me and my friend are starting our own company

[JUSTINcredible]

were going into tree trimming. we found an 85 foot boom truck for $20,000. my friends grandparents are going to cut him a check for that. we already have a bobcat s300, chain saws and pole saws, harness incase we need to climb, and we have access to a brush chipper and a stump chipper. we hope to be going by this summer. we both work together at a landscaping company here and we both have a lot of experiance trimming trees and taking them down. wish us luck.

anyone have any tips or advice that could help us?

[cosborne]

get chaps. they are the safety pants. trust me, accidents happen. I cut my knee this past winter. sucked. Good Luck.

[SGA]

Originally posted by JUSTINcredible
anyone have any tips or advice that could help us?

In that line of business, SAFETY FIRST!

[derekhonda]

I don't know what your business background is...running a company is a challenge but can be very rewarding. My advice is build up a great client base and treat them well, word of mouth is going to be great advertising for your line of work.

Good luck.

[wheeltrax]

that, and make sure you and your company are insured, incase anything bad were to happen.

[antman]

congrats and good luck with the biz

[Giz400ex]

Words of advice, friends and business DO NOT WORK TOGETHER!!! I'm not sure on your arrangements but it could get ugly. Make sure you cover your butt:eek2:

[MOFO]

Make sure you have full insurance and a tax plan in place!

[Pappy]

Never tell a customer something you do not intend to follow thru with 100%

Always be upfront and honest

Treat your customers like you would like to be treated

Treat each customer with respect

Make sure everything is in writing, never assume you will get paid if it is not spelled out

bobcats sure make tree triming a BUTT load easyer:eek2:

[bulkdriverlp]

there is good money in that line of work. liability insurance is a must just in case you drop a tree on a 200k house or something. spend some money on safety, hard hats with chip shields, chaps, good gloves. husky chainsaws of course. good luck.

[fast_enough]

Originally posted by bulkdriverlp
Stihl chainsaws of course.

Amen to that, we have about 12 of them. Can't beat the 044's, 066's might be too much for tree trimming, but there nice to have. Another tip, make friends with someone who is in the outdoor power equipment sales business, you will be in there alot for wear and tear parts. Usually they will cut you a deal, if you purchase alot of products/gas from them. And yea safety's first, plus insurance will have people checking up on you guys, they will be strict. Dont ever let them catch you without a piece of safety equipment on, no matter how hot it gets etc. Be safe and make sure to think before you do anything, because everyone knows ***** happens. Best of luck

[coolex]

ya u want a chiper sheild on yopur helmat because a guy i know was a professional tree cutter down person w/e u call them and he had been doing it for at least 20 years and always wore his chipper mask on day he forgot it and figured nothing would happen because it was the only time he had not wore one well he iddnt were one and a pice of wood went so far into his eye they had to replace the eye with a glass marble type thing so its deffidly a safety first job

[04'400ex'er]

Business partnerships can be a headache...and a disaster. Always cover your *****.

Also, have insurance because you will need it.

[bwamos]

Since you 2 are really good friends... the #1 thing I would do (besides the saftey 1st and insurance, obviously), is have both of you agree on 5-7 people that you can use as a board of advisors.

If you both end up with visions/plans that butt heads against each other, you can go to them and let them decide which is the better option.

It can save your friendship which is 10x more important than the company.

[Tom TRX250R]

Make sure everything is in writing, never assume you will get paid if it is not spelled out

This is VERY important, my brother and I used to do landscaping and we got burned a couple times on jobs if they added work during the job. We did make pretty good money but we both kinda fizzled out after one year. Best of luck to you!

[exrider008]

Originally posted by Giz400ex
Words of advice, friends and business DO NOT WORK TOGETHER!!! I'm not sure on your arrangements but it could get ugly. Make sure you cover your butt:eek2:

ya my dad went into business with one of his good friends and now thay hate each other so watch out for that. good luck!

[mrusk]

I am 19 and run my own landscape construction co so i can give you good advice. #1 get the insurance and become a LLP. Limited liablity partnership. Before you guys form the business, figure out who will handle each part of the business. There is way more to the business than cutting down trees. Who will do the estimates? Maintences? Paper work? ETC

#2 KNOW YOUR OVERHEAD AND OPERATING COST. AKA don't work to cheap. You might do 500 bucks a day in tree work and think its good, but its not. Once you facture in your overhead ( truck, maintence on equipment, insurance, phones, uniforms, etc) you realize alot of the money disapears. Even though the truck will be paid for in full, it has to be factured in to your overhead and you have to all take in account depreciation.

Once you figure your over head out, and ad in your payroll and desired profit (profit is not what you make, its what is left over in the business) that is what you need to make a hour. But regardless of your overhead, DO NOT WORK FOR UNDER $60 per a man hour!

#3 ADVERTISE! Don't be afraid to advertise. Most tree jobs are going to be done in under a day, so you will need to bring alot of leads in. Service directory in the news paper works good. Make sure all trucks are lettered, and that you have job site signs out at all times. For the first year expect to spend 10% of expected gross on advertising. Don't be afraid, advertising works!

Matt

[mrusk]

I ran out of characters on that last post!

Always have a contract! When you start out in business you will have some down time. Just keep your head up and stay in the game. This is my 2nd year in bizs and the season just started up here. I have over 80k in estimates on the table. If i get them all i'd pull in about 40k pure profit in about 8 weeks.


Well i got estimates to work on, so thats all the advice i could give you right now. But good luck!

[JUSTINcredible]

thanks for the advice. I should also add that our current boss now is also going to be helping us with a lot of things. Im no stranger to bidding jobs as i have done this at my current job now.

thanks again

[knighttime]

i'd start out slow, and make sure safety is the number one issue with your work.

it sounds like you are gonna do fine. i hope ya make a lot of money.

[jcv400ex]

Originally posted by JUSTINcredible


anyone have any tips or advice that could help us?

Have someone else write up the adds.....you can't spell worth the chit! :devil: Good luck to ya.

[red2004 TRX450R]

don't do a LLP do a LLC or s-corporation.
partnerships suck if people want to get in or out of the business.

Spend the money and go talk to a business lawyer.

My one sister has a LLC and my mother and other sister have a s-corporation. I have a business degree and they pay me because i am there CFO.

if you have any questions just ask.

[Evana13]

when a customer asked how long it will take say a little longer than it will so you look good when you get done early

Originally posted by Evana13
when a customer asked how long it will take say a little longer than it will so you look good when you get done early thats what my 4 wheeler stealership does. they also give higher prices and when you actually pay they lower it a little and you feel better ;)