For CW Arborists, the trees come first

By Janet Aird

For Michael Gaines, owner of CW Arborists in the small community of East Hampton on Long Island in New York state, the trees are everything.

“I grew up with these trees,” Gaines says. “I watched them grow and I watched some of them get destroyed. We’re trying to preserve and protect the trees and educate our clients.”

Gaines, an ISA-certified arborist and a CTSP, started his company in 2002 and built it into a full-service landscape company. Then he honed it down to what he liked best – the trees.

It’s his roots in the community that distinguish him from other tree care companies in the area, he says. “This is a small community on an isolated part of the island. A lot of people travel to work here. We’re a very local company, and it’s based on local care. I’m a very local person. My family and my kids are here.”

All their customers are residential, and most of their work is with repeat clients and through referrals. They’ve worked on some of the same properties for five different owners. They also attract potential clients while they’re working.

“You meet a lot of people in everyday situations,” he says. “Being professional and doing the right thing seem to generate new interest.”

About 75 percent of their work is artistic and corrective pruning, and about 20 percent removals. The rest includes services such as natural tree care, root aeration, hazard tree risk assessment and stump grinding. The percentages vary, both with the economy and with the needs of the clients.

On the other hand, Gaines says, “We’re not a client-pleasing company. We’re not driven by sales. I advocate for the tree, not the job.” A lot of the old estates in the area have some very mature specimens, including ancient beeches, scholar (Sophora japonica) and oak trees, and, in fact, he has passed on jobs because the property owner wanted a tree cut down to make room for a larger house and Gaines couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“I don’t measure our success in dollars and cents,” he says. “I measure it in accomplishments. I feel good about what we do.”

CW Arborists became accredited in August 2009; the process took between a year and a year and a half to complete. The goal was to satisfy Gaines’ own sense of professionalism, not to have another credential to impress clients with, he says. He does have the logo on his trucks, but for the most part, he lets people find out he’s accredited by themselves.

“I felt like I was swimming in a sea of incompetence and I had to differentiate myself,” he says. “Now, I’m more confident in what I’m saying. Accreditation has helped me see I’m saying the right things. I know who I am, what our goals are, what the culture of the company is.”

The hardest part of the Accreditation process was getting over his ego, he says. “I only have five trucks. It’s humbling, understanding that a small company like mine needed to be accredited as much as a big company did, understanding that I make a difference in arborticulture.”

Although Gaines was concerned about being able to get all the paperwork together, the TCIA auditor praised the company for the quality of their work during the process. In addition, the audit was unusual because there were no Critical or Additional Actions the company had to take. Gaines credits all four of his employees, the office manager, the crew leader and the crew, for their teamwork.

The company was in good shape before they began the Accreditation process, he says, but they made some changes along the way. “It was a very smooth transition. We changed through the process, not when we finished. It was learning throughout the way. For example, on Thursdays we’d be doing tailgate meetings, and all of a sudden there was a sign-in sheet.”

Gaines has been through an Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC), which includes an overview of state vehicle and traffic laws, creating a driver-training program and writing standard operating guidelines. Before they began the process, he’d take new employees out in one of the trucks to evaluate the employee’s skill level, but he wouldn’t document the results. Now he does the documentation so he can prove he’s done the training.

“I pay more attention and do a lot more documentation now,” he says.

Accreditation has also helped with employee management. “You can qualify your people. For example, it’s helped me move trainees to climbers. I can ask them, ‘Can you tie this knot? Do you have this safety gear on?’ Or, ‘You want a raise, but you can’t tie this knot.’ ”
He raised the bar when they became accredited, he says. “It just makes for a better company. I feel more confident now. Accreditation gives me a home base, a structure. I can make more informed choices. I know I have good guys working for me. I know the trucks are in good shape. I can project where our company will be in the future.”

The company’s plan for the future includes more arborists on staff, a new chipper and expansion into plant health care. Gaines also has a succession plan.

He recommends Accreditation highly and is willing to help anyone who wants help become accredited, he says. “It helps me make better choices. It’s not about dollars and cents; it’s about making the right choices.”

CW Arborists
East Hampton, NY 11937-0796
Phone: (631) 324-6138
Fax: (631) 324-6139

For more information about TCIA Accreditation, click here.