Biggest Tree Company in England??

[NickinMids]

Fountains won a lot of contracts in recent times (mainly from Glendales), they went bust (well one arm of the company).

 

Connaught them brought up the contracts and went into Grounds and trees for LA, but they went into receivership.

 

I think they all under priced each other in the hope gold would appear from trees! Once they got all the contracts they all realised they would never make a profit.

 

I think they put all the unprofitable ones into one company name and left them! OCS acquired them and said to the clients pay more or drop the contract, they now manage some of them so I guess some Councils said ok.

 

Fountains went back to site clearance, power lines etc where I guess is where consistent work comes from.

 

As for big players, Glendales were big, but you don't see or hear much from them. G&T did try the midlands and north, but seem to be more south of Birmingham now. City Sub are growing but only in the London area.

 

Amey are also growing and growing! they have won a big contract in Birmingham and do a lot of the tree work now (as part of the super contract). They also do a lot of Highway agency roads and motorways, and I think they are also doing more tree works there as well. They have also just won Staffordshire so will have to see what they do there as well.[/QUOTE]

 

Amey are everywhere around Brum and Solihull. God knows how they make any money on trees the speed they work at

[tree79]

Think Amey are growing to be one of the biggest at the moment, they brought enterprise out.

plus they have Birmingham, Sheffield, and peterborougher contracts, plus some on Scottish power.

[Paul Cleaver]

once upon a time I would have said southern tree surgeons

[NI Tree]

you lot are wrong if its on the books it has to be the fc

[Paul Jenks]

How about, who's the biggest privately owned tree surgery company? Most of the ones mentioned so far, FC excepted, are not pure tree companies. Mostly they see tree surgery as a cash cow addition to grass cutting, shrub maintenance and litter picking. They all have attritional relationships with their clients and workers alike.

[jaime bray]

Paul, on that basis is why I said city suburban. Solely arbs, i reckon they got nearly 130 on books.

[R5log]

Hi-line?

[Darrin Turnbull]

Royal Forestry Society

[ReubenHayes]

Personally I would also say its not only the number of people on the books, its also the quality of the work staff, ethics of the company, how they treat the clients (of both large contracts and the person who has the tree in the back garden). Do they pay on time etc. When you start looking at the whole picture then I would have to say the small to medium sized companies that are the best and probably represent the biggest segment.

 

All the big infrastructure companies are buying up big contracts to run all services, that way is one service fails the others will help to prop it up. I don't like they way it is going, as big companies will buy out small tree teams and run them down on costs. Personally I always see that its hard to be a big tree company as there are high over heads and little returns (compared to other large contracts). The likes of Amey come in with a view that the tree climber can climb a tree one day and use a mower the other day. This means they reduce the quality of the tree surgeons expertise and reduce their pay to fit it in with their models.

[HertsWood]

I've been in the industry since late eighties, when Fountains was a small forestry outlet in the North, and the big players were; Southern Tree Surgeons in the south, George Walker Tree Care, Salcey Arb & Midland Tree Surgeons in the Midlands/North....