Trees are a sign of strength, longevity and life. Species live for hundreds, even thousands, of years. They withstand changing climates, harsh storms and invasive pests. In a world where these magnificent life forms survive so much, human beings have often been their biggest adversary. Carr’s Tree Service has spent 50 years working to serve as the mending hand between the two species.

From left, Ted Carr and sons Brian (Si), Bruce and Brad, circa the 1970s.

Carr’s Tree Service, or CTS, has operated to help trees and humans coexist, whether it is removing a potentially hazardous tree, clearing trees from power lines or treating a tree for the prevention of invasive pests. Much like trees, companies withstand changing climates, harsh storms and external threats. So how has CTS continued to grow and show the strength of a mighty oak for half of a century? Much like the oak, it begins and relies on its roots.

Teaming up with TCIA also has helped. Carr’s, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2024, is a TCIA-accredited Utility Contractor – and a 28-year TCIA member company – based in Ottertail, Minnesota.

From left, Bruce, Ted, Brad and Brian (Si) in the Ottertail office circa 1980s.

Humble beginnings
In 1974, Ted Carr stepped up as a father to be a primary caregiver for his sons as the Carr family navigated through the tragedy of losing a child. His primary solution was putting Brian, Brad and Bruce to work. Brad recalls those days vividly. “Dad would line up jobs, and we would wake up each morning, pile into the pickup and head off to work for the day.”

After operating in this capacity for a few years, Ted and Bruce formed the idea that this could be a family business. They used their reputation of hard work and word of mouth to find people in need of tree service. Ted’s ability to interact with people on a personal level also helped, says Brad. “Dad could go into a coffee shop and come out with six new jobs.”

Over a couple of years, CTS grew to the point where each of the three Carr boys had a pickup and a crew of his own. Friends quickly became co-workers, as Brian Bladow recalls. “I’d go to the lake, hoping to do lake activities with the boys, but every weekend we worked,” laments Bladow. “I thought I would get smart and get there earlier, thinking we would have more time for the lake, but we would just end up working more.”

This clearly did not discourage Bladow from showing up, as he continued showing up and working for CTS until his retirement in 2022, after 45 years with the company.

Tim Dettwiler, left, a general foreman, presents CEO Jake Carr a plaque celebrating Carr’s 50th anniversary in 2024. All photos courtesy of Carr’s Tree Service

Growth
As time went on, the reputation of the Carrs’ hard work and expertise in navigating challenging situations spread, which led to CTS expanding outside Otter Tail County. “There I was at 21 years old, running my own crew with eight 18-year-old kids, being sent into North Dakota,” recalls Brad Carr.

Brad continued to find leadership roles as the company continued to grow and expand, eventually serving as CEO. Brian, known more commonly as “Si,” leaned into the business side of things, looking for expansion opportunities. The Carrs purchased land and built a convenience store. “We figured we needed access to gas, so it made sense to build a gas station,” Brad explains as one of the contributing factors of taking on another business under the family name.

Not only did they operate a convenience store, but also a marine business. Opening in 1981, they became a leader in boat sales and service, garnering national attention until selling that business in 1996.

All of this growth meant more equipment and more chances for mechanical failure to slow down production. Mike Haspel joined the company as a 19-year-old kid “just looking for a job,” he says, and has been the stalwart mechanic at CTS for 47 years. His role has grown and changed throughout the years, but more important, CTS went beyond being just a job. Due to a high turnover rate, Haspel spent many days out in the field working alongside Si and Brad, as Bruce and Ted managed the business side of things.

Carr’s went from a couple of pickups in 1974 to having more than 700 pieces of equipment in 2024.

Move to utility work
Throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, the focus of the tree care was residential work, with occasional contracts for municipal, government or utility work. The Carrs recognized that the latter would be the biggest source of longevity for the company, and in 1999 created a partnership with Federated Acquisitions LLC, which was composed of seven rural electric cooperatives. That partnership later added an eighth, ninth and tenth cooperative, solidifying CTS as a leader in arboriculture in Minnesota.

Evan Amundson, CTSP, shown here accessing the company’s training hub, assumed the role of safety officer in 2018. Today he is Carr’s chief operations officer.

To facilitate this growth, the roots needed to expand again, and CTS purchased other tree-service companies in Owatonna, Rochester and Sleepy Eye, Minn., to spread the operation throughout the state. “That’s when the real growth started to happen,” recalls Haspel. Through this transition, Si oversaw the work along power lines, while Brad led the residential crews.

In 1994, land was purchased to build the office and shop that CTS currently calls home in Ottertail. Haspel fondly remembers moving into the new shop. “We went from the outhouse to the Taj Mahal.” They went from a shop that required wood heat to the luxury of floor heat. With the purchases of other tree services, the inventory of vehicles and equipment grew, which required the right tools to do the job.

“I remember walking in the first day and going, ‘We have a hoist,’” Haspel recounts with a smile on his face. By starting with a couple of pickups in 1974 to having more than 700 pieces of equipment in 2024, the services of Haspel and his crew of hard-working mechanics has become imperative. There are now four mechanic shops (Ottertail, Courtland, Freeport and Dodge Center) and four satellite locations, employing 11 full-time mechanics and two saw mechanics.

TCIA and a safety culture
The Tree Care Industry Association has been organizing and networking since 1938. Legitimacy in the industry virtually requires TCIA membership, according to Brad Carr, and in 1996, CTS became a member. “Joining TCIA allowed us to grow so far because of the business and personal connections we made,” explains Brad.

“TCIA has been a huge part of our company building out a true culture of safety,” he adds. That comment came in an article, “Storm Work Provides Carr’s Tree’s Safety Skills an Opportunity to Shine,” by Evan Amundson, CTSP, in the June 2016 issue of TCI Magazine. “When we became a member, we thought we were a reasonably safe company, but looking back, we had a lot of holes to fill,” said Brad. “TCIA helped us plug a lot of those safety holes.

“Our culture of safety grew with the size of our company, and over the years TCIA became a stronger voice for all tree companies, and much more valuable as an advocate for our growing company,” said Brad. “I feel the TCIA crew should be acknowledged for all the safety comments our company has received over the years. We can’t thank (TCIA) enough for bringing so many safety-related improvements, which TCIA is responsible for, to our company’s culture of safety.”

Safety has become CTS’s chief goal and concern in the past two decades. In the early 2000s, Terry Hein, who had been with the company since the early days, became the safety coordinator. A focus on the goal of zero accidents changed how work was observed and reviewed. In 2018, after 36 years with the company, Hein retired. Evan Amundson assumed the role, and continued advancing the company down the road of safe operations.

Talking about the storm cleanup that was the focus of that 2016 TCI Magazine article mentioned earlier, Amundsen said, “I learned from my TCIA training that following all appropriate arboriculture standards set forth from ANSI and OSHA was going to be crucial to ensure the job would go without a hitch.

“There were many other companies I saw as I was driving through the wreckage,” Amundsen continued. “It amazed me how many of them were disregarding even simple safety protocol, such as wearing chaps, hard hat and safety glasses. It was disappointing to see, but it also made me realize how far our company had come since joining TCIA. I take pride in our safety culture; it is something that requires every person every day. It is each person taking the responsibility to say something if they see something.”

CTS currently has five Certified Treecare Safety Professionals (CTSPs) on staff. CTS also has assisted and educated dozens of individuals to become ISA Certified Arborists, and currently employs 25 Certified Arborists with eight more actively studying for the test.

Quinten Ulschmid, a Carr’s field supervisor, accessing Carr’s TCIA training hub.

Accreditation
In a June 2020 TCI Magazine article, “Passing the Accreditation Baton at Carr’s Tree Service,” by Patricia Chaudoin, Amundson, now Carr’s chief operations officer, said part of what sets Carr’s apart from other tree services in the region is its high number of CTSPs, ISA Certified Arborists and TRAQ (Tree Risk Assessment Qualified) credentialed employees. When it came time to consider even more ways to distinguish CTS from other companies in the region, Amundson says they decided to undertake TCIA’s Utility Contractor Accreditation, which they earned in 2018.

Chris Ebnet, the company’s health and safety coordinator and a CTSP himself, noted, “The Accreditation process sets us apart. We’ve seen how having this affects all aspects of our utility business. As we’ve done some consulting with utilities, I’ve had people ask, ‘What does that Accreditation mean?’ I tell them, ‘It means we’ve been audited by an outside source that says we’re doing all the things we should be doing in terms of safety, training and professionalism.’”

Training
To ensure excellence in safety, training at CTS has changed dramatically. Within the last 10 years, a “path to advancement” program was established, so that CTS no longer relies on in-the-field experience to be the driving force of training. This has since been adapted into a TCIA program that teaches and requires hands-on experience to guide new employees to grow in their professional development.

TCA (Tree Care Academy) Career Pathways, an online education and training program, offers tree care workers new opportunities to advance their careers. At the same time, it provides individual companies an opportunity to provide structured training and create career pathways that can help stabilize their workforce.

CTS started using a custom TCIA training hub to deliver training in fall 2022. “We want to give our employees all the training necessary to be successful in their role within the company,” LeeAnn Rutten, CTS human resources manager, was quoted as saying in a July 2023 TCI Magazine article, “TCIA Offers a Portal to a Better Career,” by David Rattigan.

“TCIA, and this training specifically, reaches all learning styles,” said Rutten, adding that CTS started the program with new employees as part of the onboarding process. “The visual, auditory and reading learning styles are all captured in the TCIA training. We start our new employees with on-the-job training on day one, reaching the kinesthetic (hands-on) learners. But before they even get out to the field, they have a base knowledge from TCIA.”

CTS also has implemented “safety rodeos” that allow employees to learn from one another, during which they are reminded of safe practices in the use of equipment and techniques.

Adding faith to the mix
A change of focus within the Carr family brought on one of the biggest transitions for the company. “In the early days, we focused so much on the bottom line,” says Brad. Personal change and Brad’s own growth influenced the company greatly, with the leadership of Brad’s son, Jake, challenging him in one area – his faith.

Jake asked to be placed in a private school to avoid the culture that influences many teenagers, hoping to be surrounded by better influences and messages in a Christ-centered school. This had a profound impact on Brad, and subsequently, CTS as a whole. “When I saw the welcoming-week festivities at Hillcrest (the school) being led by students and full of God, it really changed me,” says Brad.

Brad acknowledges that in his personal life there was a focus on making money and working hard, yet there had been a feeling that there was more to yearn for. “When my focus became on God, everything else just became so much easier and better.”

This impacted the company as a whole. There is now a regular Bible study conference call, where voices from throughout the company come together to fellowship and grow as individuals in their faith. “Never not include God in your work,” Brad offers. “Work is more fun when you can keep God in it. It’s all about honoring and trusting him.”

Sharing achievements
This past year, CTS was not only celebrating 50 years as a company but also 10 years of its Faith, Leadership and Safety Conference (FLS). This two-day annual gathering is used to recognize employees throughout the company, hear stories from past and present and bring in guest speakers. Awards are presented to employees for representing the company’s values of integrity and hard work and for other individual achievements, such as celebrating those who have received their CTSP or Certified Arborist credentials.

In 1994, land was purchased in Ottertail to build the office and shop that CTS currently calls home.

New leadership
In 2021, Jake became Carr’s CEO following Brad’s retirement, and CTS has continued to grow and transition with the times. New committees and roles have been put in place, such as a safety committee, which meets regularly to discuss incidents and teachable moments, and research has taken place into new technologies that can help do various tasks more safely and efficiently.

There also has been more focus in connecting with people through social media, offering advice for plant health and insight into the work being done with employee recognition, recruitment and promotion. “We’re working hard to integrate technology to stay with the times,” explains Jake.

Overall, Jake’s vision as CEO is simple, he says. “We take pride in what we do. We work where we live and we work to help the little man, as that’s who we are. We’re not some corporate conglomerate, we’re a family business serving the areas where we live.”

There are two groups of people whose satisfaction is at the forefront of what Jake does, he says – the customers and employees. When it comes to customers, CTS focuses on doing diligent work with unmatched expertise. “When you see the Carr’s trucks in your neighborhood, you can trust that it is people of that area who care about that area doing the work,” Jake says.

As far as employees are concerned, safety is paramount. “We want to keep everyone safe and get them home every night. That only happens when we have good trust, attitude, communication and commitment.”

Customer service
Through all of the growth and expansion, it has been the foundational roots that have supported this company to stand tall as a leader in the industry. Customer service has been at the forefront of the business. From Ted in the coffee shops and the Carr boys in their pickup trucks helping the community 50 years ago, to Certified Arborists helping with plant health care today, ensuring customer satisfaction has driven the work being done.

Conclusion
While the last 50 years has seen growth far beyond the vision of Ted and his sons, the next 50 years are off to a great start in continuing the legacy they started. Culture and leadership are vital for the success of any organization or business.
“You’re not a number. You can walk in and talk to management at any time. If you work with them, they’ll work with you,” praises Haspel, having 43 years of dedication to the company. “It’s become a part of me.”

The roots and core values of hard work and staying at it have served as a foundation for the growth Carr’s sees today, according to Jake, with more than 300 employees and work being done in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin. After 50 years, its roots have allowed this company to stand strong and grow into the future.

Brandon Johnson is a work planner and marketing-committee lead with Carr’s Tree Service Inc. in Ottertail, Minnesota.