Where Tree Service Companies Store Trucks, Chippers and Equipment

Tree work is equipment heavy in a way most trades are not. One crew might run a bucket truck, a chip truck, a chipper, a stump grinder, and a trailer for the smaller gear. None of that fits in a garage. Most of it does not fit on a residential lot either.

So where does it all go between jobs?

Parking at home works until it does not

Most tree companies start out at the owner's house. A truck in the driveway, the chipper behind it, everything else wherever there is room.

That holds up for a while. Then a neighbor calls the city, or you add a second crew, or you buy a stump grinder and run out of driveway. Residential zoning across the Denver metro generally limits commercial vehicles, and a chipper parked on the street is an easy target for a code complaint.

There is also a height problem nobody thinks about until it happens. A bucket truck with the boom stowed still stands taller than most covered parking and a lot of garage doors.

Why self storage does not solve it

Self storage is built for household goods. Covered drive aisles, roll up doors sized for furniture, and rules that often prohibit vehicle storage outright.

Even where vehicles are allowed, the geometry does not work. You cannot back a chip truck into a unit and then fit the chipper in behind it, and you certainly cannot swing a loaded trailer around inside a storage corridor. There is a fuller breakdown in container storage yard versus self storage.

What a tree crew actually needs

Ground. Fenced, gated, open to the sky, with enough room to park the trucks and still turn a trailer.

No roof matters more than people expect. A yard with no height restriction takes a bucket truck without anyone having to think about it. So does a dump trailer with the bed up.

Gate access on your own schedule matters too. Tree work starts early and storm work does not respect business hours. A facility with an office and posted hours creates a delay every single time.

How much space you need

Real numbers from the Arvada yard, which is where most of the tree companies end up.

800 square feet, roughly 20 by 40, holds a chip truck and a chipper with room to walk between them. That runs $550 a month.

1,200 square feet, roughly 30 by 40, takes a bucket truck, a chip truck and the chipper. $750 a month.

1,600 square feet, a 40 by 40 square, is where most two crew operations land. Trucks, chipper, stump grinder and a trailer, with room to move around all of it. $950 a month.

A 20 foot container on the same space runs $200 and holds saws, ropes, rigging, fuel cans and the climbing gear you would rather not leave in a truck overnight. There is a sizing guide in what size storage container a contractor needs.

What you should know before you call

The yards are not supervised. Cameras may be up, but nobody is watching them around the clock, and the lease does not make Box Yard liable if something walks off. Carry your own coverage on the saws and the rigging.

What a gated yard does buy you is that anything heavy nee

ds a vehicle to move it, and the gate stops the vehicle.

A few rules worth knowing. Vehicles stored on site have to be insured and running. Minor maintenance on your own equipment is fine, but no fluid changes, because a gravel yard has nowhere to catch hydraulic fluid or bar oil.

Where the yards are

Three in Colorado. Arvada at 5430 W 56th Ave, plus two in Wheat Ridge, one on Van Gordon and one at 5040 Tabor St.

More on what Box Yard offers tree companies specifically is on the tree service page. To see what is open right now, check current availability or call 720 266 0400.