Tips| Traps| Hiring| Choosing| Arborist| Tree Worker| Contractor

Tips for selecting a tree work professional - Arborist to work with your trees.

• Insurances: You should look for Public Liability Insurance, Workcover and if engaging an arborist on a consultation then Professional Indemnity insurance too.


• Look for a Certified/Qualified Arborist, someone who has completed the education. In Australia we have the AQF system for attaining qualifications (Certificate 3 Arboriculture should be considered minimum for tree work and Diploma Arboriculture "L5" minimum for consulting), outside of Australia ISA has a certification system, UK has NQF/NPTC system.


• Ask for references and get more than one quote. Take your time and select carefully, the tree has likely been there for years and a few extra days wont matter... don't commit yourself to the first person who arrives.


• Beware of “doorknockers.” With recent exposure on TV you can view for yourself the problems.


• A good arborist rarely recommends topping, and should try to talk you out of it. Avoid tree topping at all costs.


• When pruning trees, climbers should not use spurs/spikes in order to prevent damage to the bark. Pruning should be to Australian Standard 4373 2007 or equivalent for other countries.


• Written quotations with details of the work to be performed should also mention debris removal, stump grinding etc ... leave nothing to chance. Some-one writing this "Prune tree $330" is simply not on and leaves little come back for either party if it's not done as discussed.


•  When phoning around, be patient and leave messages for people to return your call. Many small hard working businesses do not have the luxury of paying $40K+ a year for some-one in an office to take your call but they are great arborists, so be patient. If they don't call back in a reasonable period of time (perhaps 24hours) then ring another.
  Try not to get a price over the phone, most quotes are free and there's more to doing the job than just the tree (location, access, equipment, staff, dumping, landscape, obstacles etc etc).

Traps when selecting an arborist:

• Member of an Industry Organisation or Association: Well, rather than repeat the whole story you can read for yourself this article and true story. Most members of an organization are silent, certainly not seen in the public eye and simply use logo's and badges to gain some credibility and exposure to themselves and businesses. Tree World members are not invisible though, quite the contrary, they are online, and you have the ability to also join in and comment, a totally transparent system... free and full of information for all to use including documents, video and pictures.


• Large tree service companies: Might have unqualified people doing their work and same for who-ever is estimating, it is people who get qualifications not business names, look for the individual's qualifications. Often the person quoting doesn't do the work, this can mean conflict when the crew arrive to do the work ... wrong equipment scheduled, over quoted or under quoted on price so workers lose morale, access provisions overlooked etc.


• Sub-contract climbers to tree businesses not being insured. Does happen. Often contract climbers are employed by tree businesses, if the climber doesn't carry insurance and causes an accident then you may be left without cover, validate any subcontractors insurances as you are not assured the principal contractor's insurance will cover the event.


• Workcover and OHS: You may think that it's not your problem however you are the employer, this is a trap when selecting cheap bids, door knockers etc ... you need to check Workcover insurance in case an injury occurs.
  You are also responsible for pointing out hazards, if you know a retaining wall is unsafe then barricade/tape it off before it collapses on somebody. You are inviting workers into a workplace (your yard), you have a Duty of Care to point out (preferably in writing) any known hazards and ensure something is done about them. I personally have sustained 2 bad falls with minor painful injuries. One was when a customer's block wall wasn't cemented just stacked and I jumped up and grabbed the top of it to get a small branch ... the wall collapsed on top of me and I got some serious bruising and cuts. The 2nd was when a rock retaining wall was not cemented, although it had a cemented finish on top the rocks were just stacked and the finish was all for looks. I was walking along the top of the wall with a running chainsaw to remove shrubs growing there when it gave way, I fell with one leg going down the rock wall the other getting caught on top of the wall. Bad bruising, cuts and strains but lucky again no permanent damage and the chain brake was on. The message is know your yard, point out the hazards, your yard is our work place.


•  Showing other quotes. You may think you are going to get a good deal, but seriously, there's many different ways of doing a job with different types of machinery and individual's skill levels. It's pretty hard to compare apples to apples if you have never personally done the job yourself. Another danger is that some inexperienced operators have no idea what to price so they need to know what others are doing. Finally, are they desperate? Will they hide if things go wrong? If they're always undercutting to get their work be rest assured they wont have the best knowledge, tools and staff.