Arb Approved

[TREES.SERVICES]

Hi all 

can anyone who has applied to become a Arb approved contractor recently, explain their experience from submitting form to the process? Timescales etc? 
 

thanks 

[DJM Tree]

is it really worth it?  

[Joe Newton]

I remember reading somewhere that they consider small businesses to be bottom feeding parasites, so I probably wouldn't bother.

[benedmonds]

It is unlikely to make a difference with Mrs Miggins, who wants work doing for the cheapest price.

It is a requirement for many councils and some larger organisations so is a necessity if you want that work. 

More informed (and arguably less price conscious) customers who want to instruct a company will be comforted knowing they are employing a professional company that has ticked lots of boxes. 

It is a fantastic way to ensure you are audited by an external company and that if things go pear shaped and you end up in court you can say you were working to best practice (nice to know if you are the employer).

You get some nice stickers for the trucks.

You get emails letting you know about tenders for tree work.

 

It is NOT easy, you need to get lots of systems in place and the assessment day can be a very uncomfortable experience as someone will spend a day highlighting all the things you are not doing right.

 

I think it is worth it. Others do not. 

[treevolution]

If you have money its really easy to become aa approved. 

 

You can pay that guy Paul who writes really informative articles for the aa magazine to fill out all your forms. 

 

You can then pay a freelance climber that Paul speaks so highly about to get you a pass on assessment day as you sit back and watch from the side lines. 

 

Once you get your new stickers you can then go back to working how you did before with no accountability to anyone. 

 

On a serious note once you have passed it should open doors for more work as said by the above so can be positive more forward for any company that wants to grow. 

[doobin]

I'm not really Arb, but from how they have conducted themselves on here and with regards to certain aforementioned articles in their magazine, I'd have to be really desperate for work before I considered it. Same if anyone asks me for CHAS, Safecontractor etc.

[Clutchy]

Of the 3 council tenders we have gone for, 1 being a london Borough too, AA was absolutely not needed. 

 

They were happy with CHAS 

 

We also work for a number of big name builders, EA, Canals and housing association and its never been a requirement. 

 

Still yet to see the value... 

[Clutchy]

If they did stuff that proactively helped our industry such as grants for training, pushing to get 3.5t limit changed to 5t with no O license or had a fund set up to prosecute poor work to trees in CA / TPO then I'd be interested 

[nath]

They lost me the day they bent over backwards pandering to the hse over the double rope fiasco. Talk about sell your own industry out 

[Jon Heuch]

On 13/02/2023 at 18:05, DJM Tree said:

is it really worth it?  

I'm a consultant. I point numerous clients to the AA website "Find a Professional" to find a tree surgeon. Price of service is only a small part of the equation but clearly if one quote comes in at £5k to remove a tree and another at £3k we do need an explanation....but we may choose a £5k quote over a £3k quote. Is that the type of business you could cope with? Maybe you prefer to play the cheap end of the market, continually competing on price? If you prefer to differentiate what you do, the Approved Contractor scheme is one way to do it.

 

Virtually every council in this country has a link to the AA  website for the same.......so the promotional value should be significant. But if you have a council that maintains its own list and promotes that it won't be of so much use.

 

As for small/large firms it used to be much more exclusive but the number of firms now as Approved Contractors is far larger than it used to be as a result of changes to the scheme around 10+ years ago.

 

The AA is a membership organisation and should listen to its members if you think something is wrong.

 

OK I am the ex Chair of the AA (2009-2010) so pretty much out of touch with what is going on today.