Tree Surveying / Consulting

[Griffyndor]

Hi there,

 

I have attained my climbing tickets as of June 2015 and have been climbing since. I am currently thinking of the future and surveying / consulting seems to be the way forward when I begin to slow down later in life. Does anyone have any recommendations of where would be a good place to start? Some folk have mentioned doing a foundation degree but I'm unsure where would provide such a course that I would be able to undertake on line as moving for the sake of a course would be a bit challenging.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Steve

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Hi mate.

I would walk before you can run as the old saying goes. It's a good idea to be thinking of your future for sure but I'd see how you get on for the next few years first.

You would need to be looki gong at taking a level 2 course to begin with if you haven't already then on to a level 4 (hard work).

It's one thing to enjoy climbing trees and cutting them down but another to be interested in trees as a whole, personally I find learning about all aspects interesting I.e soil science, fungi info, body language of trees etc.

I would advice you have fun with the climbing for a few years before you try and jump in at the deep end.

Not knocking your plan as it is pretty much what I am doing but I have been climbing several years now and plan on doing it for another several.

There are plenty of places to do these courses, all over the uk, doubt you'll have to move, may have a bit of traveling on the days you have to go in though.

[Stihl Unknown]

True, I have noticed allot of people new to the industry going for the tree survey/inspection route and as Thesnarlingbadger says to be fair to yourself you need to learn the ropes. Get some hands on with trees you'll soon be able to spot oddities without formal education. If your thinking about your age and ability dont be to quick to sit at a desk you can still look toward the survey route but more field training.

 

Good Luck with whatever you do!!!

[diervek]

Thinking of the same same route, but age isn't on my side.

I'm not even in the industry yet at 34 , but thinking around 5 - 10 years before I kick it behind a desk and more formal education

[ReubenHayes]

Its good that you are thinking of your next step, you always need to be thinking ahead.

 

If you are new to the industry I would suggest climbing for a few years to understand the job and what to look out for. If you go on the AA web site they have short courses on tree inspections/fungus etc. Also check out Lantra for the Professional Tree Inspection course. Get a base of knowledge first as a foundation degree or other route will already expect this of you.

 

Most Uni's now offer a distance learning package and don't forget to look at TreeLife as they do a really good course. Depending on your own level of learning I would suggest looking at building up to a Level 6 (although that does depend on what you want to do in the future as well).

 

Advanced Course Search - FdSc Arboriculture (On-line)

 

QCF Level 6

 

https://www.lantra.co.uk/awards/product/lantra-awards-technical-award-professional-tree-inspection-ita-course

[Chris at eden]

To add to what Reuben said I would look at getting up to L4 asap doing L2 first. You will realistically need minimum L3 to do any kind of consultancy work. You will also ideally need L3 before you do the Lantra PTI.

 

L6 is a good idea if you want to do development site surveys, subsidence investigations and definitely for expert witness work. Its a good idea to do L4 and have 5 years working with that before going to L6 unless you have previous experience at an advisory level.

 

I agree, Tree life are an excellent training provider. Well worth a look.

[Kveldssanger]

Doing the Lvl 4 at the moment. I can attest to it being a fair amount of work, though it's entirely manageable (I don't have kids, mind). Never done the climber route myself - went from uni to being a tree officer, so it's not always 'best' to undertake the 'rite of passage' thing that seems to be so very common. Find something you like? Go for it.