Why Should I hire a professional company for tree work?
#1 Lack of Knowledge and Training
Safe tree work requires extensive knowledge of tree physics and biology, which can take years of experience and study to acquire.
For example, felling a tree in a controlled manner is not as simple as cutting through the trunk with a chain saw. It requires establishing a drop zone, making precise cuts and sometimes guiding the tree safely to the ground with ropes as leverage. When homeowners attempt this, many are injured or killed when the tree falls in an unexpected direction.
Up-ended root plates or root balls are also unpredictable. Severing the trunk of a fallen tree from an up-ended root plate releases tension, which may be strong enough to pull the stump and root ball back into the hole, trapping anything or anyone nearby underneath it.
Other hazards may be invisible to the untrained eye: rotten trunks and limbs, pest and fungal infestations and other diseases and defects that can only be identified and treated by an experienced tree-care practitioner.
#2 Poor Situational Awareness
Even homeowners who know their way around trees may still fall victim to nearby hazards.
Electrical wires are a common situational hazard in tree work; many trees grow near power lines and have their branches, leaves and limbs entangled in live wires. Each year, a number of amateur tree workers are seriously injured or killed when they come into contact with an energized line, directly or indirectly, through tools or tree limbs. Navigating this danger is tricky, even for professionals, and should never be attempted by homeowners under any circumstances.
Attempting do-it-yourself tree work is bad enough, but some homeowners go one step further and try to finish the job alone, which further impairs situational awareness. If you do try to do any of the work, always make sure there is at least one other person working with you. Even trained professionals work in teams!
#3 Improper Use of Tools
Homeowners who use incorrect, faulty or complicated tools may hurt themselves and others while attempting tree work.
Chain saws, for example, are incredibly dangerous and easy to misuse. A common mistake is to use a dull chain, which forces the operator to use excess pressure, causing them to lose control of the saw. Many homeowners also make the mistake of using the chain saw to cut branches on the ground. This can result in chain saw kickback – and injuries – when the bar tip hits the dirt or other foliage.
Misused ladders are another common source of injury. Using a ladder that is too short, set on unstable ground, or supported by a faulty limb can easily result in the homeowner falling – often fatally – from the tree. Ladders often are knocked out from under the homeowner by the same limb that was just cut.
Tree work may also require tools the average homeowner does not own. Stump grinders, woodchippers and aerial lifts are just a few examples of complex and often necessary machines that only a trained arborist can handle.
Are homeowners responsible for tree care-related accidents on their property? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t simple. It depends on several factors, including state law, the circumstances of the accident, and the type of insurance coverage the homeowner and contractor each possess.
“Liability is a complicated issue, but even so, there are several steps all homeowners can take to reduce the risk of litigation,” says Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA). “Tree work can be dangerous, even for experienced professionals, so homeowners should always take extra precautions to ensure their assets are protected.”
Learn from three common mistakes that homeowners make:
Homeowner Mistake #1: Forgetting to verify contracts and credentials
Not all tree care companies are trustworthy businesses. Before you hire, always ask for current certificates of liability and workers’ compensation insurance. This is a crucial step – if you hire a company without insurance or with inadequate insurance, you may be liable for accidents or injuries, and may have no means for recourse if your property is damaged.
Disreputable tree care companies may not have this documentation. Some may even forge these documents or exaggerate their coverage, so it is always a good idea to contact their insurer directly to verify their claims.
Next, insist on a signed contract as to cost, dates when work is to be performed, and exactly what is to be done. Reputable tree care companies will have no issue complying with these requests.
Public opinion is also important. Research potential tree care companies on Yelp or with the Better Business Bureau to see what past customers have to say. This can provide you with insights that are not always evident on paper.
Homeowner Mistake #2: Ignoring obvious hazards
Even if all the necessary paperwork is in order, you may still be liable for injuries if you neglect obvious hazards on your property. A loose step on a porch, for example, may cause issues if a contractor suffers injury because of it while the tree work is being completed.
Routinely inspect your property for such dangers, and make repairs if possible. If you find something temporarily beyond your repair, it is best to warn the contractor of the risks involved.
For extra peace of mind, take a look at your homeowner’s insurance coverage. It is a good idea to check the personal-liability section of your homeowner’s policy to ensure all the necessary coverage is there.
Homeowner Mistake #3: Micro-managing the tree care project
It can be tempting to micro-manage tree care projects on your property; as the owner, you have a significant financial and emotional investment in the project, so it is natural that you want to ensure everything goes according to plan.
From a legal perspective, however, this may be a mistake. Excessively close monitoring of moment-to-moment or day-to-day operations can open you up to personal injury liability if a worker is injured on the job. It is always best to monitor from a distance, and let the professionals perform the job you hired them to do.
Find a professional
A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best course of action to care for and maintain the trees and shrubs in your landscape.
Before You Cut Your Neighbor’s Tree …
It is a common occurrence: You look out your window and all you see is your neighbor’s tree dropping branches and nuts and bark all over your yard. Or, you can’t see anything at all because of that tree. Or, you are certain that large branches of that tree will eventually fall onto your garage. Before you take the chain saw into your own hands and cut off the offending limbs, you will want to know some tidbits to keep you out of “neighbor jail” – and possibly real jail.
Does a tree’s limbs or trunk crossing the property line give you the right to prune it?
Yes? No? Both Yes and No? It all depends on where you live. Check with your town, city, county and state municipalities for regulations about trees and property lines. In some areas, you are entitled to prune the parts of a tree overhanging your yard as long as the work does not damage the tree.
But why don’t you first ask your neighbor if he, she or they mind if you go ahead and have it pruned? They might actually appreciate it.
Should I just cut it straight up over the property line?
While that might seem to be a good way to shear a boundary hedge, large trees rarely respond well to inter-nodal (random) pruning cuts on their branches. This type of indiscriminate pruning invites diseases and insect pests that could eventually kill the tree entirely. Then you’re at risk of not only non-compliance to a municipal ordinance (see above), but to the ill-feelings this action will certainly develop in your neighbor.
How about if I just have my lawn person cut the tree back?
If you have your heart set on cutting back your neighbor’s overhanging tree branches, your best bet would be to have a qualified tree care provider perform the work. Tree care providers who are members of professional associations, are insured and who have certified personnel performing the work will know the local laws regarding which types of trees can be cut, and to what extent. Plus, they have the right equipment and training to perform the work correctly and safely. Finally, if your neighbor does have concerns, having it done by a professional might put them more at ease.
Steps to take
Step 1 – Find out who actually owns the tree and where the property line is. Can you be certain that, just because it appears to be on your side of the fence, the fence is on the actual property line? How many times has that fence line been moved? If the tree is large and mature or particularly valuable, you would benefit from having the property surveyed to make certain of ownership.
Step 2 – Have a qualified tree care provider write up work specifications on exactly how the tree should be cut back. It is usually a bit more complex than simply stating, “cut limbs back to property line.” The work order must reference the ANSI A300 tree pruning standards to assure the procedures being proposed take into consideration the tree’s future health. Oh, and check to see that your tree care provider has a copy of their current liability insurance policy on hand. Check their references as well – why not?
Step 3 – This is probably the most important step when dealing with trees on a property line: If at all possible, get the tree owner’s written consent to the work being prescribed. Cutting a neighbor’s trees without that neighbor’s knowledge or consent will only lead to un-neighborly disputes that might lead you to court. If the pruning makes a drastic difference in the tree’s appearance or health or your tree care provider needs to access your neighbor’s property, the tree owner must be made aware of this action and sign off on it. Ignoring this step, or telling your tree care professional to “go ahead, it’s OK,” is actually not OK.
Hire a tree care professional
The best advice is to hire a tree care professional with the experience, expertise and equipment to assess and safely prune, remove or otherwise care for your or your neighbors’ trees.
Inspection from industry-certified arborists can prevent severe property damage.
Tree failure is a major cause of property damage, especially after high winds. If the wind is strong enough, even healthy trees can be uprooted or broken. But it might not take a storm or high winds to cause a cracked or rotted tree to fail under its own weight.
“Homeowners worried about trees falling and damaging property should call a qualified arborist for an on-site inspection,” advises Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA). Andersen notes that trees are genetically designed to withstand storms, but all trees can fail – and defective trees fail sooner than healthy trees.
“To a professional arborist,” notes Andersen, “certain defects are indicators that a tree has an increased potential to fail.”
Cracks in tree trunks can be one of the major indicators of an unstable tree. Most cracks are caused by improper closure of wounds or by the splitting of weak branch unions. They can be found in branches, stems or roots, and vary in type and severity.
There are horizontal and vertical cracks. Horizontal cracks run across the grain of the wood and develop just before the tree fails, making them very difficult to detect. Vertical cracks run with the wood grain along the length of the tree and may appear as shear or ribbed cracks.
Shear cracks can run completely through the stem and separate it into two halves. As the tree bends and sways in the wind, one half of the stem slides over the other, elongating the crack. Eventually the enlarging crack causes the two halves of the stem to shear apart.
Ribbed cracks are created as the tree attempts to seal over a wound. Margins of the crack meet and mesh but are reopened due to tree movement or extremely cold temperatures. Thicker annual rings are created in order to stabilize the developing crack at the location of the wound. This forms the ribbed appearance over a period of many years.
These cracks put a tree at high risk of failure and are especially dangerous when combined with other defects or with advanced decay.
A qualified arborist can determine the potential for failure by measuring the shell thickness in a few locations around the tree’s circumference, determining the width of the crack opening, and looking for the presence of any other type of defect.
What is the risk?
Cracks are hazardous because they compromise the structure of the tree. They can eventually split the stem in two and are very dangerous when combined with internal decay. The presence of multiple cracks and decay indicates a potentially hazardous tree.
Find a professional
A professional arborist can assess your landscape and work with you to determine the best care for your trees.
Have you ever wondered if the large trees by your house would fall on it during some wind or storm event? First, stop worrying. Most trees in residential settings are sound and have many years of healthy life before becoming a hazard to your home. However, if your tree is unsafe it could be a threat to lives and property. How does a tree become a hazard?
“Many shade and ornamental trees are damaged throughout the year by windstorms, lightning or ice and snow accumulations,” notes Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP* and staff arborist with the Tree Care Industry Association. “Damage usually consists of a few broken branches. However, more severe damage – such as splitting or pulling apart of branch unions, removal of large areas of bark, twisting and splitting of the trunk or even uprooting – pose possible dangers.”
A few tree species, including Chinese elm, silver maple, boxelder and various poplars, have brittle wood that is easily broken. These rapidly growing trees cause a considerable amount of damage to homes, cars, buildings and utility lines each year. Homeowners should be aware of these characteristics and avoid planting them close to potential targets. If such trees are already growing in these locations, preventive pruning, bracing or cabling may help reduce storm damage this winter. This is particularly true as the tree grows in size and the weight and surface of the leaf and branch area increases.
Over the years, growing trees will add more leaves, become heavier and “catch” more wind, so they are prone to increased mechanical stresses, thus increasing the chances of failure. Larger trees will also affect an increased area should they or their larger limbs fall. This means that homes, other structures and power lines that might not have been threatened a few years ago might now be under threat by a tree that has grown. Preparing trees to better withstand these natural events is necessary and should be done well in advance of storm season. To help ease these dangers, have a professional arborist evaluate your trees. Doing this will help identify potential weaknesses and dangers.
Look at your trees for the following warning signs:
- Dead or partially attached limbs hung up in the higher branches that could fall and cause damage or injury
- Cracked stems and branch forks that could cause catastrophic failure of a tree section
- Hollow or decayed areas on the trunk or main limbs or mushrooms growing from the bark could indicate a decayed and weakened stem
- Peeling bark or gaping wounds in the trunk also indicate structural weakness
- Fallen or uprooted trees putting pressure on other trees beneath them
- Tight, V-shaped forks, which are much more prone to failure than open U-shaped forks
- Heaving soil at the tree base is a potential indicator of an unsound root system
Remember, too, that a tree is a living thing, and its integrity and stability change over time. Don’t assume that a tree that has survived 10 severe storms will necessarily survive an eleventh.
The first thing that you should do during and after a storm or disaster is ensure that your family or customers are safe. A building or residence can be replaced, lives can’t. Storm cleanup is definitely not a DIY job. Leaning, split, uprooted, and otherwise damaged trees are under enormous stresses that make them react in highly unpredictable - and extremely dangerous - ways. Please, do NOT attempt to cut down or remove a storm-damaged tree yourself!
When trees fall or sustain massive damage from a storm, they become exceptionally unstable. Often, they cannot be removed without heavy equipment and skilled equipment operators who can safely manoeuver the tree parts away from your home.
When a tree falls on a house or other structure, a car, or on a sidewalk, driveway or road, it needs to be removed quickly. Whether it's on private property, a public roadway, commercial property, or within an HOA, the ISA Certified Arborists at JT’s Tree and Crane will swiftly clear the tree away so you can regain access and begin any necessary repairs.
Hazardous trees include those that have:
- split apart at the trunk
- developed a large crack in the trunk or on big branches
- large branches that have broken and are hanging in the tree
- started leaning, or are leaning more than before
- roots pulling out of the ground, cut away, or damaged
- large rotten areas (this may not always be visible)
- power lines or wires caught in the branches
If you notice any of these issues after a storm (or at any time), give us a call we want to ensure your safety and get things back to normal for you ASAP.