Tree service guides

Before the day. Move vehicles, patio furniture and anything fragile well clear. Ask where the chipper and trucks will park and whether they will be on the lawn. Tell your neighbors, especially if the crew needs access over a boundary or will be rigging over a shared fence — and get permission in writing if they need to be on the neighbor's land.

On removal day. Near a structure, a competent crew rigs limbs down in pieces rather than felling the tree in one go. Wood is cut into rounds, brush goes through the chipper, and the site is raked. Free-felling a large tree close to a house is a red flag unless the crew has clearly assessed the drop zone and the tree.

What a good pruning job looks like after. Cuts at branch collars, no stubs left mid-limb, no torn bark, and a tree that still looks like a tree. ISA's definition of a legitimate cleaning is "removal of dead, dying, diseased, weakly attached, and low-vigor branches from the crown" — you should be able to see what was taken and why. If your tree came back with a flat top and stubbed limbs, you were topped, which ISA calls "the most harmful tree pruning practice known."

After. Walk the site with the crew leader before you pay the balance. Check the stump depth against the contract, check for ruts and gouges in the lawn, check for damage to fences, irrigation heads and low-voltage lighting. Photograph anything wrong immediately and raise it before the truck leaves — it is far harder to resolve a week later.

How to choose

Write the scope yourself

Trees, limbs, debris, wood, stump, depth, grindings, hole fill, lawn repair. Hand the same document to every bidder.

Tell the neighbors and get access in writing

Crews often need to work over or from adjacent property. A short email creates the record and avoids a dispute mid-job.

Watch for rigging near structures

Controlled lowering of limbs is how it should be done close to a house. Dropping big wood beside your roof is not.

Walk the site before final payment

Stump depth, ruts, fence damage, irrigation heads, lighting. Raise problems while the crew is still there.

Do not accept a flat-topped tree

If a pruning job came back topped, the tree has been damaged, not maintained. Take photos and raise it in writing immediately.