Wannabe Arborist

[Delmonte]

Hi,

i was wondering what the general reaction/thoughts are on the following situation are...I work as the in house certified arborist and landscaper for a property management firm on the west coast of Norway. The other day i came across a local firm who claim on there website to be “leading arborists” followed by the usual blurb about how professional, trustworthy and great they are. After looking over there website it became evident that non of the staff are actually certified arborists. I contacted the main guy and said in friendly terms that it was not good for the industry to be claiming they are leading arborists when they dont have any certified staff members. There firm is not any competion for the one i work for as we service different  areas of the market, but it irks me that they make the claims they do.

i obviously received a mail back saying i didnt know what i was talking about and that he can call himself whatever he wants and that the 2 day climbing course he’d taken was fine plus he had certified staff members on staff but had negelected to include them on his website. There was a few other comments and bits of misinformation that all adds up to the guy being a muppet and a bullshitter.

have any of you similar experiences?

The one upside is that based on his notion that he can call himself what he wants, my new job title is “super duper awsome i know it all tree climbing arborist Jedi master” and hopefully such a long job title will get me a pay rise.

[Treeation]

When you say "certified arborist" are you refering to the ISA certified arborist? or just NPTC climbing/cs qualified?

[Steve Bullman]

Good thread.

 

My question would be, what is the standard of their work like?

 

Does being certified make someone a leading arborist?  questionable.

 

Does having climbing qualifications make someone a lead arborist? Definitely not.  It just means they are certifications that say they are trained to climb a tree and operate a saw from rope and harness.  That basically has no bearing whatsoever on their aptitude and experience to do the job.

 

Does a 4 year course in arboriculture make someone a leading arborist? Again, questionable.  They likely have more knowledge than someone who has been on the tools for 4 years, but how about someone who has been on the tools for 20 years with no formal training/qualifications, but an aptitude and desire to learn on the job?

 

 

[eggsarascal]

What does it matter what the boss is?, if he's got lads on the job that have got the correct tickets and can do the job all is good, Isn't it? 

 

I do some work for one company and the main man wouldn't have a clue how to do my sort of work, he's nothing more than a salesman. He seem to me doing OK.

[Con]

I understand what you are saying, and yes, qualifications are important. More so now than ever.

But.

I learnt more about tree work from a guy in the eighties though, who didn't have a qualification to his name. He also didn't have a chipper at the time, but that's another story!!!

[Delmonte]

What does it matter what the boss is?, if he's got lads on the job that have got the correct tickets and can do the job all is good, Isn't it? 
 
I do some work for one company and the main man wouldn't have a clue how to do my sort of work, he's nothing more than a salesman. He seem to me doing OK.

It’s a fair comment that i would agree with but from what i understand he does all the work himself.
If he does a good job and is safe then fair play to him..however ive always thought that there is more to being an arborist than just cutting down trees...thats not to say you cant learn this information without being certified through one of the normal avenues but if you go down this road you eventually come to the question why get certified.

[Delmonte]

When you say "certified arborist" are you refering to the ISA certified arborist? or just NPTC climbing/cs qualified?

In norway, they dont have a national certification agency for Arboriculture so those that are qualified are either ISA or ETW...there are a few companies that offer courses with there own certification certificates

[Delmonte]

Good thread.
 
My question would be, what is the standard of their work like?
 
Does being certified make someone a leading arborist?  questionable.
 
Does having climbing qualifications make someone a lead arborist? Definitely not.  It just means they are certifications that say they are trained to climb a tree and operate a saw from rope and harness.  That basically has no bearing whatsoever on their aptitude and experience to do the job.
 
Does a 4 year course in arboriculture make someone a leading arborist? Again, questionable.  They likely have more knowledge than someone who has been on the tools for 4 years, but how about someone who has been on the tools for 20 years with no formal training/qualifications, but an aptitude and desire to learn on the job?
 
 

A good reply.
As i understand it, in the U.K. you don’t actually have to be certified to call yourself an arborist and its the same here.
As for the level of his work, there are a few pictures on his FB page and it doesn’t appear bad.
I came from the professional diving industry and for the most part you had to be certified to get work, but saying that ive dived with non certified divers who knew their stuff and could do the job fine.
From what I understand this guy has been in the business for a year or 2, but his website is professional, he’s rocking all the top gearing and the feedback from customers is good (well at least the quotes included on his FB and website)

[Mike Hill]

People call themselves all kinds of things over here.

As long as it dosnt effect you,why worry about it?

[Delmonte]

People call themselves all kinds of things over here.
As long as it dosnt effect you,why worry about it?

I’m not worried about it, i do my own thing and concentrate on that. Plus as i wrote, his business isn’t a threat to the guys i work for...it was more a case of being interested in what the general feeling about this type of situation is.
I’m more worried I’m missing a situation to climb onto my high horse;-)