How do I choose my Tree Surgeon

So you're wondering how you should go about choosing your tree surgeon but you're not sure what to look for or what kind of questions you should ask. Here are some of my top tips which always work!

1. Make sure that they are qualified

   You can do this by checking their website to see if they have relevant NPTC qualifications which are the most relevant to the industry in the UK or you can ask the owner/operator of the business.

2. Make sure that they're Insured

   Ask Them if they have insurance, and if you're still unsure whether they do or not just ask them if they can provide you with proof of insurance before you agree to hire them. Most professional workers would be more than happy to provide you with those details or proof of. Because they want to win the job! It is not rude to ask a company or tradesman who is running a company if they have the bare minimum legal requirements to do the job. It insures that any damages to your property will be covered in the case of an accident and that all of the staff and members of the public are also taken care of properly if any major accidents were to occur. This is not optional, this is a must! And a massive red flag for hiring as we all know how quickly things can go wrong with tree work and incompetent workers.

3. Don't Mistake availability as being a better option

   If someone is super available and can do the job in the same week this can be a massive red flag as they may have low standards of work hence a low pipeline of forward booked jobs. In my opinion if someone is booked and has a lead time then it's because they are worth waiting for. A Caveat to this is that they might be a new business or had a cancellation. Just use your best judgement.

4. Don't Always assume the cheapest price is the best!

   Have you ever heard the phrase - Buy cheap, you buy twice. This rings true for trade work. I've been to many jobs gone wrong and had to fix mistakes which is costly for the customer as they've paid the first company and then had to pay me to fix it. Unfortunately there are tonnes of unprofessional workers scattered amongst the industry. If someone is cheaper it may be that they're smart and their business costs are low. Or it may be that they pay staff terribly, don't provide any training for staff, they don't buy decent equipment, pay for insurances or pay tax.... Is this someone you really trust to work at your property. Generally speaking Larger companies will charge the most because they have the most costs, bigger equipment, more staff and a larger reach. Also bare in mind if a price is very cheap that may be to do with inexperience of the tradesman not allowing enough time to do the job safely and to a good standard.

5. Go with who you trust will do the best job

   Trust is so important, more than you think. It is really important to hire someone that you think will do the job safely and also will make it look great! don't be swayed by a cheap price. It's a good sign if you feel like the tradesman is confident but not unrealistic, they set safe boundaries to work to, they show a care of your property. Having recommendations or reading reviews is a good way to find out how other customers felt about their experience.

6. Hire someone local

   This might be an unusual tip, but in my experiences of hiring tradesman for my own property i have found that they're far more reliable to turn up on time and want to do a good job if they are local to you as their reputation means a lot to them. If you hire someone from an add online or from hours away they're less likely be reliable and will charge you a premium for the travel. I reccomend using google maps and typing in tree surgeon, to search for tree surgeons in your area. from there you can make the map bigger and click on each of the companies individually to find out more about them.

7. Go with a smaller Firm

   In my opinion a smaller company is more likley to have the owner working closely within the business and a lot of the time on the tools with the team. This is great because quality of the work is kept high, they're keeping staff working safely and making sure that the property is left as tidy as possible. When a company gets bigger quality is really difficult to manage because you can't be everywhere all of the time.

8. Attention to detail

   lots of tradesman skip this part but providing an accurate quote with all of the details that the customer has asked for helps to avoid awkward conversations later on. If the tradesman provides you with a quote and half of the work is missing off of it, how are they supposed to remember what they're doing come the day of the work. If it is clear on the quote then you understand exactly what you are paying for and you can refer to this to make sure that you don't get charged extra.

There's a lot here but i hope that this helps as it can be daunting not knowing who to trust. This should set out some clear guidlines and help you identify red flags, so that you can get the best possible outcome!