Crystal Kappen and her husband, Warren, were each running separate businesses before they started their tree care company, Kappen Tree Service LLC, based in Cass City, Michigan. “I had a cloth-diaper business, and Warren was operating an egg business,” she says.

At the same time, she notes, Warren and his brother Jason, who was in high school at the time, were doing some tree trimming on the side. And so, what started in 1990 as a modest tree-pruning business out of the back of a pickup truck has evolved into a successful tree care and utility-line-clearance company with 400 full-time employees.

“It just snowballed over the years,” explains Crystal, who is majority owner of the business, a TCIA member company since 1996. As a female majority owner, she was able to secure Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification for Kappen Tree Service, which she says has a big part in securing some of the company’s utility-line-clearance contracts.

Kappen, who oversees company operations and was in charge of overseeing the TCIA Accreditation process, says being a woman- and family-owned business is part of what distinguishes Kappen Tree Service in their rural farming area, which includes all the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Kappen, who is a Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP), along with her brother-in-law Jason, says her company was among the first to become TCIA accredited back in 2006. They’ve successfully renewed their certification every three years since. “All three of us were intent on improving our business from the start,” she says of herself, Warren and Jason.

“The biggest thing we learned was that our policies, procedures and training logs all needed to be documented. This was something we hadn’t been diligent enough about. It took me at least six months to complete the Accreditation process, because it was just me working on it for the most part. I know our employees were sick of hearing from me about needing this and that, but a lot of them were excited about it when we got it.”

According to Kappen, being a TCIA accredited company definitely has helped secure some of their contracts. “We heard at one time that DTE Energy was going to require it. Regardless, we always send our renewed certification to them.”

“I would recommend Accreditation to anyone interested in employee safety and improving their company,” Kappen concludes.

This member feature article is in the WHY TCIA brochure and from excerpt from an article by Patricia Chaudoin in TCI Magazine.

To see more stories from TCIA members, see our WHY TCIA brochure. 

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