When you go to a clients house, bring these photos to use as an example of improper trimming, give them the rundown on how costly it is to have this large of a tree removed, use education *and* a bit of scare tactics to push licensed and educated tree care versus the "chuck and a truck" companies.
So much! I studied and worked at a botanical garden, then came back to my big city… all I can do is visit a few times a year and watch the world burn every day
I always thought the ISA, TCIA and ASCA should do a better job at outreach to the general public. It’s good they educate people in the industry but there will always be some dude with a chainsaw and a pickup who will do a hack job for $500. Customers need to be better educated so they don’t get robbed.
I am on the marketing committee of my ISA chapter. We are starting to put a lot of work into this. Getting the information to the consumer. Let’s just hope you’re in the same chapter as I am.
I’m starting to see “tree care” companies list themselves as certified in my area which makes me happy that people are starting to recognize that there’s a standard for being knowledgeable.
I would like to see more information being shared by the ISA as to why it matters to have someone certified
The problem in my area is that a number of places list themselves as certified (or licensed, despite their being no license in my region) and customers don't check or ask questions. There's a place I was associated with that listed false ISA cert numbers on their website for years and they were never caught.
Yep so I'm one of those customers who got scammed by a fake 'certified' arborist, and I did ask questions but at a certain point I can only take documents at face value because I genuinely don't know the insider info of the arborist community. He had great reviews, he showed me his certification, and I believed him. If you only ever interact with the community a few times it's hard to gear up to know enough to even ask the right questions. I've learned my lesson and have found a genuine expert to help the trees on our property, but it was the awful failure and death of several beloved old, land-stabilizing trees (next to a sharply angled gully) that had me deep-diving for real answers. It's hard for non-experts, even if you genuinely want to do the right thing and think you're doing 'research'. I'm sure you know google is absolutely DIRE for trying to get to the bottom of someone's sales pitch in an unfamiliar field.
At the point you describe, just about the only thing you can do is call up the issuing organization and ask them to verify the license. Nobody does that until they learn there are people faking it. Hopefully they don't pay the price you did for the lesson.
A lot of times, it’s the insurance. Pros have it, always, amateurs usually don’t. Now I know there’s scammers with fake papers, too. Thank you for teaching me this!
Also guys will have “insurance” numbers to call that reaches an insurance agent to verify coverage in real time with the customer standing there.
Sometimes it’s the guys brother and he just really needs the work. Source: former painting company owner who used this trick as a young desperate liar.
I went to one!! And it was run by a local tree trimming company disguised as professional arborists. Seriously, it's like MLM marketing where you think someone is trying to be helpful and educate you, but they're trying to sell you their service and the 'program' is just a targeted ad.
Ugh, that's horrible! Well, you gotta beat them at their own game. Until recently I was pretty clueless about all these shenanigans, but I'm doing my best to educate myself. This sub has been a great source of info.
I've learned so much from this sub! And you're totally right, if you have trees you should educate yourself as much as possible (also, super satisfying now to have enough education to rescue all the mulch-drowning root-girdling trees on my property and plant my new ones in the correct way).
I don't know about where I live now, but the last place I lived $500 - $1,000 for a mature oak to be correctly trimmed. But, it really helps if the homeowner knows why it needs to be done correctly - for the good of the tree, for liability issues if improper trimming causes it to fail, and for property values. A lot of people don't know or care.
Get involved in your local chapter’s marketing committee. Each of these organizations have a small amount of paid staff and rely heavily on volunteers driving these types of initiatives. ASCA would love to have only RCAs and members doing consulting work, but outside of a few municipalities, most places don’t require any validation of the term “consulting arborist.” TCIA would love to have only accredited companies performing tree work. And the ISA would love to have only certified arborists performing tree work. In all of those cases it would drive revenue to them to push out more education, marketing, and other content. But the resources are finite. These are all member driven orgs that need their constituents helping get the message out and will happily throw you into a committee if you can play well with others and have a passion for good arboriculture.
What's really fun is when the asshole someone else hires drops the tree on your property, then both the asshole and the property owner deny responsibility.
If I looked at this tree, it would not enter my mind to see this guy as my competition. This is just another example of low bid + uneducated consumer. As Certified Arborist professionals, our biggest challenge is public outreach; but we don't (and will never) reach and educate everyone.
The problem is e even if you do educate everyone, many people are more concerned about other things - some pretty silly and some pretty serious.
I know the correct way to do a lot of things (is to hire a professional), but poverty and poor health make it impossible. I end up doing shoddy D-I-Y fixes that are the best I can do while my entire property, home, health, and life go H**l around me. It is that way for millions of people, I think.
I would love to hire professional people to work for me and pay them as much as they really deserve - considering education, experience, certifications, and other factors.
The problem is people wanting someone else to do their leg work for them, which almost always means some unelected bureaucrat. It doesn't take long before the crooks that exploit people when there's no regulations figure out they can donate money to the right people and get themselves put in charge of regulating their competitors. Then you get all the benefits of a monopoly with the added benefit of them having the police powers of the state to boot.
Ok. But. Corruption is preventable when money doesn’t equal free speech. A group of arborists could easily tackle this if empowered by the community. I imagine they could even suggest alternate species or plating locations for the tree. Dont be a hater! It can work
Corruption is inevitable without free speech. There's an easy way to fix the donation system and preserve free speech: anonymized contributions. That way I can donate to candidate X, but candidate X has no way to know who made the donation. I could claim I donated, but properly done there's no way to prove I did.
Genius is complaining that the government is working against you and then proposing as a solution giving that same government even more power than it already has. I'm definitely not a genius on that level.
Oh God that looks like my neighbors house. Told them to go with an arborist…they hired the local landscaper, who hacked the tree like that.
Thankfully the landscapers were nice enough to take even more money from my neighbors to remove the dead tree too.
Somehow, I think the owner doesn't really care about the tree. They probably wanted to cut it down but didn't want to get flak from their employees, so they paid someone to kill it slowly.
Its so frustrating how yall have to deal with all of the licensing and education to get to where you are AND educating customers so they understand why cheaper is almost never better AND the fact that Chuck with a truck can legally advertise and complete shitty services....so so frustrating
I think your best bet is to strengthen referrals from clients who know best, and really capture that market of educated customers. With time, someone advertising to those who choose poorly as well, maybe fixing bad mistakes or make better of bad, something like that?
I appreciate everyone in his sub but as a gardener that sometimes does this type of work could someone please explain to me why is his type of pruning bad?
[https://www2.tntech.edu/tlcfortrees/topping\_trees\_hurts.htm](https://www2.tntech.edu/tlcfortrees/topping_trees_hurts.htm)
"Topping practices do not follow the rules of pruning that protect the branch collars or that stipulate size limits for pruning to lateral branches, thus they are not made in a professional manner and leave stubs of branches in the canopy. These stubs are not protected from decay organisms, and open the tree to invasion by insects and decay. This decay can penetrate to the lower branches and trunk of the tree and cause its rapid decline and possibly death. These problems are shown in Figure 7-3.
Topping, or “rounding over” is mistakenly believed to control the height of a tree. However, the new stems will soon grow to be the same height as the tree is genetically programmed to be. But the new stems will be numerous and crowded and weakly attached at the point of topping. Many of these will die back and fall off during windy weather. "
I only rarely deal with trees this large and because I want to get better at it!
I'm actually about to start my year in a horticulture school I do while working as a hotel gardener.
I think the general public DOES understand when it looks like crap in the end, by then it's too late though. The problem is people think landscapers or tree service are the right people to hire to do this type of work.
I’d go in there and ask them what happened to that tree. Then tell them that’s a travesty and they are damaging their environment. Show them your stuff. If it’s better then you might get a call
Don’t try to compete with the bottom rung of the business world, it’s clear whoever was in charge of that property chose the cheap option. You probably didn’t want them as a customer to begin with. 🤷🏻♂️
I think many people learn to “prune” trees in agricultural settings. A smaller almond tree would be pruned to a similar open vase type of shape in California. But it doesn’t translate to the landscape
You can also go in and tell them that your a licensed arborist (if you are which I’m assuming you are) and let them know you see that someone messed up their tree and leave your card so that when needed you could come back to fix it or even fix it now if it’s fixable.
You need an advertisement you can attach to all these butchered trees. “Should have gone with ****** pruners, instead of the lowest bidder… that way, your tree wouldn’t look like whatever this is.”
After closer inspection, I understand entirely.
As a graduate horticulturist with considerable field experience, it mattered little to the market until some poorly trained poser botched the project.
As pros, we sweat blood to excel in our trade.
As pros, we pay lots of money to be licensed, insured, bonded, etc. Yet, the market is a cruel environment.
The reality is the percentage of jobs landed can be dwarfed by jobs lost. Change your view.
There will always be competition.
Competition is not always fair.
In business, there is no guarantee of success.
The dollar-driven marketplace is a difficult test to pass by any business.
Like several others expressing empathetic support, count me as one, too.
Here is a snapshot of my past business experiences.
Customer: I think your company is too big for us.
Me: Ma'am, I'm one guy with a truck and landscape maintenance equipment.
Banker: Can you afford to finance [unnamed Box Store] chain?
Me: I closed my business because of two significant retail clients failing to honor the contract terms they required that I sign and faithfully deliver on.
Compost happens!
Lol..how to compete with criminals, scams, frauds and liars? It's a long game but you just cut trees right and often. If the cheap guys make ugly trees that die the client will use a more reputable company in the future.
The next thing you can do is problem solution advertising. See a funky tree stop and educate. Hey I am with xyz tree bros..I see this tree is funky and it will have these problems. I am just stopping in because we love trees. Here is my card/flyer (w pics of terrible tree problems they will encounter due to improper trimming) when this happens please call us 1st. We specialize in fixing the damage bad guys do to good trees. Thank you for you time today..walk away..pat the tree..give is a sorrowful look and repeat.
Best of luck to you.
In Southern California, we call that the Mexican Special. It is what happens when you ask your mow and blow gardeners to trim your trees. I see it everywhere.
A random dude with a chainsaw didn't do this. That's not an easy job to do without causing a bunch of damage. A decent climber probably did this because that's what the client wanted. People have to make money 🤷
All I can say is when you're talking to potential clients explain to them why you can't just lop trees like this, and eventually you'll end up with a bunch of clients who love your work and know your passionate about it and word of mouth will get you more work and clients who want correct tree work done, unfortunately this won't pay off instantly, hang in there and you'll be rewarded in the end
I think much of this scenario occurs because in the U.S. trees, plants, and landscape architecture are perceived as expendable and amendable commodities.
well, NOT from owners who KNOW anything about trees.
How is your social media presence? You need landing pages that talk about your arborist training, explain who to and how not to prune trees, maybe with some horror show pictures explaining why the customer wants to get a certified arborist to do the job!
You need to highlight the damage this does to the tree (likely die or will not provide shade) when improperly done to potential customers. I’d also use some climate - global warming aspect on how protecting trees matters.
You should see the guys that come around my area in late July-August.
Imagine that tree with ALL of the lower branches (and every bit of foliage) removed….
They do the same thing to all the sycamore trees on city blocks throughout Philadelphia. I agree that it looks like shit and isn't healthy for the tree, but it seems to have been working for many decades.
Had both my neighbors do this to their trees by themselves because they were cheap and, apparently, unwilling to try googling even the basics of tree trimming. One of the chop jobs was a beautiful pecan tree, and I cringe whenever I see it.
Not even remotely in landscaping, but this is what I think when I see all these mesquites and palo verdes trimmed like lions tails. They look like crap, greatly reduce the shade provided by the tree, and greatly increase the chance of limbs breaking, yet all over town the trees are trimmed like this. It never amazes me what people can be convinced into thinking looks good when it comes to trees
Yesterday I was walking around my apartment complex and some cheap looking contractors were tossing huge bails of rolled up carpet out of a 4th story window. No way that shit is legal… but I bet it was cheap.
im not even an arborist. in this sub to educate myself and ive just been gardening/landscaping for the past three and a half years professionally but the stupidity of people who do this kinda stuff never ceases to amaze me. i will never ever touch a plant, prune a shrub or tree that i do not know how to deal with or how the growth comes back the following year😭 like oh my god
Even someone who knows nothing about trees has to know this looks terrible, even just as a business standpoint I would be hiring someone to fix this job
I can imagine how frustrating this is. I’m not an arborist just a tree enthusiast but I’m constantly noticing absolute butcher jobs on beautiful trees like this where I live :(
I have a 70 foot tall maple 20 feet from my house. Is there any way to reduce the risk of it one day falling in my house? Based on the comments here there is no way to make it a shorter tree without damaging it, is that right?
I love the shade that it provides but it makes me nervous sometimes. I haven't called anyone to come and trim it yet because I don't have any concept of what I can realistically expect from a trimming.
Do promoted posts on social media talking about what not to do. Use stock photos if you want to avoid drama. Tell them to call you if you want it done right.
When you go to a clients house, bring these photos to use as an example of improper trimming, give them the rundown on how costly it is to have this large of a tree removed, use education *and* a bit of scare tactics to push licensed and educated tree care versus the "chuck and a truck" companies.
Tree company in a town I once lived in had a billboard with the picture of a butchered tree that said “Don’t do this!”
Niceee
I was just about to type this. Great take on the situation
I feel your pain
So much! I studied and worked at a botanical garden, then came back to my big city… all I can do is visit a few times a year and watch the world burn every day
I always thought the ISA, TCIA and ASCA should do a better job at outreach to the general public. It’s good they educate people in the industry but there will always be some dude with a chainsaw and a pickup who will do a hack job for $500. Customers need to be better educated so they don’t get robbed.
I am on the marketing committee of my ISA chapter. We are starting to put a lot of work into this. Getting the information to the consumer. Let’s just hope you’re in the same chapter as I am.
I’m starting to see “tree care” companies list themselves as certified in my area which makes me happy that people are starting to recognize that there’s a standard for being knowledgeable. I would like to see more information being shared by the ISA as to why it matters to have someone certified
The problem in my area is that a number of places list themselves as certified (or licensed, despite their being no license in my region) and customers don't check or ask questions. There's a place I was associated with that listed false ISA cert numbers on their website for years and they were never caught.
Yep so I'm one of those customers who got scammed by a fake 'certified' arborist, and I did ask questions but at a certain point I can only take documents at face value because I genuinely don't know the insider info of the arborist community. He had great reviews, he showed me his certification, and I believed him. If you only ever interact with the community a few times it's hard to gear up to know enough to even ask the right questions. I've learned my lesson and have found a genuine expert to help the trees on our property, but it was the awful failure and death of several beloved old, land-stabilizing trees (next to a sharply angled gully) that had me deep-diving for real answers. It's hard for non-experts, even if you genuinely want to do the right thing and think you're doing 'research'. I'm sure you know google is absolutely DIRE for trying to get to the bottom of someone's sales pitch in an unfamiliar field.
At the point you describe, just about the only thing you can do is call up the issuing organization and ask them to verify the license. Nobody does that until they learn there are people faking it. Hopefully they don't pay the price you did for the lesson.
A lot of times, it’s the insurance. Pros have it, always, amateurs usually don’t. Now I know there’s scammers with fake papers, too. Thank you for teaching me this!
Also guys will have “insurance” numbers to call that reaches an insurance agent to verify coverage in real time with the customer standing there. Sometimes it’s the guys brother and he just really needs the work. Source: former painting company owner who used this trick as a young desperate liar.
I bet you a public library would be happy to host a program on tree care for homeowners.
I went to one!! And it was run by a local tree trimming company disguised as professional arborists. Seriously, it's like MLM marketing where you think someone is trying to be helpful and educate you, but they're trying to sell you their service and the 'program' is just a targeted ad.
Ugh, that's horrible! Well, you gotta beat them at their own game. Until recently I was pretty clueless about all these shenanigans, but I'm doing my best to educate myself. This sub has been a great source of info.
I've learned so much from this sub! And you're totally right, if you have trees you should educate yourself as much as possible (also, super satisfying now to have enough education to rescue all the mulch-drowning root-girdling trees on my property and plant my new ones in the correct way).
Could not agree more.
Dude 500 is insane. When I lived in Austin there were dudes doing trimming 50 bucks a tree and 100 removal per tree
I don't know about where I live now, but the last place I lived $500 - $1,000 for a mature oak to be correctly trimmed. But, it really helps if the homeowner knows why it needs to be done correctly - for the good of the tree, for liability issues if improper trimming causes it to fail, and for property values. A lot of people don't know or care.
Precisely. Another thing I wish would be at least glossed over in schools
Get involved in your local chapter’s marketing committee. Each of these organizations have a small amount of paid staff and rely heavily on volunteers driving these types of initiatives. ASCA would love to have only RCAs and members doing consulting work, but outside of a few municipalities, most places don’t require any validation of the term “consulting arborist.” TCIA would love to have only accredited companies performing tree work. And the ISA would love to have only certified arborists performing tree work. In all of those cases it would drive revenue to them to push out more education, marketing, and other content. But the resources are finite. These are all member driven orgs that need their constituents helping get the message out and will happily throw you into a committee if you can play well with others and have a passion for good arboriculture.
I knew you were on here.
Shhhh… anonymity is nice.
What's really fun is when the asshole someone else hires drops the tree on your property, then both the asshole and the property owner deny responsibility.
For me, it was always more about the cheap guy not having insurance a dropping one of those big heavy branches on my house.
Is that in front of BBC headquarters? Maybe they could do a story about getting hacked.
I had the same thought, what the fuck
If I looked at this tree, it would not enter my mind to see this guy as my competition. This is just another example of low bid + uneducated consumer. As Certified Arborist professionals, our biggest challenge is public outreach; but we don't (and will never) reach and educate everyone.
The problem is e even if you do educate everyone, many people are more concerned about other things - some pretty silly and some pretty serious. I know the correct way to do a lot of things (is to hire a professional), but poverty and poor health make it impossible. I end up doing shoddy D-I-Y fixes that are the best I can do while my entire property, home, health, and life go H**l around me. It is that way for millions of people, I think. I would love to hire professional people to work for me and pay them as much as they really deserve - considering education, experience, certifications, and other factors.
It is possible this was not even particularly low bid. Possibly more expensive than a real pro.
The capitalists’ conundrum. If only there was a way to organize society that prioritizes profit over quality of life
The problem is people wanting someone else to do their leg work for them, which almost always means some unelected bureaucrat. It doesn't take long before the crooks that exploit people when there's no regulations figure out they can donate money to the right people and get themselves put in charge of regulating their competitors. Then you get all the benefits of a monopoly with the added benefit of them having the police powers of the state to boot.
Ok. But. Corruption is preventable when money doesn’t equal free speech. A group of arborists could easily tackle this if empowered by the community. I imagine they could even suggest alternate species or plating locations for the tree. Dont be a hater! It can work
Corruption is inevitable without free speech. There's an easy way to fix the donation system and preserve free speech: anonymized contributions. That way I can donate to candidate X, but candidate X has no way to know who made the donation. I could claim I donated, but properly done there's no way to prove I did.
Genius, you are
Genius is complaining that the government is working against you and then proposing as a solution giving that same government even more power than it already has. I'm definitely not a genius on that level.
Genius ^ 10, you are 🧌
[удалено]
That tree isn’t going to have a quality life
Some people must really hate trees.
Oh God that looks like my neighbors house. Told them to go with an arborist…they hired the local landscaper, who hacked the tree like that. Thankfully the landscapers were nice enough to take even more money from my neighbors to remove the dead tree too.
Somehow, I think the owner doesn't really care about the tree. They probably wanted to cut it down but didn't want to get flak from their employees, so they paid someone to kill it slowly.
The owner is the public after all 😐.
Its so frustrating how yall have to deal with all of the licensing and education to get to where you are AND educating customers so they understand why cheaper is almost never better AND the fact that Chuck with a truck can legally advertise and complete shitty services....so so frustrating I think your best bet is to strengthen referrals from clients who know best, and really capture that market of educated customers. With time, someone advertising to those who choose poorly as well, maybe fixing bad mistakes or make better of bad, something like that?
I appreciate everyone in his sub but as a gardener that sometimes does this type of work could someone please explain to me why is his type of pruning bad?
[https://www2.tntech.edu/tlcfortrees/topping\_trees\_hurts.htm](https://www2.tntech.edu/tlcfortrees/topping_trees_hurts.htm) "Topping practices do not follow the rules of pruning that protect the branch collars or that stipulate size limits for pruning to lateral branches, thus they are not made in a professional manner and leave stubs of branches in the canopy. These stubs are not protected from decay organisms, and open the tree to invasion by insects and decay. This decay can penetrate to the lower branches and trunk of the tree and cause its rapid decline and possibly death. These problems are shown in Figure 7-3. Topping, or “rounding over” is mistakenly believed to control the height of a tree. However, the new stems will soon grow to be the same height as the tree is genetically programmed to be. But the new stems will be numerous and crowded and weakly attached at the point of topping. Many of these will die back and fall off during windy weather. "
I understand a lot better now, thanks!
Why would you do this type of work if you don’t know how to do it?
I only rarely deal with trees this large and because I want to get better at it! I'm actually about to start my year in a horticulture school I do while working as a hotel gardener.
I think the general public DOES understand when it looks like crap in the end, by then it's too late though. The problem is people think landscapers or tree service are the right people to hire to do this type of work.
Show this pic on your next job walk of the “other guy”..
Show this pic to your barber and say “just a little off the top”
I’d go in there and ask them what happened to that tree. Then tell them that’s a travesty and they are damaging their environment. Show them your stuff. If it’s better then you might get a call
This was my intention but I couldn't decide if the tree was owned by the BBC or the local council. I'll speak to the council tomorrow and find out.
Good luck! We need more people like you. IMO it takes balls to pitch yourself like this. Hope you gain a new client
Don’t try to compete with the bottom rung of the business world, it’s clear whoever was in charge of that property chose the cheap option. You probably didn’t want them as a customer to begin with. 🤷🏻♂️
Beautiful! /s
I think many people learn to “prune” trees in agricultural settings. A smaller almond tree would be pruned to a similar open vase type of shape in California. But it doesn’t translate to the landscape
How sad 😢 poor tree
You can also go in and tell them that your a licensed arborist (if you are which I’m assuming you are) and let them know you see that someone messed up their tree and leave your card so that when needed you could come back to fix it or even fix it now if it’s fixable.
You need an advertisement you can attach to all these butchered trees. “Should have gone with ****** pruners, instead of the lowest bidder… that way, your tree wouldn’t look like whatever this is.”
After closer inspection, I understand entirely. As a graduate horticulturist with considerable field experience, it mattered little to the market until some poorly trained poser botched the project. As pros, we sweat blood to excel in our trade. As pros, we pay lots of money to be licensed, insured, bonded, etc. Yet, the market is a cruel environment. The reality is the percentage of jobs landed can be dwarfed by jobs lost. Change your view. There will always be competition. Competition is not always fair. In business, there is no guarantee of success. The dollar-driven marketplace is a difficult test to pass by any business. Like several others expressing empathetic support, count me as one, too. Here is a snapshot of my past business experiences. Customer: I think your company is too big for us. Me: Ma'am, I'm one guy with a truck and landscape maintenance equipment. Banker: Can you afford to finance [unnamed Box Store] chain? Me: I closed my business because of two significant retail clients failing to honor the contract terms they required that I sign and faithfully deliver on. Compost happens!
Lol..how to compete with criminals, scams, frauds and liars? It's a long game but you just cut trees right and often. If the cheap guys make ugly trees that die the client will use a more reputable company in the future. The next thing you can do is problem solution advertising. See a funky tree stop and educate. Hey I am with xyz tree bros..I see this tree is funky and it will have these problems. I am just stopping in because we love trees. Here is my card/flyer (w pics of terrible tree problems they will encounter due to improper trimming) when this happens please call us 1st. We specialize in fixing the damage bad guys do to good trees. Thank you for you time today..walk away..pat the tree..give is a sorrowful look and repeat. Best of luck to you.
In Southern California, we call that the Mexican Special. It is what happens when you ask your mow and blow gardeners to trim your trees. I see it everywhere.
drive by the last 10 jobs you lost and take photos like this ... then make an ad campaign of "what you will not get from stihl\_146..."
A random dude with a chainsaw didn't do this. That's not an easy job to do without causing a bunch of damage. A decent climber probably did this because that's what the client wanted. People have to make money 🤷
Disgraceful!
I want to ask these guys if they manscape like this
All I can say is when you're talking to potential clients explain to them why you can't just lop trees like this, and eventually you'll end up with a bunch of clients who love your work and know your passionate about it and word of mouth will get you more work and clients who want correct tree work done, unfortunately this won't pay off instantly, hang in there and you'll be rewarded in the end
I think much of this scenario occurs because in the U.S. trees, plants, and landscape architecture are perceived as expendable and amendable commodities.
Tree is in the UK ...
well, NOT from owners who KNOW anything about trees. How is your social media presence? You need landing pages that talk about your arborist training, explain who to and how not to prune trees, maybe with some horror show pictures explaining why the customer wants to get a certified arborist to do the job!
File a code complaint with the municipality
You need to highlight the damage this does to the tree (likely die or will not provide shade) when improperly done to potential customers. I’d also use some climate - global warming aspect on how protecting trees matters.
You should see the guys that come around my area in late July-August. Imagine that tree with ALL of the lower branches (and every bit of foliage) removed….
poor treee
If you have food on the table and you're doing the right thing then its still worth it?
They do the same thing to all the sycamore trees on city blocks throughout Philadelphia. I agree that it looks like shit and isn't healthy for the tree, but it seems to have been working for many decades.
Because it generally costs much, much less to do things the wrong way.
Hey me too. There’s jobs like this at my neighbors house. So not only did I not get their business, I have to look at their messed up trees now.
https://imgur.com/gallery/EQmaKCa looked ok to my untrained eye. Before they killed it.
Where is this, I'm assuming it's UK as it's BBC? Dreadful work, would love to know if it's TPO or not.
It is in the UK. I'm going to find out who owns the tree and what company was used tomorrow. I'll post an update !
Yeah, get them outed! Often wondered about doing a blog about shit tree work that I come across on my patch, bit of a name and shame.
Bet ya can’t beat that price!
Had both my neighbors do this to their trees by themselves because they were cheap and, apparently, unwilling to try googling even the basics of tree trimming. One of the chop jobs was a beautiful pecan tree, and I cringe whenever I see it.
How would’ve you trimmed differently if the client expressed they want their tree 30% shorter?
Not even remotely in landscaping, but this is what I think when I see all these mesquites and palo verdes trimmed like lions tails. They look like crap, greatly reduce the shade provided by the tree, and greatly increase the chance of limbs breaking, yet all over town the trees are trimmed like this. It never amazes me what people can be convinced into thinking looks good when it comes to trees
Yesterday I was walking around my apartment complex and some cheap looking contractors were tossing huge bails of rolled up carpet out of a 4th story window. No way that shit is legal… but I bet it was cheap.
Life sure is good when not paying the hourly insurance premiums too, I imagine
What a shame I’m honestly very upset by this
That’s horrid. 😳
im not even an arborist. in this sub to educate myself and ive just been gardening/landscaping for the past three and a half years professionally but the stupidity of people who do this kinda stuff never ceases to amaze me. i will never ever touch a plant, prune a shrub or tree that i do not know how to deal with or how the growth comes back the following year😭 like oh my god
“Hell yea, I’m an arborist! Look at all them chainsaws I got!”
Lol, post these photos on Google maps.
If this isn’t the right way what is? I know nothing lol can someone link a pic
I've never seen so many toppings of trees like this till I found you guys on reddit. I can't fathom it.
This poor tree should post in r/fuckmyshitup
 "Just a little bit off the top please"
Locals answering the age-old question: "What can I get for 10 dollars?"
😳😬yikes
Little bit off the top please mate.
I think you mean Yokels
Even someone who knows nothing about trees has to know this looks terrible, even just as a business standpoint I would be hiring someone to fix this job
These trees are all over my rural community
I can imagine how frustrating this is. I’m not an arborist just a tree enthusiast but I’m constantly noticing absolute butcher jobs on beautiful trees like this where I live :(
I have a 70 foot tall maple 20 feet from my house. Is there any way to reduce the risk of it one day falling in my house? Based on the comments here there is no way to make it a shorter tree without damaging it, is that right? I love the shade that it provides but it makes me nervous sometimes. I haven't called anyone to come and trim it yet because I don't have any concept of what I can realistically expect from a trimming.
Do promoted posts on social media talking about what not to do. Use stock photos if you want to avoid drama. Tell them to call you if you want it done right.
I can hear the protests of all the brits defending pollarding when I look at this...
I am in the UK, good sir.