New boy starting from scratch!

[T33eco]

I'd agree with codlasher

[New Boy]

Hi All, Thank you all for taking the time to give me your honest/blunt comments, I appreciate your time and your honesty etc.

 

All the best

 

New Boy

[Guss109]

My story is I did my 30/31 and did a bit of weekend work then jacked my job in and went on my own. It's been hard graft and I do grass cutting during the season as don't get enough tree work to fill in every week. Do your course and learn from it but also find yourself a good subby climber that you can learn from and work with. This way has worked for me so far but just buy the tools you need as you need them as it will keep the costs down

[MattyF]

I think you can do it.As long as you have large financial resources to carry you along whilst your establishing your business,might be three or more years before you have a steady year round income from your company.Or perhaps you can work part time in another vocation?

 

I have had no formal training in Arboriculture but I did have 11 years experiance and alot of money behind me before starting up.

 

Didn't you have years of forestry experience in Nz as well!

[Gus McWilliam]

What profession are you in atm?

[Quercus-90]

Hi All,

 

This is my first of hopefully many posts on the forum, also unsure if this post will work as i am having some tech difficulty!!!!!

 

I would like to ask the members for some advice please if I may. Having recently had my midlife crisis I have decided to completely change my career and have decided to re-train to become a tree surgeon and work for myself. Working for myself is something that I feel strongly about after 25 years of not doing so. This is something I have thought about for many years but never taken the plunge! I am planning to attend a four week course in early 2014 to gain the basic qualifications and then start very slowly conducting minor works to begin with etc. My main question at this early stage is what level of investment I should be considering in terms of purchasing equipment and am I mad!!! I would also like to post the name of the training provider I intend to use in order to gain some feedback on them but am unsure if this would be allowed on this forum?

 

Thank you

 

New Boy

 

Firstly all the best of luck too you, arb work can be an active rewarding industry to work in!

 

Started my own setup 2 years or so ago from no experience (ish)

And all I can say is the world and his wife are tree surgeons now..... I was in honey bro's just the other day and there were three guys buying full sets of kit, all fresh out of intensive courses on the lookout for work/experience.

 

I love my work, but it can be a tough market. Biggest issues are initial cost of kit, insurance, staff.... Etc etc competition on price for work, so many seem to be willing to work for wages

 

 

 

 

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[New Boy]

Thanks guys, good luck to you all!

[New Boy]

Could any of you guys recommend any good study books please?

 

Thanks

[treecreeper arb]

Claus matthecks guides.The stupsi and pauli the bear books are good,as is VTA field guide

Modern arboriculture by A.L Shigo

Trees;their natural history by Peter Thomas(brilliant book)

Diagnosis of Ill health in trees..Strouts and winter

Principles of tree hazard assessment and management(David Lonsdale)essential!!!

Roger phillips tree and fungi guides

Collins tree and fungi guides

Arb association publications..Fungi field guide is good

Trees by Bob Watson

Pruning of trees shrubs and conifers..George E Brown

To fell a tree..Jeff Jepson

 

Most of these should be available from summerfield books or treesource.

 

All the best.

[raker]

Its hard to get started.I`d been doing it as a sideline for about six years.I took redundancy earlier this year, bought a couple of big ticket items, and hired a yard off a mate.

Bottom line is, i dont do a great deal of treework.Its mostly landscaping, building sheds,digging out hedges,fencing, felting roofs, site clearances, digger work.A lot of it i have absolutely no interest in.A tree job is a breath of fresh air sometimes, and i`ve had a few come in just lately as word of mouth gets around, but its not what i expected, all full of enthusiasm.