Who runs legit?

Atlanta? Try San Diego County.Or California in general. Takes time, but it will get better. Down here, we have it all. This economy makes it easier for some companies to make it hard on legit one's. We are 100% legit and TCIA Accreditted, I am CTSP and so are 5 more in our company. Our marketing target requirements keeps others out. We don't do residential or line clearing, there will always be HO's that shop for the lowest bid. If that is your market, then it will take some time.
Jeff
 
Totally legit here. I won't accept cash, only checks. Not only do we show that we have work comp, we also explain what it is, what protection it provides to the homeowner, what the ramifications of hiring someone that doesn't have it, and why our bids reflect this level of protection. You can't compete with the lowballers and uninsured, and you shouldn't try to. Market yourself to those that can pay for your knowledge, experience, credentials, and education. It's much better to do half of the jobs for twice the money, tham twice the jobs for half the money.
 
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Totally legit here. I won't accept cash, only checks. Not only do we show that we have work comp, we also explain what it is, what protection it provides to the homeowner, what the ramifications of hiring someone that doesn't have it, and why our bids reflect this level of protection. You can't compete with the lowballers and uninsured, and you shouldn't try to. Market yourself to those that can pay for your knowledge, experience, credentials, and education. It's much better to do half of the jobs for twice the money, tham twice the jobs for half the money.

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Absolutely. Well said.
 
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Why don't you accept cash payments? Its a legitimate form of payment. The bank takes cash just as easily as checks. Its easier in fact. Cash don't bounce.

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Most clients who offer us cash are trying to evade sales tax... If you tell them you don't cheat, they can be easily offended! We accept the cash without the sales tax... We then deposit it in the bank and pay the sales tax. I consider it a 6.5% discount for immediate payment. I used to tell clients we didn't cheat and it lost me a few jobs...
 
Looks like you deleted that video Danielson. I guess I had good timing to see it. Looks like the boss could use a little branch dragging. Anyway interesting and sad. But about the bare feet, sheesh we got 6" of snow and below zero weather. How much would an illegal Canadian make cash money? The dog has to come with me, she works for kibble, drags a branch at a time and weeds flower beds.
 
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Looks like you deleted that video Danielson. I guess I had good timing to see it. Looks like the boss could use a little branch dragging. Anyway interesting and sad. But about the bare feet, sheesh we got 6" of snow and below zero weather. How much would an illegal Canadian make cash money? The dog has to come with me, she works for kibble, drags a branch at a time and weeds flower beds.

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Well,

Yes, I took it down. It did prove the point further, but, I got a call from a friend who told me that the TS owner was all upset. The confrontation was not my intent.

And yes I agree with you.... interesting AND SAD!!!!

I tried to tell folks here. I was not exaggerating when I said that I had only seen 1 crew in 2 years that had what appeared to be a fully legal crew.

It is SO RARE that when you see it, you take note.

That is the state of tree services in Atlanta, and the reason that ONLY ONE tree service claimed to be fully legal.

Sux huh????
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Don't know the solution as the problem of illegals will only get worse if the crime south of the border keeps up,which it will .These people are in your community and have families and such like .Denying the reality will only make it worse.HO i'm sure know the score so educating them of employing legit crews won't fly .Enforcment by authorities of the rules should be stepped up,otherwise more law abiding citizens will be forced to step outside the law to survive, which is what is already happening.
One thought for you personally ,what about helping these workers to lift thier game ,videos in hispanic or something .Some sort of advocate or such. tricky situation as you'd upset the balance and of course they should not be working. thing is they still have families to feed ,so it is an elephant in the room that ain't going away. The issues Danielson has raised is real and growing ,we have asians in NZ and Aus ,Europe has african immigrants and you guys have the hispanics from South America.They are all trying for a better life and i for one don't blame them.Any way this will spark some comments i'm sure ,maybe something positive i hope
 
Well said Kiwi. Americans, Kiwis, and Aussies have something in common, we are all immigrants in the lands we call home. Danielson, lots of our great grandparents came here illegally. Some of mine did, they came from Scotland and Ireland.

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I was not exaggerating when I said that I had only seen 1 crew in 2 years that had what appeared to be a fully legal crew.[ QUOTE ]


Does this mean when you see all white crews you assume they are legit and when you see brown skin people you assume they are illegal? Racial profiling is bad, bad news. Thank god you aren't a cop or some other authority figure.
 
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Don't know the solution as the problem of illegals will only get worse if the crime south of the border keeps up,which it will .These people are in your community and have families and such like .Denying the reality will only make it worse.HO i'm sure know the score so educating them of employing legit crews won't fly .Enforcment by authorities of the rules should be stepped up,otherwise more law abiding citizens will be forced to step outside the law to survive, which is what is already happening.
One thought for you personally ,what about helping these workers to lift thier game ,videos in hispanic or something .Some sort of advocate or such. tricky situation as you'd upset the balance and of course they should not be working. thing is they still have families to feed ,so it is an elephant in the room that ain't going away. The issues Danielson has raised is real and growing ,we have asians in NZ and Aus ,Europe has african immigrants and you guys have the hispanics from South America.They are all trying for a better life and i for one don't blame them.Any way this will spark some comments i'm sure ,maybe something positive i hope

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These are all good insights. Yes, they do have families. Yes, they are just looking for a better life. So how can we blame them? It is the collateral damage on industry prices, as a result of paying cash, that really is the the problem.


So, I actually do have some ideas about the solution which I am working on it as we speak.

I will keep yall updated
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One of the primary problems here, is the majority of respondents are from the North or out of country (with a few exceptions). I operate a well established tree company in Alabama-which I started in 1992. I also am a Certified Arborist, and have been for over 10 years. We, here in Alabama, are being overrun by illegal alien-hispanics and it is significantly impacting our trades, negatively. Oh, and please don't give me the tired, worn out lines about my great grandparents coming here "illegally" because it is crap. And don't you dare label me a racist, either, because I am not. The fact is that the majority of hispanics you see (here in the Southeast) are here illegally. Look no further than your local police department or hospital's maturnity ward to get the truth and the accurate statistics. And before you jump the gun with your response, let me inform you that I am the son of a first generation (legal) immigrant from England and the son-in-law of two first generation (legal) immigrants from the Philippines. My wife is 'Asian' and my children are 'mixed'. So save the tired retoric and let's deal with facts.
 
Most tree companies (particularly here in the southeast, and in the south and west) operate "below the level". And as for the large organizations, do you really believe a company like Asplund is legit.? We are all working in an industy that contrary to the ISA's and TCIA's opinion is not much better than is was 20 years ago. There are just as many (if not more) jack legs and hacks now as there were then. As for consumer education-for years people have been aware than most of what WalMart sells is cheap, substandard junk yet the parking lot is always full. For the most part Americans no longer care about quality; they want cheap, cheap, cheap. In our community I have battled 'topping' for years with the help of a local AG Extension agent (who publishes numerous articles about its evils in our local newspaper). Even with the tremendous amount of "education" out there, I drive by freshly topped trees daily. Our markets here continually seem to decline with no end in site.

As for those of you in the Northeast and your opinions of us being overly critical of the "illegal immigration" issue, don't worry it is coming to you soon in the magnitude is has come to us- and you can then fully appreciate its impacts.
 
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As for those of you in the Northeast and your opinions of us being overly critical of the "illegal immigration" issue, don't worry it is coming to you soon in the magnitude is has come to us- and you can then fully appreciate its impacts.

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I think that this is further reinforcement of skills and knowledge being required to out-compete low skill companies. This probably means foregoing the easiest jobs, as they will be the least profitable, if at all. A strong program of tree care along with tree removals will get you better clients, though they are getting fewer, as the Walmart mentality increases and buying power of the American dollar decreases.
 
Wheelloader, it seems to me that most contributors to this thread accept that we have an immigration problem, and that we have a problem with competitors that evade insurance and payroll taxes. What we find distasteful is declaring someone "illegal" based on their ethnicity alone. Are you suggesting that most of the workers' compensation and payroll issues are in direct relation with illegal immigration? Are you suggesting that if we solve the immigration problem, that the insurance and tax problems will disappear?

Please share your thoughts and suggest some solutions in addition to the ones we have seen here. I'm genuinely interested in your views.

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Even with the tremendous amount of "education" out there, I drive by freshly topped trees daily.

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I'm in southeastern Virginia, and I can write without hesitation, that we have seen a significant decrease in the number of trees topped compared to fifteen years ago. I rarely have customers even request topping. Consumer education has made a difference here locally. Some local tree services still advertise topping, but the number has grown smaller every year. We still have a problem convincing people to quit topping crapemyrtles, but we're working on it.
 
isn"t there a new law taking affect that states that any contractor who works for more than 500 or 600 has to recieve a 1099 from the homeowner? thought i read about this..may be the beginning of the solution..
 
One of the interesting things that I find with the immigration issue isn't so much that they are illegal but that there is an influx of people trained and educated in how to work. Most of the people coming from the south have been cutting trees and hauling brush their entire lives. It used to be that there were only a few hardy lumberjack types that were willing to brave the elements and it was something special. Now everyone that comes up from the south is educated in how to handle the work and the prices have fallen.

The other thing that they have going for them is that they know how to work as a community in order to cut costs. I worked with a crew from Mexico while I was in Denver. They all lived with or near each other and they all brought lunch together. They always had a great lunch that they would share. That really impressed me. They worked as a team which enabled them to work for less. They definitely have the competitive advantage in a lot of ways. I would say that that is because our society has become stagnant and spoiled and if they can take our jobs because they work harder and more efficiently than more power to em IMO.
 
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