Tree Arborist Five Dock – Finding one on the cheap!

Arborist more commonly known as tree surgeons or tree loppers are professionals in the field of arboriculture and can handle anything tree related such as tree removal, pruning, stump grinding, arborist reports, power line clearance and also pest and disease treatment just to name a few.

To find yourself a highly skilled arborist in Five Dock that won’t charge like a wounded bull, can be almost impossible.

Also to find one that is actually qualified and has all the relevant insurance is a must before hiring.

What we cover:

What do tree surgeons Five Dock cost?
Fake Arborists working in Five Dock
Stay smart, how to save money on Five Dock arborists
3 Questions you must ask your arborist
Selection by arborist reviews
Canada Bay Council regulations for Five Dock

It’s the million dollar question and the answer is… Well it depends!

Firstly, you don’t want to hire by an hourly rate. Doing this mean you take all the risk. If the job was meant to take 2 days but ends up taking 3, you will pay more.

Hire an arborist at a fixed price for the entire job. This means that no matter how long it takes, you pay the same.

This won’t be an issue as arborists generally only quote by the job anyway and don’t give an hourly rate. Why? Because every tree job is different.

What affects prices?

Take a tree removal for example. Variables that affect price are the tree size, shape, spread number of branches are always different, but it doesn’t end there.

Hint: We have also put together a complete guide to arborist costs. In it you will find accurate prices for the cost of arborist work

Other things that affect price are the access to the tree, any obstacles (overhanding a house, carport, shed etc.)

Also the way that company decides to dismantle the tree is a factor. This will vary from company to company as some might use a crane, others an Elevated Work Platform. You also need to take into account how many employees they have, their overheads and of course how quick they work.
All these things add to the cost of removal and prices can really only be given on a job by job basis.

Get quote from 3 tree surgeons in Five Dock who have all been voted as best local price by hundreds of previous users.

When you do an internet search on yellow pages, Google or Truelocal. A lot of people in this fast paced society just go with the first 3 companies they come across.

Rookie error!

Why? Because they reason they are the first companies you came across is they are paying a premium for you to see them first.

They are paying a 3rd company to get them to the top of Google, or paying yelp, yellow pages, truelocal etc. to be up the top of the listings.

This ensures they are getting lots of traffic, but it also means THEY can pick and choose their jobs. They do this by quoting high prices. They know that if you called them, the chances are you will be calling the 2 other guys at the top of the listings.

A choice of 3 expensive quotes

When they hand you an expensive quote, and you get 3 other similar ones, you think, well I guess this is what arbor work costs, lets go with the ‘cheapest one’.

The real issue is people are in such a rush these days, the don’t have time to try and find the best deal on things like tree removal or pruning.

It’s the time vs. money paradigm.

Go Tree Quotes helped 12 save an average of 37% on arborist in [suburb] in the last week. Try it yourself! Compare 3 dirt cheap professional now.

Yes, you read that right. There are a tonne of fly by night companies and unskilled labourers trying to cash in on the tree service industry.

The problem is they have no idea what they are doing and often leave trees hacked apart, property damaged get themselves badly insured or in some cases killed.

Most people don’t know that more people die removing and pruning trees each year than mining and construction combined!

It’s a dangerous industry, so you need to make sure you are getting the right credentials before they start.

Litigation
Not getting a qualified arborist to prune or remove your tree can leave you wide open to litigation. If they were to injure themselves on your property and they don’t have the correct insurance, then you can be liable.

Below we outline 3 Questions you must ask arborist before you hire. Read them carefully.

Go Tree Quotes is a FREE SERVICE that matches homeowners with the best priced local arborist. We do this with a unique review system where users tell us who is cheapest and who they chose and why.

It’s all well and good giving ‘stars’, but everyone really wants to know about price.

As mentioned above the tree service industry is highly unregulated you could land yourself in hot water fast by hiring the wrong ‘expert”. This is what you need to ask for.

As they are not doing things by the book, they convince customers it’s fine to remove a tree when you actually need approval (fines are $10,000). They do damage to property, hack trees or even worse can injure themselves on your property.

You must ask for the following to protect yourself.

1. Do you have Qualifications in Arboriculture?
Arboriculture is what arborist study to work in the field. Please make sure you ask each contractor that turns up for their certificate. They won’t mind giving it to you as they also don’t like the industry cowboys and won’t prove they are legitimate and trustworthy.

2. Are you insured?
They will need what is called public liability insurance to work as an arborist. Again this is an industry standard and they will have no issue showing you their cover note.

You can at this point ask if they have personal indemnity insurance and workers compensation, but if you just ask for public liability you can be assured that you are covered.

Though if they offer all 3, then you have a good company.

3. How much experience do you have?
You can easily check this out yourself. Just get their company name or ABN and do a search here ABNLookup.gov.au

It will show you when they registered the business and you can also see if there has been any name changes, insolvency notices or anything else dodgy.

We recommend never hiring anyone with less than 3 years industry experience. The last thing you want is a rookies practicing on your tree.

For more information you are best visiting the Canada Bay council website: http://www.canadabay.nsw.gov.au
Or calling them on :  99116555. 

This is one way to go about selecting a company. The only thing they miss is price.

Go online and check the company reviews from different sources. Some reviews can be faked, but you can’t fake 40+ 5 star reviews. That is a real business with real reviews.

It is important though to read the comments. Some customers can be fickle in they will give a 1 star review for a business who forgot to phone them back.

It’s a little harsh when you consider this is their livelihood. People forget things, especially these days where there is so much distraction and so many things to do.

Leave a review
Most of the time customers don’t leave reviews (unless they had a bad experience). So the fact that any company has positive reviews let alone 20 + reviews is a miracle in itself.

If you had a good experience, do them a favour and leave an online review.

The amount of rainfall for your area works hand in hand with the plant hardiness information below. Getting to know they trees on you property a little better and how they should be maintained by an arborist is important.

Every local council has what’s called a Tree Preservation Order TPO, which outlines the rules and regulations for tree removal or pruning in your local region. In your case [council] council.

Go to tree removal Five Dock council regulations.

Depending on where you live your local council might have strict or relaxed laws regarding trees. As a general rule of thumb, the bigger the city and the closer to the centre you are, the stricter the rules.

You will need to follow them closely if you want to avoid being fined. Removing or pruning a tree that is protected will result in fines up to $10,000.

Go to tree pruning Five Dock council regulations.

Exempt trees
Most local council have an exemption list. This is a list of trees that do not need council permission to remove. Generally they are pests and listed on the national noxious weed list.

Some examples would be the weeping willow or the Camphor laurel. This is not a rule of thumb and you will need to consult your local TPO.

We have included this map of plant and tree hardiness for your area. This will give you an idea of the types of trees that suit your yard and how much care they might need.

http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-australia-plant-hardiness-zone-map-celsius.php

If your tree is a protected tree and you want to remove it, there is a good chance the council will ask for an arborist report to support their on findings on whether or not to give approval for removal.

The officer who comes out to inspect the tree will be an arborist himself and will keep his observations to himself, but will basically be looking for a second opinion.

In the tree service industry there are two types of arborist. Ones with certificates and ones with Diplomas in Arboriculture.

Depending on your local council you will either require a Certificate III or Diploma qualified arborist to present a report.

This will cost you $300 - $600 on average. It could be a little more if it is for DA approvals. My guess is that if you are spending that kind of money (on top of what it will cost you to remove the tree once you have approval) then you are going to want the arborist on your side and writing a report that works in your favour.

In that case, you will need to read an article I wrote on how to successfully apply to council and get approval for tree removal.

It’s not as straight forward as it sounds, but if you do everything right you have a much better chance of getting it approved.