Major Decision

The area is great. The market isn't. I don't see any companies having draw for future employees. The area on the other hand is metropolitan. Cost of living is reasonable. It's Virginia Beach so it's a vacation town. With a quality outfit, you could sell the area for sure. I commute and hour now but that's by choice. If I chose to live close I could afford it for sure.
 
I think you just made your decision and shared it :)

Sounds really great to be heading in a new direction. Good luck Steve. If I could contribute more on the tree side I would, but I can't, lol. I just support you doing something you like and that you'll keep enjoying doing it.

Let us know how this goes, I sense an epic treemek build thread coming.
 
Cool beens if you have the network to put something like that to work and you have the means to do it that's awesome. I wish you the best. Id be skert as hell about a move like that too. Working in tourist town seems like nice shiny truck would sell the work for ya specially if everyone else is duct tape and zip tie mess like you say........ I think you should get this show on the road then we can all take turns working for you like 2-3 weeks at a shot working vacation ...... Only work till like noon then chill on the beech and stuffs whaddya say bud
 
Steve sound's like you have a vision, and a strong one at that. That is definitely the employee free way of not bustin your arse and still living comfortably. My area is also plagued with good employee availability.
I'm also looking to avoid the employees myself and subbing. My road is starting with chip truck and large capacity chipper. Sub to landscapers and smaller tree services that need to rent a big chipper, operator, and or chip truck. Maybe add that one good employee to work the grounds and grow from there.
Best of luck Steve! You'll be great I'm sure. You're involved in your community and that will pay you back ten fold. Don't forget to offer your services to the local municipalities. Like you said, you'll be the only one around with a kboom grapple saw.
 
Never seen that Tree-Mek before! Pretty bad assHow does the maintenance and repair work on that Tree-Mek? Also, what does an operator do if the saw or chain fails mid cut?


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deevo said:
Come north Jared! Lol I'm almost to the point of a full time mechanic and ya you can do some climbing!
Click to expand...

Don't tempt me, I worked in FtMcMurry for a bit and loved living up there. I have a bunch of family in Regina SK and scattered in Quebec. How hard is it for a US citizen to move north? My dad and sister both have dual citizenship.
 
Magnum783 said:
Don't tempt me, I worked in FtMcMurry for a bit and loved living up there. I have a bunch of family in Regina SK and scattered in Quebec. How hard is it for a US citizen to move north? My dad and sister both have dual citizenship.
Click to expand...

I've always wondered about work Visas there - a summer time would be legit.


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I jumped on the Treemek wagon a month ago and have been enjoying it very well, although I'm still working on getting in the swing of things (pun intended).

Financially, I agree that you need to be able to put a substantial amount down and have a substantial amount of money left over to float you along while you find your legs. I jumped the gun a bit, pulling money out of another venture of mine costing me a substantial amount of profit (two years of Mek payments) vs waiting a month (hindsight is like that). If I would have waited, the new Mek likely wouldn't have been available and I would have had to wait 4 months or better. If we happen to have a storm this year... having a Mek will have certainly been the thing to do!


For debris handling on smaller jobs where I don't need the grapple truck, I'm leaning towards a large dump trailer (8'x8'x22') to go behind the Mek. For payload I'll need the extra axles the trailer offers, and can go up to 84klbs combined.

Here's some pictures from yesterday... a tree fell on an outbuilding. We had it off and cleaned up in 3.5 hours. The trunk came off in one piece (lift and swung to the ground), then we cut it up and were able to lift it in two pieces.

We used the grapple saw to grab 5 little trees we cut for the home owner on the first job and to cut and swing some brush while I was waiting for the guys on the second job... the Mek certainly came in handy yesterday!

2017-04-10 15.08.32.webp 2017-04-10 12.59.52.webp 2017-04-10 13.20.13 HDR.webp 2017-04-10 13.38.50-1.webp



The second job was this failed oak, getting it along the driveway for the grapple truck to pick it up today.
2017-04-10 17.19.19.webp 2017-04-10 17.30.09.webp 2017-04-10 18.32.10.webp
 
It was a catch 22, if I wouldn't have pulled the money and bought the Mek, I would have made an additional ~$80k with that money in the past month, but if I would have waited I would have to wait 4 months, missing a chunk of my season and most of the storm season.

My thought process in no order:
Diversify my investments by pulling money to buy a Mek.
Lower my overall risk profile, tree work has paid the bills for 14 years.
Put enough money down I could get out of the Mek under most circumstances.
Have enough money left over to not feel the "squeeze" or anxiety of such a large purchase.
Reduce my income tax liability for 2017.
 
To be totally honest when I think about the purchase I panic a little. Since I would start as a rental crane what if I don't get enough customers rite away. Plus lettering tool boxes alturnamats or plywood spare parts like bar n chain and then there's the loan. I don't even know where to start there.
 
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