Standard Tree Service Solutions for Facility & Operations Managers in Exeter

A tree inventory is the foundation. Each significant tree, or group where individual recording is not sensible, is plotted on a plan with its species, size, condition, the use of the area beneath it and any recommended work with a priority. Guidance from the National Tree Safety Group favours a proportionate, zoned approach: trees beside busy roads, car parks, entrances and play areas are inspected more closely and more often than trees in little-used areas. That keeps inspection costs in line with the actual risk.

Tree work on an occupied estate has to fit around the people who use it. Agree working windows that avoid school runs, visiting hours or delivery peaks, how car parks and paths will be closed, and whether site inductions, permits to work or escorts are needed. Ask for risk assessments and method statements covering exclusion zones, traffic management, mobile elevating work platforms or cranes, and the lifting of heavy sections, which falls under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

Overhead lines and underground services need particular attention. Tree work near overhead electricity lines must be planned with the network operator, and stump grinding or root work can strike buried cables and pipes, so the tree surgeon should see service drawings and use suitable detection before digging. Stump grinding beside paths may also leave surfaces to reinstate. Where trees stand close to buildings, pass concerns about subsidence on clay soils to the estate's surveyor rather than removing trees as a precaution, which can itself cause ground heave.

Statutory protections shape the programme. The local planning authority can confirm which trees are covered by Tree Preservation Orders or conservation areas, and applications or six-week notices need to be built into planned work. The bird nesting season and possible bat roosts usually make September to February the main window for significant pruning and felling, subject to checks. On larger landholdings, Forestry Commission felling licence rules may apply to thinning or removal.

Records are what turn tree work into tree management, and they are only useful if someone owns them. Keep the inventory up to date after each round of work, log reported concerns and how they were closed, and retain storm inspection notes. Photographs before and after work show that recommendations were completed as specified. If a tree fails and causes damage or injury, the question will be whether the organisation had a reasonable system of inspection and acted on what it found.

Estate-wide proposals are easiest to compare on the inspection method and frequency for each zone, the inventory format and whether it can be imported into your asset system, how reactive call-outs are priced alongside planned work, waste carrier registration, and evidence of the training and insurance appropriate to the equipment proposed.