Tree surveys and inspections?

[Tom D. Wilson]

right from what i gather tree surveys are less in detail than inspections - but what sort of things do you include in each?? is a survey just a basic 'this tree is dangerous' or do you include more??
what reasons are there for carrying out surveys and inspections??
is there any sites or books that show you how to go about writting up a tree report??
all help will be much appreciated!

 

[PRUNER 1]

mattheny and clarke is quite good but american. still applies tho. the back of diagnosis of ill health in trees has a section in the back aswell i think about vta's.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

For many the survey is more like an account of inventory that includes verification of species and location and maybe notation of future work and/or inspections needed. Most of the time the contract specs of surveys do not allow time for any ariel work, so one annotates that the A. rubrum at location xyz has a defect that needs further inspection. The details of those annotations are usually spelled out in the contract, because many companies do not want to give the work away.

Inspection can have a range of levels depending on the clients needs and past information. In many cases there is cyclical driveby inspection, plumb-bob check for throw....

how ever it is done you need to word the contract so that if they choose an inspection of lesser cost you have some protection from liability. One allways makes it known that the the client is the ulitimate desicionmaker and the inspector is just providing options.

 

[Acer]

There's a lot about tree inspection and reporting in "Principles of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management", Lonsdale, D (1999), ISBN 0 11 753355 6, available from The Stationary Office. He covers various procedures for inspection, assessment, with a few example forms. The section on decay fungi is the best I've seen.

Are you planning to do tree reports yourself? If so, have you sorted out professional indemnity insurance? I'd be interested to know how much they're stinging us for these days...

 

[pmuscato]

For report writing ASCA's Guide to Report Writing for consulting Arborists is an excellent book. Shows you several formats to pick from or helps you develop your own writing format/style.

 

[treeseer]

For report writing ASCA's Guide to Report Writing for consulting Arborists is an excellent book. Shows you several formats to pick from or helps you develop your own writing format/style.

The updated version is known as A Consultant's Guide to Writing Effective Reports. I'll sell you the earlier version cheap, but you'd pay shipping, right?

ISA's Plant Health Care Management System has a good bit on inspections.

What JPS said was right.

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

cheers guys - i'm getting the Principles of tree hazard assesment and management from the collage library - its part of the course i'm studying to be able to do surveys and inspections and we'v just started it. my boss use to do them but got tired of the paper work - we have been warned that when writing a tree report we need to be careful how we word things incase it ends up in court. - dont myself if i'll do it proffesionaly yet coz every new thing i learn usually makes me aware of different opertunities.

 

[pmuscato]

Yea, use those duck words when writing. May, could, possible, no guarantee, etc.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Yea, use those duck words when writing. May, could, possible, no guarantee, etc.

i dont think it's considerd proffesional to use such wording so i was told when i attended an advanced tree report writing course

 

[Ross Turner]

Use the words In My Opinion Blah blah blah etc etc is a goodone to use.

 

[treeseer]

Just spent 4 hrs walking thru greenways etc checking trees. The report will take 2-3 hrs; I'll post a version here when I'm done.

Thsi is the most fun work in the world for me, and good money, and yields biddable followup mtc work for the stuff the treecudder contractor can't do.

As for words, yes you must be cautious when selling opinions; bigtime liability concerns if you mess up.

 

[Tom D. Wilson]

i look forward to seeing your report treeseer.
i'v been thinking about it a bit a i'm begging to warm to the idea of doing arial inspections and reports especially on BIG trees!!

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

You'll find that no 2 tree reports are the same ,i customise mine to suit each job,your title for this thread should have TREE SURVEY'S and REPORT'S

1, A survey would read tree tag number 2 you might name the tree species and then the required work ie 20% reduction

2,A report is quite detailed ,you should give ,tree height ,crown spread [size] then DBH ,species and family ,growing conditions etc etc..a report should always end with a clear conclusion of what if any work needs doing it..thats enough trade secrets for now lol..but never write a report with wording like should ,could if etc this type of wording will never hold up in court and could land you in trouble if a report whent pear shaped..i suggest you go on a 2 day tree writing course

 

[pmuscato]

Sorry for the bad advice Tom. I've only wrote a few reports regarding tree issues. And never reports that would end up in court. I'm not qualified. Thanks for setting me straight Rolla.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Sorry for the bad advice Tom. I've only wrote a few reports regarding tree issues. And never reports that would end up in court. I'm not qualified. Thanks for setting me straight Rolla.

God forbid you did a report on a tree and it failed and it did some major damage or injured someone ,just see how well your duck words would stand up before a judge !!!..Ive been on many consultancy courses most run by a very distinguished consultant by the name of TIM MOYA he carries out survey's and reports for whole LONDON BOROUGHS..I was told by TIM to make reports black or white, grey areas [duck word's] don't wash with the legal profession

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

sorry if I'm coming across as a smart ass but i'm only takeing advice from a very experienced consultant

 

[pmuscato]

no smart ass taken.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Are you planning to do tree reports yourself? If so, have you sorted out professional indemnity insurance? I'd be interested to know how much they're stinging us for these days...

£1500 for my proffesional indemnity insurance,last year i just broke even

 

[treeseer]

£1500 for my proffesional indemnity insurance,

does this cover errors and omissions?

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

it covers me for F*ck ups .....£500,000 maximum payout