BY BARBARA PINCKNEY
Chris Porreca was a recent college graduate
when his father loaned him $1,000 to buy his first
chain saw and some climbing gear.
That was in 1997, when Porreca operated his
tree removal business, part time, out of a single
red pick-up truck.
Today, Queensbury-based High Peaks Tree
Service operates eight trucks–as well as chippers,
chunk grinders and other equipment–and
employs six people full time.
The company performs all aspects of tree
work, including tree and stump removal, trimming,
land clearing and cabling to preserve trees
in danger of falling. It serves clients from Albany
to Ticonderoga, and occasionally beyond.
But growth is not Porecca’s main goal. His mission
is to provide the best product and superior
customer service, knowing that if he does, the
growth will come.
“Customers appreciate the little things,” he
said. “There are a lot of guys that can take trees
down, but to what extent are they willing to go
for the customer and are they paying attention to
all the little details? Or is it just money driven? I
can say without a doubt that that is not how this
company is run. It’s run for customer satisfaction.
My philosophy is that success will follow that.”
This was one lesson Porecca learned from
his father, Carmen Porecca, who owns Kathy’s
Motel, Nordick’s Motel and Porecca’s Restaurant,
all in Lake George. The younger Porecca
believes entrepreneurship runs in his blood,
as his grandfather and great uncles were also
business owners.
But his father was his primary role model.
“I think that is definitely were I got my work ethic,” he said. “When you believe you can succeed
and do something, I think that helps. And
he kind of led the way with that, without even
saying it. And showing me that that was what I
wanted to do, I wanted to work for myself and be
in control of my future and my success.”
But when he started out, Porecca was not
planning to make tree service his profession. He
had worked for a friend’s tree business in New
Jersey for a while, and when he returned to the
region after graduating from SUNY Oneonta, he
added it to a list of jobs that also included tending
bar and managing one of the family hotels.
“I would mix the tree work in here and there
because I enjoyed it, I enjoyed working outside
and interacting with the customers,” he said.
Then, primarily through word of mouth and
the help of his wife Kelly, who has a background
in marketing, “it just kind of took off.”
That does not mean there was no hard work or
sacrifice. There was plenty of both, and lessons
learned along the way.
“I definitely have made some mistakes,”
Porecca said. “I think I was very green in the
beginning.”
He said one challenge was making the transition
to employer–a skill set he says he is still
working on.
“I want everybody to be happy so every problem
they have becomes mine,” he said. “I try to
be involved in their lives as much as I can and
help wherever I can. We all have a good relationship
and that certainly helps because morale is
a huge thing and what we do is stressful. There
is danger involved, its hard work–so if you are
going to come to work and not enjoy who you’re working with, it makes it very difficult.”
Instead, High Peaks customers have commented
on how well the crew gets along, and
how what they do is “like a symphony.”
Porecca’s advice to other entrepreneurs:
“Keep everyone happy on the job and everything
runs a lot smoother.
For Porecca, this includes investing in his
people, by paying them fairly and helping them
better themselves through education and certification
programs. This also helps High Peaks, by
making it stand out as the tree removal service
with, for example, a certified crane operator
on staff.
Porecca also believes in investing in his
equipment, to keep everything as up to date
as possible. The right equipment allows High
Peaks to be “in and out” quickly, and to leave
the customer’s property in better condition than they found it.
“That’s pretty much the goal,” he said.
Although tree and stump removal, pruning,
cabling and land clearing are High Peak’s primary
services, it will also do landscaping, trucking and
just about anything else the customer wants.
“I don’t turn a lot of stuff down, even if it is
not the most profitable situation, because you
never know what something might turn into,”
he said. “I think [small-business owners] who
turn things away and say ‘no I don’t do that,’ are
being shortsighted, if it is something you have the
capability to do. My belief is to truly go the extra
mile and never leave a stone unturned, so to
speak. I think that opened up some doors for me.”
Porecca also goes the extra mile when it comes
to helping others. He and some members of his
crew helped with the clean-up after Hurricane
Sandy, for a total of six weeks. He also volunteers
with a number of community organization, including
the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch
and the YMCA.
“We do what we can, for selfish reasons,” he
said. “It makes me feel good.”
Photo Courtesy High Peaks Tree Removal