Like many boys, Grant Hamilton climbed trees when he was growing up.
Unlike other kids, however, he was doing so with a degree of professionalism.
Hamilton’s father, Dex, owned a few different tree services and a nursery, and he had taught Grant about climbing trees by age 6. By 16, Grant was doing some work on jobsites for his father.
“I was basically born into the industry,” Grant Hamilton says.
Now, at age 42, he owns Hamilton Tree Service in Martinez, California, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area. His dad used to be co-owner but recently moved on to help another son establish a tree care company.
Grant also co-owns a landscape supply service, EcoMulch, with his wife, Heather. The two companies complement each other, with EcoMulch providing a market for the tree service’s wood waste.
Hamilton Tree Service specializes in commercial tree care, land clearing and grinding operations, tree-crane services and large residential tree removals.
A project Hamilton is especially proud of is ongoing work on the hilly 202-acre (81.7 ha) campus of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which does research for the U.S. Department of Energy. Over the past six years, the company has undertaken large eucalyptus removals using cranes, used yarding equipment to move logs up and down steep terrain, conducted hazard-reduction pruning, and installed replacements trees.
The real challenge, however, has been the paperwork. The lab requires stricter training credentials and more extensive documentation than most jobs. Also, the work and safety plans Hamilton Tree Service must put together for each project need the approval of several safety officers, and the company is frequently audited.
“We are very proud to be asked to work at this site,” Hamilton says.
With so many details to stay on top of, plus the duties that come with owning two companies, Hamilton says using Vermeer equipment has let him keep his attention where it belongs.
“We can focus on our job of tree care, not being mechanics,” he says. “I wouldn’t be where I am in business without Vermeer.”
Hamilton owns a Vermeer brush chipper, two stump grinders, a trommel screen and a horizontal grinder.
He says Vermeer dealers offer unmatched support, the equipment is durable and he’s found Vermeer to have the same qualities he values: integrity and humility.
The equipment has also helped him with one of the tree care industry’s biggest challenges: finding employees. Hamilton Tree Service typically runs two four-man crews, but it occasionally will add a third crew.
“With good equipment comes good employees because the employees like to work with nice equipment,” he says. “That does give us an advantage because of the amount of equipment we have. Other guys want to come to our company to be able to run them and operate them.”
Hamilton estimates that his Vermeer equipment has helped increase his companies’ combined productivity by up to 40 percent the past two years.
“I have tried many other manufacturers and none of them can actually do what they say,” he says. “But Vermeer does. I tell other tree care professionals all the time that Vermeer offers incredible support and superior machines and has great people.”