Strong Family Roots Help Asplundh Grow as Tree Expert : Business: The company has become the nation’s largest in clearing vegetation for utilities.
When hurricanes ravage Florida, when ice storms paralyze the Southeast, when snow buries the West, power companies know the value of the family tree holding up the Asplundh Tree Expert Co.
The company has grown into the nation’s largest expert in tree trimming and vegetation clearing for utilities in the 66 years since Griffith, Lester and Carl Asplundh combined their degrees in forestry, electrical engineering and finance.
It remains in family hands today, employing 18 relatives.
The company started with $2,500 in borrowed money and a handful of tree climbers driving used trucks. Today, 19,000 employees work in all 50 states, parts of Canada, England, Ireland, France, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
“We always wanted a family-controlled and family-led business,” company President Christopher B. Asplundh said in an interview.
In keeping with the values of a tightknit family, the Asplundhs take their business personally.
“Our customers know us and that’s why we’re successful,” Asplundh said. “When we foul something up--and we do--it’s almost like you personally did it and you got to get in there and correct it.”
During last winter’s brutal Southeast ice storms, at least 2,000 Asplundh crews were out in force trimming, pruning and removing trees in and around power lines. Their bright orange and black trucks took to the roads from east Texas to the Delmarva Peninsula, which connects Delaware, Virginia and Maryland.
To make it in the company, men and women connected to the name--which means “a grove of aspen trees” in Swedish--need to prove themselves.
No one joins the company until earning a college degree, and each member starts at the bottom.
“All of us grew up trimming trees,” he said. “We can relate with our employees and they feel comfortable with us and we feel comfortable with them.”
Asplundh said no relative receives any preferential treatment during the eight-year family training program.
“They never work in the area where their father is responsible for,” he said. “They must work for six different managers before they can come into the company.”
Asplundh said the company posted estimated sales of $700 million in 1993, but he declined to reveal profits.
In Forbes magazine’s 1993 annual edition of the 400 largest privately held companies in the country, ATE was ranked 298, jumping 43 notches from 341 in 1992. Asplundh predicted the company will shoot to about 125 by year’s end.
“They really dominate their business,” said Peter Davis, a former family business consultant to the Asplundhs. “It’s one of those great niche businesses. They are a well-managed and well-organized company.”
Wendy Handler, another family business expert, said Asplundh has shown a rare longevity for a family-owned company.
“Generally, three out of 10 businesses make it to the second generation,” Handler said. “And when one out of 10 make it to the third, it’s a feat in itself.”
ATE receives high marks from utilities in Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
“Asplundh is on the forefront and a trendsetter in this business and they deliver a quality product for a competitive price,” said Steve Hallmark, a forester at Puget Power Co., which services the Seattle area.
Bill Swank, a spokesman for Florida Power and Light, said Asplundh’s performance recently won the company an extended tree-trimming contract in an area encompassing half of the state’s population.
On the West Coast, Asplundh proved its worth when abundant rain started a growth spurt a year ago.
“We contacted other tree trimmers but no company other than Asplundh was able to come up with a plan and a solution for the fast-growing trees,” said Charlie Basham, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co. “In three weeks, they trimmed 10,000 additional trees, which helped us greatly in maintaining the reliability of our electrical system.”
The company distributes cut limbs and branches for uses ranging from firewood to golf course mulch.
Asplundh compared his company’s tree-trimming procedures to strategic military operations, which calls for preparation, timing and quick reaction to weather conditions and natural disasters.
“We have a storm center here, not just for the big storms but for local weather,” he said. “We track these storms.”
On a national level, Asplundh’s sole competitor is the Ohio-based Davey Tree and Lawn Care Co., an employee-owned and operated company that has utility contracts in 40 states and five Canadian provinces. Davey Tree produced $225 million in sales last year, according to company President R. Douglas Cowan.
When discussing competition, Asplundh again used personal terms.
“I think it’s very, very personal with all of us because we’ve gone right up against competition, but it’s not competition as usual,” he said. “If you’re good at something . . . it’s a referral system.”
Asplundh spoke fondly of the company’s founders and said he felt duty-bound to improve what they started.
“We’ve got a unique structure here,” Asplundh said. “The second-generation executives are running it now.”
