A move to a tree nursery in Gloucestershire followed before Tom took a post as assistant forester in a mixed rural practice in Mid-Wales in 1994. This gave him valuable experience in forest management and during the five years working for this practice he also qualified as an Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
In 2000, Tom set up as a self-employed land agent and forest manager again in mid-Wales looking after a range of rural estates and farm woodlands. In October 2003, he took up a position as rural surveyor with a Scottish firm of chartered surveyors and his main experience during this period involve the management of mixed rural estates both on the urban periphery and upland livestock farms.