics who will work their buts off for $10/hr just dragging brush
Many of the ones where they say they can climb, insist on a high industry wage, often show a meager, if not scary level of skill.
I do not condone the hire of undocumented work, but our society perpetuates it as much as much as the industry.