Need my first "big saw" advice on ms46x's?

I tend to laugh at the whole moonlighting thing. It's your knowledge. As long as you hussle your own work and don't steal work from me. Use your own equipment. And by that I mean I send you out under my name and you sell yourself while on my time. If your buddy's mom calls you and you want the job, it never went through me. Also don't limp into work and then pretend you got hurt on my time.
 
treesmith said:
I think the poaching is what makes an employer act the way TH’s now ex-boss acted. When I’m the sub, I’m the sub. Anyone coming up and asking for a card or a quote gets referred to whomever I’m working for. Several years ago, I was climbing for a guy in a nearby town. That evening, my phone rang. A guy in that neighborhood had gotten my number off my truck and wanted a quote on some work. I told him that job was someone else’s and he’d need to contact them and gave him the number. Texted to other guy to tell him he’d be getting a call. He never even thanked me. A year or so later, he was flashing a copy of my insurance around as his own. Then cut a tree one day (too cheap to call me in)….it didn’t hit his customer’s house…it hit the neighbor’s house… We no longer work together…
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This is the way honorable people do it. I also worked as a sub for most of my career. Everyone I worked for knew I would never take their leads. I was always kicking leads back to the guys I worked for, because I preferred working as a sub and had no interest in biting the hands that fed me. When you're honest then you assume others are honest as well. People who assume you are going to steal their clients are usually not honorable IMO.

Anyway, best of luck with your newest job tryout. Lots of awesome advice posted here from an awesome group of arborists. Every single person who has posted has your best interests in mind. There's a collective of hundreds of years of experience here, and some of them are pretty smart as well. :lol:
 
Yup. You are working for someone else. Don't sell yourself on their time. Work that on your own time. Build your own customer base. Again...on your own time. Someone comes to you on company time give them the company's number.
 
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  • #255
I like it all guys thanks. Another question. If I started my own business and wanted to get my general liability insurance for climbing. Me being the only employee. What are some averages and recommendations?
 
Well you don't need worker comp. And you don't have to deal with osha. Still need insurance in case you drop a tree on a house or anything else! Lol
 
Get a quote from an insurance agent and then go from there. 2 million coverage is i think what i got, and it's pretty reasonable, just a few bucks a day. Make sure you specify that you are doing residential tree removal and pruning, not landscaping. They have different rates obviously, and if you are only landscaping they likely won't cover you if somethings damaged.
 
TINYHULK said:
I like it all guys thanks. Another question. If I started my own business and wanted to get my general liability insurance for climbing. Me being the only employee. What are some averages and recommendations?
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You will need to find a good independent agent who specializes in small business liability insurance. you can expect to pay $1000-2000 per year minimum for business liability coverage.
But I recommend you focus on learning your trade and sharpening your skills before jumping out on your own. Willingness doesn't make up for lack of experience. You need to learn the trade by working with others who have more experience. You can't do that if you're working on your own.
 
Im so glad to read your update. Hope your next place of employment is awesome.

I'll second what skwerl said. Get some time under your belt before going solo. The learning curve is pretty steep and you'll likely pick up good tricks working with others.

Wear a helmet and eye and ear protection religiously, and chainsaw chaps or pants when running saws on the ground. Don't let people tease you about it. Once you're more experienced you can make decisions for yourself, but stack the deck in your favor when learning.
 
What Ruel said on the PPE. Folks that poo poo PPE...ignore them...idjits. It only takes a small piece of stuff (wood, chip from a saw chain, rock, whatever) to end an eye. Only a nick with a saw to a leg to end normal life. You need those ears working well, use PPE.

Folks that don't use eyes, ears and helmets are idjits. Don't let them influence your behaviors. You know best.
 
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  • #261
My desire to start a business was never to go it on my own but mainly because of the desire to purchase a home in 1.5 years. If the work already being done by me for a friend/church member could then be claimed as profit then it would help in the long term with showing more profit and having more saved to buy a home at better rates.
 
You can buy a home with no money but a job. Just go sign on the dotted line and start learning about debt and credit. If you wanna do this you will likely need to know and use it.
 
TINYHULK said:
So its nearing the time for me to get a bigger saw for some felling and bucking down spars. Right now my heart is with the ms462 with full wrap handle and 28in bar. Husky is almost all out of question for me due to there being absolutely no dealers in the saws above the 460 rancher. Im in southeast Virginia and there normally isn't a need for anything past a 28in bar and the trees that are could easily get cut from both sides. This would be my only saw other than my top handle (echo cs355t 16in bar, would have went stihl but 201tc issues scared me away). Was just looking at local sales and a guy is selling a used 461 for $600. So a used one for half the price of a new one with a bark box and the guy said it runs good. Haven't got ahold of him yet but would are calls thoughts?
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Yes. 462 with 3/4 wrap handle is the nicest thing out there. With 28” Light it’s nice - but with 25” it’s Perfect.
 
Lol that's my method of course Scott, but he's still likely gonna need to use credit in his life. Paying a mortgage rather than rent is about one of the best decisions a young person can make, gaining net worth rather than paying for someone else's. Especially if you buy one deeply discounted that you then fix yourself, and buy well within your means, you will do well. Better yet for now, if it's a possibility, live with your folks until you got a pile saved up. Live cheap while you can, once you add a wife and kids everything changes and you have to be set up by then. It's far easier to take risks and hustle when you don't have the responsibility of a family.
 
The sooner you pay off a mortgage, the tremendously less you pay in interest.

You can make priciple-only payments on top of your INTERESt-principLE payment.

Mortgage insurance may be required unless you have 20% down. Extra money that you'd rather have going to PRINCIPLE.
 
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  • #268
Looks great! Yes I did move back in with my parents. Went through a divorce and at the same time my father got diagnosed with cancer. So I moved back home to begin my life restart and to save to buy a home. So if things workout tomorrow with this new company. He already spoke complete support of me having my own business and expressed that he would be all for just paying me more and through the business so that I could show profits and of course it would be cheaper for him as well (hence why I could get paid more). Im finding tree climbing insurance prices of between $50-90 a month at a 1mil policy. Which I have no problem doing that. Would make my annual taxes easier and give me the opportunity to do my own occasional side work for a friend/church member. If I can do 50k this year then I would be in the situation to buy a home next year. So in leu of starting a business I need a name: Here are a few ideas I have

Tiny Hulk Tree Care


Peake Tree Care. (Peake is a play on word to the city I live in, plus could point to the peak of a tree in a logo)


Preservatree (Preserv-A-Tree)


Peake Arbor Solutions

Any suggestions or ideas? I like the idea of aiming the business towards quality pruning, canopy reduction, and dead wood removal. I have a good eye for that type of work and would be less debris to handle til I get a dump trailer.
 
I would avoid Jokey tree company names. Might be fun at first but if you get bigger and grow and start tendering for contracts…. Tiny Hulk Tree Care looks a bit unprofessional.

Peak Arbor Solutions sounds a professional outfit.
 
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  • #271
I think I like that one the most. The city I live in is Chesapeake, so that's the play on spelling it "Peake." Is that even necessary?
I like it lxs. when you google arbor solutions it comes up with a corporation in Michigan.
 
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  • #273
Just saw a name generator suggestion of "American Tree Masters." Kinda funny after you mentioning that skwerl.
 
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  • #275
lol, when I first read that "American tree masters" my first thought was someone has a high opinion of there work but hey, if you are the one actually delivering on your claim then 😎 bet most of the other guys aren't. I really want my focus to be something in pruning. I could always do a generalized business name and have my DBA be what the company is currently focused on. Much easier to change a DBA in the future
 
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