Contract Climbing Start Up

Symbioun

Symbioun

Location
Toronto ON
I've been working for other companies in this industry for 10+ years, and have been lucky enough to travel around Canada preforming a service I love. I feel that I'm at the point in my career and skill level that I want to make a go at contract climbing.
I'm new into the business aspect of the industry and was hoping for some insight into the best ways to go about marketing myself to other companies who may not be aware of my service.
Is it as easy as just cold calling companies in the phone book? Or should I make up some literature and send it out to companies. I was also thinking about placing an ad on the ISAO job site.
I have a few companies that have shown interest in the idea but I want to make sure I have steady work throughout the year.
Any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Dylan
 
Cold calling is a much more direct route to getting contacts. If you send out literature what's next? Do you wait for them to call or do you follow up with a call? Either way eventually you'll need to call.

Do some research on the companies that you might be interested in working for. Do they have the same attitude toward work practices you do? What type of services do they offer and how would you fit in with their business (i.e., how would you be a benefit to them). Make a list of them and who the person would be you'd need to talk to. Create a professional bio to send to them upon request. Create a 30 sec summary of that bio you can present over the phone. Develop a phone script that will lead you to either a meeting or a request for literature. Be sure the script uses open ended questions that will get the prospective client talking about their operations and how they perceive a contract climber would fit in to the future operations. You may even want to open with something like, " I'm preparing my schedule for the coming season. " ASK for a face to face meeting before offering to send any literature. If they aren't ready for the meeting then offer the literature.

It is important to then establish a follow up call (date and even time) after they have had a chance to review your literature. Suggest a date about a week away and see how they respond. If it would be too soon then ask them when they feel they'll have had a chance to look it over. Once they give you a time frame suggest a date you will call them back to follow up. AT ALL TIMES SOUND PROFESSIONAL, COURTEOUS AND, NOT DESPERATE. You actually want them to think you're busy and are fitting them into your jam packed schedule (e.g., "Let me check my schedule for availability to meet with you. Yeah, I'll be able to fit you in on the 3rd.")

You're selling at this point so be a professional sales person. Be aware that you are demonstrating skills through this process that will leave a positive impression on how you manage your time and operations.

You'll need to make plenty of calls and get in front of lots of people before something sticks. Just keep persevering and you'll soon have a full slate.
 
Contract climbing mb right for you but I wood guess you are skilled, knowledgeable, professional etc and All you will be doing is giving your competitors the profit and the future leads.

How many bosses do you want? HO plus the Landscraper or tree co.

The future is yours, hold on to it!

I seriously thought about this at one point but realized it is easier and most likely better to manage yourself than leaving it up to many others.

Build your brand and not anothers.

With that said I could make more money at times because it requires two climbers but have never had the opportunity to utilize a contract climber. So you may find there are other tree cos in the same predicament.

Hope this helps.
We can talk more if you like?
 
There are some startup contract climbers here on Oahu. There's a small group of them and they jump around to different companies when the jobs pop up.

There are ups and downs like everything; here on Oahu to be able to climb and not worry about acquiring equipment and jobs would be a relief but on the flip side you have to work for some crazy people and usually on jobs that nobody wants to do.

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Contract climbing is an awesome way to make a living.
It is easier and you have more time with your family than with running your own show. Plus you will have better credit if you set your business up right. Eventually you will have enough HO, commercial, industrial clients to forgo contracting yourself anymore. I still climb for people from time to time when things get real slow. Contract climbing is a great way to diversify your skill set. Everyone does something better than you.
 
Thank you everyone for their insight and recommendations.
Very thorough answer Treehumper. You've answered a lot of the questions I've been kicking around in my head.
There's still a lot of research I have to do in order to find out how viable this venture will be.
I totally agree with you RopeShield that starting my own tree care company would be best for me in the long term. I'm just not positive as to where I want to settle and establish myself as a company at this time. This is sort of my in between stage. I am hoping that there are enough tree services with the same mind set as me to make this profitable.
Does anyone have a contract of liability, that outlines if something of yours or the HO's is damaged who's at fault? I think a document like this would be essential to covering your a$s.
 
Symbioun

Dont do it.

In the wise words of Neil T.

"$hit or get off the pot, it time for focus. Start it to build it to sell it, then keep it."

If youre not willing to do that with your business whats the point? A city position in the long run will be equally or more lucrative to small time self employment. And at the city you dont have to work for said lucrative pay. As per numerous municipal employees ive been exposed to "Hide and seek for a grand a week!"

Growing with another business and working your way into senior postions within a 40-60-80 person company will be far more lucrative than a city position, though you will have to actually work. And a dynamic owner of such a company could be conviced to sell you or let you work for equity in the company. With this lifestyle you should be able to sever your personal life from your professional life. Self empoyment is a personal life parasite.
 
Yep, liability insurance and establish how any such liabilities may be divided between you and the contracting company.

Contract climbing is a lifestyle choice like owning a business or being an employee. Assess what motivates you, what your ideal work environment and establish your long term goals. Which choice will best fit with these?
 
It can be lucrative, but you get the $hit work that noone else wants to do or is capable of doing. That can grow old day after day. You will get the ugliest of the ugly. Noone contracts out crabapple pruning......

good luck, its a young man's game
 
You can make a good living but it doesn't really lead to much on its own merrit Dylan....and is hard to walk away from once your in. Depending on you're location and available clients, be prepared to become a mutilator and killer of trees for the best part.

Cold calling can work, but other times can be really awkward as the person on the other end might just have a really dispondant telephone manner.

A bright intro letter/flyer might work better in some cases as the recipient wont feel pressured yet has all your details and info you want to put across....but try keep it short, colourful and to the point. You might even offer to do your first day for free just to get a foot in the door, or on the understanding that they find you a second day paid.

Beyond that you'll probably need all your own saws, climbing and rigging hardware and insurance.

Confidence, asertivness and leadership skills go without saying. Learning to recognise and read peoples body language and vocal responses that you've only just met is also very important skill....since you'll be constantly swapping and changing groundworkers from day-to-day.

Good luck if its what you really want.
 
Yes, me as well. I am making a big life change and after a little adventure, might look into contract climbing for a while.
What I like about contract climbing is the ability to pick your own schedule. Maybe not the exact days, but if you only wanted to work a few days a week, then thats all you have to work.
Also, it can be nice working with different people. I know it can be a challenge, but can keep things ever-changing.
Variety is the spice of life!!
 
Been doing it part time for a few years. My main issue is compnaies that contract me don't know what their looking at when they bid the job. So I show up and am often in for a big surprise dealing with factors that the bidder never took into consideration.

over the phone I often hear lines like; "yeah just some prunning work no big deal" or "to be honest I think you could just drop it from the ground" or "it just hardly overhangs the roof"

Always be prepared for the worst.....

I'm glad its not my main gig.
 
what tophopper said. Watch out for shoddy crews even if the owner is real cool. No helmets... can they tie a knot? Depends. One of the things that is cool around here is that few people can climb without spikes so I used to do lot of the real fun big tree pruning jobs that the customers asks if the tree would be spurred or not. In the end, that gives that company the reputation as skilled pruners which they are not.
 
In my opinion you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. a contract is a contract. sometimes i contract my entire crew. i don't care if they get more business off my work that is good for both parties they sell more work for you and you get to make more money. don't be greedy, just do the job, collect your cash, and have a beer for me. I have four climbers that work for me now. i contract them all out from time to time.
 
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