Draw Up a Tree Removal Contract

Start a tree service by following these 10 steps:

Plan your Tree Service
Form your Tree Service into a Legal Entity
Register your Tree Service for Taxes
Open a Business Bank Account & Credit Card
Set up Accounting for your Tree Service
Get the Necessary Permits & Licenses for your Tree Service
Get Tree Service Insurance
Define your Tree Service Brand
Create your Tree Service Website
Set up your Business Phone System

There is more to starting a business than just registering it with the state. We have put together this simple guide to starting your tree service. These steps will ensure that your new business is well planned out, registered properly and legally compliant.

Exploring your options? Check out other small business ideas.

STEP 1: Plan your business

A clear plan is essential for success as an entrepreneur. It will help you map out the specifics of your business and discover some unknowns. A few important topics to consider are:

What are the startup and ongoing costs?
Who is your target market?
How much can you charge customers?
What will you name your business?

Luckily we have done a lot of this research for you.

What are the costs involved in opening a tree service?

A tree service business' startup costs are typically between $10,000 and $50,000. It's a hefty sum, accounting for a business license, liability insurance, disability insurance, a warehouse, auto insurance, equipment insurance, umbrella insurance and workers' comp. The cost additionally includes your business's many equipment needs, including trucks, safety gear, ladders, chainsaws, a wood chipper, pruning shears, computers, wheelbarrows, invoicing software, an accounting system, a payroll system, business cards, a professional website and estimate forms.

What are the ongoing expenses for a tree service?

Firstly, a tree service provider must pay its technicians between $10 and $23, per hour, to work. This approximates to between $21,000 and $49,700 per year—on average. You'll need to purchase safety equipment whenever your current equipment is degraded or outdated. Gas, too, is a common expense. As part of your financial planning, you'll need to take care of vehicle and equipment depreciation. Aside from these expenses, much of your ongoing money will be directed towards promotion and insurance costs.

Who is the target market?

Tree service companies thrive when working for commercial clients. While you'll mostly encounter residential clients, commercial land owners require constant tree upkeep to maintain land permit standards. They're lucrative, professional and easy to work with. Because commercial property owners require consistent services, they're easy to profile—making services quick, effective and thus incredibly cost effective.

How does a tree service make money?

As a tree care provider, your business will make most of its money by maintaining various properties. While installation, removal and emergency services offer decent lump-sum payoffs, monthly trimming and pruning are far more reliable. Tree rescue, root removal, pressure cutting and branch removal, too, are lucrative jobs. Because they're in high demand—as not purchasing them can be disastrous—a tree service provider offering highly skilled services can make decent money.

How much can you charge customers?

You should charge clients between $75 and $1,400 per job, depending upon the task's complexity. Additionally, you can charge more if a lot of time—or a lot of risk—is involved. Artisan tree cutting and large projects, on average, cost more. If you want to be a competitive provider, consider offering free, or low-priced, emergency services.

How much profit can a tree service make?

Individual tree service providers, as stated above, make between $21,000 and $49,000 per year. A tree service business, however, can make about $100,000 to $200,000 in annual gross income. After expenses are deducted, annual profit is around $50,000. These profits are, however, based on average-sized tree service businesses—which are mostly small businesses. It's entirely possible to shoot past these numbers, becoming a preferred provider in your area.

How can you make your business more profitable?

Make the jump to commercial tree care as soon as possible, as it pays better, has more reliability and will fortify your promotion network. A lot of businesses have partners—and these partners can become your partners. Get good at networking, and prioritize quick, consistent services. Consider expanding your services to other outdoor or garden services for additional income.

What will you name your business?

Choosing the right name is important and challenging. If you don't already have a name in mind, visit our How to Name a Business guide or get help brainstorming a name with our Tree Service Name Generator

If you operate a sole proprietorship, you might want to operate under a business name other than your own name. Visit our DBA guide to learn more.

When registering a business name, we recommend researching your business name by checking:

Your state's business records
Federal and state trademark records
Social media platforms
Web domain availability.

It's very important to secure your domain name before someone else does.

STEP 2: Form a legal entity

The most common business structure types are the sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), and corporation.

Establishing a legal business entity such as an LLC or corporation protects you from being held personally liable if your tree service is sued.

Read our Guide to Form Your Own LLC

Have a Professional Service Form your LLC for You

Two such reliable services:

You can form an LLC yourself and pay only the minimal state LLC costs or hire one of the Best LLC Services for a small, additional fee.

Recommended: You will need to elect a registered agent for your LLC. LLC formation packages usually include a free year of registered agent services. You can choose to hire a registered agent or act as your own.

STEP 3: Register for taxes

You will need to register for a variety of state and federal taxes before you can open for business.

In order to register for taxes you will need to apply for an EIN. It's really easy and free!

You can acquire your EIN for free through the IRS website, via fax, or by mail. If you would like to learn more about EINs and how they can benefit your LLC, read our article, What is an EIN?.

Learn how to get an EIN in our What is an EIN guide or find your existing EIN using our EIN lookup guide.

Small Business Taxes

Depending on which business structure you choose, you might have different options for how your business will be taxed. For example, some LLCs could benefit from being taxed as an S corporation (S corp).

You can learn more about small business taxes in these guides:

LLC Taxes
Sole Proprietorship vs LLC
LLC vs Corporation
LLC vs S Corp
How to Start an S Corp
S Corp vs C Corp

There are specific state taxes that might apply to your business. Learn more about state sales tax and franchise taxes in our state sales tax guides.

STEP 4: Open a business bank account & credit card

Using dedicated business banking and credit accounts is essential for personal asset protection.

When your personal and business accounts are mixed, your personal assets (your home, car, and other valuables) are at risk in the event your business is sued. In business law, this is referred to as piercing your corporate veil.

Additionally, learning how to build business credit can help you get credit cards and other financing in your business's name (instead of yours), better interest rates, higher lines of credit, and more.

Open a business bank account

Besides being a requirement when applying for business loans, opening a business bank account:

Separates your personal assets from your company's assets, which is necessary for personal asset protection.
Makes accounting and tax filing easier.

Open net 30 accounts

Net 30 accounts are used to establish and build business credit as well as increase business cash flow. With a net 30 account, businesses buy goods and repay the full balance within a 30-day term.

NetMany net 30 credit vendors report to the major business credit bureaus (Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business, and Equifax Business Credit). This is how businesses build business credit so they can qualify for credit cards and other lines of credit.

Get a business credit card

Getting a business credit card helps you:

Separate personal and business expenses by putting your business' expenses all in one place.
Build your company's credit history, which can be useful to raise money later on.

Recommended: Apply for an easy approval business credit card from Divvy and build your business credit quickly.

STEP 5: Set up business accounting

Recording your various expenses and sources of income is critical to understanding the financial performance of your business. Keeping accurate and detailed accounts also greatly simplifies your annual tax filing.

Make LLC accounting easy with our LLC Expenses Cheat Sheet.

STEP 6: Obtain necessary permits and licenses

Failure to acquire necessary permits and licenses can result in hefty fines, or even cause your business to be shut down.

State & Local Business Licensing Requirements

Certain state permits and licenses may be needed to operate a tree service. Learn more about licensing requirements in your state by visiting SBA's reference to state licenses and permits .

Most businesses are required to collect sales tax on the goods or services they provide. To learn more about how sales tax will affect your business, read our article, Sales Tax for Small Businesses.

In addition, certain local licensing or regulatory requirements may apply. For more information about local licenses and permits:

Check with your town, city or county clerk's office
Get assistance from one of the local associations listed in US Small Business Associations directory of local business resources.

Services Contract

Tree services should require clients to sign a services agreement before starting a new project. This agreement should clarify client expectations and minimize risk of legal disputes by setting out payment terms and conditions, service level expectations, and intellectual property ownership. Here is an example of one such services agreement.

Recommended: Rocket Lawyer makes it easy to create a professional service agreement for your tree service business when you sign up for their premium membership. For $39.95 per month, members receive access to hundreds of legal agreements and on call attorneys to get complimentary legal advice.

STEP 7: Get business insurance

Just as with licenses and permits, your business needs insurance in order to operate safely and lawfully. Business Insurance protects your company's financial wellbeing in the event of a covered loss.

There are several types of insurance policies created for different types of businesses with different risks. If you're unsure of the types of risks that your business may face, begin with General Liability Insurance. This is the most common coverage that small businesses need, so it's a great place to start for your business.

Learn more about General Liability Insurance.

Another notable insurance policy that many businesses need is Workers' Compensation Insurance. If your business will have employees, it's a good chance that your state will require you to carry Workers' Compensation Coverage.

STEP 8: Define your brand

Your brand is what your company stands for, as well as how your business is perceived by the public. A strong brand will help your business stand out from competitors.

If you aren't feeling confident about designing your small business logo, then check out our Design Guides for Beginners, we'll give you helpful tips and advice for creating the best unique logo for your business.

If you already have a logo, you can also add it to a QR code with our Free QR Code Generator. Choose from 13 QR code types to create a code for your business cards and publications, or to help spread awareness for your new website.

How to promote & market a tree service

It is a good idea to directly approach local businesses. As for homeowners, focus on a landing page. Promote yourself via social media, and make sure you're getting a lot of visibility. Because disposable incomes are slightly rising, expert jobs are increasing in demand.

How to keep customers coming back

To attract customers, focus on areas which experience a lot of tree damage or tree care needs. Golf courses, schools, beaches and parks are fantastic commercial areas. If you're focusing on residential landscapes, target medium to high-income neighborhoods. These locations, often, are comprised of valuable hardscape, vehicles and homes. For this reason, tree care is important. Customer retention, for the most part, will be secured by offering quick, effective services. Much of tree care is ordered on an emergency basis. That said, being noninvasive during monthly services is a great way to retain customers.

Still unsure about what kind of business you want to start? Check out the latest Small Business Trends to help inspire you.

STEP 9: Create your business website

After defining your brand and creating your logo the next step is to create a website for your business.

While creating a website is an essential step, some may fear that it's out of their reach because they don't have any website-building experience. While this may have been a reasonable fear back in 2015, web technology has seen huge advancements in the past few years that makes the lives of small business owners much simpler.

Here are the main reasons why you shouldn't delay building your website:

All legitimate businesses have websites - full stop. The size or industry of your business does not matter when it comes to getting your business online.
Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website that you own.
Website builder tools like the GoDaddy Website Builder have made creating a basic website extremely simple. You don't need to hire a web developer or designer to create a website that you can be proud of.

Using our website building guides, the process will be simple and painless and shouldn't take you any longer than 2-3 hours to complete.

Other popular website builders are: WordPress, WIX, Weebly, Squarespace, and Shopify.

STEP 10: Set up your business phone system

Getting a phone set up for your business is one of the best ways to help keep your personal life and business life separate and private. That's not the only benefit; it also helps you make your business more automated, gives your business legitimacy, and makes it easier for potential customers to find and contact you.

There are many services available to entrepreneurs who want to set up a business phone system. We've reviewed the top companies and rated them based on price, features, and ease of use. Check out our review of the Best Business Phone Systems 2022 to find the best phone service for your small business.

Recommended Business Phone Service: Phone.com

Phone.com is our top choice for small business phone numbers because of all the features it offers for small businesses and it's fair pricing.

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