We built EstimatorPRO because we knew what it was like to stand in a yard at 7am eyeballing a dead oak and putting together a fair price on the spot. Nobody else was building software for that moment.
Every tree company runs on handwritten estimates, lost paperwork, and chasing payments. The software that existed was either built for landscaping and bolted onto tree work, or it was enterprise software designed for companies with office staff and procurement departments — not for a guy with a truck and a crew trying to get three jobs quoted before noon.
Winston Marsden spent years as a climber, bucket truck operator, and groundsman. He worked for tree companies near power lines — companies like Stackhouse — and saw the same administrative problems at every outfit. The boss was doing estimates on a legal pad. Invoices were getting lost. Follow-ups weren't happening. Customers were calling to check on payment status instead of calling to book more work.
Payton Paule came at the problem from the power line side. As a lineman for an electrical company, he worked alongside tree crews constantly. He founded BidSource to create professional bid sheet templates and spreadsheets specifically for tree service and arborist businesses. His customers were tree companies who needed something better than a blank Excel file.
When Winston and Payton connected, they took that foundation and built EstimatorPRO — a full estimating, invoicing, scheduling, and field management platform made by people who understand what it actually takes to do tree work.
Former tree climber, bucket truck operator, and groundsman. Worked near and around power lines for tree service companies across Virginia. Saw the same administrative problems at every outfit he worked for.
Now runs pascat graphics and marketing company, helping tree service businesses and other blue-collar companies grow with professional websites, SEO, and marketing that actually works.
Builds and maintains EstimatorPRO directly — not a development team, not a vendor. Winston wrote the code.
Lineman for an electrical company who worked alongside tree crews on power line clearance jobs. Understood the coordination problems between tree companies and utilities firsthand.
Founded BidSource, creating professional bid sheet templates and spreadsheets specifically designed for tree service and arborist businesses. The BidSource templates became the foundation that EstimatorPRO grew from.
Handles server operations and deployment. If it's running in production, Payton put it there.
Every other tree service software treats a job as trees plus equipment. There's no place to put the flaggers you need for a road job. There's no field for the spotter who watches for power line contact on a removal. That crew costs money. It needs to be in the estimate. The reason other platforms don't have it is simple: they were not built by people who have actually worked near power lines. We were. That's why it's there.
The guys doing the hardest, most dangerous work in the service industry deserve professional tools that were actually built for their work. Not adapted from lawn care software. Not shrunk down from enterprise platforms. Built from the ground up for tree work — the species, the equipment, the hazards, the customers, and the cash flow reality of running a small crew.
That's what EstimatorPRO is. And we're still building it.
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Start Your Free TrialQuestions? Call Winston — (434) 207-2831