So I fell in love with the trade, saved 20K, what to buy first?

What equipment do you recommend me to buy first?

  • Chipper Truck

    Votes: 5 83.3%

  • Forestry truck? old, new, lease to buy?

    Votes: 2 33.3%

  • Chipper

    Votes: 1 16.7%
  • Total voters
    6
flyingsquirrel25 said:
It's funny you should ask "what made your service go up a level?" As I have grown my business almost every purchase has been strategic with the idea of stepping it up a notch. When I started the ez-dumper was the best thing since sliced bread. And every large purchase since has been a question of "how did I live without it?" But, again it's funny, the most strategic decision I made was to get a full time job with and extremely safe company. With guys willing to teach, learn, share and try everything out there. Sure places like that are few and far between but you want to learn from someone, not YouTube. Sure there is some good stuff, but there is much more garbage then good.
So my vote (not an option above) learn the trade from someone, save the 20k and add to it for a few years. And position yourself to step right into business in a couple years.
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Thank you very much for the advice.
 
colb said:
I'm in dissent with the "work with the pros for three years" group. I trained on YouTube and treebuzz. I will note that I had a few gaps in my training, and that those gaps may or may not have been addressed by working under someone for a time.

Having said that, you may be able to work your own gigs on weekends during start-up phase while employed by another company, and not skip a beat.

I would invest primarily in wood management. A pickup truck with a 14" dump bed trailer and a mini skid in the bed is a good route.

If you want to take it easy, buy a Stein arbor trolley, put cycle trailer wheels on it for commuting, and hook it to a bicycle. Work that until you have 40k and buy an Avant-type machine.

Try to keep your debt very low and be able to walk away from it if the worst happens.

Know yourself and your market. If you're a bucket truck guy, loner, entrepreneur, etc. If your market manages wood well, and how. These characteristics all lead to very different business structures. I can level up dramatically in my market by adding a crane to my mini skid and van because subbed wood management without chipping is so ubiquitous.
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Thank you very much @colb
 
JeffGu said:
I have no problems at all with self-starters and self-learners... I've known so many of them across numerous professions, that I know better than to believe that everybody should follow some pre-determined path to success. However, the majority of people are usually much better off following a traditional path. I wouldn't discourage anyone from either method, as long as they are good self-motivators that will explore all learning avenues and avoid the pitfalls associated with thinking they're onto some get rich quick scheme.

A combination of the two can be extremely effective. Do you know any climbers working in the industry? If not, I'd save a little money aside for buying them beer and talking them into helping you out on a few jobs. A guy like @rico could save you enormous pain and shorten the learning curve by a huge amount in a couple of afternoons. Make friends with guys like that... have them show you stuff you just won't learn correctly with guesswork or YouTube videos. There are subtle nuances to every aspect of the business that you really need to see done by someone with lots of experience. That, in itself, will give you the big jump in knowledge and skill that makes it possible for a smart, quick learner to succeed. That, and patience. It's possible for a highly motivated person to shorten a steep learning curve... but you can't shrink it down to three days by sheer force of will. It's still going to take time and vigilance.
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Thank you @JeffGu for the advice. I had a landscaping business and I was contracting experienced climbers at the beginning and I learned a lot from them but then I decided it was time for me to start climbing. I am leaning towards getting a job with a well-established crew and finding the climber friends. Thanks again for your advice, I truly appreciate it.
 
Oroboros said:
I agree with the heavy pickup and big ass dump trailer to start.

Now for the self education. That entirely depends on you.
I was self taught but had many crossover skills already and worked in a market with small trees in small yards. So I learned to squirrel out to the tips. Only since moving to Ontario have I taken bigger bites and still to some those would be small.
Message: it's all relative. It's your life. Just be careful and respect what you don't know.
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@Oroboros Thank you so much for the advice. I appreciate it, best luck.
 
david1332 said:
With $20k your best bet is to invest in some quality climbing & rigging gear, a good top handle, 50-60cc saw and a 75 or 90cc saw. With those things you can take down just about any tree you encounter. That'll run you about $4000 of you shop smart and buy a used bigger saw. The remaining $16k I would invest in a f550 with a 10'-12' stake body and make it into a chip truck for about $10-12k and spend the rest on a chipper. The bigger the better. However you can wait on the chipper for a few months until you save up a bit more coin and allow yourself to buy a solid 12" chipper that still has some life left in it.

For saws I would go with an echo 355T, echo cs590 and either a husky 288xp or a stihl 440/441cm. I own all these saws plus a 201tc and have been happy with all of them.

Spend some time reading up and watching as much as you can , also shadow a few local climbers if you get the chance. As others have said you can learn a lot in a few days form these guys. I'm self taught as well , you do be surprised at how much you can pick up, little tricks you'd never even think of. Let me know if you have any questions
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@david1332 Thanks for the support and the detailed spending options. I did not mention but over all my equipment I have spent over 5K so far. I have some rigging equipment and I started with the ms 193 and so far it works good but I would not know better since I haven't tried other saws. So far my biggest chain saw until last week was a ms250 and just last week a relative who has a tree service gave me a new ms 311. My next purchase on saws is one of the ms 440/441 and I was thinking the ms660? I have shadow 2 climbers and you are right even though I thought I was paying them a lot I picked up a lot of little tricks that I had no clue about. Are you in CA? the reason I ask is because I had more questions on insurance for a truck like the f550 and registration, maybe license class B if it has air brakes? Also do Chippers need registration or a special insurance?
 
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Sergio Villegas said:
@david1332 Thanks for the support and the detailed spending options. I did not mention but over all my equipment I have spent over 5K so far. I have some rigging equipment and I started with the ms 193 and so far it works good but I would not know better since I haven't tried other saws. So far my biggest chain saw until last week was a ms250 and just last week a relative who has a tree service gave me a new ms 311. My next purchase on saws is one of the ms 440/441 and I was thinking the ms660? I have shadow 2 climbers and you are right even though I thought I was paying them a lot I picked up a lot of little tricks that I had no clue about. Are you in CA? the reason I ask is because I had more questions on insurance for a truck like the f550 and registration, maybe license class B if it has air brakes? Also do Chippers need registration or a special insurance?
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I'm in NJ. Insurance and reg is different in every state.
However 550s don't have air brakes and are rated under CDL in my state. Chippers here have to be registered as equipment. As far as insurance it's up to your company. Mine covers anything I'm hauling or towing, make sure yours does too
 
Sergio Villegas said:
@david1332 Thanks for the support and the detailed spending options. I did not mention but over all my equipment I have spent over 5K so far. I have some rigging equipment and I started with the ms 193 and so far it works good but I would not know better since I haven't tried other saws. So far my biggest chain saw until last week was a ms250 and just last week a relative who has a tree service gave me a new ms 311. My next purchase on saws is one of the ms 440/441 and I was thinking the ms660? I have shadow 2 climbers and you are right even though I thought I was paying them a lot I picked up a lot of little tricks that I had no clue about. Are you in CA? the reason I ask is because I had more questions on insurance for a truck like the f550 and registration, maybe license class B if it has air brakes? Also do Chippers need registration or a special insurance?
Click to expand...

Get the ms 660/661 if you can. It works for everything - in tree, stump cuts, crane climbing. The 440 types cannot cut a typical stump flush with a single cut, and they're only 2 pounds lighter than the 660. They are fine, however, if you really can't get a 660.
 
I somehow knew this would entertain. Smh.. I bought a small bottle years ago and one day out of the shower I thought, "hey let's give this a try". And yes it is very tingly. Next mornimg my nut sac was not impressed. Red welts worse than that time with that thing.... anyways I just thought I should share with y'all and perhaps save someone some discomfort.

This thread is officially derailed !

Focus people.
Suggest a best start up rig fer this fine young man!
 
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