DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO 401(k): Principal, match 4% max
The Davey 401KSOP and ESOP · CIK 277638
Principal is the recordkeeper named on the Form 5500 filed for this plan, the company that keeps the account records. Where to log in, and what the filing says.
Maximum employer match, as a share of pay
4%
DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of pay.
From the Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · who holds your account · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What DAVEY TREE EXPERT puts in, and what the plan costs
What DAVEY TREE EXPERT put into the plan, per active participant
$1,465
DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO put $1,465 into this plan for each of its 7,923 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
DAVEY TREE EXPERT put in more per active participant than 74% of plans with 5,000+ participants in administrative and support services. The middle plan in that group of 93 reported $521. Administrative and support services comes from business code 561730, which DAVEY TREE EXPERT entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
What this figure cannot separate: how much DAVEY TREE EXPERT pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 340176110, plan 004 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
The $1,465 above is the Form 5500 figure for plan year 2024, and it counts every employer dollar on one line. DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO also files a Form 11-K, which states the match formula for plan year 2025: the card below reads $1,980 a year at a $49,500 salary. That second figure is what the formula pays one worker on that salary, and not an amount either filing reports. The two figures cover different plan years and measure different things, so neither one is the other one corrected.
What DAVEY TREE EXPERT puts in
$1,980
a year, at a $49,500 salary.
The match paragraph, word for word
“As a safe harbor plan, the Company made changes to the hardship provisions and is required to make quarterly matching contributions which are made in Company stock equal to 100% of the first 3% and 50% of the next 2% of the participant's W-2 wages, subject to IRS limit of $350,000 in 2025, which will be 100% vested. This represents a maximum matching contribution of 4% of wages.”
What you contribute to collect all of it
Contribute at least 5% of your pay to collect the full match.
That is $2,475 a year at a $49,500 salary, and it scales with your own.
Vesting score
100 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. Higher than 48% of the 369 schedules we have scored.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and the Company's matching contribution plus actual earnings thereon.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
45th percentile
$49.82 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 55% of plans with 5,000+ participants.
What is DAVEY TREE EXPERT's 401(k) match formula?
DAVEY TREE EXPERT's 401(k) employer match tops out at 4% of pay. The match is deposited quarterly. A tiered formula pays its best rate on the first slice of pay and less on the next, which is how the rate steps down.
| Match formula | 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay |
|---|---|
| then | 50% of the next 2% of pay |
| Maximum employer match | 4% of compensation |
| Deposited | Quarterly |
| Paid in company stock | Yes |
| Conditions | The Plan is a safe harbor plan. As a safe harbor plan, the Company made changes to the hardship provisions and is required to make quarterly matching contributions which are made in Company stock equal to 100% of the first 3% and 50% of the next 2% of the participant's W-2 wages, subject to IRS limit of $350,000 in 2025, which will be 100% vested. |
At a $75,000 salary, contributing 5% ($3,750) earns the full employer match of $3,000 for the year.
What the filing says, word for word
“As a safe harbor plan, the Company made changes to the hardship provisions and is required to make quarterly matching contributions which are made in Company stock equal to 100% of the first 3% and 50% of the next 2% of the participant's W-2 wages, subject to IRS limit of $350,000 in 2025, which will be 100% vested. This represents a maximum matching contribution of 4% of wages.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is DAVEY TREE EXPERT's 401(k) vesting schedule?
DAVEY TREE EXPERT vests the employer match immediately: 100% is yours as soon as it is paid in. Nothing is forfeited when you leave, which is not true of the two schedules that vest over time.
| Employer match vesting | Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their contributions and the Company's matching contribution plus actual earnings thereon.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join DAVEY TREE EXPERT's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
DAVEY TREE EXPERT's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | The eligibility of employees to participate in the Plan is based, in general, on both attaining age 21 and completing one year of continuous service. |
|---|---|
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“The eligibility of employees to participate in the Plan is based, in general, on both attaining age 21 and completing one year of continuous service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who holds your account
Schedule C of the Form 5500 filed for plan year 2024 reports Principal, filed as “PRINCIPAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY”. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to. The trustee that holds the plan’s assets can be a different company, and this filing does not name it.
5,239 plans on file name Principal as their recordkeeper. Of those, the 5,230 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $170.05 per participant.
Participants log in at Principal ↗. 401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with Principal or with any other recordkeeper, and takes nothing for this link. It is here because that is where the account is.
| Recordkeeper | Principal |
|---|---|
| Recordkeeper EIN | 420127290 |
What does the DAVEY TREE EXPERT plan report on Form 5500?
The DAVEY TREE EXPERT plan reported $448.4M in assets and 8,672 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $448,407,983 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 8,672 |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $49.82 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $49.82 per participant. The median across plans in administrative and support services is $97.33, from the 1,619 of 1,704 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The Davey 401ksop And ESOP on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does DAVEY TREE EXPERT's 401(k) match compare?
DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO's maximum 401(k) match of 4% of pay compares with a median of 4% across the 269 companies in our data with a computable formula.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file in administrative and support services, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 3% of pay. Also in administrative and support services.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in administrative and support services.
Maximum match 4.5% of pay. Also in administrative and support services.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Principal.
Maximum match 4% of pay. Vests immediately too, like DAVEY TREE EXPERT.
What can you do next?
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 18, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
Questions this filing answers
What is DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO's 401(k) match?
Davey Tree Expert Co matches 100% (dollar-for-dollar) of the first 3% of pay, then 50% of the next 2% of pay, for a maximum employer match of 4% of compensation (plan year ended December 31, 2025).
When does the DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO 401(k) match vest?
Immediate: employer match is 100% vested when contributed.
Does DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Who is the recordkeeper for DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO's 401(k)?
Principal is named as the recordkeeper on the Form 5500 filed for The Davey 401ksop And ESOP for plan year 2024. That is the company paid to keep the account records: what is in an account, what went into it, and usually the site a participant signs in to.
Source
The match formula, the vesting schedule and the enrollment rules on this page were read from one document: the Form 11-K annual report that DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Each of those fields carries the filing sentence it was read from, expandable where the field appears. Nothing on this page was supplied by the employer to this site.
The plan assets, the participant counts, the plan-paid fees and the recordkeeper come from a different document, the plan’s DOL Form 5500 annual return, and the section that reports them links it. Comparisons with other employers are computed across the filings named in the section they appear in.
Read the filing on SEC EDGAR ↗
| Document | Form 11-K annual report |
|---|---|
| Filed with | US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) |
| Filed by | DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO |
| SEC CIK | 277638 |
| Accession number | 0001628280-26-044181 |
| Plan | The Davey 401KSOP and ESOP |
| Period of report | December 31, 2025 |
| Filed | June 18, 2026 |
401(k) Monitor is not affiliated with DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO, with the Securities and Exchange Commission or with this plan’s recordkeeper, and publishes this page without their involvement. It republishes a public filing and says where it came from.
Cite this page
401(k) Monitor, “DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0001628280-26-044181, plan year ended December 31, 2025.
