News and Blog Articles
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News and Blog Articles
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While Classic City Arborists was “officially” born in 2014, our story actually begins ten years prior, as a little firewood company operating out of Bishop, Georgia. In 2005, while working on his bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Education from the University of Georgia (go Dawgs!), our owner and Certified Arborist Scott Rushing starts working for a small business called Classic City Firewood. As the name suggests, this little operation provides firewood deliveries to the Watkinsville and Athens areas during the fall. They also provide firewood for some of the restaurants in the area during the off season.
In 2011, the owner of Classic City Firewood, an avid entrepreneur, had started branching out into other businesses, so Scott steps in to keep things going, growing the company’s client base, streamlining processes to be more efficient and effective, and generally devoting his time and effort trying to turn this side job into something more permanent.
The next few years bring exponential growth. Scott purchases additional equipment and gear to allow him to perform more technical, difficult tree removals, and further expand the business’s capabilities. Peyton Mitchell, who has worked off and on with Classic City Firewood since its inception, becomes an invaluable member of the team and Scott’s right-hand man, helping with every job and supporting the vision Scott has for the company. In 2014, the owner of Classic City Firewood starts a family and is ready to move on to other ventures. After countless discussions and lots of prayer, Scott and Rebekah decide to purchase the business Scott has invested so much of his time and effort into. With a few signatures and a grand leap of faith, Scott and Rebekah officially become small business owners, and come up with a new operational name: Classic City Arborists.
All the time and effort this new machine saves allows Scott and his team to complete nearly twice as much work in the same amount of time, helping spur the business forward by leaps and bounds.
As Abigail gets older, Rebekah begins to take over more and more of these responsibilities, until in 2017, she officially becomes the Operations Manager, handling everything from payroll to marketing to scheduling. With the efficiency of the Miniature Skid-Steer, and with Rebekah as the Operations Manager, Scott has more time to devote to giving estimates and working in the field. The workload has doubled, thus doubling the revenue. In 2017, Scott is able to purchase a Chipper and a Dump Truck. Instead of taking load after load of limbs and logs to the dump, most everything can be run through the chipper at the job site. On many occasions, the customer will even choose to keep the wood chips, which saves time hauling the chips away.
A lift is similar to a bucket truck, in that it has an extendable arm with a bucket attached that, as the name suggests, lifts Scott directly to the point of interest on the tree. However, this lift is not part of a truck; it is a separate piece of equipment. Just like the Miniature Skid Steer, the Lift runs on tracks is compact enough to fit through your front door, thus allowing Scott to easily access backyards and tight spots. And that brings us to 2020, where Classic City Arborists operates with a simple four-man team; Scott runs and performs the more technical jobs, but leaves Peyton, the official foreman and second-in-command, in charge while he travels around to perform free estimates for potential customers. Scott handles all the official documents, like estimates, invoices, and pricing. He orders equipment and replacement parts or maintenance supplies as needed and ensures all the tools for the job are in perfect working order. In the mornings, when Scott leaves for work, Abigail has to have "a hug and a kiss, daddy" and Elijah blows him exaggerated kisses. In the evenings, Abigail races to get the first kiss while Elijah toddles behind her, happily calling out "it's da-da". Abigail tells "my daddy" all about her day while Elijah helps unload daddy's lunch box. With the rapid growth of the last few years, Rebekah now dedicates more of her time to the endless array of administrative and operational tasks. She wears many, many hats, including things like customer service (answering the phones, responding to emails, scheduling estimates), human resources (hiring employees, processing payroll), accounting (managing expenses, bills, keeping licensing and insurance up to date, accounts receivable and accounts payable), and marketing (designing and up-keeping the website, planning and executing marketing strategies). What started as a side gig to help pay for college has turned into a life-long career. Scott and Rebekah are proud to own a small, local business, and can’t wait to see what God has planned for their family and for Classic City Arborists. No matter what the future holds, Classic City Arborists will always approach each job with the same integrity we’ve had since day one:
And most of all, we believe in that age-old adage: “Leave it better than you found it.” Whether we’re talking about a job site, a customer’s mood, or our Earth as a whole, at Classic City Arborists, we are on a mission to do what we can to make a positive impact on the lives of everyone we encounter. AuthorEmily Casuccio is sister and sister-in-law to Rebekah and Scott Rushing, and has over half a decade of experience in copywriting, copyediting, proofreading, and developmental storyboarding. She's worked with both published and undiscovered authors on both fiction and nonfiction, and takes pride in supporting local businesses. Her passion lies in the written word and helping authors of all capacities realize their dreams and achieve their fullest potential. To learn more about her, read samples of her work, or contact her, visit her online portfolio.
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