Treeation

Honey fungus is common and widespread in UK, (the largest organism in the world is honey fungus rooting sytems sthat spread over kilometres) Generally speaking honey fungus is not be feared, it will only cause issues on trees that are already stressed. Healthy trees have the capacity to resist such invasions. It should also be noted there are several species of honey fungus and some of them are not active pathogens and merely live off dead wood/roots as they break down wood and recycle nutrients...more aggressive strains such as Armillaria mellea may well kill stressed trees rather rapidly within a year or so and then cause white rot decay around the root collar making the tree susceptible to failing at the base (this make take a few years to happen)....

I have done a handful on slightly smaller trees but with active cracks. All went well and fairly straight fwd...although I had the £17 manual to hand and had read the relavant info a few times...the manual will also advice you on speccing up the right size hardware for the diameter of timber and it will advice how many rods and where to put the rods.... Nick Araya also does a great online tutorial all about bracing.... heres a few tips below You need to get a decent ship auger (there not cheap but the last thing you want is a cheap bit that's not sharp enough to do the job properly... a decent drill with some power, I drill in a bit then back out clearing the chips and I dip the end of auger in chain oil as several times to ensure auger doesn't get stuck. Having someone else to eye you in is needed to get a level.

Id consider rigid bracing with matine grade stainless threaded rod through that bottom union and a light reduction/ or phased reduction to pollard (if tree looks like it can take it)....that's belts and braces - if they want to keep the tree surely that's the best option! Wouldn't be a lot of work to/or great expense to do bracing (ISA do a great manual on propping/bracing) and just adds that extra safety margin which sounds important in this case. I can send you a picture of the relevant pages if you don't have the manual...

The pruning job doesn't look great in terms of shape but certainly not the worst. No one can comment on if its too much without seeing what your spec was in the first place and what you agreed with the surgeon. I think, as many on here have already said, I would recommend a light reduction on birch if the customer insists on reducing it all. Having said that, I've worked on many battered old birches (not by me!) that have been heavily reduced and they survive, Yes, the wood rots quickly on larger wounds but this only becomes a serious defect if you let the regrowth after pruning get too big and weighty - if you keep up with a pruning regime of recutting back to the pruning points every 5 years or so then there is no problem.

70/30

I have a mature weeping beech that just lost a big horizontal during drought period, it's in a relatively high target area so I am exploring the possibility of using non invasive bracing such as cobra 8 tonne to tether a couple of large horizontals. Its a tricky one as there's not necessarily any substantial limbs above the horizontals so might have to be attached slightly below possible breakage points so there might be a bit slack in system, which will act more like a snatch I guess. Wondered if any one else has ever braced this way?

Common on sycamore

My quote would specify "Use lowering ropes to dismantle tree to prevent damage to newly planted trees in drop zone" - Good idea with the tape, just mark up the trees with a bright tape, a couple of strands in each whip before the guys get on site, then just talk it through with the foreman at start of day. You could also ring the office a couple of days before job starts and refresh their memories about the newly planted trees that you have now marked up with visible tape, and you want to make sure they are kept as reasonably undamaged as possible as discussed with the whoever quoted on the day........... If you are using a decent firm, there wont be an issue, but it is not uncommon for the odd bit of damage to occur when even when great care is taken and there is always a touch of luck involved in treework.....but a good firm will make the customer aware if this happens and repair/ replace.....

3rd picture defo honey fungus of some species....there are a few different species and not all of them are agressive pathogens

? No, I'm giving the OP my best advice

It doesn't look like decay in the failed union, looks like included bark, Wind dynamics will now of changed so risk of further storm damage has increased. Might be possible to retain with some crown reduction work. Don't jump onto the idea that it needs to be felled just because someone tells you on forum. It means a lot to you, so, pay a few hundred quid to get an independent tree inspector to give you some decent advice and take it from there...let us know the outcome.

Looks like historic hazard beam failure - release of internal forces on a curving branch (which looks reasonably stable now). Whole branch removal may lead to subsequent branch failures due to removal of natural bracing and new wind dynamics. If unmoveable target present, then belts and braces approach would be - tip prune and or steel rod bracing through cracks, but as Khriss says bat awareness important before any work that may disturb a potential roost. If in doubt, get a tree inspector out to advise.

It gives you more freedom, but less security. I went self employed 10 years ago and don't think I could ever go back to being employed. Love the freedom and flexibility but it is harder work than being employed... If you are driven, organised and good at networking you can will be succesful. If you aren't stick with the dayjob!

Thats a spruce in the picture, fungi does not look like anything to worry about

I did the level 4 with Treelife in a year....was great, got a massive amount from it....it was classroom based at westonbirt arboretum (15 classes or so) massive workload if you want to wrap it up in a year...I think it was 83 asignments in total...some being short multiple choice online quizzes, but most being essays - on average each assignment took at least 5 hours... Balanced it with work ok as I am self employed so the jobs I did the same amount of work as in a normal year but in less days as I ran 3-4 man day teams rather than 2-3 man dayers.....It defo helped to have at least 2 days a week doing college work or I wouldn't of got it done in a year. Nearly every arb consultancy firm I have seen advertising looking for juinor/starter consultants/ surveyors only request a level 4 qual......having said that I would love todo level 6 at some stage but very glad I did level 4 first.