ForConstructionPros.com

When your customers need a chipper — whether they're a first-time or experienced user — it pays to carefully consider the options available to match the chipper to its intended application.

"There is a wide variety of chippers on the market — anything from small 6-inch chippers used primarily in residential applications to large 1,000-hp units that can chip large-diameter whole trees," says Dan Brandon, marketing manager at Morbark. In addition, there are several styles — disk or drum, towable or self-propelled and hydraulic or manual-feed units.

To ensure a proper match to your customer's jobsite, there are a number of questions you should discuss with them.

What will you do with the chips?

It makes a difference if your customers plan to collect the chips or blow them back onto the ground. Recycling is a growing trend. Easily more than half of all chipped product is collected and turned into a saleable item, most commonly boiler fuel or landscape mulch. "Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to add revenue to the bottom line," Brandon says. "If they can get paid for what they create, it enhances their success."

Plus environmental regulations in many areas are clamping down on what can be brought to the landfills — many of which have stopped accepting any type of green and wood waste. Burning is also banned in a growing number of places.