I recently hired a tree service and have some concerns after the job was completed. Some neighbors have lost trees to oak wilt so I opted to hire professionals instead of doing it myself to protect the trees. The salesman seemed knowledgeable and said an arborist would be on site during the job.
After they finished I noticed many scapes along the bark and some branches had been cut without being sealed. It also appears that they stopped trimming once they approached the property line.
I’ve never hired an arborist before and not sure if I’m being nitpicky so any feedback or advice would be appreciated. Here’s a few photos of the work:
by cutovertoast
22 Comments
If they were purposely trying to fuck it up, they accomplished their mission. 1/10 quality.
Edit: fixed fat thumb typing
Looks like you hired a guy with a pole saw and a ladder.
There’s a guy here with a company name “The pole saw guy”.
This is bad. Like first time using a chainsaw bad.
Ah yes. Larry the “arborist” with a chain saw in one hand and a beer in the other. Next time ISA certified arborist fully insured company. I’d imagine you got a few bids and this was the low one? Were the savings worth it?
Silverlining, you can hang a bird feeder now.
No, no they didn’t
Looks like you could be in the San Antonio area. See this all the time.
Sorry to say, they did not do a good job. A good arborist would never seal cuts, so that isn’t something to look for, but I’m honestly baffled at how some of these marks could come about. Those are huuuuuge scrapes of tree bark removed and full on gashes out of the trunk it looks like too. Sadly, all of those are potential exposure points for oak wilt.
It sucks when you pay money for something and expect a professional result, but nothing that I see in these photos looks done by a professional.
Depends.
If you have a hidden pleasure in watching things slowly decay then yes, absolutely. You should bring them a gift basket!
No words for *those* professionals…
Oh my god I hate how much damage an idiot with a saw can do.
ETA I don’t know if this is something worth pursuing legal action, but you were misled. Do you have anything in writing saying what promises were made? I’m sorry you were lied to when you were trying to do the right thing
You mean, “Did the random guys that are NOT QUALIFIED trimmers and I hired at bottom dollar to do cheap work do a good job?”
Well they certainly think they did a good job.
Next time pay a qualified professional to do the work you need done.
No total hack job!
It almost looks like they did this damage on purpose! Get your $ back and sue for damages!
I would sue for damages. If you were worried the tree would get oak wilt then it sure as hell will after this amount of damage and open wounds.
Your neighbors lost trees to oak wilt and you decided to have your oak pruned during the growing season when oak wilt can affect it? The “arborists” should know better. They aren’t certified arborists if they sold you on pruning oaks this time of year, document everything so that you can sue for damages when/if this tree dies. I can almost guarantee you that this outfit has no certified arborists in the company
Hi. Unfortunately, it looks like they worked the tree from the ground. I would recommend, if you can, hiring another arborist to look at it in person. It would be in your best interest to have the scope of work the previous contractor carried out. A consulting arborist can help you with the correct next steps. I don’t know what state you’re in, but the isa-arbor.com directory will be useful to at least find qualified individuals in your area.
Sloppy as all hell
This is really, really shoddy work in general. Since you’re in an oak wilt area this is disastrous. This shouldn’t have been done at all this time of year, and if cuts HAD to happen they should have been sealed immediately after cutting. There’s a good possibility the tree is toast, I’m sorry
And now you know the difference between a tree trimmer and a certified arborist.
If someone trimmed your tree they did a bad job.
Think your arborist was on site elsewhere..