Finland anyone ?

[Mattarb]

I can't speak for finland really, but I can speak for the neighbour, Sweden.

 

We have one school in the very very south end, and I think they've educated around 150 arborists in the last 10 years (before then we had nothing).

 

I know there are a couple of arborist companies in and around stockholm, which is less than halfway up sweden, but I don't really know of any working much higher up than that.

 

also, Finland doesn't have a lot of cities up north, with no cities there's rarely call for arborists in my experience.

[born2trot]

I can't speak for finland really, but I can speak for the neighbour, Sweden.

 

We have one school in the very very south end, and I think they've educated around 150 arborists in the last 10 years (before then we had nothing).

 

I know there are a couple of arborist companies in and around stockholm, which is less than halfway up sweden, but I don't really know of any working much higher up than that.

 

also, Finland doesn't have a lot of cities up north, with no cities there's rarely call for arborists in my experience.

 

I was thinking of Oulu which has a population of about 190,000 .. That's as far north as is practical on my reckoning on tree size /population ratio if that makes sense ..

[tommyg]

Hi! I moved to Finland nearly 3 years ago with my Finnish girlfriend. We live in Kokkola, its about 2 hours south of Oulu. Tree care is pretty much non exsistant in Northern Finland. Most arborists are in and around the Helsinki/Tampere areas. I think the reason for this is purely that there is little demand here. As someone mentioned before the further north you go the smaller the trees are. It seems that every town has some old boy with a cherry picker who will prune or cut down trees. I had to go self employed and start doing my own thing because there were just no jobs. When i tell people i climb trees they think I'm crazy even the big forestry firms like UPM don't use arborists up here. Slowly the bigger city local authorities are taking an interest in tree care but there is not so much work. Trees don't grow so quick out here . There is one arborist in Oulu but i think he's just a one man band. You could check out the Finnish Tree Care Association 'Suomen Puunhoidon Yhdistys '. I don't want to put a downer on your plans, the country is great but the language is a nightmare!!! The south is probably better for tree care opportunities.

[born2trot]

Hi! I moved to Finland nearly 3 years ago with my Finnish girlfriend. We live in Kokkola, its about 2 hours south of Oulu. Tree care is pretty much non exsistant in Northern Finland. Most arborists are in and around the Helsinki/Tampere areas. I think the reason for this is purely that there is little demand here. As someone mentioned before the further north you go the smaller the trees are. It seems that every town has some old boy with a cherry picker who will prune or cut down trees. I had to go self employed and start doing my own thing because there were just no jobs. When i tell people i climb trees they think I'm crazy even the big forestry firms like UPM don't use arborists up here. Slowly the bigger city local authorities are taking an interest in tree care but there is not so much work. Trees don't grow so quick out here . There is one arborist in Oulu but i think he's just a one man band. You could check out the Finnish Tree Care Association 'Suomen Puunhoidon Yhdistys '. I don't want to put a downer on your plans, the country is great but the language is a nightmare!!! The south is probably better for tree care opportunities.

Hi Tommy thankyou for the reply , it's good to here from someone with first hand experience , although all replies are much appreciated .

My intention would be to go self employed , I really don't want to work for someone else anymore if I can help it , although initially it may be a needs must thing .Maybe I would need something else apart from treework.

Yeh I've started learning a bit of Finnish and think it may take me about 30 years to learn !!

If you're looking for another climber this year ( about summer time I'm recuperating from a knee op ) feel free to give me a PM and I can come up no problem , with all own kit . Kind regards

[Craig Johnson]

I attended a 'Finnish tree care association' a few years back and tree care is really only done by the local councils in the big towns in the south. On the plus side though 40% of the members of the association are female !

[tommyg]

Thanks for the offer born2trott. Keep in touch if you do end up moving out here, if i can help in any other way give me a shout.

[born2trot]

R

Thanks for the offer born2trott. Keep in touch if you do end up moving out here, if i can help in any other way give me a shout.

 

Cheers Tommy , I'll give you a shout if i come out ( geographically speaking ) !!!

Edited April 3, 2016 by born2trot