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Category: Blog

A Plus TreeA Plus BlogBlog
05 Dec 2019
0 Comments By Sarah Gaskin Blog , , , , ,

TCCs. The Glue to our Crazy.

A TCC is a Tree Care Controller. And it's our version of what others may call a "scheduler", because they do SO much more than just scheduling. TCC's are the linchpins to our axles, the pintle bolts to our hitches, the cambium layer to our trees. They keep the communication flowing between client, sales, and operations. Did you have a smooth-running job? Thank your TCC! Did everything hit the fan and still the job got done? Thank your TCC! The TCC's manage hundreds of jobs a week, from approval all the way to completion. From the perspective of Steve Land, our VP of...

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06 Nov 2019
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Lloyd the mill master

Phase I complete of our BIGGEST mill project yet! Our AfterPlus mill has a great story: We take the trees we remove from our urban forest and give them a second life. We try to harvest as much millable wood as we can, but the logistics around it are not so simple. This particular project is a 2-year project for the Irvine Company (the largest private landowners in CA!). We removed 43 mature Redwoods from their development site in the South Bay, with the purpose to fabricate 90 custom-designed benches, and install them back onto the site after construction. We won't get into the MANY obstacles...

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15 Aug 2019
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Craned up and trained up

Cranes make the tree work go 'round. More and more of our crews are boosting into the ridiculousness of crane work! This month, from our Sacramento tree service division, Hugo, Matt, and Kevin (who is being trained up by Devin) had some major takedowns with cranes. Sure, we have our superstar crane riggers like Rob, Danny, and Chad. Who we throw at the most technical and hazardous jobs, but more of our crews, in more of our areas, are getting craned up and gaining valuable experience in the art of crane removals. From a climber's point of view, there are 3 things that are critical to flawless execution: The ability...

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06 Aug 2019
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Tid Bits from our Chaplain

We'd like to take our headline feature to highlight a very special person at A Plus. If you haven't met Paul Tibbets, I'm sure you've heard about him. He's the father of our late founder, Jeremy. And really, the father of A Plus. He's certified in just about everything, fixes chippers, trucks, chainsaws (and pretty much whatever the Vallejo crews break), rescues buckets in the middle of nowhere, and will take time out of any busy day to make sure someone feels loved and genuinely cared for. Paul also compiles the weekly safety session emails and throws in beautiful tidbits on wisdom and leadership. (It’s inside the safety...

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06 Aug 2019
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Nick & Crew Dominates the Pike Project

Removed 130 Trees, 150+ ft tall, in 6 weeks. Last month Crew Leader Nick and his team -- Cody, Juan, James, Arturo, with help from Raymond & David -- successfully completed the LARGEST tree removal job we've ever done in the forest land. Completed the 6 DONE way, without injury or incident. Pike City is 2 hours North-east of Sacramento, and deep into the Tahoe National Forest in California. Nick's skills fit the bill for this large scale project. Extremely proficient in tree felling, equipment operations and job planning, his supervisor Mazzera, considers him a "strong leader and great teacher". And in Nicks words, "They were really large trees and we had...

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25 Jul 2019
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Did someone say tree circus?

Chad Brey isn’t just a champion climber. He also isn’t just the guy in our ear pestering us about safety all the time. Or the Certified Arborist. Or the Certified Tree Worker that takes pride in every climb and cut. Nope, Chad ALSO runs a TreeCircus. Yea, what? Every year since 2009, Chad and his buddy Timmy Womack host “TreeCircus” at the California State Fair for 17 days straight. The mission of TreeCircus is to awaken the world to the fun possibilities of urban forest tree care. He kicks it off with a 5 second speed climb to the ceiling, 32 ft and 7 in...

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20 Jul 2019
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2019 VERSTEEL GAMES!

Raise your saws if you had fun at the Versteel Games! Where'd the name come from? It's a made-up mix of Vermeer + Urban Steel = VerSteel. That’s where that comes from. We host Versteel games every year that combines our training with a bit of fun and competition. This year we ran the event 3 times to accommodate our growing team. Each Versteel was a jam-packed day of training, competitions, cash prizes, good food & team camaraderie. It was RIDICULOUS. We hope it was valuable, fun and you learned something to keep you growing here at A Plus. Our passion is great tree...

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06 Jul 2019
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David Ingalls, Juan Ochoa & Arturo Lopez rescue a dying man.

It was hot. Like 95 degrees, dry hot. David Ingalls and his crew were on a job in Burney last Thursday, 4 hours north of the Bay Area, and deep into the heart of the woodlands. Their assigned duties involved brush clearance of a pipeline that runs into Oregon. Because of the steep terrain and rocky areas, the crews have to navigate through a maze of logging roads in search of better access points. Ingalls and the crew were traveling a logging road towards the job site when they came to a fork in the road. He was about to take a left, when...

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20 Jun 2019
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Chad the champ!

Give it up to Chad Brey!! A man who practically came out of retirement to crush a competition he didn't even sign up for! What was his secret? He visualized his win. Before each comp, he prepared his mind and ran through every step of the climb: the throw, the tie-ins, the descent. And then he did it. And he took the gold belt buckle for the ISA Western Chapter Climbing Competition. Proud of you Chad, now go visualize global climbing domination!

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15 Jun 2019
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Sacramento Crew: All Business, All Day.

Coolest crew in town. Like a boss, Crew Leader Hugo Rodriguez rolls around town with his tree crew, leaving a trail of happy clients. Like this guy here, in the panama hat. He watched the crew work all week at his community. At the end of one of the days, he went up to the team and told them how great of a job they were doing. Then asked if he could get a shot with them in front of his classic car. Hugo's describes his crew as, "A well-oiled machine, closing out business and makin' friends." And that's how...

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