A tree care dispatcher matches each day's jobs to crews, climbers, bucket trucks, chippers and the occasional crane, then routes them across the service area. When wind, lightning or a storm changes the day, they move crews, hold unsafe jobs and give customers a new time.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building and home services companies · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $27,240, middle half $37,060 to $50,800, 90th percentile $65,630. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, building and home services companies.
Reports to
Operations Manager
Department
Operations
Schedule
Weekdays 9 to 5, some weekends · Occasional weekend shifts in the busy seasons and after storms
The Dispatcher, specializing in Arborist/Tree Care, plays a crucial role in managing and coordinating our team of professionals. They ensure efficient route planning, update schedules, and assign crews to different tasks. This role contributes to the overall operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability of the company.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Assign crews to tasks based on skill level and job requirements.
Oversee route planning to maximize efficiency and timely service delivery.
Update and maintain crew schedules.
Communicate with customers to schedule service appointments.
Resolve scheduling conflicts and address customer inquiries.
Monitor job completion and update system records accordingly.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Assigning and dispatching crews for daily tasks.
Engaging in customer interactions to schedule or reschedule appointments.
Updating the system with route plans and schedules.
Coordinating with crews and customers to resolve any issues.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Route Efficiency: >90%
Job Completion Rate: >90%
Customer Satisfaction Rating: >4.8 stars
Scheduling Accuracy: <5% rescheduling
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
High School Diploma or equivalent.
2+ years of experience in dispatch or similar role.
Knowledge of Arborist/Tree Care industry.
Strong communication and coordination skills.
Proficiency in using scheduling software.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience in the home services or tree care industry.
Previous experience in a dispatch role.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to work in a seated position for extended periods.
Capable of lifting up to 20 pounds.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Typical work hours: 9 AM - 5 PM, Monday to Friday.
Occasional weekend work required.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Hourly Rate: $15 - $20 per hour.
Health, Dental, and Vision Insurance.
401k Plan.
Paid Time Off.
10. Company Culture and Overview
Our company is a growth-oriented home services provider dedicated to offering premium arborist and tree care services. We foster a strong culture of teamwork, continuous learning, and customer-centricity. We believe in empowering our employees to take initiatives, learn new skills, and grow with us.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
A tree job needs the right machines as much as the right people, and the weather can cancel the plan in minutes. The dispatcher builds every day around both.
Machines decide which crew goes
A tight backyard prune may need a climber, while a street-side tree goes faster from the bucket truck. The chipper travels behind a chip truck, and the stump grinder often runs its own route. The dispatcher reads each job's notes, picks the machines first and the people second, and plans where full chip trucks will dump.
Lightning stops the climb
OSHA and NOAA advise that once thunder is heard, workers get inside a safe building or a hard-topped vehicle and wait there until a full half hour has passed with no thunder. They also advise against starting any task that can't be stopped quickly when a storm is coming. A climber halfway through a removal can't stop quickly, so the dispatcher checks the forecast while building the next day's board and keeps big removals off afternoons when storms are likely. Source: OSHA and NOAA Fact Sheet: Lightning safety when working outdoors (FS-3863, 2016).
Make it safe now, finish later
After a storm, many first visits only make a site safe: a limb lifted off a roof, a driveway cleared. The full removal, the stump and the cleanup come later. The dispatcher keeps every make-safe job on a return list with its notes and photos, so no customer is left looking at half a tree in the yard for weeks.
Jobs in the wires wait
When a tree is tangled in power lines, the job stays off the board until the utility clears it or a qualified line-clearance crew is assigned. The dispatcher records the utility's ticket number, checks back each day, and tells the customer why the crew hasn't come yet.
How much tree care dispatchers make
Dispatchers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $20.94 an hour ($43,550 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $50,340 median for dispatchers in all industries. About 1,280 of the 202,810 dispatchers in that survey work for building and home services companies.
Hourly in the template, with health, dental and vision coverage, a retirement plan and paid time off. Storm weekends add overtime hours, so budget for them in spring and fall.
Building and home services companies
$43,550$43,550 median Middle half $37,060–$50,800 10th–90th $27,240–$65,630
All industries
$50,340$50,340 median Middle half $42,750–$62,450 10th–90th $36,030–$78,140
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Building and home services companies
$27,240
$37,060
$43,550
$50,800
$65,630
All industries
$36,030
$42,750
$50,340
$62,450
$78,140
BLS counts too few dispatchers at landscaping and tree care companies for a steady figure, so these figures cover building and home services companies. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Builds a day around machines and crew skills, not only addresses
Reads a job note and knows whether it needs a bucket truck, a climber or a crane
Moves a climb to another day before the storm, not during it
Tracks every make-safe job until its return visit is done
Texts the next customer the moment a removal runs long
Teach these on the job
Your service area, dump sites and wood yards
Your utility contacts and how to look up an outage ticket
How long common jobs take each of your crews
Your scheduling software and truck GPS
Which crew members are trained on which machines
The crew calendar and work orders live in a tree care system such as ArboStar or SingleOps, alongside GPS on the trucks and a weather radar app open all day. Ask candidates whether they have scheduled shared equipment as well as people.
Tree care dispatcher interview questions
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Emergency reassignment
A tree has fallen on a house, and the nearest crew is midway through a routine removal. What do you do?
A strong answer: Checks whether the current job can be safely paused, sends a crew with the right equipment (possibly a crane) and tells both customers.
Behavioral · Emergency coordination
Tell me about a time you coordinated several crews during a storm or other emergency.
A strong answer: Explains how they tracked crews and jobs, set priorities, kept crews' hours in check and kept customers informed.
Wait for a full season of your own scheduling records before fixing targets, and keep weather holds apart so they don't hide dispatch misses.
Route Efficiency
Hours each crew spends driving against hours on the job, from truck GPS. Count runs to dump chips or drop logs as driving, since a chip truck that fills by noon adds a trip.
Job Completion Rate
Of all jobs sent out, count those wrapped up on their planned date. Note why the rest slipped, such as lightning, a line the utility hadn't cleared or a broken chipper, and review the causes with the operations manager each week.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
Ratings and comments that mention arrival times or rescheduling, read each week. Call back on any complaint about a no-show or a missed call.
Scheduling Accuracy
Jobs rescheduled out of all jobs booked, split by cause: weather, utility, equipment or dispatch. Only dispatch errors, like the wrong machine sent, count against the dispatcher.
What happens when the climber finds the tree worse than the estimate?
The crew leader calls it in, often with photos: hidden decay, a split trunk, or a limb resting on a wire the estimate didn't show. The sales arborist decides whether the plan or the price changes and talks with the customer. The dispatcher handles the rest of the day: warning the next customer that the crew is running late, or moving a crew off a smaller job to help.
How much does a tree care dispatcher make?
Dispatchers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $20.94 an hour ($43,550 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $37,060 and $50,800 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Should the dispatcher warn crews about storms?
Yes. A climber high in a canopy often can't see weather building behind the trees, and running saws can drown out distant thunder. The dispatcher keeps a radar and lightning alert app open and calls the crew leader as a storm moves in, so there's time to get the climber down and secure the work. The crew leader on site can still stop work at any time, with or without that call.
What changes for a tree care dispatcher in winter?
In cold places, short days are the big change: fewer jobs fit between first light and dark, so routes get tighter and the longest job goes first. Ice storms bring the same rush as summer wind, with slick roads slowing every trip. Snowbanks and plowed-in driveways change how a bucket truck reaches a tree, so the access notes on each job need a fresh look.
How can a dispatcher give tree customers a firm arrival time?
Only the first job of the day gets a set time. A removal can run an hour long or short depending on what the climber finds, so later jobs get a window. Text the customer when the crew leaves the job before theirs. Customers who must be home, such as those with locked gates or dogs, go first in the morning when you can manage it.
