How to choose an arborist
We are confident in our abilities to serve your project and property well and take care of your trees. Here are a few criteria we recommend you consider when choosing a tree removal or maintenance provider. Here at JK Cooper, all of our specialists aren’t just qualified. We’ve got over 40 years of experience in the tree care and management industry.
Aborist qualifications
Arborists gain qualifications to practice arboriculture in a variety of ways and some arborists are more qualified than others. Experience working safely and effectively in and around trees is essential. Arborists tend to specialize in one or more disciplines of arboriculture, such as diagnosis and treatment, climbing and pruning, cabling and lightning protection, or perhaps consultation and report writing.
Qualifications are absolutely crucial when it comes to choosing a good tree specialist. While the degree itself is not what matters the most, it is the experience and certification that comes along with the degree that makes our specialists more qualified than anyone else in the industry.
From a practical standpoint, if people do not have the necessary qualifications they should not be climbing, cutting down and removing large trees. A qualified arborist will take precautions to protect your gardens, landscaping, trees and property. Someone without sufficient experience and qualifications may ultimately cost you much more in remediation than proper removal.
Standards compliance
The knowledge we’ve acquired in tree maintenance and thousands of successful projects ensures success. We maintained all the appropriate qualifications and safety standards including ISO 9001 and CM3. Trimming and pruning of trees by JK Cooper is carried out by our team who follow the Australian Standard AS4373: Pruning of Amenity Trees.
But hiring a good tree specialist isn’t just a matter of having good work done in a practical sense. Hiring a good tree management company like JK Cooper is crucial for the legalities of your project as well, particularly in public works such as schools and parks.
If you were to choose to work with a company that employs less-than qualified or downright unqualified individuals, you not only risk having damage done to your property. You also risk having legal issues ensue as the government or local officials who come to inspect your property upon completion of the project will likely find things that we done improperly by such unqualified tree management contractors
Experience in tree management
However, if you choose to work with a company like JK Cooper, this will not be the case. We have been around the block a few times, so to speak. We are absolute experts at following safe work methods and each project we embark on, regardless of the size, is carefully planned and executed. Our management team ensures that things are ‘done by the book’, not only by following the necessary government regulations but also our common sense.
An example of this is working near power lines. You can see by the details of how Ausgrid prunes trees under powerlines, explained here: http://www.ausgrid.com.au/Common/Customer-Services/In-your-neighbourhood/Tree-trimming-and-powerlines.aspx#.VPuqkFPYqD4
“For most species of tree, once the minimum safety clearance plus an allowance for regrowth is determined for each branch, it is trimmed at the nearest growth point or collar outside the limit of clearance required. This is a requirement under Australian Standard AS4373 as trimming at a growth point protects trees from infection or disease and minimises the development of weakly attached growth. Trimming or removal of trees near powerlines can be extremely dangerous. If trees are within three metres of our powerlines, only vegetation management workers authorised by Ausgrid are permitted to carry out the work.”
Australian Standards
At JK Cooper, we adhere to these rules and ensure that all work we do is done according to the relevant Australian Standards such as those found in the ISO for Pruning Amenity Trees, http://www.saiglobal.com/pdftemp/previews/osh/as/as4000/4300/4373-2007.pdf . Assessment of trees and specification of their pruning should be carried out by a suitably qualified arborist. Pruning should be carried out by arborists or tree workers who are familiar with the principles, techniques and hazards of this work.
