We’ve been using the words “tour ready” to demonstrate the high-quality work and effort we put into doing our jobs.

Yesterday I received a review from a property owner in Indiana.  In Shipshewana, we have a team who buys trees for our sawmill and a crew that visits the property, picks the select trees, cuts them down, loads them up, and hauls them away.

We take pride in doing our work in such a way as to do minimal harm to the owners’ property.  When we finish, we ask the owners how we did.  In other words, what did you find when you “toured” your property?

The owner responded:

“This makes the fifth time we’ve had our property logged.  The previous four times we had nothing but problems.  After the last one, my wife said we were never having our property logged again.

 But while your crew was logging at my neighbors, they sent me a card asking if we would be interested in selling some trees.  My wife said, ‘No! We’re not going through that again!’ 

I told her I would call just to see what you had to say.  Troy Davidhizar came out the next day.  He presented himself very professionally and offered some possible objectives.  

Never had that before. 

Being an avid outdoorsman, if I was going to have it logged, I wanted to improve the health of the woods as well as the wildlife habitat.  After the third walk-through, we had a plan. 

The result was better than I imagined.  I could not have micromanaged this project and got these results. 

I met with Troy and the loggers before they started. We did a brief tour of the property and discussed my expectations.  The loggers read me like a book.  They accomplished what I have always wanted; I just didn’t have the equipment to do it. 

I have since referred your folks to two friends.”  The teammates who earned this praise were timber buyer Troy Davidhizar, loggers Harry Allen and Dylan Avore, and log haulers Tony Bird and Dave Schragg.

Well done!

When we are “tour ready” we exceed expectations.  We inspire admiration for our craft.  We create standards that set us apart.

Proud of this story and glad to bring it to light.  I also know there are new versions being created every day.