This is an extended-cut coaching call led by Mike Andes (Augusta Lawn Care). The episode centers on a tree-service owner (Speaker B) weighing a $120,000 purchase of a grapple/saw truck to increase efficiency and growth. Key themes: equipment ROI and capabilities (grapple truck can cut up to 24" logs with a double-cut method, truck sourced from California), operational strain (long hours, maintenance, storm season risk), marketing inefficiency (low ROI from Facebook/Google leads), hiring decisions (hired a salesperson to fill winter schedule), and recent financials (about $350,000 revenue last year). The call explores tradeoffs—costs, where to cut expenses, and how equipment could substitute labor or enable scaling.
Chapters
Hey, everyone, my name is Mike Andes. I'm the founder of Augusta Lawn Care, where we have over 150 locations. And the day is going to be a coaching call that I had with a tree service.
It would just get to a point to where it's like, should I go get a regular job now?
I actually went out in person to this tree service and right now there's a couple major topics that we're going to cover. First off, we're going to discuss buying $120,000 grapple truck.
Only 120,000. It is the biggest purchase that I'm making.
That's going to allow him to almost double the size of the business because right now he focuses on emergency tree care, very hazardous tree care. And he needs to be in the actual bucket doing a lot of the actual cutting.
What do I actually like doing in my business? I love cutting trees.
Right now he's spending a lot of money on Facebook and Google Ads and he's not seeing a lot of return. And the leads that are coming are not great.
Last year was a year that I wanted to quit.
This is an extended cut of the turnaround show for my main YouTube channel. But this one goes in the weeds and hope it's helpful for you.
So my vehicles, I kind of schedule maintenance. I don't know, I just been in a money spending mood. Yeah, I do think that this year is going to be one that's full of storms. And I was just like, I can't have my trucks go down in the middle of everything that's going on.
Oh yeah, you got the big truck coming in from California.
Yes. I have to go pick that up.
Got it.
That was kind of last month minute, but I was reviewing my goals that I set in the beginning of 2023. And one of my big carry, scary, audacious goal was to buy a grappling saw truck.
Okay.
And then I went to Arborfest in Asheville, North Carolina, and I saw the boom trucks and I was looking at them, I was just like 3,900amonth. I got that. Then I was like, wait, there's a lot of things I'm probably missing within that payment. And then I just started asking, I guess asking questions like, what does ownership look like with this?
Right.
Somebody reached out to me and just like, hey, this is a unit that I have from all Tech. I really like it. This is what it's done. You have any questions, let me know. And then I'm just continuing to research that unit. And I've seen one come up online, and there's only 120. I say only 120,000. It is the biggest purchase that I'm making.
Yeah.
But for the efficiency things of it, it's just like, can't beat it.
Yeah.
I'm acquiring three or four assets with that one unit and one. Because I wanted to get a grapple truck to be able to grab the material and load it up. That's about.
So that can load the material. You also have the bucket.
So it's not a bucket. It think of a grapple truck that say they're coming, pick up the debris on the side of the road. It loads it up. It's got a grapple on it, but it grabs a tree and it's got a sawhead on.
Wow.
Cut and picks it up and put it back.
Oh, wow.
Then you can put it to the back of the truck. If you have a chipper, run it through the chipper, and then it puts it into the dump bed.
There you go.
So it's like, all right, 120,000. The lift that I wanted to get was 115. And I was like, well, that still puts me in the air cutting.
Right.
The chipper would have been 100,000. I have one for now.
So how thick of a branch or tree can it get?
So you could cut up to a 24 inch log with it with a double cut method. So you cut one type of. You rotate it, cut it again, and pick it.
Got it.
So.
That tree, just from what I'm seeing with within an aisle where I could have that down but never even get into the tree. Operating remote control.
That's pretty cool, dude.
So, yeah, really hopeful for that. But with that, with the note comes. Okay, where are we cutting stuff out?
Right, right, right, right.
Where's. Where are we cutting stuff out in order to make it work within the company?
And how far are you booked out right now?
Honestly, I can knock out everything that I have in a week, guys.
You got a week booked out. Yeah, got it. And so really, it's like having that increases your efficiency. So. Well, unless you get more leads, you'd probably be able to just like, let go of one person with that extra efficiency.
Is that sort of the potentially.
Got it. Okay. All right. But your goal is to grow and expand, Correct?
I want to get. So I did our 350,000 last year. I'm trying to get past that. One of my business mentors told me goes, you're gonna work your butt off at 350,000.
Yeah.
Like, to get to that point and then from there, that's whenever you're going to be able to afford the extra people to start delegating roles with or tasks to.
Right.
And last year was. I got to like September and I just quit. Really. It was something that was wearing me out. We ended up getting a new contract doing brush cutting last year and then doing the invoicing, cutting the. Cutting the grass. And we're not talking grass, we're talking jungles.
Right.
Taller than me. Yeah, yeah. So it was anything that went into code enforcement, we'd have to go in, cut it, take pictures before and after, build each one individually. So we had all that going on. I had the tree work going on and I just got to a place where I was just like, all right, I don't want to do sales anymore. What do I actually like doing in my business? I love cutting trees. I'm passionate about that. So whenever the phone would ring, there was a place where I was just like, I'll get to that. And my mindset is, if I don't get to it now, I'm not going to get to it. I'm just going to put it off and put it off. So I had to think about the future. And I was just like, all right.
If God's giving me this business, this steward over well. And I'm not answering leads, but the money that I'm using is his to purchase the leads. I'm not being a good steward of what he gave me. And I was thinking about the future. I was just like, all right, things would slow down between November to February, so I'd have four months of very little work. Right. And I was just like, okay, I don't want that again. I don't want to spend my profits going into keeping things running. So I was just like, let me hire somebody in sales. So in October, I had the decision to either hire sales or someone to replace me cutting trees. But I didn't think I could find somebody on that short term notice at that time.
So you found someone to do basically the sales side, your hope was that they'd fill your schedule during the winter.
Correct.
Sounds like you paid just as much in wages to them as they in sales.
Yeah. So at the beginning that was the case.
And what was the strategy with sales?
So the sales process, we have shout out to my buddy Sean. He owns Red Beard Tree Savages. And I didn't before that.
