Arboriculture 101: What You Need to Know to Find the Right Arborist

Posted On Wednesday, 18 November 2020 21:10

If you live in a property with trees either out front or at the back, then you know that looking after them is very important, as it will help to extend their lifespan and maintain their good health. 

If you need someone to come and prune your trees, or maybe you need one to be removed that may have been damaged during a storm, unless you are a trained and experienced professional, for most people, they will need to find an arborist to properly care for their trees.

Finding a good arborist isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s not just a case of searching on Google and clicking on the first result you find. There are a number of things that you will need to consider, and in this article, we will take a closer look at some of the most important factors to look at when hiring a qualified arborist.

Make sure they are qualified

The first thing you need to do is to make sure that they are qualified. You want to hire an arborist that has the correct credentials. Depending on where you live in the world, there are usually a few organizations that they should belong to. The most important is the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), though there may also be some local ones that are specific to your country.

Making sure they are qualified will help you find an arborist that knows what they are doing and have a lot of experience in the field. It also means that they have demonstrated their skills for tree care and maintenance to become a member of such an organization. 

In addition to organizational membership, it's also important that they are certified for using certain types of machinery such as chainsaw use, wood chippers and also elevated work platforms which may be required if you have very tall trees that need attending.

Check testimonials and reviews online

It’s very important to check testimonials and feedback from previous customers of any arborist that you are considering using. These reviews are an excellent way to get genuine and honest feedback from real customers who have used the services. If you do a quick search on Google for something such as tree removal Hiram, you will find a set of results for that specific city along with reviews of the top arborists in the area.

If you are unable to find any online reviews or testimonials of the arborist, then it’s worth asking them for some references. Sometimes a business may not actually have an online presence (which is unusual in this day and age, but not impossible), so you may not easily be able to find any testimonials online.

Make sure they are insured

The last thing you want is to hire an arborist that does not have valid insurance, who then accidently cuts down a tree that crashes through the roof of your home. You will want to hire an arborist that has insurance that covers general liability as well as compensation for the worker in the event of damage to personal property.

Make sure that you ask them to provide you with proof of insurance, along with the various licenses that they might need in order to carry out the work. For example, if there are trees that need pruning which are located right next to live power lines, a special certificate or license is usually issued that allows the arborist to carry out the work.

Ask them to provide you with a written quotation

It’s important that you speak to a number of arborists and ask them to provide you with a written estimate for the work that you want to have done. Ask that the estimate be as detailed as possible, so you will have a complete breakdown of all of the work that they are proposing you need to have done.

If they don’t want to provide you with a written estimate, sent either through email or the post, then it’s probably best to reject this arborist. By having a written estimate, you’ve always got something to refer to, if at the end of the job, the arborist gives you a completely different figure for the job they have done than what they originally quoted you.

Be wary as well if one arborist offers you a large discount if you pass the work over to them. Though it may sound very tempting, especially if it means making a big saving on the total cost, it shouldn’t be taken if it means that the quality of work that is going to be done will be of a much lower quality.

One thing that applies not just with arborists, but with all other types of work such as home remodeling, plumbing or electrics is to never go with the cheapest estimate. Quotes that are extremely cheaper than all the others you may have received often show a sign of a low quality of work, little or no experience in such a project, and there may even be hidden costs that aren’t being mentioned to you.

Request an expected timeframe for the completion of the work

In addition to getting the written quote from the arborists, it’s also important that you know what type of duration the work will last. Will pruning your trees take a couple of days, or is it something that can be finished in an afternoon? 

By getting an idea about the duration of the project, you can better compare it with other quotes from other arborists, and get a better idea of how efficient that specific option is. 

If you see that four out of the five arborists you’ve contacted tell you that the work can be completed in a single day, but the fifth one says that they need three days to complete it, then alarm bells should start ringing. This comparison will provide you with a much clearer picture about how that specific arborist works, and if they are going to take longer than the standard duration for such a project.

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