Tree
Surgeons are responsible for a variety of tasks that may include planting,
felling, shaping, removing dead wood, pruning, tree surveys and hedging.
A good tree surgeon will possess a number of skills
including, climbing, confidently operating & maintaining various power
tools often at height, managing health & safety, maintenance and good
planning.
It’s a dangerous job that requires the highest
professionalism, skill and ensuring that each task is carried out in the safest
possible way for themselves, their colleagues and the clients they’re working
for.
It’s therefore critically important that you choose
a competent company or person for the job and avoid the rogue traders.
If you do the right kind of research and ask the
correct questions you can avoid the many pitfalls and disasters that can arise,
from getting it wrong.
Tree Surgeon at Work
1. ARE YOU A QUALIFIED
TREE SURGEON?
Avoid Rogue Traders!
If someone knocks on your door offering to do tree
work for you this is often not ideal, once you let them in you could be subject
to:
·
High pressure tactics to get a quick decision without
a cooling off period
·
Agreeing work to be done on that same day
·
All the money may have to be paid upfront
·
It has to be cash payments only
You need to ensure that your potential tree surgeon
is qualified to do the job or is a member of a relevant trade association, so
don’t be afraid to ask the questions.
Minimum requirements, should be qualified to NPTC standards, this stands for the National Proficiency Tests Council
This is one of the most widely
recognized training schemes for tree work and the tree surgeon would have
passed a series of rigorous assessments. It’s a City & Guilds certificate
of competence, in the land based sector.
Tree Surgeons with this qualification
make it easier for you, as they should carry an ID card.
Other qualifications include CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) CHAS (The Contractors Health & Safety Assessment Scheme) &
The Arboricultural Association
2. DO YOU HAVE
ADEQUATE INSURANCE?
Companies will often say that they are insured but bear
in mind there may be multiple aspects to consider.
·
Are they actually insured at all? – Ask to see
their insurance documents
·
If a job goes wrong, i.e. accidents or damage to your
property and the company you’ve hired has no insurance or inadequate insurance
this could leave you with major problems
·
If tree surgeons employ staff then it’s a legal
requirement that they have Employer’s Liability Insurance.
·
Public and Products Liability Insurance cover
liability to 3rd parties for injury and damage to property as a
result of negligence, at least £5,000,000
Warning signs for the public
3. DO YOU WORK
IN A SAFE AND SECURE WAY?
·
All equipment used should be fit for
purpose and well maintained to minimise the possibility of accidents
·
The team that turns up to carry out
the work should also be wearing the correct PPE,
including helmets, appropriate safety clothing, gloves, boots and harnesses.
·
Again don’t be afraid to ask a
company how they intend to carry out a particular job and the safeguards they
intend to put in place.
Example
If the tree work is very near to a
road for instance, a road sign to warn the public would be required or the site
may need to be cordoned off with cones.
Willow Tree
4. WHAT
EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE?
·
You need to find out how many years’
experience a tree surgeon has?
·
Do they have plenty of experience in
dealing with the particular tree issues that you want resolving?
·
Ask them to provide examples of their
work, to show you their portfolio of work or see their customer testimonials
Example
Can they identify the exact type of
tree that you want them to deal with, as this often gives a very good
indication of whether they are up to the job or not.
5. ARE YOU
AWARE OF LEGAL OBLIGATIONS?
They need to be aware of various
statutory and legal obligations which would enable them to ask the right
questions.
Examples
Legislation regarding the bird
nesting and breeding season stipulates non-urgent tree removal or reduction shouldn’t
be carried out between March & July. This can often be up to September if
weather conditions are milder.
Are your trees protected by a tree preservation order or is your
property within a conservation area?
With either situation you need to
inform the tree surgeon, right from the start because no work can start unless
permission has been gained from the local planning authority (LPA).
When the tree surgeons have gone, you
don’t want to be left with a nightmare scenario that would cost you money, put
you in trouble legally or cause soaring stress levels because of misunderstandings
or them not doing their job properly.
6. DO YOU
FOLLOW A CODE OF CONDUCT?
NPTC, CSCS, CHAS & the Arboricultural Association
·
If you hire a professional tree
surgeon and they are members of the above organisations then you’ll have
greater protection because all their members would have adequate training and
skills to do the job or have to follow a code of conduct
·
If they are also members of a 3rd
party consumer friendly organisation, like Derbyshire Trusted Trader, you’ll have even greater consumer protection
This is because businesses are
thoroughly vetted by Derbyshire Trading Standards to ensure that:
·
They can deliver quality services to
local people at a fair price
·
Agree to provide good customer
service
·
Older and vulnerable adults are fully
protected by using this service
·
This means Rogue traders can now be
given the red card. They tend to cold call, get their foot in the door &
not leave until you’ve been pressured to give in, insist the job has to be done
on the day and demand money up front.
In the case of Derbyshire Trusted
Trader there’s also a built in complaints resolution and mediation service.
7. ARE
YOU PROFESSIONAL & DO YOU WORK TIDILY?
Professional Tree surgeons have the
following responsibilities:
·
Listen to the exact requirements of
what a client wants
·
Answer any questions
·
Address any concerns
·
Offer advice and guidance
·
Negotiate a complete agreement between
themselves and the client on what needs to be done, the price and timescales. Crucially
this needs to be done before any work takes place
·
Tidy the site where the particular tree
surgeon services took place
·
Take all waste away from the client’s
home or business
8. ARE
YOU A MEMBER OF A 3rd PARTY CONSUMER FRIENDLY ORGANISATION THAT CAN
VERIFY YOUR WORK?
This is an incredibly useful
indicator of a particular company’s track record and whether they can be
trusted. This is because the information that you have access to has been
provided by a third party organisation who would have stipulated certain terms
and conditions for initial and on-going membership.
Example
For instance The Trusted
Trader scheme is run by Derbyshire Trading Standards and they operate a
clear customer charter for the benefit of all customers. There are other
similar schemes that operate to protect consumers.
Their listing would tell you the
following:
·
The name of the company
·
The services they offer
·
A company profile that you can
scrutinise
·
Customer Reviews
9. IS THE PRICING
CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT?
This is can be quite a difficult
judgement but look at the whole package being offered and base your decision on
the following:
·
Are all your requirements being met
in full?
·
Are there extra charges for travel
expenses or any other sneaky charges?
·
Have all or most of the questions
raised in this guide been answered to your satisfaction?
Example
If the price seems almost too good to
be true or considerably lower compared to other price enquiries, you need to
ask yourself if corners are being cut regarding, safety, insurance or quality
of equipment.
Be very suspicious of companies or
individuals that ask you for all the money upfront.
The more acceptable way to conduct
business is to ask for a deposit then the balance on completion of the work.
10. WHAT ARE YOUR
PAYMENT OPTIONS?
It’s important that customers are
aware of what the available payment options are and whether there are any penalties
for making payments in a certain way.
These options would normally include:
cash, cheque, bank transfer, debit Card, credit Card & PayPal
11. CAN
I TRUST YOUR ADVICE?
If you follow this guide and trust
your instincts you’ll be able to answer this question fairly easily but if you
have doubts, take a step back & consult more widely with alternative traders or
seek professional advice.
If you firmly believe that you’ve
made the right choice then listen to the advice given but again if doubts creep
in at any stage, seek a 2nd or 3rd opinion.
Example
Sometimes what the customer wants or
may suggest may be counterproductive to a trees short term or long term health.
This is where sound advice that
carefully explains the benefits or potential problems of one action or another
is invaluable, as it could save you money or further hassle further down the
line.
12. ARE YOU
LOCAL?
·
This is an important consideration
because local companies tend to know far more about the local area and if they
were brought up in that area they are more likely to do right by you
·
It also means that money remains in
the local economy
Conclusion
After reading this guide I hope it
gave you a better understanding of why you need to choose the right tree
surgeon carefully and not someone who makes out they can save you some money
but in fact is setting you up for a mighty fall.
You need to be especially careful if
you’re an older or vulnerable adult.
By following our guide this will help
to arm you with useful additional knowledge so you can select a tree surgeon
wisely and minimise the risk of damage to your trees, property, people in the
area and stay within the law.
I would certainly appreciate any
feedback and I hope everyone finds this guide useful.
If you would like to share any
previous experiences you’ve had with tree surgeons then let us know in our
comments section at the end of this post.
Article
References
Construction Skills Certification Scheme
Arboricultural Association
The Contractors Health & Safety Assessment
Scheme
Image
References
Title:
Tree Surgeon at Work
License: The
copyright on this image is owned by Keith Edkins and is licensed for
reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
2.0 license
Title:
Tree Trimming
License: This file is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 2.0 Generic licence.
Author: Paul.
At wts wikivoya
Title:
Derbyshire Map
License: This file is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 1.0 Generic licence.
Title:
Willow Tree
License: This file is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 2.0 Generic licence
Definition & Pronunciation Resource
Cambridge Dictionaries Online
Bona-fide
Glossary of Terms
A Conservation
Area is an area of historical or notable environmental interest and has the protection
of the law, from changes not in keeping with the area.
PPE means
personal protective equipment
A Tree
Preservation Order (TPO) is made by a Local Planning Authority to protect
specific trees, areas or designated woodland from damage or destruction.
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