Checking Your Contractor
We highly recommend you check the CSLB ( Contractors State License Board) to confirm the status of your contractors license. Anyone who conducts work over $500.00 in labor and materials is required to have a license from this California state organization. We've seen examples of individuals locally with fairly large tree services state they're "licensed" on their marketing and website materials, but upon further digging you'll learn it's only maybe a city license, or sometimes nothing at all. Not only are they cheating, but they're also not being honest with you, their customer. You would be surprised how many "businesses/contractors" are running things like this in your area. Also, don't look to places like Yelp or Google to confirm the status of a contractors license. Online platforms like those will likely not show that information for you, some will even charge contractors to show they're licensed, but again they wont do that for others, effectively allowing individuals without licenses to still advertise and seek out work which would require one. One thing to look for as well is when tree services or other contractors are being a little tricky with their name, which could be the same name as another business in another location in CA that is actually licensed under the CSLB. So if you don't look further into the owner and location of a contractor, it could be easy to think someone is licensed, when it's actually another contractor with the same name. Below you will find a link to the license board where you can confirm a contractors license, by number, business name, personnel name, or in other ways:
https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/onlineservices/CheckLicenseII/checklicense.aspx
The importance of proper insurance and licensing is not only to make sure they're qualified in their field and not cheating the system, but also plays a huge role in reducing your overall liability if anything were to happen at your property. The last thing you want is a simple tree or other job going bad, damaging your home, or having other consequences which could have you personally and financially liable. Give yourself peace of mind.
What kind of rates might you expect with a licensed, fully insured, and professional tree service. With some of the highest workman's comp rates applied to this industry, lots of equipment/maintenance, high dump fees, gas costs, and other overhead items, you're probably going to be looking at roughly $55-50.00 per man hour attempting to be generated for the business to break even. This can vary on the size of the business, and other factors, but you should probably be expecting to pay at least that rate for a professional tree crew to come in. Any lower might be someone not fully licensed, insured, and so on. It's hard to gauge this when jobs are usually hard bid, but if you're ever thinking about it, it's basicall
Tree Pruning/Removals
Each Tree has it's own unique story, and will require different levels of care to remain healthy and safe to the surrounding area it lives in. Trees can be great assets in terms of equity and aesthetics for your property if maintained and cared for correctly. From time to time this may mean that you will need some professional tree help with maintaining the health and beauty of those trees.
Pruning/trimming: Reasons for pruning your trees consist of controlling the shape and size of the tree, removing dead and or hazardous branches, thinning out branches, and improving the quality of the trees structure. An important factor to consider before trimming is the time of year and season in which you wish to prune a tree. Depending on the time of year, pruning too much from a tree, or pruning them during the wrong time/season can open them up to a higher risk of diseases, pest/bug infestations, and even death. It's best to ask these questions when considering pruning to make sure the best decision is being made for the long term health of each tree.
Removal: When considering the removal of a tree, there's several signs that make sense for that decision. Some of those signs are many dead branches or you have clear signs of a dying tree, diseases are taking control of the tree, there's an unsafe lean to the tree that's threatening nearby structures/property/landscape/lives/etc, there's unmanageable aspects to owning your tree, primary branches are broken/cracked, or roots are severely damaged or threatening foundations/piping/sidewalks/etc.
Whatever your concern or desires for your trees are, feel free to reach out to us. We'd be happy to arrange a free estimate with you and our business owner to go over your needs while also providing you with as much helpful information as possible so you can make the most informed decision with your trees. We'd be glad to help point you in the right direction and assist you when seeking permits and approvals from your city/county as well.
Stump Grinding/Removal
Stumps can have pipes and other utilities nearby, and the area will likely need to be assessed properly before having the stump removed. For this situation USA NORTH 811 would have to be used to properly mark utility and other locations so the work can be approved to safely be completed. This association is a non profit, which provides this service free of charge. Whether you use us or another tree service, be sure yourself or your contractor submits a ticket before grinding/digging begins to remove a stump. Tickets can be submitted on the phone by calling 811, or on their website at: