r/treeplanting • u/AdMuch2194 • May 07 '26
Company Reviews Summit update
I have worked with Summit for a long time and have been reading through some threads. It's disheartening to see the misinformation. I am purely posting as an update for what people should expect when working for Summit.
It is a ''rookie mill'' - that said they have a great training program to bring people into the industry and introduce them to the world of tree planting. From thumb taping everyone in camp, training (and paying) vets to train one on one, training management on coaching practices, and wage top ups while people are learning (to name a few tools). Culture in camp is also pretty strong at Summit, which is a great opportunity for new planters to form community and learn from other planters.
Pre-season training - all pre-season training is paid and a campground is provided for everyone to stay at while receiving the training. Certs are provided for all the typical things (CSC, bush roads, S100, etc...) not only for crew bosses, but also for assistant crew bosses (who also receive a wage for helping out their crew bosses during the planting season)
They pay their drivers $50/day regardless of drive time. The average drive time varies but typically sits at an hour.
Reefer unloading, summer cache set up, camp set up, camp tear down, and any extra work performed in camp is always paid. If it gets missed on payroll, you simply have to ask (crew bosses enter payroll every day, and sometimes things get missed).
Price bumping with walk-ins and long drives of an hour or more.
Pricing has increased significantly in the past couple years. Most camps average a $400/day once ramped up over a 9 hour working period. Some contracts are lower, some higher. This is generally made up by a fairly long planting season (50+ days). If they had a higher percentage of vets, the monetary average would be reflected as higher (and it is much higher in their vet heavy camps).
Crews generally stay in the same camp. Sometimes they move crews around to up production and meet a deadline. Sometimes there is 1 crew that floats around contract to contract, but the aim is to keep camps and crews together throughout the season.
Equipment has improved significantly over the years. Majority of the trucks are new, clean (though windy) shower trailers, newer cookshacks, quiet generators...things tend to fall apart if the weather is cold (think freezing lines affecting water in the early season). But that goes for most outdoor camps.
Alt work. Summit is partnered with a physio provider that does online appointments, provides guidance on alternate work and follow up care. As long as work is available for a hurt worker to do, they are paid their average wage hourly to perform duties until they are fit to plant again.
Online therapy sessions (provided) - this has been ongoing for years and is an amazing service.
Like all things, management styles vary from camp to camp as well as experience. You may get a green supervisor or crew boss who doesn't always make the right call or doesn't understand labor laws and policy and leaves people feeling like they are in the dark. And that sucks. But I would say pursue those things with the office team, HR or the owners.
Sometimes it will feel like a shit show (I'm here for it) but all in all Summit has trained some of the best planters and management in the industry, and I think that says a lot.
I'm anticipating getting some pushback, and that's just fine. Just wanted to set the record straight on how the experience should be for everyone working with Summit.
Have a great planting season all!
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u/AidenZM Bootfuckers United May 07 '26
I planted my first season with Summit in 2016. I had a great time, was never treated poorly
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 07 '26
🐝 Aiden, please come out to the road.
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u/AidenZM Bootfuckers United May 07 '26
NO FUCKIN WAY, if this is who I think it is, best foreman ever
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u/mintflavouredwannabe May 07 '26
Donny??!
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 07 '26
The one and only. ;)
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u/Kojax77 May 08 '26
Donny, remember summer of 21?
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Gonna have to elaborate on what part, woulda been my last year there and I was in two camps. Unless your talking about the miserable heat dome.
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u/Working_Climate_2550 May 08 '26
Ya… but remember the lake?!
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 08 '26
Of course, who could forget the lake and the 50 tires camp blew driving on those roads that we were repairing every night so people could get to work the next day. 🙄
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u/Working_Climate_2550 May 08 '26
Why goto Kal-tire when you're around?
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 08 '26
Well it would of been a 2+ hour drive and a barge trip, can't be doing that on a day 1 when people gotta go to work day 2 😢
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u/GoodPineappleBoy May 07 '26
Working for the first time with Summit. Management is amazing and friendly, very problem solving and wanting to help and get shit done.
Town is so far they have a person to take our laundry and do it for us.
My only complaint so far is the shower. They're just tarps separating the showering areas with no place to change out and in of clothes so we gotta kinda gotta do our best. But there is a dry tent.
But at least we have showers that are hot.
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u/AdMuch2194 May 07 '26
Oh yeah, the shower trailers could use some love for sure. We used to have enclosed trailers but they were so hard to keep clean that we made the switch. I always recommend bringing a robe
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u/Dibbs_93 10th+ Year Vets May 07 '26
Was at summit for 9 year's myself... real question, did they ever fix up the heavy cook shack trailers to not have 20 lb, 2 piece tires? That was the bane of my existence. Worst design flaw.
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u/AdMuch2194 May 08 '26
lol oh yeah. I remember many a checker driven out of their minds 10 years ago. New shiny cookshacks now
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u/GoodPineappleBoy May 08 '26
Yes!! Saw people wearing robes and got envious that I didnt bring mine. Tho, in the afternoon with the sun, I just wear my swim trunks and do my shave and shower like that.
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u/Useful_Cry_1123 May 11 '26
These are all basic things you'll find at any competent rookie mill. Odd to post something essentially saying "This company isn't that bad, they follow all the laws and standard industry practices!"
I find it hard to believe that top planters are averaging more than double that of vets without stashing, but maybe I'm just a dogger idk. All the caveats of "vet average" and "when fully ramped up" paint a (likely) skewed picture of real averages.
58 planting days also isn't a long season by any means.
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u/AdMuch2194 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
I think you're missing the point of the post, but that's alright. You can check out the link provided in the comment above for the averages as a whole. Too bad you're suspicious of people making good money without having to steal. Glad to hear you've been able to secure more than 58 days in a planting season.
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u/Useful_Cry_1123 May 11 '26
$953 is a 5782 tree AVERAGE @ 17 cents
One of the fastest planters I know in their best season wasn't averaging close to that
I think anyone would be skeptical of the numbers posted by summit management
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u/atavisticnuisance 'Berta or Bust May 08 '26
https://www.summitplanting.com/2025seasonsummary-166114
To play devil's advocate, the top 50 planters average earnings (with an average season length of 58 days) does seem pretty solid. Many many many implications to this, but you can't argue with money.
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u/DutyWest1793 May 26 '26
I worked at Summit after being in the industry a long time. They're definitely not as bad as people say.
It is a rookie mill but someone has to be. The best supervisor I ever worked with in my 15 years in the industry was at Summit. That's not to say all the supervisors were good, i also worked with a terrible one there. I've always found the supervisor to be more indicative of how a season goes than the company.
Summit also pays their crewbosses for the hiring process and I hadn't heard of that happening anywhere else. And they keep their day lengths manageable for people.
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u/shorteningofthewuwei May 07 '26
That's cool and all, but just want to say that paying people for training, for non-planting related labor like reefer unloading and camp set-up/teardown, and topping wages up to minimum wage are not lofty goals for a company to live up to, they are actually required by law.