How many tree services are there?

[cory]

Do you guys ever wonder? It seems like there must be a boatload, even though they are usually not in plain sight.

I personally virtually never work more than 10 miles from my house and the norm is rarely more than 5 miles one way. And lets say there are say 6 tree services in my main work area that are doing most of the work there. And if you say that model is reasonably accurate to many other areas of the country, then, that's one heckuva lot of tree services in the nation to service all the trees in all the different geographic areas. And it seems virtually every area of USA has trees to be worked on. And it means if you go say 15 miles away from me there is a whole new set of guys doing the treework in that area, relatively close to me yet completely uninfluenced by me or me them.

It's just interesting to me that something like tree work that might seem to be kind of a specialized niche thing it actually widespread and the country is fairly densely populated with folks taking care of all the trees that need it in their area. Of course many folks may be commuting to do the tree work (I used to commute 1 hr door to door for years to work for a previous employer) but by hook or crook, the work that needs to be done gets done by those who prefer to make their living doing tree work.

And this concept brings to mind the amazingly huge amount of treework there is to do cuz the trees are Always Growing.

 

[sotc]

My County is 2800 square miles with 200, 000 people. I cover all that area and then some. I'd guess 30 companies located within the County semi legally and more under the radar outfits

 

[woodworkingboy]

That tree work guys in the states can stay so busy that they don't need other occupations to supplement, America might be one of the few places that it's the case. I think it might be less due to all the trees, compared to the people owning them that think that having the trees worked on is an essential service that they must pay for and take advantage of. It's a real good thing and another of the benefits that living in the states has to offer. I know people here that have tree work on a daily basis, but residential jobs are a smaller percentage of it compared to logging. Ornamental pruners on the other hand, good ones seem to always stay busy, and often such that they can take the cold winter months off.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

2800+ is a lot of area, Willie.

I was just contemplating whether or not to go an hour away for a consultation at a vacation lake development, usually sticking to 15 to 20 miles, one way.

 

[PCTREE]

I too keep to a 10 mile radius, mostly because all my trucks are POS

 

[Tucker943]

My radius is shrinking now a days. I used to go to Mars for a good removsl but Im finding less need to and more fear of wear and tear from long heavy hauls.

 

[flushcut]

Having moved from Milwaukee ,56 miles one way, I still take care of the repeat custies but don't push for new ones up there. Where I am at now maybe a twenty mile radius and there has got to be 60 tree co.s, at a guess.

 

[Page]

I go up to an hour and a half away, mostly stay within 10 or 15 miles. I think there are 8 tree company's within 2 miles of me. pretty crazy

 

[HolmenTree]

I had to get the calculator out for this one.
My province of Manitoba is 251,000 square miles in size........... I'm the only tree service and arborist within 188,000 square miles of the northern 3/4 of Manitoba.
In this 188,000 square miles there is only 40,000 people.
I have no competition, no employees , no hassles

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I cover about a 35-45 mile radius depending... mountains are hard to just draw a circle in and get to the location
Not like Urbania....
20-30-1 hour depending on roads.. Often times gravel. Hwy speeds are down hill... LOL
Just going home is a 1200 foot rise in elevation in just less than 8 miles. 5 of those miles is 1000 feet of rise.

Willard, that is one crazy amount of area. If I have a job more than 45 minutes away, we camp out somewhere if we are going to be more than a day.

 

[HolmenTree]

Willard, that is one crazy amount of area. If I have a job more than 45 minutes away, we camp out somewhere if we are going to be more than a day.

Stephen, big area alright but mostly wilderness. I don't cover it all of course, maybe travel a few hundred miles if the job pays well enough, but I basically cover a radius of only 3 hr drive round trip. Lots of cottage country work around my town within 20 miles. But lately I'm swamped with work right here in town and putting the cottagers on the back burner.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[NickfromWI]

I can't remember who but someone told me there are approx 300 tree services in LA county.

The furthest I'll go is to Pasadena, Malibu or Long Beach which is about 30 miles from inglewood. 80% of the time we stay within a ten mile radius from our home base.

 

[cory]

I'm the only tree service and arborist within 188,000 square miles of the northern 3/4 of Manitoba.
In this 188,000 square miles there is only 40,000 people.
I have no competition, no employees , no hassles

That's good stuff Willard, but are you sure you are the only one?? There's gotta be more I gotta believe if there are 40k people there?

Interesting responses. Another way to think of it is, say if you lump together all the members of TH, TB, and AS, take that total and then what percentage of the total tree services are members of one of those forums, maybe 1%?

 

[PCTREE]

Not even.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Not a single tree person that I know here goes to any tree forums... not a one!

 

[HolmenTree]

That's good stuff Willard, but are you sure you are the only one?? There's gotta be more I gotta believe if there are 40k people there?

cory, when I mentioned 40,000 that is every farmer, kid, eskimo etc in the whole area.
Only 4 major towns the largest being 14,000 pop. I get hundreds of calls every year from paying customers for the past going on 13 yrs of my business and I'm the only arborist and tree service I'm told.
Only know of one guy who works in a local mine who does a little tree removal for locals every now and then......but he has no insurance, license and equipment ,just a pickup and saw. I guess he could be called a hack.

 

[Tucker943]

I don't know any tree rats in my region that use forums. There's 30 names in the book here. Probably 10 of those numbers are shut off from lack of payment, 10 are from 20-30 miles away, and 10 are in the actual region I service.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Probably 10 of those numbers are shut off from lack of payment

Subtle, Chris, subtle.

I wish certain tree services I know about could participate at the forum here. Dudes are polite, I tell ya, but they must not have bothered themselves with English lessons when in school.

 

[Tucker943]

Its true Jay. A third of the numbers under Tree Service are just the free one line listing the yellow pages offers and aren't really legitimate businesses. Customers have complained many times about calling for bids and getting dead end phone numbers.