I'm considering a career change, becoming a tree surgeon/arborist - help

[Smurf]

Hi guys, I'm brand new to the forum and I have never worked in Tree/Arboriculture world before but I am considering it as a potential career or own business start-up. I don't really know exactly what is involved in becoming a professional Tree Surgeon or Arborist or even if there is a difference between those two terms, so I have loads of questions that I would appreciate a bit of input on from some of you guys in the field.

 

Firstly, I am not 16 and thinking of this as a future career, I am 40 and I have recently given up working on the railways after 10 years of permanent nights and weekends all very far from home (I have also been an electricians mate and welder fabricator amongst other things) so I am looking for a career that can support my family whilst giving me more sociable hours and more local work and a good opportunity to work for myself. I like the outdoors, have no fear of heights and have used chainsaws before (used them on the railway to cut back branches trackside that may obstruct lines, accesses and signals etc and to trim sleepers) - so I quite like the idea of making my living in the outdoors in this area.

 

I don't actually have much knowledge about trees, I know a Leylandii from an Oak tree and could identify a few more types of tree but that's about it. I have no climbing experience, at least not with ropes but I used to climb trees a lot as a kid and teenager as I'm sure we all did.

 

So some of things I would initially like a bit of advice on are...

1) Is this a reasonably accessible career path for a guy my age with no real experience so far in this area? Obviously I understand I will need training and some experience but what training will I need as a minimum and roughly what are the timescales and costs? I have looked around online for training courses but the companies offering the training offer different things and say their course is what you need plus I've seen degree courses even which is not really a possibility for me as I need to earn fairly quickly.

2) What is the industry like at the moment in terms of employment/earning prospects? Is it affected by the recession at all, is there a need for more tree guys or is it a saturated market with not enough work to go around. How seasonal is the work in terms of bringing money in all year round.

3) I have been looking at some of the equipment required and have priced some stuff up but I suppose until I have some training and experience I won't really know exactly what is needed to do the job but I need to roughly know what my minimum start-up costs would be for equipment if I wanted to equip myself to fell and process small/medium trees.

 

I know I am asking for a lot of info here guys and sorry it's such a long winded first post but I'm just trying to assess whether it would be at all feasible for me to make my living in this field as it's something I could really see myself doing. Thanks in advance for any input.

[Kennedy]

Why not try getting a job with someone local who does this kind of work, even a weekend helping, see if you like it, get an idea of what to do and equipment needed, you might love it or hate it, but find out first before you spend your money.

[hazzygawa]

As above.

[easy-lift guy]

Why not try getting a job with someone local who does this kind of work, even a weekend helping, see if you like it, get an idea of what to do and equipment needed, you might love it or hate it, but find out first before you spend your money.

 

Capital Idea!, try it it may grow on you.

easy-lift guy

[skyhuck]

 

 

2) What is the industry like at the moment in terms of employment/earning prospects? Is it affected by the recession at all, is there a need for more tree guys or is it a saturated market with not enough work to go around. How seasonal is the work in terms of bringing money in all year round.

:

 

You could not really have chosen a worse time to try and and enter the industry, saturated really is the truth.

 

Many old established firm are shedding staff and some are even closing down.

 

Just last night I was talking to a friend of one of my local competitors, he was telling me that they has had to diversify into landscaping and selling coal (they already do fencing)

 

After the boom there are more firms than ever before and there is very little work.

 

I'm keeping going, but know that much of my work is won on price alone, which is far from ideal.

[Hodge]

You could not really have chosen a worse time to try and and enter the industry, saturated really is the truth.

 

Many old established firm are shedding staff and some are even closing down.

 

Just last night I was talking to a friend of one of my local competitors, he was telling me that they has had to diversify into landscaping and selling coal (they already do fencing)

 

After the boom there are more firms than ever before and there is very little work.

 

I'm keeping going, but know that much of my work is won on price alone, which is far from ideal.

 

It's bloody soul destroying up here at the moment, it's all on price now not quality of work, I was talking to a mate who said he had been to price a tree and was the 7th quote!! I went and looked at a large Connie with wires everywhere and it's a day for me and climber and moving the wood, I gave them the price and it was my base price to cover costs and wages and they said the had had a cheaper quote, by 200 quid!! I had put £450 on it.

[White Noise]

You could not really have chosen a worse time to try and and enter the industry, saturated really is the truth.

 

Many old established firm are shedding staff and some are even closing down.

 

Just last night I was talking to a friend of one of my local competitors, he was telling me that they has had to diversify into landscaping and selling coal (they already do fencing)

 

After the boom there are more firms than ever before and there is very little work.

 

I'm keeping going, but know that much of my work is won on price alone, which is far from ideal.

 

So so true . Same down here not much about and we are now doing landscaping again .

[Horatio]

I think all you guys are sugar coating the real answer to this question.......

Unfortunately you are too old to start in this game. Maybe if you had some sort of previous relevant experience. You would be staring not as a grounds man but a twig picker/ branch dragger. Look on previous threads to see the type of money that you could be earning. £50-60 for a dragger £65-100 for a proper groundy.

There are climbers and then there are climbers. I know one "conifer expert climber who is on £100 per day then another guy is an arborist climber and he is a snip at £200 per day. To get to £200 per day comes with a great deal of experience and time, there is no coarse for that i'm afraid

Look luck though hope I am wrong.

Horatio

[Jesse]

I'm considering a career change, thinking of going to work in Tesco's

[skyhuck]

I'm considering a career change, thinking of going to work in Tesco's

 

Have you got their number???? please post it here