What’s Your SMALLER Equipment Setup?

[KevinS]

My setup is strictly based on pickup trucks.

When I started my dad gave me his old box trailer (9’x4.5’)not in the best shape so my first couple jobs paid to rebuild that. I bought the material and we (dad & I) did the welding, work, etc.

Next came a 9” bandit chipper I found on kijiji for a steal.

Next my father in law then gave us an ‘old project trailer’ he had for years out behind the shed he never did anything with. No wires, hitch, tires and everything, lol. Dad and I stripped it down and built it into a dumping chip box about 5 yardsish. Tool compartments, etc.

Next on one of my father in laws scrap steel rims he got and old junk camper. Dad and I stripped it and cut it down and we built a trailer crane for loading wood.

After a few more jobs I wasn’t planning on it but a tandem axle dump trailer came to me for a quarter of the price I see on any others so I grabbed it.

Thanks to another buzzer I found a Vermeer 630b that I’m currently refurbishing it.

Lastly I picked up a pressure washer on sale and have my water/liquid barrels and a homemade deep root fertilizer probe so we are all set for fertilizing, bt spraying, etc

This whole fleet runs off of a 2-3 pickup truck crew and we’re plugging away. I’m lucky enough that I’m in my first year I’m fully equipped and everything the entire fleet is 100% paid for.

Now we just have to work work work lol

 

[Serf Life]

My setup is strictly based on pickup trucks.

When I started my dad gave me his old box trailer (9’x4.5’)not in the best shape so my first couple jobs paid to rebuild that. I bought the material and we (dad & I) did the welding, work, etc.

Next came a 9” bandit chipper I found on kijiji for a steal.

Next my father in law then gave us an ‘old project trailer’ he had for years out behind the shed he never did anything with. No wires, hitch, tires and everything, lol. Dad and I stripped it down and built it into a dumping chip box about 5 yardsish. Tool compartments, etc.

Next on one of my father in laws scrap steel rims he got and old junk camper. Dad and I stripped it and cut it down and we built a trailer crane for loading wood.

After a few more jobs I wasn’t planning on it but a tandem axle dump trailer came to me for a quarter of the price I see on any others so I grabbed it.

Thanks to another buzzer I found a Vermeer 630b that I’m currently refurbishing it.

Lastly I picked up a pressure washer on sale and have my water/liquid barrels and a homemade deep root fertilizer probe so we are all set for fertilizing, bt spraying, etc

This whole fleet runs off of a 2-3 pickup truck crew and we’re plugging away. I’m lucky enough that I’m in my first year I’m fully equipped and everything the entire fleet is 100% paid for.

Now we just have to work work work lol

Could you post some pics and considerations for your power washer spray setup?

 

[KevinS]

Could you post some pics and considerations for your power washer spray setup?

I’ll try to get some pics when I have it set up.

Barrel has a garden tap threaded into the bottom of a 30 gallon (but any size is good I can get a 1,000L tank for $120 but I don’t have that demand yet).

The garden house goes from tank to the pressure washer just gravity fed and standing water pressure. Then the probe goes onto the high pressure gun. Just make sure that your pressure washer has enough psi and to thread on it’s a gas powered gun (they’re different than he electric units).

I use water soluble fertilizer every now and then just give it a stir.

Not great pics but there you go.

 

[Helmstein]

I made this setup work for 2 years until I could afford a f550 chip truck. Almost tipped the truck twice and without airbags under the rear suspension it would be impossible. When loaded I would put about 90-100psi in the rear bags. We would dump about 3-4 times per day on large jobs. I still have the dumpinsert(Truckcraft w. Teliscoping cylinder)and chip box(never seen salt 4years old)and possibly could sell if anyone is interested. It's not for sale anywhere but if anybody is interested I'd give treebuzz folks first dibs. Located in Western Massachusetts

 

[Helmstein]

We also had a chipper top built on the dump trailor when we had larger jobs we would throw it on. Worked out good until we got a bigger chipper truck.

 

[colb]

Ta

I'll try that. Thanks for the tip!

 

[cody willard]

My company’s current set up. We will be adding a 15XPC next Spring. I run a 2 guy operation which consists of me and another ground guy/climber. We deal primarily with tree preservation,” as 2% of our sales were removals last year”. This year we will gross around 170k with our non payroll related overhead being 6% of our gross. It’s a small set up but it’s cheap and gets a lot high quality/low quantity work done for our second year in business.

If anybody is going the dump trailer route and they’re needing a truck, without hesitation, I would get a chip truck to pull your dump trailer. Then when you’re ready for a chipper you already have the set up and then you have the dump trailer is a back up or for extra material hauling.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

I’d add some sides to that trailer. Easy enough to do with some lumber.

 

[cody willard]

I’d add some sides to that trailer. Easy enough to do with some lumber.

My mill guy just made me some 16 foot red Oak slabs for that very reason. We will be mounting them later this week!

 

[Serf Life]

What’s a normal week look like @cody willard as far as type of work? Always curious as “tree preservation” can be super varied scope.

 

[Tree-Taylor]

Glad this started back up again. I am trying to get a different set up than what I've seen but it's always cool to see how others are still banging off work without a huge operation.

 

[cody willard]

What’s a normal week look like @cody willard as far as type of work? Always curious as “tree preservation” can be super varied scope.

So it depends on the week but I would say 70% of it is pruning. The rest is composed of soil remediation/root work, construction protection planning, tree lightning protection system, tree supplemental support systems, tree appraisals, general tree health consulting/diagnosis, and soil testing.

It’s kind of cool because tons of more removal-based companies in town consistently refer us for the “foo foo” stuff. Our money maker is the higher prices we charge for specialty work, as most companies money maker are removals.

The top five largest tree services in the Tulsa Oklahoma area consistently/weekly refer jobs to us because they don’t feel like we’re a threat to taking their big removal paydays. Most of them use us as a second opinion for their customers if a tree needs removed, and I charge $125-175 consultation fee to inspect their customers tree and give my opinion. If the tree does need removed, the customer is usually way more at ease seeing a tree preservation company was in agreement, and if the tree doesn’t need removed then they’re happy again, and then the other company lands a pruning job. A lot of times though, the bigger companies are so busy, they just give us the go ahead to bid the preservation work for their customer.

We are such a pint size company, but like 50% of the companies locally come to us for their weird questions, and always having citable answers has helped us grow really great relationships with our local industry. You wouldn’t believe how many, “what kind of mushroom is this”, texts I get a week lmao.

 

[Fivepoints]

My company’s current set up. We will be adding a 15XPC next Spring. I run a 2 guy operation which consists of me and another ground guy/climber. We deal primarily with tree preservation,” as 2% of our sales were removals last year”. This year we will gross around 170k with our non payroll related overhead being 6% of our gross. It’s a small set up but it’s cheap and gets a lot high quality/low quantity work done for our second year in business.

If anybody is going the dump trailer route and they’re needing a truck, without hesitation, I would get a chip truck to pull your dump trailer. Then when you’re ready for a chipper you already have the set up and then you have the dump trailer is a back up or for extra material hauling.

That's a good setup but i think most small time guys will want to shy away due to the cdl requirement. I keep thinking about getting a dump trailer for behind our f550 but having to have yet another cdl driver kinda kills it for me as thats currently our under cdl rig.

 

[Sfoppema]

So it depends on the week but I would say 70% of it is pruning. The rest is composed of soil remediation/root work, construction protection planning, tree lightning protection system, tree supplemental support systems, tree appraisals, general tree health consulting/diagnosis, and soil testing.

It’s kind of cool because tons of more removal-based companies in town consistently refer us for the “foo foo” stuff. Our money maker is the higher prices we charge for specialty work, as most companies money maker are removals.

The top five largest tree services in the Tulsa Oklahoma area consistently/weekly refer jobs to us because they don’t feel like we’re a threat to taking their big removal paydays. Most of them use us as a second opinion for their customers if a tree needs removed, and I charge $125-175 consultation fee to inspect their customers tree and give my opinion. If the tree does need removed, the customer is usually way more at ease seeing a tree preservation company was in agreement, and if the tree doesn’t need removed then they’re happy again, and then the other company lands a pruning job. A lot of times though, the bigger companies are so busy, they just give us the go ahead to bid the preservation work for their customer.

We are such a pint size company, but like 50% of the companies locally come to us for their weird questions, and always having citable answers has helped us grow really great relationships with our local industry. You wouldn’t believe how many, “what kind of mushroom is this”, texts I get a week lmao.

That's a slick set up. How many years have you been running this set up to get to where you are? Must have taken a few years to develop the relationships with companies, but perfect for you and them. If you were in my neighborhood I would recommend you all the time.

 

[colb]

2% of our sales were removals last year”.

That's incredible. Way to go.

 

[lumberjackson]

This truck I have been working on is under CDL and my crew is just my wife and I, so I think this still counts as a smaller set-up. I'm still working on toolboxes on the sides and a couple other bits that will probably have to wait until winter. I bought the Isuzu as a box truck in January and converted it into a chip truck with a platform for my Giant loader, so I'm really happy to finally have it functional. I've got a bandit 150XP I pull behind it. I am thinking about building a skid-mounted spray rig that can sit on the platform where the loader goes for spray jobs. That pressure washer idea is brilliant, @KevinS !

 

[lumberjackson]

That's a slick set up. How many years have you been running this set up to get to where you are? Must have taken a few years to develop the relationships with companies, but perfect for you and them. If you were in my neighborhood I would recommend you all the time.

@cody willard I would also like to hear more about how you developed these relationships and got to that position in your market, that's the direction I am trying to go, but still take on removals when they come up. Maybe I'll start a new thread for the tree preservation folks to share ideas

 

[cody willard]

@cody willard I would also like to hear more about how you developed these relationships and got to that position in your market, that's the direction I am trying to go, but still take on removals when they come up. Maybe I'll start a new thread for the tree preservation folks to share ideas

So really it just started with me knowing tons of tree stuff haha.

I have been a Certified Arborist for 5 years, and have studied the last 5 years to gain my BCMA. I will be taking the BCMA in 2-3 weeks. I have a library with all 32 books for that exam, so if any company asks me a tree question, I find the answer, and this slowly over time has gained me the respect in the area. I don’t look at anyone as competition, because I am doing me. It’s annoying have 8 different company’s texting you every week with tons of questions, as I have customers doing that enough, but I answer them, and then those company’s refer me to other people.

My company Tree Love (3 man operation) also does a ton of obscure services like tree lightning protection systems, tree supplemental support systems, advanced soil are/bioremediation and testing, as well as construction planning. Other company’s don’t want to learn or dabble in this stuff, so I studied and practiced it all until I felt I knew about 80% of everything there is to know.

I have been in business 2 years now full time, and I use to get call for removals all of the time, but now it’s almost never. I try to let people know we are a tree preservation company, and not a standard tree service. We are highly specialized in what we do which is save trees and reduce risk, but I have zero problem telling someone a tree needs removed ASAP.

 

[27RMT0N]

I made this setup work for 2 years until I could afford a f550 chip truck. Almost tipped the truck twice and without airbags under the rear suspension it would be impossible. When loaded I would put about 90-100psi in the rear bags. We would dump about 3-4 times per day on large jobs. I still have the dumpinsert(Truckcraft w. Teliscoping cylinder)and chip box(never seen salt 4years old)and possibly could sell if anyone is interested. It's not for sale anywhere but if anybody is interested I'd give treebuzz folks first dibs. Located in Western Massachusetts

Neat setup, that sure is a big chipper for such a comparatively small chip truck! Do you do a lot of broadcasting/shooting piles on site?

 

[Helmstein]

Neat setup, that sure is a big chipper for such a comparatively small chip truck! Do you do a lot of broadcasting/shooting piles on site?

We did a whole lot of hauling chips to various dump spots. We shot into the woods where we could. But we bought a bigger chip truck. That setup was just a stepping stone. F550 with a 14 ft long chip box. Now the chipper is small and looking to upgrade to possibly a 1890xp/19xpc. But then the chip truck will be to small. Does it ever end.