By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
It is natural for businesses to change their branding from time to time. The same can be true for Spencer’s Tree and Landscape Solutions, which after 15 years has gone under a rebranding to match the services they offer.
Starting out the business as Spencer’s Mowing and Landscape when he was a teenager, Spencer Perdue has taken his creation that has, like a tree, grown and branched out to offer not just landscaping services, but also tree service and snow removal. Perdue recalls how the business had its early start.
“I started with a very small loan, and it wasn’t even a monetary loan, they supplied me with a small trailer and we had our family vehicle, and I went with lawn mower money that I had made that summer and bought a few tools, made a few fliers up and passed them out to teachers,” Perdue said. “That would have been when I was in eighth grade.”
With a strong work ethic and a love of what he did, Perdue was able to expand his business over the next couple of years from just mowing to landscaping, then snow removal, and then tree service. Perdue explained that the expansion of his business is what led to the rebranding.
“The rebranding has been a tough road, one that I am incredibly proud of. The rebranding was born out of my desire to keep pushing towards the tree industry. That has always been my love, arboriculture,” Perdue said. “When I was first developing the business in high school I couldn’t really put tree service on there. I was working for myself in high school, and I didn’t have any climbing experience, bucket experience, more importantly than that I couldn’t afford the equipment anyway. Over the years we used the mowing and the landscaping as a foundation, and I love the landscaping that was one of my favorite things to do, but kept that goal in mind of moving towards wanting to get into the tree service.
“We have been trimming trees for a long time, but our limitations were closer to the ground. We didn’t have the equipment to get where we needed to,” Perdue continued. “You can take the same fundamental practices that you apply to a 70-foot-tall oak tree and you can apply those same type of pruning principles and practices to a service berry or a small crab apple tree; things under 20 feet.”
In entering the tree service that helped push Perdue to one of his goals, becoming a certified arborist. While he wanted to attain his certification, Perdue noted that in running his business he felt he didn’t have the time to go after the certification until he said enough was enough and jumped into the courses. Perdue explained what the certification courses entailed.
“It is just an overall well-roundedness of everything from setting up a work site and safety, to tree biology, proper pruning techniques, tree risk assessment, there is about ten different categories that go into it, and I am very proud I am able to finally achieve it and add it to my resume,” Perdue said.
Looking back Perdue couldn’t boil down the most difficult aspect of the job; however, he noted that early on it was keeping enough work to make it through the year, customer service, and the year-to-year retention of employees that proved to be some of the more difficult aspects. Perdue looked back at when things finally started to turn around for the business.
“Things really started to take off when we started to sell enough work where we were able to maintain year-round employees. Now we have between four and five full-time employees year round,” Perdue said.
“Then we added snow removal – I believe it has been about six years now – and now we are one of the major snow removal contractors in the area. We have four trucks with plows, we run a backhoe with skid loader, and on top of that we have full sidewalk crews,” Perdue continued. “Every year we have been in the snow removal business we have added new equipment, and that got us through the winter. Then we had a good winter and we are like let’s get a bucket truck.”
Perdue also said that when getting into the business he found that you have to have pretty thick skin, as some customers were easy to please, while others weren’t happy no matter what lengths he would go to please them.
While there were difficulties Perdue found enjoyment in expanding the business into new fields and setting up new challenges for him.
“Anytime we get into a new area. A few years ago when we did our first water feature and it was just drop dead gorgeous, that was awesome. When we got our first plow and started plowing snow that was exciting. I am always seeking out new opportunities and ways to keep things interesting. Of course getting into the tree business that excites me I love everything to do with arboriculture: dealing with the equipment, running a crew, the ropes, the rigging,” Perdue said.
While he loves all things arboriculture, Perdue revealed his favorite aspect of the tree business.
“Hazardous removal, there is nothing that makes me feel cooler than taking a tree that is completely hanging over a house and getting it down on the ground safely. If I was a kid I would want to watch that. That’s the cool stuff,” Perdue said.
“There are a lot of people that can take down a tree, but when you have got thousands of pounds hanging over a house if something went wrong it could find its way clear into the basement floor. Using the roping skills and rigging skills, and all of the skills I have picked up through the years. That is exciting, that is usually when you have someone on the ground and taking a few pictures and a video,” Perdue continued. “I like those most not because of the danger, but because it is a challenge. I like the challenge of figuring out how we are going to do it.”
While his business has continued to branch out and grow over the years, Perdue noted that the one area that he doesn’t really want to expand into would be irrigation.
More information on Spencer’s Tree and Landscape Solutions can be found online at https://stls.biz/ visiting their Facebook page, or by calling 419-561-0768.