When your trees need some professional help, and you’ve got to find someone to do the job, who you hire is far too important to base the decision on cost alone. Cost is always a factor, but you’re much better off having no work done than having poor quality work done. Hiring the right person will provide value for your dollar, beautiful trees, and good advice on their future care. Hiring the wrong person could result in permanent damage to your trees, or costly repairs from a job gone wrong.
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts to help you in the decision making process. They’re your trees, and you’re spending your money on their care, making a good decision is in your hands.
DO’s:
Use a licensed and insured company. One mishap could cost you many times the price of the job if you use an uninsured contractor.
Ask the insurance agent yourself for a certificate of insurance. Many shady operators carry around a fake or cancelled certificate, go to the source for proof.
Ask each prospective contractor specifically what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to do it. Ask them to put the estimate in writing.
Make sure the details of the cleanup are included. Full cleanup should leave nothing but sawdust behind.
Ask for references from past customers, and pictures as well. Someone who’s proud of the work they do will be happy to show and tell.
Trust your gut instinct. Especially when it comes to tree trimming and pruning and tree health care. Beware of anyone who wants to start spraying without a proper diagnosis, or anyone who’s selling fertilizing without a soil test to see what’s needed.
DON’TS:
Never pay in advance, not even a partial payment. Any reputable company will expect you to pay in full after the job is completed, anyone who’s asking you to pay up front is probably trying to steal your money.
Don’t let anyone who suggests topping anywhere near your trees. Topping destroys trees, trimmers who perform topping are hacks, and do not care about the future health of your trees. In some cases crown reduction is warranted, but crown reduction and topping are very different.
Don’t hire someone who uses tree climbing spikes for trimming and pruning jobs. Tree climbing spikes injure the cambium with each step, and can be the source of fungal or bacterial infections. Advanced tree climbing methods can complete the job with no extra injuries to the tree.
Don’t hire based on cost alone. Compare the impact of different methods on your property, and compare the services being offered. Very often the lowest bid does not provide the best value, especially when danger and liability are involved.
Another thing to do as a consumer is to ask some basic questions: where do you make cuts? what kind of tree is this? Asking simple questions will help weed out inexperienced tree workers. Also, ask how they get to the tall trees. Anybody working from ladders should be avoided at all costs.
Thanks Keith, It’s nice to have a Board Certified Master Arborist commenting on the site.
I agree, a person can’t ask too many questions. A few other good questions to help discover the knowledge level of a potential tree trimmer are: Why make the cut at that point? What are the characteristics of this species of tree? How should the tree respond after trimming?
More questioning and learning will almost always lead a homeowner to a quality contractor and a more pleasing outcome.
I also completely agree that anyone working from a ladder should be avoided entirely. I sometimes use a ladder to gain access to the canopy, but the ladder is taken away as soon as I enter the tree and tie in. Attempting tree work from a ladder is a recipe for serious injury or worse.