Find yourself a good owner-operator crew, regardless of the home service industry.
We just had a cleaning crew come to our house, five ladies total. They cleaned the entire house in about an hour. In and out. Their rates were very fair, and one of the five people actually doing the cleaning was the owner.
That matters more than people realize.
The same person we work with on scheduling and agreeing on a fair price is also standing in our house doing the work. There aren’t multiple layers between the customer and the person actually responsible for getting the job done. If something changes, we can text her. If we need to move the schedule, we can text her. If there’s a question about price or scope, we’re talking directly to the person who can make the decision.
I see the same thing in the tree service industry.
There are plenty of owner-operator tree crews out there. Find one or two good ones, or just one really good one that you trust, and the process can be incredibly simple. They show up, get the job done, clean up and leave, just like the cleaning crew did for us today.
That doesn’t mean the smallest company is always the best choice. Some tree jobs require expensive equipment, additional crew members, specialized climbing or rigging skills, cranes, lifts, insurance, or a company with enough resources to handle a larger or more complicated project. That’s one reason tree companies like ours exist and why different business models make sense for different jobs.
But there is a sweet spot for owner-operators.
If the job fits what their crew does well, they can have extremely low overhead and very little administrative complexity. The owner is often the salesperson, scheduler, estimator and one of the people doing the actual work. You’re not paying for multiple layers of management, and there are fewer opportunities for information to get lost between the person who quoted the job and the people who show up to perform it.
There are plenty of larger home service companies that do great work too. But the customer experience can naturally become more complicated as a company grows. You might talk to an office person, then an estimator, then a scheduler, and finally a crew you’ve never met.
With a good owner-operator, sometimes the entire process is just a text:
“Can you do this?”
“Yep. $800.”
“Tuesday work?”
“Yep.”
Done.
For homeowners, I think the trick is figuring out which type of company fits the job. For straightforward work where you’ve found an owner-operator you trust, simple can be very hard to beat. For larger, technical or equipment-heavy projects, there may be real value in hiring a company built to handle that complexity.
Running a tree service has given me a much different perspective on how home service businesses work. Tree Removals is our money maker right now. You can read about how that works here!
MTM Tree Services LLC is an owner / operator led tree service team in Charlotte NC. Text or call 704-965-3589 for a free quote. Licensed & insured. Certified arborist on staff.
