Austin Texas

[ASVman]

My question is what kind of demand is there for certified arborists in Austin TX. I live in Illinois and have not been certifed but I have 3yrs experience and im studying for the test. Just wondering what kind of wage I can expect? I have a CDL.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I just moved to Austin last August to take a job as the campus arbo for a small university. Before moving here I already knew many people in the industry. This is probably one of the most tree conscious cities in the US. The public values their trees.

From what I gather while talking with my friends in commercial arb it sounds like a lot of cities. They have built their clientele up by doing good work and being good business operators. That portion of the population is taken care of. Would there be room for more operators? I don't have a clue.

Go to the TxISA site and find the CAs and make some calls. YOu should be able to find TCIA companies too.

If you're going to live in Texas, Austin is THE city to be in. This is coming from a Minnesotan...I live here but I'm not from here to paraphrase James McMurtry

 

[tomthetreeman]

There have been a couple of jobs in and around the Austin area posted here in the last year... Tom Dunlap, one of the moderators could give you better info as he lives in Austin.

I was down there in December, it's a great place.

-Tom

(PS - Nice bucket truck, I just bought the exact same unit.)

 

[ASVman]

Thanks for the input guys

 

[Pstuffel]

I have tried to leave Austin twice and I keep coming back. There are some great companies here and Tom is right, people here love their trees. I don't climb professionally any more but my phone still rings all the time from friends handing out my #. That tells me that there is room for a few more good go getting tree guys here in the ATX. I refer most of the trees I look at out to several companies I know and trust.
And remember:
If your gonna play in TX, you got to have a fiddle in the band.

 

[treeweaver]

I own a small business where I do all the climbing and have a ground guy help me, people in this town love that I, the certified arborist, am the person doing the pruning.Before the economic downturn business was absolutely crazy here in Austin, I was so slammed I could pick what parts of town I wanted to work in and what kind of jobs I wanted to do. I am still busy but that's because my company is small and I am back to working all over town.
I think it wont be easy to get a job with a good company at this moment and here in Texas there are a lot of crap ones that, because of the proximity to the border, like to pay their staff very little. I would wait for things to pick up a little and try to get a job with one of the top local ones.