anyone successfully start a business with no equipment or land?

T

TeachableHuman

Location
Boston
Is this even possible? For example: You have all the tools, saws, climbing/rigging gear and skills/experience but have a sedan as a vehicle and you rent an apartment.

How do you all get started with no work lined up, no insurance...Do you build up a backlog somehow from facebook marketing then buy the insurance and sub out the cleanup ? That's what I'm thinking but it seems like a bit farfetched. What am I missing? How do people get off the ground in this type of situation ?
 
Yeah... insurance is necessary before job 1.

If you are in market with some rural customers theyay be OK with no cleanup.

What are you looking to do? Removals, pruning,. consulting, etc???

Are there companies you can subcontract for rather than finding someone to do the clean up behind you?
 
this is my exact issue, not rural at all so cleanup is a huge part. dump fees are pricey. I am thinking there is no other way to start but than pay another tree company. I dont feel confident taking out a loan for a truck/chipper without some work lined up.

I want to do the full scope of ornamental/shade tree work (pruning/removals). But gotta start somewhere. All I can think of is too pay another tree company to come by and cleanup until i can get my own equipment. which will leave not much profit at all. Without any equipment, insurance should be cheap...this is how its done I guess??
 
TeachableHuman said:
this is my exact issue, not rural at all so cleanup is a huge part. dump fees are pricey. I am thinking there is no other way to start but than pay another tree company. I dont feel confident taking out a loan for a truck/chipper without some work lined up.

I want to do the full scope of ornamental/shade tree work (pruning/removals). But gotta start somewhere. All I can think of is too pay another tree company to come by and cleanup until i can get my own equipment. which will leave not much profit at all. Without any equipment, insurance should be cheap...this is how its done I guess??
Click to expand...
Basically what I'm gonna do.
 
TeachableHuman said:
this is my exact issue, not rural at all so cleanup is a huge part. dump fees are pricey. I am thinking there is no other way to start but than pay another tree company. I dont feel confident taking out a loan for a truck/chipper without some work lined up.

I want to do the full scope of ornamental/shade tree work (pruning/removals). But gotta start somewhere. All I can think of is too pay another tree company to come by and cleanup until i can get my own equipment. which will leave not much profit at all. Without any equipment, insurance should be cheap...this is how its done I guess??
Click to expand...
Look into those roll off bin rentals that people use when doing renovations. I know a few guys who have tried those and as long as the customer doesn't mind it in their driveway for a day or two you can cram a ton of material.

Still paying dump fees, but honestly I feel it's better than outsourcing to another tree company. With that approach you have to be confident they will leave the property looking up to your standards (raked, driveway blown off, any small items that were moved put back, etc.). Plus, scheduling another company around their own work can be complicated.

Also, as a company owner, I hate cleaning up other people's messes and typically charge extra for it.
 
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Similar thread from another Boston arb. https://www.treebuzz.com/forum/thre...ds-do-for-chip-log-dumping.49626/#post-768152 Having no land for materials or equipment is a big part in the equation of net income and scalability. Partnering with similar minded folks who have those figured would allow self-employment without constant headache perhaps. I started with an accord then civic then pickup, but rural so totally different.
 
No matter how you decide to start, it is going to be a high risk endeavor. It is one of those things that employees don't fully understand. Becoming a business owner takes skills many tree climbers don't have, so you get a crash course in handling clients, financing, paper work, insurance and personal accountability. If that's not bab enough, it also takes time, as in years, to develop a large enough clientele to get you through the inevitable slow periods that will come.

But if you can pull it off it is a good life that I wouldn't trade for anything.
 
Keep your normal full time job (if you have one). Get GL for your new business (that you have formed). Do tree jobs as they come, some how some way (get creative). Buy a diesel truck, then a dump trailer etc etc, you fill in the rest. You don’t need to have all the big iron to start, you don’t need a loan either (chances are nobody would give your business one this early anyway.). Pay yourself as little as necessary to sustain life, and put/keep/re invest as much into your business as possible.
 
Join a local credit union in the company name if you can Some CUs don’t allow business accounts. Register a company name. One without a person’s name in it

Before I weren’t legit with insurance and the rest I’d been doing side jobs for a while. My daily driver was a 3/4 ton pickup. I bought a pickup box trailer made from a 1ton chassis. Parked in driveway

Gave two week notice then got insurance and advertising
 
Boomslang said:
Didn't @kevi

Look into those roll off bin rentals that people use when doing renovations. I know a few guys who have tried those and as long as the customer doesn't mind it in their driveway for a day or two you can cram a ton of material.

Still paying dump fees, but honestly I feel it's better than outsourcing to another tree company. With that approach you have to be confident they will leave the property looking up to your standards (raked, driveway blown off, any small items that were moved put back, etc.). Plus, scheduling another company around their own work can be complicated.

Also, as a company owner, I hate cleaning up other people's messes and typically charge extra for it.
Click to expand...
I like the sound of this - but what im confused about is does the rolloff rental compay take the debris ? or do I have to drive a truck and dump it somewhere. Of course ill look into it but i like the sound of this. wonder what they would do with big wood chunks lol.
 
TeachableHuman said:
I like the sound of this - but what im confused about is does the rolloff rental compay take the debris ? or do I have to drive a truck and dump it somewhere. Of course ill look into it but i like the sound of this. wonder what they would do with big wood chunks lol.
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They drop it off and pick it up. It's usually a flat rate for the rental plus whatever cost the dump fee is.

If it fits in the bin they'll take it, so put as big a chunk of wood as you want. Just realize your dump fee is by weight so the more big wood you put in there the more you're paying.

If you're cutting decent wood (not rotted) you can almost certainly find someone to take bigger stuff. Put a free ad on Craigslist or whatever.

A big plus of the bins is that you can walk right into them. There's no tossing stuff over the sides. Saves your body and you can pack it better.
 
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You'll do well to find some place to rent a little spot of land where you can keep a trailer and a little bit of debris, at least.


No haul jobs are possible.

You can do a lot to clean up and facilitate disposal without hauling.

Is there any firewood demand in your area?

Start looking for green waste recycler options.
 
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I cannot imagine too many tree companies wanting to clean up for somebody else.

The rolloff option is pretty good temporary start if they will take yard waste (not every place would). I started out in 2006 with a 10' dump trailer. I still have that - upgraded to a 14' this year. That's how we get rid of all brush. We only do pruning and its rare we can't get a full day in the trailer. Even the 10'. It was just getting old and we spend less time cutting down stuff to get a full day into the 14'. We pay $25 to dump that. (used to be free, but people were dumping trash so they had to staff the compost site). The city has a free dump, but no commercial dumping. Some surrounding cities do allow it, so when we are working in those sometimes we can dump there...but not a huge deal if we come back to town and pay $25.
 
And...the amount of land can be pretty minimal. Apartment might not allow for a truck and trailer - but I had that in the driveway for many years with other equipment in the garage. Finally did buy some land in 2020/built barn in 2021. It makes things a LOT more convenient not having to trip over everything to find something else, but wasn't a necessity. One of the biggest benefits is I have space to take deliveries from nurseries.
 
Of course it is!
You need friends and business acquaintances for whom you work and get on with.
They will help you just as you help them, that’s how the world works.
You start contract climbing, then take the odd private job at the w/e borrowing/hiring equipment from one of your contacts.
Steer clear of risky jobs needing insurance for a while or bring in one of your contacts to help you for a cut and use theirs.
Once your capital builds up the next step is your own chipper/tip site, for this you’ll probably need a farmer who has a corner of his land/building free.
I had three different yards rented whilst in the UK, moving to better and more secure premises as the years passed.
Then I moved to France with our own buildings and tip site (though I’m not advising you do that!)
Then all of a sudden you’re where you wanted to be!

Of course you don’t have to follow the plan exactly, but it doesn’t take long if you have a target.

Anyway, bullet points.
1: Make and keep friends/contacts in the industry (and your Business Manager at the bank)
2: Don’t be afraid of manageable credit, especially for quality iron.
3: Keep your eye on the prize, but don’t be surprised if the prize changes as you approach it.
 
Find something that sets you apart from other existing tree services, like small to medium-sized removals in tight spots that require climbing. That is a great niche' for the city proper. If you're just trying to do the same thing everyone else is in a place like Boston, you're swimming upstream. You can probably also connect with urban farms to take some amount of brush and log wood.
 
Njdelaney said:
Find something that sets you apart from other existing tree services, like small to medium-sized removals in tight spots that require climbing. That is a great niche' for the city proper. If you're just trying to do the same thing everyone else is in a place like Boston, you're swimming upstream. You can probably also connect with urban farms to take some amount of brush and log wood.
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Its a great idea, sort of what I was thinking. I noticed the surge of companies getting forestry style bucket trucks, then the taller 75ft just bucket trucks no chip body, then more cranes, then knuckle booms and mini skids everywhere etc etc. Which I love don't get me wrong lol but I think you are right it does leave that niche you mentioned.

I had another question....Say I form the LLC, and purchase some level of insurance (just General Liability for cheap? doubt thats enough for tree work...not sure yet) If I go and do some contract climbing to fill the gaps in work can I just do it all under the LLC so im covered? or is there any reason I cant do that since working for someone elses jobsite? I have only ever done sidework for cash and cant wrap my head around all this.
 
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