Contractors vs. Arborists / Ethics

[M.D. Vaden]

A certain tree this week, brought to mind a thought in a way I had not considered before.

Why is it that I (or we) commonly see trees (property development) with damaged trunks, damaged limbs, and messed-up soil conditions, but when it comes to many of the arborists working, there are not a bunch of dents and tears in the siding and roof of buildings?

Even if many contractors did not understand soil and roots, just from an aesthetic point of view, it seems innexcusable.

Every workplace should have ethics and manners.

When we go in a house, we should wipe our feet, when loggers go in a store, they should switch footwear if their boots are spiked. If gravel is spilled on a sidewalk, it should be swept.

Ethics follows consideration and common sense. And ethical work in a workplace includes keeping as much of what remains undamaged and tidy.

So why is it that most tree services I know of - even some "hacks" - don't bruise up the buildings, but quite a few contractors I watch develop property, batter and scar the trees and limbs?

Everything has to have a reason. And every habit manifests a character trait.

What does this mean to you?

Why are arborists frequently called in to prescribe protection zones for trees, but I have yet to see a contractor called in to prescribe a protection zone for a builiding where tree work will be done?

 

[Slvrmple72]

The tree though source of the building materials of which any house is built will not be respected or cared for as much as the building it is near or near to be built. It seems only when a tree gets really old or massive or is a significant historical landmark it gets proper recognition. When I first entered treework I did removals with little to no respect for the living things I killed. My pruning skills were barbaric and my knowledge of trees infantile. I dealt with a customer base that I wouldn't even touch now and my practices included topping and removing primary limbs which basically dealt the tree a death sentence. People take a lot of things for granted and sad to say it but trees are at the top of that list. I wish I knew then what I know now. It is the trees that have suffered for my stupidity, I only have to drive past them and see my glaring mistakes. We have a local outfit with one tree on their lot, a Silver Maple, that advertises the quality of their work. It is Liontailed and Topped but for their customer base it is what they want...

 

[ropensaddle]

Absolutely right, I think Ill bomb the next contracted house I get near
why rope down the limbs

I think most of the contractors are ignorant when it comes to
the turf and trees! Lots are just too caught up in getting their
work done to care and think the trees will be fine! I see it all
the time here, strip the soil tear up roots and trunks leave
and two years later a yard full of dead trees! The only way
it seems that it can stop is with fines levied to the builder!

 

[Dadatwins]

The question of value is usually never applied to trees and landscape. The house is worth X$$$ and watch out for the statue because that is worth Y$$$, yet trees are considered easily replacable. Most contractors only look at tree replacement as a $69.00 sapling and there is enough profit $$ in the job to fix that. If trees had price tags hanging on them I would bet a different approach would be used.

 

[arbormonkey]

We had a big job out in the suburbs of seattle a few years ago, a housing developement with several hundred units. The developer brought in a consuting arborist to put a value on the mature trees and check up on our work. All the trees had price tags on them and a description of why: "$2500. Water retention and noise abatement." There were also plastic orange constuction fences protecting the root zone. I haven't seen anywhere that extreme scince, but it was nice to work where they had respect for the trees.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

We had a big job out in the suburbs of seattle a few years ago, a housing developement with several hundred units. The developer brought in a consuting arborist to put a value on the mature trees and check up on our work. All the trees had price tags on them and a description of why: "$2500. Water retention and noise abatement." There were also plastic orange constuction fences protecting the root zone. I haven't seen anywhere that extreme since, but it was nice to work where they had respect for the trees.

And I've seen it where the contractor willingly takes out some trees and pays the a triple damage fine because it is the cost of doing business and he figures he will save/make more w/o the tree there.

Most of the answers I get back when I confront a small contractor is "it's just a tree it'll grow back/heal"

In other words, ignorance.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

And I've seen it where the contractor willingly takes out some trees and pays the a triple damage fine because it is the cost of doing business and he figures he will save/make more w/o the tree there.

Most of the answers I get back when I confront a small contractor is "it's just a tree it'll grow back/heal"

In other words, ignorance.

Agreed.

And even if small wounds close-over, the defects are still noticeable.

Reminds me of a supervisor at a college campus back around 1985. One of the crew, to save time, was scooping gravel off a sidewalk with a tractor.

The supervisor told him to quite doing it, because it was leaving "scars" on the sidewalk.

Those scratches would have faded a bit with time, or the walk section could have quickly been replaced, but it was one more example of coordinating work so that softscape and hardscape was protected from battle scars.

As far as my situation goes, I don't even like leaving branch marks on cedar fences when we pass between house and fence.

Sometimes we stretch or fasten tarps along or around a fence or gate, or the corner of a house, so that branches slide by. Other times, we will fasten a sheet of plywood or two, at the corner of a house, which can be done with as little as one small nail driven into an inconspicuous spot in the siding.

Cosmetically, I even advise against bark blowing on rainy days or while moisture is still lurking, so that the "fines" don't stick to siding, windows or screens - including the next door neighbors, who may have recently paid to have windows and screens cleaned.

All in all, this is one reason why I think that a fair number of constractors have a smaller set of work ethics than they may believe. Much of what they focus on does not extend beyond the scope of their blueprint.

 

[buzz sawyer]

In other words, ignorance.

Right on JPS. Two more words came to mind - "greed" and "inconsiderate".

 

[SRT-Tech]

Probably because I am taking down the tree or trees in question and the property has no buildings on it.

When trees are felled, or climbed/limbed/topped and then blocked down, there may be bruising of the tree.



in other words, dont lump all contractors together......EVERY jobsite is different from your work environment. (and BTW, tree climbers/arborists ARE contractors....)


just saying.

 

[PTS]

We had a big job out in the suburbs of seattle a few years ago, a housing developement with several hundred units. The developer brought in a consuting arborist to put a value on the mature trees and check up on our work. All the trees had price tags on them and a description of why: "$2500. Water retention and noise abatement." There were also plastic orange constuction fences protecting the root zone. I haven't seen anywhere that extreme scince, but it was nice to work where they had respect for the trees.

We install the orange fence a lot on large construction projects. I think I have been preaching enough around here about soil compaction and root damage that they are finally listening.

 

[PTS]

For me the frustrating part of all of this is that every little step we do to save property, trees etc, is time consuming and costly. We always do it and I would like to think that it is noticed and that is the reason they may call us over the next guy. The thing that torques me off is that no one else is and when a home owner is price shopping they are looking at the all mighty dollar. I may have figured in an extra half hour of labor to install and remove plywood just to protect them and that may price me out of the job.