Brisbane Diploma Qualified Arborist Tree Reports

Often trees are protected and require a legitimate qualified arborist report to be submitted to council for tree works or removal.

Developers often have to submit an arborist report for the trees on site, the report may be as simple as identifying the trees with information such as DBH (diameter at breast height) and height of the tree. It could also have to include trees to be protected during construction with recommendations of how to achieve that.

You may also want a tree or landscape management plan ... being qualified in both horticulture and arboriculture I can report on all your garden's needs.

With 10 years local experience hands on working with trees and residing here since 1990 from Adelaide I have a great understanding of what stresses, diseases and pathogens are affecting our trees and plants. Not so long ago and still with us today was the Lantana Bug fiasco which affected Fiddle Wood trees. That was researched and well documented with Qld DPI however there's little said or mentioned about the years of observed decline in the Metrosideros species here. Recently I wrote a report on the decline of Metrosideros especially the variegated. These are the sort of advantages you get when local and observe the failings of certain species.

Brisbane Arborist Report Costs and Information

Reports generally have a purpose, there's a reason for it. It could be "will the tree survive construction?" through to something as open as "how safe is this tree?".

Costs of reports depend upon time and tools etc. If we have to get lab analysis of tissue or soil, if we have to drill test, do root inspection, aerial inspection etc. Also it can occur where a report submitted to council is followed up by council requesting more detail or information, so just when you think it's finished you are back in the field doing extra work and documentation.

For the reasons above we charge on an hourly rate basis for tree reports. The costs are in line with many other professions and trades in the $100/hour vicinity plus of course any additional fees for lab tests or specialist tools on top.

A good tree report will provide management options. When I write reports I play the devils advocate to my own report, I interrogate myself to think both sides of the argument, to keep or to remove/prune etc. Now this is a very important factor as some-one who is purely academic in their experience may not know of all the options and practices or even have the experience to know what is preferable for certain species.

Reports are generally in PDF form, can be emailed and easily distributed to relevant authorities/builders etc. Part of the report procedure we have is to take pictures and even video, which are linked to your report. There's nothing more visually conclusive than to see clear and concise graphics including video of a site. I have extensive experience in video editing and output for internet. We even have a helmet mounted high resolution camera with sound for aerial inspections.

In this thread at Tree World you'll actually get to see a video I shot along with pics of a hazardous tree on the side of the road, a copy of the email sent to Logan city Council and how nothing was done and the tree failed 18 months later. By miracle the tree managed to miss most obstacles including people and traffic when it fell.

Ethical Unbiased Factual Advice

It would be most unethical to get a tree report to try to remove a healthy tree simply because it's protected by council and you dont want it. We tell the truth and assess the tree. I have often walked away where some-one has requested a tree report to condemn a perfectly healthy tree with little target value or chance of failure. Some of the reasoning is, they want the tree gone to gain a view!

Be careful when getting some-one, there's no shortage of operators who need to feed their machinery to make a dollar so their reporting is biased toward needless pruning or removal with little or no supporting facts. You'll also find that these types seldom put anything in writing, offer free advice, and have incredible xray vision to arrive at the conclusions they do ... don't get sucked in! I have seen some appalling reports, in one case a woman was told 10 of her gum trees were dangerous around her house on acreage property and needed to be cut down. The "arborist" made that assessment in a few minutes of quickly wandering around the yard, no defects on some of the trees. Upon second opinion we removed 3 trees (one was dead) and pruned a few of the others with a couple having no need for anything.

Certificates and Competencies

Below are my qualifications, these are real qualifications not a generalized "our specialist staff" type of hype you can get on the internet, I go out and do the work, from quote to written reports, you deal with Eric Frei and me only. Furthermore I am the owner of a tree site called Tree World where I post under my member name Ekka. The forum is open to everybody and loaded with lots of documents, pictures and video free for people to use and download. Of particular interest is this section loaded with documents.

copy of Horticulture diploma
copy of Horticulture certificate

copy of Arborist certificate

Additional Courses Undertaken in Arboriculture

2006
Enspec Tree A-Z Assessment on Development Sites and Report Writing Presented by Jeremy Barrell 2 day course held at 111 George Street Brisbane

2005
Treelogic Urban Tree Risk Management Presented by David Evans and Jill Pokorney 1 day course held at Hamilton Tafe Brisbane

2004
IML Australia Visual Tree Assessment Presented by Prof Dr. Klaus Mattheck 2 day course held at Grand Chancillor Hotel Brisbane