Today we’d like to introduce you to John O’Brien.
Hi John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Swamp Rabbit Tree Co. started as a small stump grinding company called Down to Earth Stump Grinding. That went well, but we thought we could do more. We worked at that for a few years and wanted to expand our scope to serve our customers better. We wanted to interact with our clients more. We liked being part of the whole job, not just stump grinding. I live near the Swamp Rabbit Trail; my family enjoys using the trail and has bought into it as Greenville’s moniker. It seemed like a natural choice for a memorable name. We run our company out of our property in Fountain Inn, but most of our clients are in Greenville. We specialize in residential tree care; we see our role as helping people and trees interact symbiotically. We love assisting clients in understanding their trees’ needs and shaping or caring for trees to meet the landowner’s needs. We’re still a small company, but we like that. We still get to interact with each client. They’re people to us, not just a job.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
Tree care is an expensive industry to be in. It’s easy for there to be 100-500k of equipment needed per crew. There (for the most part) are two different paths to get there. You can start small and grow, working long days and hard hours until you can mechanize without taking on a huge debt. Another choice is to take on the debt right away. Have several hundred thousand dollars in loans and work hard to keep from going bankrupt. We chose the first path. I’ve been fairly comfortable with physical risks, and working as a career firefighter and climbing arborist fits my strengths. Financial risk fits my personality! It was a couple of long, hard years until we got some key equipment. I’m glad we did it that way, though. We learned lots of good lessons.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Swamp Rabbit Tree Co. is a local business serving the greater Greenville area. We specialize in fairly priced tree care for residential customers. We work for various businesses or HOAs, but homeowners are our ideal clients. Our vision is a safe and beautiful Upstate with trees that our clients and community can enjoy. Our mission is to make that a reality by providing responsible tree care services at fair prices. We have a responsibility to our clients to ensure their trees are safe and a responsibility to our community that the work we leave behind is as beautiful as possible. Everyone can see these trees; it matters if they look natural and attractive. Not every tree can be saved; that’s just how it is. When we do remove trees, our goal is to do it responsibly. Part of that is respecting the client’s property, leaving as little impact as possible. We have seen someone’s yard turned into a mud pit by another tree company. It’s a shame. We also use the parts of the tree we remove responsibly, which might mean turning it into the firewood we sell or delivering wood chips for homeowners to use as mulch or compost.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The thing that makes Swamp Rabbit Tree Co. work is our team. We have intentionally kept our team small, focusing on quality. I can’t stress that enough. These guys have a direct impact on the quality of work we do. Every job shows their skill and that they care about doing the job right.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.swamprabbittreeco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swamprabbittreeco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Swamprabbittreeco
Image Credits
Nathan Reimers
