reduction wasn't enough

[colwoodlandcare]

Did an Oak reduction on saturday, the tree is in a neighbours property and they wanted more like in the garden, so after they had spoke with the neighbour and gained permission and i went and spoke and agreed on a 25% reduction, i explained this wasn't 25% of the height nor width to come off and it was 25% leaf volume and they should loose about 3-4 foot off this tree.

Any how we took the evy off which was 4cbm of chip worth and reduced the tree, i took 15ft out the top for them. At the end of the day they said it wasn't what they imagined and fort that the tree would be a 3rd smaller.

 

I have agreed to go back and take a further 4-5meters out the top of the tree, but personally i think it will spoil the look of the tree.

[RobArb]

pictures:biggrin:

[colwoodlandcare]

Fraid not, not on this one

[base]

In my 15 years of tree work, how many times have i heard this...................the answer is alot, rock and a hard place spring to mind.

 

I used to care about doing nice reductions and try the educate people, not any more if i have a customer that wants a nice job i will, if they want it hacked in half i will....................or someone else will, hack it and move on.

 

when is comes to TPO reductions i find that they are all a PITA due to what the council will permit and what the customer wants.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Did an Oak reduction on saturday, the tree is in a neighbours property and they wanted more like in the garden, so after they had spoke with the neighbour and gained permission and i went and spoke and agreed on a 25% reduction, i explained this wasn't 25% of the height nor width to come off and it was 25% leaf volume and they should loose about 3-4 foot off this tree.

Any how we took the evy off which was 4cbm of chip worth and reduced the tree, i took 15ft out the top for them. At the end of the day they said it wasn't what they imagined and fort that the tree would be a 3rd smaller.

 

I have agreed to go back and take a further 4-5meters out the top of the tree, but personally i think it will spoil the look of the tree.

 

 

Have you tried taking a photo then drawing a line where you anticipate the 'finished' tree height and width will be then show to the client and get their agreement?

 

Otherwise it's down to a tight spec, avoiding reference to percentages as BS3998 (2010) states that is imprecise and unsatisfactory. The spec should say, with all dimensions approximate, reduce height by 2.0m and spread/width by 1.5m to leave avaerge finished tree dimensions of 16m high x 12m spread...or similar.

 

At the end of the day if the client isn;t happy you make a judgement on whethre it's worth the fight to defend you position, often not, or return and prune more off...too often done but they hold the purse-strings so very difficult. And 'yes' they often wnat more off than is good / ideal for the tree....but then "the customers always right"???!!!

 

Cheers..

Paul

[nailer]

I used to get this happen a lot. For the last few years though we've had a selection of before and after pictures of our reductions on the website and in the booklets we hand out. If a tree owner contacts us now, they know what to expect, so only people who appreciate a nice reduction ever contact us. Hatchet types don't bother calling because they can see we don't offer that as an option. This method may help you avoid a similar situation in the future?

[Le Sanglier]

25% leaf volume? is that a widespread definition of reduction? Does any one else define a reduction in that way?

[Arctostaphylos uva-ursi]

Nope! I would usually assume that it referred to a 25% reduction in the crown height and spread unless otherwise stated. The confusion that arose over the use of percentages is why the Standard is now different. You can still use percentages but have to be more specific e.g. reduce crown by 25% to give a final tree height of 12m and crown spread of 8m.

[Le Sanglier]

Well that's probably why the client felt short changed then.

[Arctostaphylos uva-ursi]

Hmm....I guess!