Missing the ocean

[Tree_Frog]

Well I am missing the ocean and have decided to relocate to nothern california. Just started researching running a tree business there. Does anyone have any input that they would like to share or warnings to send my way. Thanks.

 

[treesandsurf]

I grew up in northern california, about an hour north of san francisco. There are some of the best arborists in the world located in a pretty small area, so be prepared that this is not like moving to alaska or hawaii for that matter. You're on the cutting edge of arboriculture and that could be a great thing or difficult as far as establishing a company.

I also know there are tons of trees, and probably a lot of work. However, a lot of people where I lived around (wine country) have quite a bit of money and many have a prefered arborist they give the work too, so I think it's really all about doing great work, keeping your head down and slowly building a good reputation. So if you do good work, you'll probably be just fine. This is all for Sonoma County and Marin County, it's completely different if you head north of there. But good luck to yah, and let me know how it's going if you head out that way.

Make sure to check out the coast, there's something quite amazing about the northern california coastline... in fact here's a little picture... bay hill rd. my backyard growing up surfing the norcal coastline, home sweet home...

 

[Tree_Frog]

Thanks for the info about northern California. I have seen some of the work out there in the past years and on the site. I am looking forward to the challange of starting over in a new area as well as meeting some local arborists.

 

[mdvaden]

Is Crescent City too far north? That's in northern California by Brookings, Oregon.

Maybe the population is too little.

There are not a ton of stores there. One theater - little, etc.. Two grocery stores, Subway sandwich, Fred Meyer, Les Schwab, etc., etc..

It's a rich area. A high density of millionairres, so a local business owner told me. He owns the cab company, and bought me lunch two weeks ago, when I asked if a place had good food before walking in.

My wife and I talked about Brookings for retirement, but thought it might be one step too small.

But, it's an awesome place for scenery, within minutes of the Oregon redwoods, and about 30 minutes from California's enormous redwoods.

I am not sure how many tree services are operating out of that coastal area, and whether or not it's arboriculture, or storm damage repair.

Aside from population, I don't know if anything is as scenic as the Brookings area with the coast and redwoods combined, plus the Smith River.

The area is in this album, sometimes captioned as Harris Beach ...

Oregon Coast including Brookings / Harris Beach

I just started a redwoods album too ...

Redwoods Album - Far north California near the border

 

[Tree_Frog]

Nice suggestion. A bit too far north. The Bodega Bay/ Santa Rosa area is where I am thinking.

By the way, nice website.

On another note. I have been looking it the contractor licensing in California. I have not found a specialty licenses for tree work, just the c-27 landscaper. I will start calling down there for clarity but since today is sunday, does anyone know if this is the code to file under?

 

[Tree_Frog]

Had a good laugh today, I was looking at starting an LLC and california has a $800 tax for the "privilege of doing business" in the state. This is going to be interesting.