KIRKLAND, Washington – Small can be good when it comes to operating a business, and a small business model suits Tom Marici just fine.

Marici, the owner of Dutchman Logging, does both logging and land-clearing jobs. He has a small crew of other loggers.

Marici, 24, grew up in the Puget Sound region of Washington and lives in Kirkland, which is just on the other side of Lake Washington from Seattle, about 11 miles northeast. He started out hand felling for other loggers and has been in business for himself about five years. Marici takes work in western Washington and the Cascades.

“I like working in the woods,” said Marici, “so it seemed like the place to be.”

About half his work is logging and half is land-clearing. Marici actually prefers the land-clearing work and has been doing it since he first started his business. “It’s less susceptible to log market swings,” he noted.

Most of his logging jobs come through independent consulting foresters. “We do jobs by the ton or board foot, but we don’t work for big timber companies.” A typical job might be 100,000-250,000 board feet, mainly Doug fir and red cedar. He prefers to take jobs on relatively flat ground, although his company also works in steep terrain. About half of his logging jobs come through foresters, and the others are privately sourced.

Land-clearing jobs are about 1-5 acres. “I like to stay in that smaller zone,” said Marici. “Bigger companies aren’t looking for it.” He clears land for houses, government infrastructure, and road right-of-way, merchandising the wood when possible.

Most felling is done by hand, and the logs are processed by hand with chainsaws – removing the tops, limbs, and bucking them to length. A DEVELON shovel with a grapple normally is used for shoveling logs or loading trucks. A Cat D5 grapple dozer skids logs to the landing. “We can yard on 40 percent slope using that Cat,” said Marici.

The slash is left in the woods or scattered to eventually decompose and return nutrients to the soil. On land-clearing jobs he offers to burn the debris or contracts for grinding services.

He hires trucking contractors for hauling wood – six axle long loggers or seven axle self-loading trucks. Average haul distance ranges from 50-80 miles.

Marici uses the same equipment for clearing land, essentially felling trees by hand and processing them by hand, but may add more excavators. Stumps are extracted with an excavator or the Cat. If regulations prohibit burning debris he will contract for grinding services. Merchantable timber is supplied to markets. “It pays for some of the clearing services,” noted Marici.

During fire season he supplies felling modules – two-man crews that work with chainsaws – to the Oregon Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service.

Marici prefers Husqvarna and Stihl chainsaws. “Stihl seems to have a better dealer network in this region,” he added.

Besides word-of-mouth referrals, Marici’s company is on lists of contractors – bidding rosters – used by a builder or government agency to solicit bids for land-clearing work.

Log markets are “moderate to slow,” said Marici.

At the time he talked with TimberWest, Marici was not working. “It’s been a slow fall. We’ve been doing some intermittent, smaller projects.” However, just a few months earlier his crew was busy. “This year we were busy from January until August, then things fell off.”

Back in the spring he had few jobs going at the same time, two men on a job at a time, either felling or working with machines. He usually runs just one job at a time.

The slack time was partly self-inflicted, said Marici. “Part of it was because I didn’t bid enough work,” he explained. “I was so busy the first part of the year I didn’t have time to bid on work for the second half of the year.”

LOGGER’S TIP: “Stay in good communication with your landowners or your clients, and try to minimize your debt.” Tom Marici

He stays in close contact with the men he hires, and if he’s not able to keep them busy, he tries to find them work with someone else.

Nevertheless, sometimes when gearing up for a job, it can be difficult to get men if they have had to work for someone else in the meantime. However, he added, “I’m not going to take a job if I can’t fulfill it.”

“One thing I’m proud to offer is robust administrative services,” said Marici. “I spend a significant amount of time preparing Excel spreadsheets to give my clients an organized statement on their timber and what was shipped,” whether for logging or land-clearing jobs. “It’s something I like to be able to offer to my clients. It helps create good relationships with foresters and private landowners.”

Marici, a member of the Washington Contract Loggers Association and the Washington Contract Firefighters Association, enjoys fly fishing in his free time.