Anyone Feeling The Pressure of Winter?

climbingmonkey24

climbingmonkey24

Carpal tunnel level member
Location
United States
What are you guys up to this Winter?

I suppose for those of you who have been running your business for a while now and are well established or you’re working for someone else who is has been in business for a long time you might be at a point where you’re booking work 4-6 or more weeks in advance and scheduled work through the winter.

Or maybe not and you’re feeling the pressure too.

Winter has been so slow. After November things slowed down considerably.

What do you guys do in the winter? I mean I know some plow but if there is no snow there isn’t even work in that.

Do you travel, maybe go some place warm for a couple months? Just relax and take the time off?
 
We work, and move snow. We are hoping for snow soon though, as we will be about out of work in another two weeks or so, and the Spring rush won’t hit until April.
 
Winters are always slow for my business. I backlog oak pruning for winter months and some work trickles in here and there. Some years it seems to totally shut down from Jan-March. Biggest thing I try to do is not worry about it and enjoy the slow time (and that's been a challenge over the years but seems to get easier the older I am). Started woodworking, archery and fine tune equipment. The work will be there in April.
 
A lot of people do what they can in the early years.



It helps to be out working to stay out working.




Be where people can see your respectably 'signed' work truck.

Home Depot parking lot on a Saturday morning. Get there early and have a good spot.
Read a book. Do some admin work. Work on your sales pitch. This is a great time to have a practice session with a 'potential customer' on the phone, with the help of friends and family.



Casually ask customers if they know anybody having a tree problem. They likely won't right then, but it may be on their mind, and they might casually mention it in the break room. Sending them pictures of their work, before and after, happening to capture your truck signage perhaps, will give them something to show off. Cool aerial views from inside a tree canopy can't be seen by drone or satellite, especially if you get them to pose in the pic. I did this the other day for friends with their little kids in the back yard, and showcasing their massive vegetable garden.


Can you network with landscapers for contract climbing in this slow time? Not exactly for the moment necessarily, but as it happens to pop up?

Take/ mail a couple business cards with a letter of introduction to the fire stations. They get calls for cats in trees, but better than that, contact vet offices. Cat and kitten adoption type "cat rescue" comes up on internet searches when someone searches "cat rescue". They get calls from concerned cat owners. As well, rescue organizations deal with cats all the time, people reach out to them when they need a tree climber.





Make your 'waste' product into products. There is a bit of wood grain "figure" in most crotches of any size.

Get on YouTube and learn tips, then practice chainsaw carving. Mushrooms are an easy start. Work up to more difficult things.
My first employee's dad had a tree company. My guy said his dad would whip out a $100 bear in 20 minutes. It becomes a talking point instead of something to hide or grind.
 
Working couple days a week, plowing snow, maintenance on equipment fixing chainsaws that I drop from the tree and going crazy with the welder trying to customize chipper, trailer or anything that can I work and my small garage
 
Keep working and moving. Volunteer prune some trees for some sort of organization or non profit. This keeps you moving and keeps the word out. Even if it doesn’t pay off it will help your business in the long term.

The other strategy is on quotes you know you will get the job, is to push it out. Would that reduction pruning be easier, and or cheaper if done in the dormant season?
 
I've been working just 1-2 days a week just to keep jobs moving and avoiding working in bad weather. This has given me time to tackle projects around the house and in the shop that I haven't had time for.

With work slowing down I've finally had time to take a boom off of an old forestry truck that needed to be retired. Next step is to relocate the hydraulics and use that location in front of the chip box as a mini skid platform.

I have a couple of other equipment projects I'd like to tackle as well as getting back into woodworking. Nothing really to make money apart from the occasional tree job, but it's nice to wrap up projects that have been on the back burner.
 
We have been working on everything. Our every job truck got a flatbed, full length boxes, and is soon to get the 2/3 back seat pulled and a rack installed for storing saddles and ropes.
I've been playing with metal over the past couple of years, and have made a little bit of work from just mentioning that I weld.
I also have a few people left over from my owner days that I still do some work for in the winter.
The biggest thing is to save so that you can pay February's bills by the end of November. Then get in where you fit in. Once tax returns start coming, everything starts again.
If I had a loader or a mini, I'd be working them in the winter, and I'd try to sell christmas lights on tall houses if I had a bucket. I have toyed with christmas lights in trees, but it just seems like it would be a dumb amount of trouble.
 
evo said:
Only thing better than whiskey, is whiskey with beer
Click to expand...
That combination would always sneak up and kick my ass. At TCI Expo I found a little neighborhood bar across town from the convention center. Went there wednesday evening when I got to town and they had their mid week special, $3.50 shots of jameson and $3 yuengling drafts. Nice way to end a 17 hour road trip day.
 
Working 5 days a week trying to figure out if I can get a 6th from the guys . Hoping it holds up until I start planting in March. That’s usually when the phone turns the corner but it’s already staring to pick up a bit.
 
I just do work in California during the crappy weather in the northwest. There are so many opportunities out here that it is hard to not spend time in this state. If you are a competent tree guy that doesn’t mind travel, you can keep very busy and make very good money
 
This is the first winter that I been out working.
I never expected to be but one job led to another so I keep taking them.
I hate the cold (and winter) having Raynaud’s syndrome but figured out how to dress properly to be able to be out in the weather all day.

It sure beats holing up inside like an old fart with the thermostat set at 72 and still feeling cold. :frio:
Waiting forever for spring and contemplating the annual murder of a small woodland animal named Phil sucks.

If work slows down I kept a pile of log wood this year to split up and sell to help keep me busy and make some extra scratch.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Back
Top Bottom