I priced it..but someone else got it!

[tarzan]

I bet they Tarmac the drive next :-)

 

 

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

[likeitorlumpit]

Doesn't seem like the "tarmac and trim" brigade though. We treat a lot of housing association trees similarly. Cyclic pruning I believe its called. Whilst you and I may know that a more sensitive reduction would be more aesthetically pleasing to our eyes, this might have been exactly what the client was after, and for a better price.

 

I sometimes think that no matter how you try to describe the best course of action and how it will look, the client still has a picture of a "lollipop" tree in their minds.

 

Not knocking how you quoted, or what you would have done, but just food for thought. I have seen many a worse reduction!

 

Ain't that the case

tennants would only complain if you did a 'good' job.

[TREE-SURGEON-ESSEX]

I did this job actually, within two hours, which means you charged £400 for two hours work hahaha thats why you lost the job !.

 

The customer asked for this tree to be reduced away from 2 phone lines either side rubbing against branches. Also the house and roadside.

 

i had no choice but to cut back to previous pollarded points as there was no growth shoots at all within 20-30% of the top, every branches that could be reduced to a growth point was.

 

Who ever did it last cut off all side limbs and ruined the tree, you try to shape a pollarded tree missing one side of its limbs ?. Thats why one lower side has shape an the other does not?.

 

It makes me laugh at the hypocrisy of some people tho

 

By the way no tpo and a very happy customer, don't blame the tree surgeon for doing what they get paid for.

 

And spike i do love ya buddy but you Biatch

 

look on my facebook page you will see the before and after.

Edited September 13, 2013 by TREE-SURGEON-ESSEX

[Joe Newton]

So target pruning goes out the window in domestic arb??

 

No. I didn't say that. If you read my post I state that sometimes it isn't feasible for what the client wants.

[difflock]

As an outsider could I comment that it would be my continued preception, that some of the more passionate arb types on here expect every tree owner to subsidize them to indulge in perfectionist work.

A bit like going to some Architects, who, regardless of the Clients clear requirments, insist on an overcomplicated/fancy and therefore more expensive design with commensurately higher %age based fees.

To the clients great frustration.

There is an old saying something to the effect "Do not let the best be the enemy of the good"

I have employed a reputable firm of tree surgeons through work.

They are definately meticioulis in their work and leave a super tidy site.

But bytimes I wish they would simply focus on getting the potentially hazardous trees onto the ground.

Before my always limited budget is exhausted.

If that was what I had instructed them to do.

Marcus

[Hedge hunter]

there is nothing worse than getting up a tree to find it previously butchered.....

 

 

when you got 40% regrowth on an ash pollard it becomes a pain.

 

Personally I would of removed the tree and replanted a more suitable species.

[Joe Newton]

there is nothing worse than getting up a tree to find it previously butchered.....

 

 

when you got 40% regrowth on an ash pollard it becomes a pain.

 

Personally I would of removed the tree and replanted a more suitable species.

 

Thats an excellent alternative to a brutal reduction. We all know that for the tree's benefit a light reduction and thin would have been better. This may not however have suited the clients needs.

 

A classic case of wrong tree, wrong place.

 

Again though, if the client didn't wish to spend big money, a removal and replanting (whilst ideal) may not have been cost effective.

 

Seems to me that the client was after a "smaller tree" for the best price.

 

This is bread and butter work. You can discuss the best practice 'til you're blue in the face with people, but the bottom line is, they want if smaller for cheap.

 

If he hadn't done it, someone else would have.

[scotspine1]

arbogrunt, you never told us the tree have been previously butchered.

 

From the client's point of view, if it was them who specified the previous butcher job and they were happy with it, then they'll at least expect a job where the re-growth is cut back to the previous pruning cuts that the cowboy made. If you'd really thought about the previous work done on the tree you'd have realised they're probably not the type of customer whose going to be receptive to talk of 'restorative pruning' or 'light crown reduction and thin'

 

When we go to do a quote, we should try and see the whole picture, 'has the tree been pruned/hacked before?', if the answer is 'hacked' then.....the next question is, 'was it the current tree owner who had the tree butchered in the past?' 'are these people going to be receptive to me talking about restorative pruning or do they just want the branches cut back to previous growth points?'

 

while it's great to have the knowledge, skill and experienced to carry out really nice crown reductions it's not always the case the client will want that or appreciate the effort that goes into it. It's sometimes about finding a balance between what the tree owner wants, what you're aiming at as a qualified arborist and what the tree owner is prepared to pay.

 

I personally don't like the finished 'rounded over' look of the job, but I can see what treesurgeonessex had to work with and why he tried to leave the tree looking half decent. I can also see why your frustrated but lets face it there'll be plenty of other trees you can do quality reductions on.

 

.

Edited September 13, 2013 by scotspine1

[Robert_S]

Spot on post Tim

[Tom D]

Tim's right, I have done jobs like that before, no point siting in the house bitching on arbtalk when you could have been out there earning some loot.