Tips on finding a good tree service
To understand when selecting a tree company type resources that are out there. Basically you have two types of tree guys; bombers and arborists.
The bomber is a guy who only cares about cutting down the tree. These guys typically have not taken the time to understand proper Arboricultural practices. While there are a lot of guys that can take down a tree, the problem is that bombers typically are not to speed on safety, insurance, and care for your trees.
Arborists on the other hand, have taken the time to learn their profession and learn it well. Although bombing trees may seem "cool" or "macho", is that true arborist as move past this understanding the values that help you trees bring to our community and his responsibility and part he can play in maintaining this value.
In larger cities it's easier to find arborists, however in some smaller cities you may have a harder time. But without question, it's always worth the extra effort to find an accredited arborist with experience, because in the long run your trees will suffer if you don't.
Helpful tips on finding a good tree service
Insurance
As a consumer you need to know the difference between the two main types of insurance that tree services carry; a workers compensation and general liability.
Workers Compensation-this pays for the medical expenses, the employees down time, as well as a disability benefit if an employee gets hurt while working on your property.
General Liability-this pays if you have the "cliché" scenario of a tree going through your house. Please read below to find out what's more important.
As a consumer you need to know the risk of having a tree service perform work on your property. There is always the cliché of "don't throw a tree through my house". In fact, dished truly is not your biggest exposure of risk. In the worst-case scenario if a tree service cuts a tree onto your house you may be looking at a $50000-$70000 claim. However, imagine this scenario when someone gets injured. They will need their medical to be paid, as well as their down time, and if there is a death or disability there can be HQ settlement for this as well taking care of the family of the worker.
As for homeowner, in many states you are considered "ultimate Contractor". This means, but you can be brought into a lawsuit and possibly held liable for losses that occur.
So keep in mind that while a $50000-$70000 claim may occur with a tree falling on your house, you claim it $100000-$1000000. He worked to long and too hard to risk losing your assets through one accident.
Known ways that tree guys tried to "cheat the worker's comp system"
there are many different ways that tree services try to get around paying the high rates of workers compensation. It's important to know the right questions to ask to prevent being fooled by a tree service claiming that they have work comp.
1. Using the wrong comp code-tree service work comp is very expensive, sometimes running as high as 100% of the labor that the tree service has to pay. This means that if the tree service pays a laborer $100 for the day they have to equally match $100 to the insurance company. One way to tree guys get around this is by claiming that they are not doing "tree work". This allows them to pay a lower rate because they're in a less risky class code, however, if there's a catastrophic claim you can be sure that the insurance company is going to investigate and lawsuits will start flying. The correct workers comp code that you need to look for is code 0106. 0106 covers ruining and removal of trees.
2. Providing bogus paperwork-in this day and age printing official documents is as easy as going to Kinko's and making a copy. It's very easy for a tree service to provide fake paperwork. To protect yourself against this take the time to call the agency and verify that their policy is in effect and active. Just because your neighbor used them absolutely positively does not guarantee that they are an insurer to company.
3. Lying-when you ask a tree service "are you licensed and bonded and insured" it's very easy for the tree service to just nod their head and hope you don't ask any more questions. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Be specific ask for the name of the insurance agent and their number. Call them and verify that their policies are active. Tree guys know that people generally don't do this and that's the way they get away without having proper insurance.
4. Performing work while exempted from the policy-in many states the owner of a corporation is allowed to exempt himself from the worker's comp policy. This is because workers comp companies have a "minimum" then they expect him to earn. Therefore because of this minimum he is allowed to exempt himself from the policy entirely. The problem for you as a homeowner is that if the owner of the comp me is exempted and he's performing tree work if he gets hurt there will be no coverage. This scenario usually happens in smaller companies where the owner is directly involved with production.
5. Subcontracting-this is one of the most used methods of trying to get around workers compensation. Basically it involves passing on the burden of the workers comp to the employees. However, under subcontracting the employees are said to have a open their own company and are now subcontracting to the main tree service. To the inexperienced tree guy, this looks like a great plan. However, when the catastrophic claim hits you can be sure that the insurance company will send investigators to look at all the paperwork and verify that the men doing the work were indeed legitimate subcontractors. In many states the difference between a subcontractor and in a way boils down to (a) are they using their own equipment? And (b) are they taking direct supervision from the tree service, and paid hourly. In most cases, a legitimate subcontractor needs to use his own equipment and did their jobs on a piece by piece basis and while performing the job be free from direct supervision from the contractor.
Certifications-finding a tree service with certifications is important. International Society of Arboriculture offers their "certified arborist" "certified tree worker" and many other certifications. Membership to either the ISA or TCIA shows that the tree service is committed to keeping current on the most recent findings and studies in the tree care industry. Typically, bomber type tree services could care less are just happy to spike your tree, take it down, and collect their money.
Reporting agencies-there are many different reporting agencies such as the Better Business Bureau and angieslist.com and kudzu.com. These services offer a way for the consumers to be able to give feedback whether a tree service does good work or not. Pay attention to these because it can keep you protected and keep you out of a bad situation. But remember, just because someone else used the tree service does not mean that they are insured!
Bad Techniques-as a consumer it can be hard to ask the correct questions about technique to know for sure if the tree service is doing good work. However good warning signs to pay attention to is If a tree service mentions that they'll use spikes when they prune your tree, or top trees either of these are considered very bad practice and something that you as a consumer will need to stay away from.
Equipment-you can tell a lot about a tree service by the type of equipment it has. As a general rule of thumb to tree services generally have new equipment and guys who just got into the industry have bot older equipment because they don't have the business to sustain the payments on the new stuff. This is not always a hard and fast rule but something to keep in mind
Attitude- go with your gut. The bottom line is when the salesperson comes out to assess your trees you can tell a lot just by asking the right questions and how he answers them. If he's not answering them professionally with informed answers a but rather trying to "sell around" all of your questions, it may be a red flag.
