Tips to Finding a Quality Arborist to Maintain Your Trees

Have you ever looked through the phone book and found a ton of listings for people who claim they know all about trees? Sadly, many of these individuals don’t have a clue about how to maintain trees or how they even grow. A tree can end up being severely damaged by someone who doesn’t have a clue as to what they are doing in terms of caring for trees.

Once the tree has been damaged and its health is on the decline, it can end up becoming hazardous and have to be removed. Just because someone might be cheaper, that doesn’t mean they know what they are doing. By hiring someone who doesn’t know the first thing about trees, it could end up costing you far more down the road, especially when the tree ends up dying.

When it comes time to hire an arborist, you shouldn’t take this decision lightly. You need to spend time asking a number of different questions to the individual who is going to take care of your landscaping and trees.

Consider the following questions:

Ask the arborist whether they have ISA Certified Arborists working for them. They should be willing to show you their certification. You can also look online for this information.

Ask them how they are going to perform the work. Be leery or any company that recommends heading or topping off the tree.

Ask for the arborist to provide you with references. Find out what type of work they did for other customers. Ask about their services provided. Take a drive around and look at some of the work they did for other individuals.

Make sure they have current workers’ compensation and liability insurance certificates.

Make sure they aren’t going to use climbing spikes on your trees when pruning them. These spikes should only be used if you are going to have the tree removed.

Ask the arborist to give you a signed contract that outlines cost, dates for when the work is going to be complete and what is going to be done.

Don’t be tricked by an offer that sounds too good to be true. Never pay the arborist in advance for work that hasn’t been completed. Make sure to get more than one estimate on the work that you need to have completed.

By taking these things into consideration, you can make sure you hire someone who is going to get the job done right. There is no reason why you should have to hire someone who is only going to make the situation worse. Find someone who cares enough to do the job right the first time around.