Behind the Business with North East Tree Service of Vermont

A view from the treetops: Behind the Business with North East Tree Service of Vermont

“I think I’m doing it right. I get to help people and do what I love. Being an honest and caring arborist makes the income sustainable.”

Arborists are a rare breed. To be an arborist, you need a special connection to nature and a healthy respect for the weather. You need compassion to help people on some of their worst days. You need stamina to work crazy hours in the sweltering heat and frigid cold. Most of all, you need to be hardwired in a way that makes climbing 90 feet in the air with a chainsaw seem fun, not terrifying.

Jeremiah Lamphere is just such an arborist.?As the owner of?North East Tree Service of Vermont, Lamphere spends his days helping people across much of New England. His love for tree work and compassion for those in need has helped North East Tree Service to become the fastest growing tree services in northern Vermont. An 11th?generation resident of the Northeast Kingdom, Lamphere comes from a long line of hard-working Vermonters. “My great-grandparents were French Canadian trappers,” says Lamphere. “I started climbing at 16, so I’ve been climbing for a long time. I traveled the country doing fiber optics and line work. I’ve worked all over the lower 48 states.”

Starting a tree business was unintentional. After years on the road, Lamphere returned to his hometown of Newport, VT in 2010. He continued to do line work and some farming until about seven years ago when a tree company in the area folded. Several families, who had already put down deposits, were left without anyone to do the tree work; they had already put deposits. “It happens, unfortunately,” Lamphere recalls. Known as a generally handy and resourceful guy, Lamphere received a call to help a friend’s grandmother, a victim of the folded business.

Lamphere assessed the situation and explained the complexity to the homeowner. Trees tangled in the power lines meant that the power had to be shut off, all of which required coordination with the power company. Working on power lines required special certification, which Lamphere luckily already had thanks to his years of line work. A hundred-ton crane had to be brought in to pull the tree out of there. The homeowner was not pleased as the last tree service didn’t mention any of this.

“The first thing I told her was to call the power company to see if they’d cut the tree down for free. When they wouldn’t do it, I quoted her a price. I know she had already paid money to have this job done, even if it wasn’t to us,” Lamphere explained. “At the end of the day, we got the tree on the ground in 45 minutes. When I went to get paid, she said she understood why the price was like this. She was thankful for the help. And then she spread the word.” Soon, other clients of the failed tree company reached out to North East Tree Service as Lamphere’s reputation grew. The requests snowballed until he had enough clients to quit his other jobs and go all in on tree work.

For all his time spent in treetops, Lamphere is well familiar with the view from the bottom. He struck out on his own as a teen, determined to find his own path. He worked hard to build life from the ground up, and it wasn’t easy. “I know what it’s like to need something and not be able to afford it. I’ve slept in cars and couches. I’ve worked really hard for what I have, since as young as I can remember.”

Over time, Lamphere learned the skills to provide for himself and his family. He went to night school to finish his degree. He balanced the demands of launching a new business with the demands of being a single dad. Somehow, he made it work. “I’d bring them to school in the morning. Do tree work. Pick them up. My [adopted] family helped so much. They’d have them get off the bus and make sure they finished their homework. The support I got from them helped because I could be a dad but at the same time I could provide and work to make sure my customers were happy.”

Lamphere’s life experience comes through in how he treats customers. He’s been known to discount services for families on a budget or to offer payment plans. The company regularly gives back to customers to help with expenses like groceries or fuel costs. When asked about his approach to pricing, Lamphere states simply, “Being an honest and caring arborist makes the income sustainable. You have to care 110%. You have to be humble. You can tell if someone cares by how much they charge you. If I can help a customer that’s maybe struggling, I will. It’s not going to break me. The quality of the work is consistent, regardless.”

Today, North East Tree Service has a pipeline of residential and commercial clients willing to wait as long as a year for service. Lamphere credits the company’s success to frugal, conservative growth. He keeps overhead low, working alone or with his son when he’s not in school. His oldest daughter helps with the bookkeeping. He only buys new equipment when it makes more sense than renting. He rarely turns away clients, accepting any job he can do safely from Vermont to Connecticut and everywhere in between. His ability to provide high quality work at reasonable prices means there’s never a shortage of jobs lined up. “I don’t advertise. I work on referrals only.”

“I think I’m doing it right. My kids are well cared for. I know I can give them a better life. I get to wake up and do what I love,” Lamphere says, reflecting on his current success. “I don’t need money, I don’t need the trucks, I don’t need any of it. As long as I get to do what I love and make somebody’s life better. That’s good enough for me.”

For more information about North East Tree Service of Vermont, check out their?BBB Business Profile. To?read more stories like this, visit?Behind the Business Stories.

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