how bout our stimulus?

[thattreeguy]

Im curious, how many other tree co's are just on the verge of going under (financially)?

Its been so slow, and so competitive that ive let 3 people go over the last 2 months. i kept 1 guy for now, 1 fired, 1 laid off, 1 found other work on his own.

Now when it supposed to be busy ....its not. this is when i make my years $ and pay off everything.

All the insurances are due for renewall, 2 of them audited our books and determined we did more in business last year than we thought we would so theyve each sent us another bill for going over last years anticipated income..Well this years income is way lower than last years , yet they still want their $ plus the coming renewalls.

I see the government handing out tax credits to people who may lose their homes, and all kinds of other bizzare shit.

Yet us the liscenced insured hardworking entrepreneaurs, are taking it.

The ins co's dont want to hear anything but when do they get their dough.

Theyve all sent me cancelations pending at the end of the month.

It takes everything i have to keep the rent paid, utilities going and food on the table besides try to keep the tree service afloat.

And here the pricks in the ins industry are trying to get more $ and can simply cancell you if you dont or cant comply.

Im like a roach and can survive anything, i just like having all my paper and lic's squared away, and i dont want to be sneaking around to do business.

The big jobs are all being under bid or done by people with suspended liscences. pl pd ins...etc

recently lost a couple jobs that i couldnt believe the other guys would do them for so cheap. I know they lost their asses, so what was the point..
Ever since john almost got killed working for us, i dont under bid big tree removals anymore. maybe by a couple hundred bucks but thats it

locally some of the grants that wre available were great....but slated for minority owned businesses...wtf? how can we do set asides and evry thing else yet let mom n pops co's go down. the work didnt even get awarded.

and im so close to the chp rolling me in my chip truck, when that happens, theyll impound it, i cant afford it to happen, cant afford not to use it though.

Hoping for a huge storm, or my wife to win the lottery when im at acrt.

anyone else in the same boat? or near ?

 

[MasterBlaster]

I'm the slowest I've ever been, but I think just about everyone's in that boat.

 

[simplypete]

I'm just starting out. How do you think I feel. I am leaning on my wife pretty hard. I just hope my wife can support us untill things start looking up.
Sorry to hear about hardships. Specially when you know the people work very hard and deserve a piece of the pie.

 

[Strikermike]

I am in the same boat here. I am slower than I have been in 15 years. I just refinanced my house so now i will be able to survive on 500.00 a week. I can usually make that much without even trying. Hope I just didn't jinx myself.

 

[sawinredneck]

It's dead here as well. We've refinanced, saved a car payment a month, I've always managed in the past, been able to work on this or that, whatever payed, but even those jobs are scarce, nobody wants to spend money unless they HAVE to spend it! Freinds and family are my main clientele right now, not a good way to live!
It's as bad as I have ever seen it and "real jobs" are nonexistant around here.

 

[thattreeguy]

anything over $600.00 goes out for multiple bids........if it's over that ....someone else will pretty much get it

ive never been this slow

 

[NeTree]

It's slow but steady here, at the moment.

 

[jefflovstrom@sb]

Am I gonna get Boo'd

I don't want to jinx me, but, honestly, I ( we) have , don't think have been this busy in the last 9 years. Great year.

 

[SkwerI]

Jeff, I'm doing well also. But I consider myself fortunate to have found and established my niche in the market. Everything I do is focused on helping other companies make money. Every time they call me, they know I will help them make more money than if they do the job without me. So even though work is slow around here, my phone keeps ringing often enough to keep me working 4-5 days per week.

Again, I'm very fortunate to be where I'm at today.

 

[NeTree]

Lord knows Brian helped me make money the week he came up to help when I was down a man.

 

[stehansen]

I'm slowing down a little now. Got a couple of bids to do now. About 5 weeks ago I did $250 for the whole week. After 6 months of being slow I was too broke to fix any equipment too.

 

[Tom_Scheller]

Only July, August, and September were slow... Ouch.

It's inexplicably starting to pick up now. I really need it to continue.

TombrokeinPA

 

[woodworkingboy]

Tree work is very slow here, and the crane operator came by complaining. His machine is just sitting there, and few independent operators in these parts are more connected than he is. Lots of potential work, but people are not wanting to spend the money. A heavy snow storm could be wicked.

 

[gf beranek]

My old Boss, younger than me, is down to one crew, 2 men, and maybe 3-4 days a week.

Two years ago it was two full crews, three men each, a stump grinder working, and me in the tree. 5 days a week and sometimes on weekends just to keep customers happy. The customer waiting list was 4-5 weeks long.

A storm front is supposed to roll in Monday with gusts expected to reach 50. Not a screamer, but it may produce some work.