Running a business
Approved contractor and credential-check schemes for tree work
Some associations assess whole tree businesses, and some run a search that shows whether a person holds a credential.
Running a tree business
Starting, insuring and running a tree business: registration, insurance, contracts, tax offices and the calculators that use your own numbers.
44 pages in this topic. Each guide names its sources and the date they were read.
Starting a business
Open
Running a business
Checking a tree company: public registers and licence lookups by country
Free public lookups can show whether a tree business is registered, licensed, covered for injury or has a safety record.
Law & permits
Licence numbers on ads and vehicles: what the boards of California, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington say
Four state boards say in writing that a tree business must print its licence or registration number on advertising, and two of them also say how big the number must be on a vehicle.
Running a business
Starting a tree service: licences and registrations by country
What official pages say a new tree business has to register or hold in each country, from state tree licences in the US to tax numbers in Australia and New Zealand.
Law & permits
Tree waste and chip rules: burning, chipping and carrying brush, place by place
How official sources describe the rules for disposing of limbs, brush, stumps and chips from tree work: open burning limits, exemptions for land clearing, and the paperwork for carrying waste.
Tool
Break-even calculator
Type fixed costs, a price per unit and a variable cost per unit to see how many units cover all costs.
Directory
Business registries and tax offices, country by country
Company registries and tax offices a small tree business deals with, in each country's directory page.
Liability and business insurance
Insurance
Subcontracting as a climber: questions to ask about cover
Working as a subcontractor or contract climber changes who pays for injury cover.
Insurance
What tree-work insurance covers, and what it doesn't
The main kinds of cover a tree company carries, in each of the five countries, as official pages describe them.
Insurance
Workers' comp for tree work in the US: the class code and published rates by state
How US rating bureaus and state funds sort tree work into a class, and the figure each one publishes per US$100 of payroll.
Insurance
Workers' compensation and ACC levy rates for tree work: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK
The rates the official injury schemes publish for tree work, place by place, with the class each one uses and the year of the rate.
Money, tax and equipment finance
Tool
Break-even calculator
Type fixed costs, a price per unit and a variable cost per unit to see how many units cover all costs.
Tool
Hourly rate builder
Type the yearly costs of running a business, the pay wanted for the year and the billable hours in the year to see the hourly figure they add up to.
Pricing removals and day rates
Tool
Margin and markup calculator
Type a cost and one of a price, a margin or a markup to see the other figures.
Tool
Hourly rate builder
Type the yearly costs of running a business, the pay wanted for the year and the billable hours in the year to see the hourly figure they add up to.
Land clearing and big-job quoting
Tool
Job cost calculator
Type crew hours and an hourly cost, equipment hours and rates, and disposal and other costs to see a job total.
Bidding, estimates and sales
Tool
Margin and markup calculator
Type a cost and one of a price, a margin or a markup to see the other figures.
Tool
Job cost calculator
Type crew hours and an hourly cost, equipment hours and rates, and disposal and other costs to see a job total.
Consulting and reports
Certifications & courses
Becoming a consulting arborist: the credentials by country
The credentials and memberships consulting arborists hold in each country, and what the bodies behind them say about them.