How to tell a good tree crew from a bad one
This page used to carry testimonials, a star average and a review count. All of it was invented, because this is a demonstration site with no customers. Here is something true and more useful instead.
What we removed
- Ten named testimonials with dates and locations
- A 4.9 average and a 412-review total
- A five-star histogram totalling 412
- A star-rating node in the page structured data
Six things that should end the conversation
The first three are disqualifying on their own. The second three mean slow down and ask more.
- Walk away
They offer to "top" the tree
Topping is cutting the crown back to stubs. It is a violation of ANSI A300, it triggers a flush of weakly attached water sprouts, and those sprouts are what comes through your roof in the storm five years later. Any company that offers it either does not know or does not care. Both are disqualifying.
- Walk away
They knocked on your door after a storm
The legitimate crews are booked solid for a fortnight after a regional storm; they are not driving neighbourhoods looking for work. Storm-chasers ask for cash up front, work uninsured, and are three states away by the time the damage shows.
- Walk away
They want a large deposit in cash
A deposit on a scheduled job is reasonable. A demand for most of the price, in cash, before anything happens, is not. Neither is a price that only holds "if we do it today".
- Serious
They climb with spikes on a tree that is staying
Gaffs punch through the bark into living tissue. On a removal that does not matter. On a tree you are keeping, every hole is a permanent entry point for decay and, in Central Texas, for oak wilt. Rope and saddle, or a bucket, is the only correct answer.
- Serious
The quote is one line and one number
A real quote lists every tree, the specific work planned on each, whether the stump is included, whether debris is hauled, and who files the permit. A single number for "tree work" is where disputes come from.
- Serious
They wave a certificate but will not have the insurer send one
A printed certificate handed over by the crew proves nothing. Ask for it to be issued to you directly by the insurance company, and check that it shows workers compensation and not only general liability.
Six questions, and why each one matters
Ask all six of every company you call, including us. The answers separate the trade from the trucks.
01
"Are the climbers employees or subcontractors?"
It decides whose insurance answers if someone is hurt in your yard, and whether the standards you were quoted are the standards that turn up.
02
"Will your insurer send me the certificate directly?"
Certificates handed over on paper are trivially faked. The insurer sending it is the check.
03
"Does the price include hauling, the stump, and the permit?"
These are the three line items that most often turn a cheap quote into an expensive one after the fact.
04
"What will you do if the trunk is more decayed than it looked?"
You want to hear a method — crane, different rigging, revised price agreed before continuing — not "we will figure it out".
05
"Is my tree protected, and who files the application?"
Inside Austin, trees of 19 inches diameter and up are protected and Heritage trees at 24 inches need a permit. Removing one without approval is a fines matter, and it is the owner who is fined.
06
"When are you not willing to prune my oak?"
The right answer is February through June. If they have no answer, they do not work here often enough to know.
About this page
Because it is a demonstration website and has no customers. Publishing invented testimonials, an average rating and a review count — which this page previously did — would put fabricated social proof in front of you and fabricated star ratings into search results. The honest version of a reviews page for a business that has none is a guide to judging the ones that do.
Read the three-star ones first; they are the least likely to be either solicited or invented. Look for specifics — a species, a street, a method — rather than adjectives. Check whether the company answers criticism, and how. And weight recent reviews far more heavily than old ones: crews turn over, and a company is only as good as the climber it sends.
Often, yes — but only once you have confirmed the two quotes describe the same job. Compare haul-away, stump grinding, permit filing, property protection and whether both companies carry workers compensation. When those match and one is still cheaper, take it.
Free on-site visit
Ask us all six.
We would rather be checked than trusted. Call and ask every question on this page, and if the answers do not satisfy you, use them on the next company you call.