Arborist Selling Tree Jobs

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Wanna have some fun? Call the city of Manhattan Beach planning Dept. Tell them you have to trim some ladies tree. It's in her back yard. Not a city tree. But she has a small driveway. You need to park your chiller truck on the street.

Report back how much the permit and the deposit are. Welcome to LA!


love
nick
 
I assure you we have me AND Karina working super full time in the office AND we are about to hire another office person. It's straight up insane.

Most of the tree laws are ok. The native tree protective ordinance can be tricky. And tree protection reports can be tricky. And making sure you know what city you're actually in so you know what rules to follow...that's the tricky one.


love
nick
 
I know. Crazy is normal here. I look at the prices we have to charge compared to the amount of work that gets done and on the surface it looks like total ripoff pricing. If you guys came and looked at what we charged, it sounds amazing...but then if I showed you my books you'd wonder, "how are you only profiting this much when you're charging THAT much?"

Beauracracy gets it!

We've talked about operating a little more cowboyish. No permits. Save the clients money. Roll the dice. But we'd get screwed. The crew would have to haul brush down the street past BMWs that we risk scratching. neighbors would straight up tell on us. Parking enforcement in Santa Monica would ticket us every time.

It's just not worth it. Crazy wins!
 
I have also learned lately that doing things on the slide to try to keep the cost of the job down is not worth it in the long run. I'm really starting to get anal about permits, rules, contracts, clauses, signagne blablabla just because it's not worth it to try to save the client money. If that's what it cost than that is what it cost and if they don't like it, they can hire the next guy that will take the risk!
 
matdand said:
I have also learned lately that doing things on the slide to try to keep the cost of the job down is not worth it in the long run. I'm really starting to get anal about permits, rules, contracts, clauses, signagne blablabla just because it's not worth it to try to save the client money. If that's what it cost than that is what it cost and if they don't like it, they can hire the next guy that will take the risk!
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Yep, silly to not play by the rules, not our fault it costs this much to do Tree work.
Had a competitor quote a client $500 extra for a $42 lane closure, "or no charge if we can do it on Saturday" :lol:
NickfromWI said:
1 sales man can do the job of 1 sales man. There is a limit. Eventually growth requires that second salesman


love
nick
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I'm feeling the need for help....
 
treetx said:
Trees inherently know how to make good decisions, they grow towards the light - they don't need an arborist to make good decisions. People unfortunately don't inherently make great decisions - an arborist can help.

.02
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Interesting perspective... not something you hear much about in plant biology ek???

IMO trees make decisions all the time and have their own intelligence that we can access if we learn how to reach them at their own level, which is hard to do with a chainsaw screaming..
Bix round here it's ussually 10%. One of the big companies that advertises heavily pays 6%, justifying the lower commision by saying the advertising is costing so much, the difference is made up in volume..
 
Best salesman I ever worked with came up one summer to work with the crew after a real bad ice storm in Feb. He'd just dissappear from the jobsite when there was a lull in the action and show up 20 minutes later with a 3000 job sold to a neighbor... he had that southern charm, and told me that the bigger the job was the less he would talk about trees.. Talk about ANYTHING ELSE first than eventually get around to the trees... NOt my style but it sure worked for him.. He put up good numbers. He'd make his daily rate plus 10% commission, was a good win win...
 
I don't pay anything for a lane closure, don't even need a permit. Just notify the local authority and crack on, I have the qualification for setting out temporary traffic lights etc.
 
I don't always follow up because I don't always have time. Some of the ones I have followed up with are now some of my best customers. The wealthier are wealthy many times because they work their ass off and just forget to call you back or wrapped up with their own business. Lots of times they don't try to negotiate and are very thankful. This is great thread because I either need another climber or a sales guy! 10% for new customers sounds worth the cost
 
Here is how I break it down and what I explain to employers for sub contract.

Do not send me to do your bids. Your previous customers are yours, you go bid them for what you want. If you insist that I go bid the job I will tell you up front that if I have the trucks and gear to do it I will do it without you. I will probably tell you this at least 10 times and again before I pull into the customers driveway. If I get the job I will pay you 3% for the lead. After that all bets are off. I will probably tell you that about 6 times. I don't want to do your bids. I am up to my eyeballs in work with my customer base who I can only service three days a week and no commission is going to be enough to justify taking away what little evening time I have with my daughter. You pay me to climb the bullshit trees your climber can't or won't do during the work day. If you send me off in my truck(which has my name and number on the side of it) to bid a job I am bidding it for my company.

If I am on your job and sell a job next door I don't want commission. That job is a product of your first job and you pay me good money to be there. On your job I will sell work for you and I do not want a commission. If I have anytime what-so-ever I am going to bang on doors near your job and try to sell you more work. I want some of your cards and estimate sheets in the morning. No shit I have a bid book with 9 different tree company bid sheets in it. At this point I can almost guarantee that I will sell enough work that it will at the least offset if not outright cover what I charge you a day to have me come out to your stupid dead Sycamore that goes over six houses, four service drops, and the most expensive mailbox in Ohio. Also that stupid dead Oak that 40' feet of was on fire, on a Sunday. If you throw me a bit of cash or buy me lunch that is on you. I sold that work expecting nothing.
 
NickfromWI said:
Woah woah woah stop the presses. Lane closure for FORTY TWO DOLLARS?!!!?!



love
nick
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Here it is free. Just make sure you are in state DOT compliance. The tickets can get pretty big. Have paid over $700 for having flags instead of slow/stop signs.
 
Lane closures depend on the area we are in. Some municipalities want a permit pulled and it's usually pretty cheap. Basically to let them know what's going on. County roads are easy as well. Some of the state routes can get a bit pricey for permits. Had one where they emailed a blue print for signage and cone layout and sent an inspector to check it. Most SR's are not like that though.
 
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