You're leaving money on the table.

While you're grinding out residential estimates and chasing down homeowners who ghost you after three follow-ups, there's a parallel universe of work happening right under your nose.

Government contracts.

Cities, counties, and school districts in your service area are spending millions on tree work every year. The difference? They pay on time. They have real budgets. And they don't haggle over price like Mrs. Henderson with her "my neighbor's cousin said he'd do it for half that" routine.

But here's the catch: winning government work isn't about being the best salesman. It's about compliance, positioning, and knowing how their system actually works.

Most tree companies never crack this because they treat it like another Mrs. Henderson quote instead of a rulebook they have to learn. That's why they lose to companies that might not even be better operators—they just know how to play the game.

Let me show you three specific moves that'll get you in the door.

Here's what most owners don't realize: you can't even bid if you're not in their system. Most local governments won't do anything meaningful with you unless you're in their vendor system.

First move:

The pro move: Don't just register under "Tree Service." Also register for "Debris Removal," "Landscaping," "Road Maintenance," and "Emergency Disaster Response" wherever they exist. More categories = more bid invites.

Then there's the piggyback clause. Many government contracts include cooperative purchasing language. This means if you win a contract with City A, neighboring City B can hire you at the same rates without running their own bid process. When you submit bids, explicitly state you'll extend your pricing to other local agencies. You just made yourself more attractive because you're solving a problem for multiple procurement officers at once.

Here's the insider secret: most government tree work isn't actually awarded as tree contracts. It's buried inside massive construction, roadwork, or landscaping contracts worth millions.

A general contractor (the Prime) wins a $5 million road project that needs 80 removals cleared in 30 days. They don't want to babysit tree crews. They want one number they can call. That's where you come in.

Go to your local government sites (city, county, DOT, etc.) and look up recent bid results. Find out who won the big annual landscaping or road construction contracts. Then contact those Prime contractors immediately. Send them your capability statement and rates. Ask to be added to their approved subcontractor list.

Why this works: Prime contractors often must hit quotas for using small or local businesses—DBE, MBE, or WBE participation (those are the alphabet soup programs for "use smaller/local/minority-owned businesses"). When you position yourself as a reliable local partner, you solve a compliance headache for them. You get government work without dealing with all the paperwork of being the Prime bidder.

Municipalities handle emergency work (hurricanes, ice storms, tornadoes) completely differently than routine maintenance. These contracts are usually awarded before storm season to pre-qualified companies.

Watch for RFPs titled "Disaster Debris Management" or "Emergency On-Call Tree Services." These are often zero-dollar standby contracts. They don't pay you anything upfront, but you're on the list to get called first when a storm hits.

Here's the winning angle: FEMA compliance. When a storm becomes a federal disaster, cities get reimbursed by FEMA—but only if they hire contractors who follow FEMA documentation rules.

Learn how to document load tickets and debris cubic yardage according to FEMA standards. Then market yourself to the Public Works Director not as just another tree cutter, but as a "FEMA-compliant partner" who knows how to handle the paperwork so they get their full reimbursement.

That one sentence will win you bids over companies with bigger equipment.

One reality check: These jobs are big, but they're also intense. Long hours, documentation, and you need the cash flow to float payroll while the city waits on FEMA money. Don't assume FEMA standby is easy money—it's real work for real operators.

1. Build your "gov-ready" folder (1–2 hours)

2. Get on the vendor lists (this week)

3. Find the primes and introduce yourself (next 7 days)

4. Start watching for storm / FEMA work (ongoing)

None of this is sexy. It's paperwork, lists, and a couple hours on boring websites. But this is the unglamorous prep that gets you in the room before the six-figure contracts show up.

Let me be blunt about something.

I hear tree company owners complain all the time about how government work is "too complicated" or "too much red tape."

That's exactly why it's an opportunity.

The barrier to entry isn't your climbing skills or your equipment. It's your willingness to learn a system that 90% of your competitors are too lazy or too intimidated to figure out.

Every hour you spend understanding procurement processes is an hour your competition is spending on Facebook complaining about lowballers.

The companies printing money on government contracts aren't necessarily the best tree services. They're just the ones who took the time to register as a vendor, show up to pre-bid meetings, and learn what Public Works Directors actually care about.

Government work isn't for everybody. If you can't keep up with your residential schedule now or you hate paperwork, don't pretend Uncle Sam is going to save you.

But the work is there waiting for you. Will you do what it takes to win it?

Want help getting "gov-ready"?

If you like the idea of government work but don't have the time (or patience) to wade through vendor registrations, capability statements, and FEMA language, we can help.

We'll look at your market, your current setup, and tell you straight if chasing government contracts makes sense for your tree service or if you're better off doubling down on residential and commercial.

We used to charge $100 for these, but readers get them free.

Written by Jacob Hastings
Head of Growth & Client Strategy at Growth Ring Media