Bannister Tree Service was born in 2005 out of Cleburn and Katherine’s own need to have a dead tree removed from the front yard of their first home.
After growing up as a 3rd generation farmer, Cleburn went on to Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and then to The University of Georgia, to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Poultry Science. He accepted a job after graduation in sales with a poultry watering systems company. For a year, he worked in his given territory on the West Coast, only visiting home a few times. On one of those trips home, he met his future wife and partner, Katherine. When asked to permanently relocate to his West Coast territory, he realized that his passion did not lie in the poultry industry. He made the move back to his home town and started helping his father part-time on the family farm.
He became a firefighter to earn supplemental income and benefits. After getting married and buying his first home, Cleburn tried to find a tree service to remove the dead pine tree. After multiple calls to a local tree company and no success in getting any service, he decided to rent a lift and do the job himself. He went on to remove some other trees and started getting interest from neighbors for help with their trees. He took that opportunity to start researching more about tree removal with minimal equipment. The first crew was formed as he brought in a few of his fellow firefighters.
The business grew as he studied arborist magazines, got a small loan, and invested in equipment. Within a few years, Bannister Tree Service was managing a large portion of the local market. This drove Cleburn to leave the fire department, although he still volunteers as needed.
