How would you go about choosing an entirely new location to work as a climber?

eyehearttrees

eyehearttrees

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Tampa-Area
What things do/would you look for in locations (anywhere in the US) when trying to evaluate where you'd want to live as a climber/arborist?

I've been climbing in central FL for several years now...cannot say I would recommend it, lol! I got sick of a few aspects of contract-climbing so I went solo, that's been so much better it's way safer, I make more money and got all the gear I wanted so I've been able to do all work 'my way' which is great, but it's also just gotten very very monotonous (and lonely!), tallest tree I was on last year didn't even break 60', almost every job is the same work getting Oak limbs (or Oaks) away from houses, only see peers when a job is big enough that my truck can't get it to the dump (which is rare as I, obviously, aim for jobs I can haul myself)

Thanks a ton for any specifics on why you like your area, or what you'd look for in an area, as a climber/arborist!
 
For me if I made the move, I’d go somewhere with a deeper gene pool of trees, bigger trees, and weather that allowed (tolerable) climbing/work year round. Where I’m at in Colorado, I’m getting bored with the trees like you, and hibernating a few months a year is lame.
 
Stay a way from weather extremes. We can figure out how to deal with extremes but the public doesn't let go of tree work money in the winter like they do in more temperate weather.

there was a pretty dry winter in Minneapolis. Air temps were pretty typical but the snow would come down followed by warm weather and it would melt. It gave the illusion of fall/spring. That was probably my busiest and highest profit winters ever.
 
I think the biggest thing is moving to a place with a strong enough economy to support actual tree work, but where housing isn't prohibitively expensive. An up and coming small city with mild weather would be what I'd look for. Seattle was great when I lived there: weather that allowed year around work, people that care about and invest in tree care, a large diversity of trees and situations. However today the economy is so hot, I can't imagine being able to afford living there and doing tree work.
 
For me, I would go somewhere with species diversity and like others have said, a climate that makes it possible to work year round. Personally, my favorite place I have ever done tree work is the Portland area in Oregon. The trees get really big, amazing species diversity, and a challenging urban and suburban environment to work in. And another benefit is that the pay scale for a arborist is quite high. The bad part about Portland (and a lot of west coast cities) is that housing prices are kind of out of control, and it is kind of a disaster in terms of crime and homelessness.

I’ve done little a bit of work in the Bay area in California and the trees there are nuts and the terrain is really crazy. Probably the most mind bending place to work I’ve ever seen. But the pay scale is lower than Portland and cost of living is even higher!

I think if I was younger and was looking to build a good retirement I’d probably go to Cali and work in the utility sector for a few years. Union gig so good pay rates, lots of hours, good benefits, and some decent companies to work for.
 
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RyanCafferky said:
For me, I would go somewhere with species diversity and like others have said, a climate that makes it possible to work year round. Personally, my favorite place I have ever done tree work is the Portland area in Oregon. The trees get really big, amazing species diversity, and a challenging urban and suburban environment to work in. And another benefit is that the pay scale for a arborist is quite high. The bad part about Portland (and a lot of west coast cities) is that housing prices are kind of out of control, and it is kind of a disaster in terms of crime and homelessness.

I’ve done little a bit of work in the Bay area in California and the trees there are nuts and the terrain is really crazy. Probably the most mind bending place to work I’ve ever seen. But the pay scale is lower than Portland and cost of living is even higher!

I think if I was younger and was looking to build a good retirement I’d probably go to Cali and work in the utility sector for a few years. Union gig so good pay rates, lots of hours, good benefits, and some decent companies to work for.
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Mountain Enterprises pays very well here in norcal, they're a shit company full of people that do the absolute minimum they possibly can but the pay is really good.
 
I would be cautious making a drastic move in climate. You will have to re-learn all the new tree species. Holding wood tendencies, wound wood formation, pest infestations, fungal infections…it’s almost like starting all over in your career in my opinion.
 
Chris Schultz said:
For me if I made the move, I’d go somewhere with a deeper gene pool of trees, bigger trees, and weather that allowed (tolerable) climbing/work year round. Where I’m at in Colorado, I’m getting bored with the trees like you, and hibernating a few months a year is lame.
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I like how you put it Re the gene pool / variety am going to do some googling on that, the trees where I'm from (MA) are far better (not interested in returning to MA though, and while FL lacks a winter the summers are just brutal especially if you're climbing w/o any shade which is a VERY frequent occurrence, there's no rate of water/electrolytes/etc I can consume to let me work as fast as I want w/o flying into cramps which won't go away unless I actually get out of the tree IE can't just stay aloft for hours or ideally the job lol if it's not a super easy descent/re-ascent I am very stubborn about getting down before finishing!)

Tom Dunlap said:
Stay a way from weather extremes. We can figure out how to deal with extremes but the public doesn't let go of tree work money in the winter like they do in more temperate weather.

there was a pretty dry winter in Minneapolis. Air temps were pretty typical but the snow would come down followed by warm weather and it would melt. It gave the illusion of fall/spring. That was probably my busiest and highest profit winters ever.
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27RMT0N said:
I think the biggest thing is moving to a place with a strong enough economy to support actual tree work, but where housing isn't prohibitively expensive. An up and coming small city with mild weather would be what I'd look for. Seattle was great when I lived there: weather that allowed year around work, people that care about and invest in tree care, a large diversity of trees and situations. However today the economy is so hot, I can't imagine being able to afford living there and doing tree work.
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RyanCafferky said:
For me, I would go somewhere with species diversity and like others have said, a climate that makes it possible to work year round. Personally, my favorite place I have ever done tree work is the Portland area in Oregon. The trees get really big, amazing species diversity, and a challenging urban and suburban environment to work in. And another benefit is that the pay scale for a arborist is quite high. The bad part about Portland (and a lot of west coast cities) is that housing prices are kind of out of control, and it is kind of a disaster in terms of crime and homelessness.

I’ve done little a bit of work in the Bay area in California and the trees there are nuts and the terrain is really crazy. Probably the most mind bending place to work I’ve ever seen. But the pay scale is lower than Portland and cost of living is even higher!

I think if I was younger and was looking to build a good retirement I’d probably go to Cali and work in the utility sector for a few years. Union gig so good pay rates, lots of hours, good benefits, and some decent companies to work for.
Click to expand...

Weather is coming up a lot and I'll be honest I was thinking "Oh this area is great because winters don't put everything on-hold" but that can't be just FL (cannot imagine how you'd keep busy w/ arb work unless you specialized well enough in something, to keep busy during snowy season...think I still have my 660s' tabs for cold-weather operation :D )

The moment people think of Thanksgiving, it goes downhill til Christmas, and doesn't really begin again til after New Year's IME, but in FL it's easy enough keeping busy -- I can't help wonder how municipal folk are managed seasonally (must've listened to the Climber podcast w/ Schultz half a dozen times and can't recall a thing about it...just the usual commentary Re it being easier for gov't-paid workers, which of course is always true) I have done much side-by-side work in fact even worked for my school during summers driving the grounds-crew around and we took 2hr lunches every day...but in going to a new area I feel my 1st instinct would be the higher security of any gov't paid position, even if it's gonna be doing groundie work for a year*, because in that time I'm sure I'd make enough contacts to fill my spare time and, if I couldn't advance properly where I was, I'd have the ability to go solo again like I am right now!

@27RMT0N as you say Re economy...I rent, and I'm outside of Tampa Bay, FL has had the highest % of people moving here in '20 and '21 and still surging w/o any end in sight, rentals that were around 1k a year ago are about 1.5k now and it's anyone's guess whether they'll spike more/less/same the next 12mo (awesome if you already own, my county appreciated nearly 40% last year....and is having a 40yr record of CPI increase...and FL as a state is being referred to as the most expensive to live in, regular crap gas is $5 here now, food rises weekly it's nuts!) So yeah don't mean to rant but you certainly hit a point that I can't stop thinking of, IE if I keep working here but am not a homeowner yet I may never be and I'm almost 40 I can't really 'wait it out' and see what happens to the market here (and as mentioned I have no ties to this area, my job / trees are literally all I care about, not trying to be 'boo hoo' but my clients and local cashiers are like 95% of the faces I see am the most regimented person you'll meet :p )

/oh and @Vicente I'm in the greater Tampa area, am right by the water under 1 mile although my coast is The Gulf not Tampa Bay (It'd take under an hour to get to a Tampa Bay-facing beach though)
 
eyehearttrees said:
I like how you put it Re the gene pool / variety am going to do some googling on that, the trees where I'm from (MA) are far better (not interested in returning to MA though, and while FL lacks a winter the summers are just brutal especially if you're climbing w/o any shade which is a VERY frequent occurrence, there's no rate of water/electrolytes/etc I can consume to let me work as fast as I want w/o flying into cramps which won't go away unless I actually get out of the tree IE can't just stay aloft for hours or ideally the job lol if it's not a super easy descent/re-ascent I am very stubborn about getting down before finishing!)






Weather is coming up a lot and I'll be honest I was thinking "Oh this area is great because winters don't put everything on-hold" but that can't be just FL (cannot imagine how you'd keep busy w/ arb work unless you specialized well enough in something, to keep busy during snowy season...think I still have my 660s' tabs for cold-weather operation :D )

The moment people think of Thanksgiving, it goes downhill til Christmas, and doesn't really begin again til after New Year's IME, but in FL it's easy enough keeping busy -- I can't help wonder how municipal folk are managed seasonally (must've listened to the Climber podcast w/ Schultz half a dozen times and can't recall a thing about it...just the usual commentary Re it being easier for gov't-paid workers, which of course is always true) I have done much side-by-side work in fact even worked for my school during summers driving the grounds-crew around and we took 2hr lunches every day...but in going to a new area I feel my 1st instinct would be the higher security of any gov't paid position, even if it's gonna be doing groundie work for a year*, because in that time I'm sure I'd make enough contacts to fill my spare time and, if I couldn't advance properly where I was, I'd have the ability to go solo again like I am right now!

@27RMT0N as you say Re economy...I rent, and I'm outside of Tampa Bay, FL has had the highest % of people moving here in '20 and '21 and still surging w/o any end in sight, rentals that were around 1k a year ago are about 1.5k now and it's anyone's guess whether they'll spike more/less/same the next 12mo (awesome if you already own, my county appreciated nearly 40% last year....and is having a 40yr record of CPI increase...and FL as a state is being referred to as the most expensive to live in, regular crap gas is $5 here now, food rises weekly it's nuts!) So yeah don't mean to rant but you certainly hit a point that I can't stop thinking of, IE if I keep working here but am not a homeowner yet I may never be and I'm almost 40 I can't really 'wait it out' and see what happens to the market here (and as mentioned I have no ties to this area, my job / trees are literally all I care about, not trying to be 'boo hoo' but my clients and local cashiers are like 95% of the faces I see am the most regimented person you'll meet :p )

/oh and @Vicente I'm in the greater Tampa area, am right by the water under 1 mile although my coast is The Gulf not Tampa Bay (It'd take under an hour to get to a Tampa Bay-facing beach though)
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Cool my sister and her husband are in sarasota, we've considered moving back there.
 
southsoundtree said:
Portlandia reference?
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No it’s actually true. In the early 2000’s when N downtown was level and condos were built (pearl district). They were 80% vacant, the city hired a big PR firm to greenwash portland as a destination city. It was the start of the big gentrification wave.
 
It takes rain to grow big trees.

Bucket trucks are a good start for big trees.

Rain, lack of hard freeze, and hills make buckets less accessible, necessitating climbers.
 
It might be worth checking out the Appalachian chain. Im in western NC and I have worked in up state NY. Everwhere in between has residential, rural, and forest work potential. We live in one of the most biodiverse areas in the nation. One day we're falling 130ft white pines and skidding logs the next we are cabling historic trees and removing dead ash with the crane. Maybe take a road trip. Pay attention to the quality of work in the area and the types of crews you see. That will help determine what folks will pay for. I "can" work every month of the year.
 
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