What was your humble beginnings like?

@27RMT0N Well, I recently acquired MY first truck and chipper (not using my brother's), a 1999 7.3 F-350 DumpTruck and a 2011 BC1000XL with a Catapillar 2.2 liter, inline4, naturally aspirated engine, with 3100hrs. It was owned by Asplund its entire life.
Before I settled on this chipper I was thinking of getting a 2008 Bandit XP200 Turbocharged Cummins engine.
But, the Bandit sold before I could get to it, so I kinda chose the BC1000 out of desperation.

But, since using it, it seems the cutting of the knives is less finickly in need of anvil adjustment, like the Morbark Storm 12inch disk chipper, and makes even less stringy chips, of fine live branches, like the WoodChuck disc chipper.
It also has impressive power when chipping a 12 log, and given it has auto feed, it is less maintenance of feeding than the Morbark or WoodChuck.
I do think I like the design, of one big wheel rather than 2 smaller ones, it more readily grabs branches that are thrown in the hopper, and more readily grabs large diameter branches and logs.
Also, I can open the knife access and touch up the knives with a flat file, and see a slight better chipping performance, and see no adverse change in the chips, and apparently no need to adjust the anvil to knife tolerance.

I did retard the sensitivity of safety knee bar, that thing if not retarded, stops the feed wheel MUCH too often.
I also, cut off the 2 internal safety stops in the chute, so now the chute can rotate infinitely - very convenient.
And, put a second handlebar on the other side of the chute turret, much more convenient than just have the one handlebar.
I also am only using the primary air filter, seems to have increased the power a bit.

Does your new Bandit not make stringy chips, even if your chipping fine live branches, of White or Black Birch?

I know this tree service company that recently purchased a new Bandit Gasoline 15inch drum chipper, and the owner of the company said, the new Bandit heats up more easily than his 2009 Bandit 85HP Cummins Turbo 12inch disc chipper.
And, he says if chipping a lot of stuff, they'll need to stop chipping and let the engine cool before resuming.

Hopefully your new Bandit doesn't overheat.
 
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I went to kinkos and printed out some business card that said 'expert tree management' in purple letters. The next day I set out on foot from my front door. I left cards with little notes and prices on everyone's door who had a dead tree, still have some of those clients to this day. I told my old boss I'd pay him for leads on jobs he didn't want, got tons of work like that. He never charged me but I did buy him some gift certificates to fancy restaurants. :ROFLMAO: I met this 'tree guy' named owen who I think was a crackhead, looking back. He came to help me haul some wood on my first job, asked to get paid that day and never came back to finish. :ROFLMAO: I borrowed some big saws from legendary Scott Parry to get through some big jobs, thanks Scott. I scraped and scrounged, bought saws and trucks from pawnshops and craigslist. It was fun and exciting. Glad I made the leap.
 
I had two big maples in my backyard that needed extensive work. Was told it would be very expensive to fix them, and it still might not work. ("Impossible" got my attention.)
The line clearance climbers came by my backyard the very next week. I watched them and thought that would be fun.
I bought Jepson's book, built my own harness (out of seatbelt material - it worked - very uncomfortable). Did some pruning on my maple. (You know, it's hard to prune maples. Kept me motivated and learning.)
Got a barely used harness (Buckingham Traverse), rope, and block from Ebay.
Was given a 200T from my brother-in-law.
My arborist hobby had begun. Helped friends. Read books and watched videos. Kept buying equipment.
After 6 years of hobby-learning, at age 64, I started a part-time business as an arborist.
I'm set up well, with F-350 utility truck pulling an 18' dump trailer. Blessed with GRCS, Arbor Trolley, Stihl 661, 500i, 251 (my first home saw), 200T, and 536iXP. Plus Amanda - one of the best groundsmen anywhere.
Now in my second year of business - emotions running from excited to "what am I doing?" and God is providing work.
 
I worked for a good company. Was treated right, had all the necessary equipment available to make jobs easier, and a great group of guys on the crew. Only thing really missing was autonomy.

I had recently separated from my partner. We had a kid together and shared custody. Before, I had relied on her to take care of daycare/school dropoff and pickup. But now that I was responsible half the time and didn't want to miss out on more time with my son than I already was I found my schedule wasn't aligning with that ideology. My boss was accommodating and willing to work around things as much as possible, but it didn't feel fair to him or me.

So I traded in my SUV, bought a pickup truck, and started putting my name out there. I already had my own climbing gear, but went out and bought a couple of saws. Spent the first few months making multiple trips to the dump with the bed of the half ton overflowing. I was broke, I was exhausted, but I was free....and I'd never been happier.
 
2011 F150 and a trailer back in 2020. I never thought I would grow bigger, but I did. Having 4 kids with my wife made it’s easy, because failure was not an option.

Now,
-2004 4300 chip truck
-2023 15XP
-2022 Giant 254 Tele
-2023 F350
-Maxxd dump and tilt deck.
 

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2011 F150 and a trailer back in 2020. I never thought I would grow bigger, but I did. Having 4 kids with my wife made it’s easy, because failure was not an option.

Now,
-2004 4300 chip truck
-2023 15XP
-2022 Giant 254 Tele
-2023 F350
-Maxxd dump and tilt deck.
Makin’ it happen.
 
My humble beginnings wasn't to bad. I had enough gear and a conventional double lower D saddle from a pawn shop. Spikes were old school steel Bucks with fixed 3'' gaffs. Still have them ..... collecting dust now. LOL

Used a 1 ton single rear wheel reg cab pickup with ladder racks. I fitted plywood into the sides and made a head board out of PT decking. On the floor I positioned two package conveyors with the wheels in them and a sheet of 3/4 ply on top. I then used two partial sheets of ply fastened to the sides and floating on the floor. Setup looked like a dump insert. Fill with brush, slicing and dicing up to the top and a bit more. Whole trees of brush in that girl. She took it like a champ. Get back to the farm I lived on to the washed out ravine. Drop the tailgate and remove the ladder rack's back bar. Back up with a stab of the brakes and shoot the whole load out on the ravines edge. If I was good, and stopped soon enough, I'd catch one end of the 3/4 ply still on the truck. Making retrieval easier.

Those were the days.
 
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Some how I missed this thread.
Started out about 17 years ago. Started doing odd side jobs.
One was cleaning a 2.5 story roof around the permitter of a storage unit facility. Not that the ground would even support it but I didn’t have ladder. Used a throwline over the roof anchored to the pillar of my Subaru GL. (Damn I miss that car!)
Next was a 1980 Toyota 4x4, slice abd dice in the bed with sticks for stakes. Eventually got a 4’x10’ homemade unlicensed trailer to pull behind it. Obviously I didn’t do big removals unless they were flop and drops/no cleanup. Did that for about 5 years as a side hustle.
Upgraded to a light 9” gravely and a f-250 with a dump insert, all of which I still own and occasionally use.
Now running a Isuzu frr, mini, and a 12xpc. Besides upgrading the truck I’m pretty chill with where I’m at. Occasionally I dream of replacing the pu with a npr flatbed, non tow behind air compressor and slap the dump insert on or off. When off use the space to haul the mini without a trailer and pull the chipper for no hauls etc. Kinda going back to my roots while the guys do their thing with small solo jobs.
 
I am still in the humble start-up phase- a little Honda civic packed with gear. It started by showing up as a groundie for $20/hr to my arborist friend's weekend jobs. Then I invested in a treemotion harness and learned to climb slowly- occasionally doing trims for family and friends.

This July will be my third year doing trees as an LLC in Ohio - and as my only source of income. (still part-time except for the busiest of weeks)

I started with a block club email and door-to-door flyers, now advertising has advanced to yard signs! I'm still impressed when strangers reach out to me. Word of mouth has provided enough to get by. My cost of living is super low and (no kids / spartan accomidations / roomates) and this has allowed me freedom to do my own thing.

I'm lucky to have started with a small network of other tree guys who mentor me and who I can contract for help- including the dumper and chipper. That said- Im realizing it's often the small cut & leave it jobs that are most profitable/ enjoyable.

Has anyone else reached a point where they had to really figure out what they want from the tree biz? I feel like im there now- I have built the confidence and word of mouth to take on larger jobs but I rely so heavily on contracted help that it can be an ordeal to schedule enough help and hauling and still make money. It is like I need to level up and get the heavy equipment (truck+dump trailer or maybe dump +chipper) and even an employee- or instead refocus on small-scale solo work.

Talk about a learning experience! Taxes, invoicing, customer service emails, labor + scheduling are all constant evolving problems to learn how to solve. Not to mention learning how to climb and cut well...

It's great reading this thread - it helps to dispell the imposter syndrome knowing everyones' humble beginnings.
 
@colb you are legend - i hope it was downhill ride home??!?!

@metaspencer nice to see you in the thread- I sub to your youtube channel and find inspiration in some of your 1-man solutions. You are kicking ass with the mini skid-steer + dump trailer combo. Its food for thought for small tree biz possibilities
 
I was working for a big tree company when I first started doing side work. My first few jobs I piled the brush on ladder racks on top of a jeep Cherokee. Ended up buying an oddly welded together trailer for $300 from an old man with one eye who said he doesn’t wear eye protection because looking at the welding arc actually makes his good eye better he said. Bought a 346 XP I used for everything. Leather harness, sweatpants and a blakes hitch. Goofy 22 yr old kid.
 
Since this thread was bumped up, it's made me reflect on both the time over a decade ago when I started working out of the Baja Bug, and compared to about 3 years ago when I made that post.

I'm still living in the same tiny rural area, but now I've got two chippers, two chip trucks, the service truck, a 3-4 day a week employee and bases of operations on two islands. Plus, the huge amount my skills both as a businessman and tree climber have improved in that time. It's been a long road with harder work than any other time in my life, but overall certainly worth it.

000000 Greenspar Truck Fleet.jpg
 
@colb you are legend - i hope it was downhill ride home??!?!

@metaspencer nice to see you in the thread- I sub to your youtube channel and find inspiration in some of your 1-man solutions. You are kicking ass with the mini skid-steer + dump trailer combo. Its food for thought for small tree biz possibilities

I'm in North Florida, so it's fine most of the time...

The job pictured with the live oak included dead wood removal of two 8-10" diameter decayed limbs. I hauled them about 3 miles without incident, then got eaten for lunch by an overpass over a freeway. I did not have enough power to pedal or enough friction to push up the incline - the tires plus my feet just would not stick and I slid down backwards. I chucked the rounds in an adjacent wooded powerline right of way and gave myself a pass on that irregular behavior given that I was starting a tree company with a bicycle.

The second picture required moving the rounds from one side of a 10-acre parcel to a fire pit at the other side. It was flat, so no issues.

A year after incorporating I sized up.

Ten years after, I dissolved and transitioned via a brief stint in planning and development to my current position as a municipal urban forestry manager of the largest patch of municipal woods in the states.

Whatever your trajectory, starting your business is a special time in life. I may start one again, but never that same business. I may never start a business again. I wish you all success and enjoyment.
 

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