"You butchered it!"

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RopeArmour

RopeArmour

TreeHouser
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Dec 15, 2010
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Location
Cambridge, Ontario Canada
Client came home and mouthed this to me with her hand slicing her throat over the noise and of chipping. I didn't reply and kept calm and left her alone for good hour before talking to her.

Its not my fault
1. wrong tree in the wrong place-right next to the neighbours house, hydro lines and on the fence line
2. trees are a terrible mess with inclusions, split leads and never properly pruned at any time/young and into maturity
3. ho wants to grow veges and perennial gds under two fair size Sugar maples(not my idea once again) can be done with good pruning/reduction/thinning
4.HO has no real grasp of trees and pruning and believes aesthetics out weigh tree health
5 belives shearing a tree is proper opposed to selective pruning
6just wanted the cheapest price and to just get it done amongst other pruning and removals

What is my fault is not explaining in clear terms that the tree will have no symmetry.
In the end she gets it and with a little finger pointing from a few trees in the neighbourhood the real butchering being done is the removal of healthy trees, topping, lionstailing, removing large diameter low limbs and over thinning(debatable)
Anyway lesson learned and the shock of a before and after a pruned tree will always be.
Atleast she didn't cry and admitted she was wrong and apologized.
Could of ended badly but in the end she will hire us back to do it all over again like the last time that she doesn't remember.:lol:
 
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I'm not saying I am perfect. Done more than my share of hackery but in general it has been the lesser of two evils. Removal being the greater.
Cheers
 
Some people just dont understand

I do a ton of pruning but like removals better...just make it gone is what I like
 
Pound for pound, removals make the most money. People just don't want to pay the price for a proper prune... and that SUCKS.
 
I have the other problem, "it doesn't look like you did anything to it." Norway maples are not doing great here and if they are full, I like to keep them that way. Now I must return and prune more so her before and after pictures look different.
 
Old Monkey said:
I have the other problem, "it doesn't look like you did anything to it." Norway maples are not doing great here and if they are full, I like to keep them that way. Now I must return and prune more so her before and after pictures look different.
Click to expand...

I got that the other day, took the client three weeks to pay me...I was going to go back and cut it off under the tree fort...(not really, but I woulda liked to in some ways!)
 
A wise man, my first boss, once told me good tree work is invisible.

We try and do correct reductions and pruning here, or at least I do. The amount of times I have been asked to go back and take another foot or two off all over is unreal. I tell them not today, we have completed the spec that was agreed on and if they want more off I can come another day and they pay again.

Saying that though, that is the ideal scenario. I hav just got back up the tree and belted it before now. Just to keep them happy.

I always try and manage expectations before I start as there is nothing worse in my book to get me cranky! That is askin me to go back up and cut more off.
 
I have no compunction about cutting maples hard back, they love it.
If people keep saying take more off, then the moral of the story might be to do it in the first place, just a thought.
 
Pruning is hard. Peoples expectations are all over the place. You can judge by the surroundings and other clues, but getting down from a tree and waiting for the approval is thrilling.

Last week a lady told me it looked good before i even did anything. That set the easy button for the prune. :)

Ive only ruined a handful of trees to owners specs. Walked plenty, and trained plenty
 
I've just got a job where the guy wants a row of oaks reduced by a half, I said its a bit hard, he insisted cos he wanted bang for his buck, price is good, I'll do it, I don't give a monkey's.
As long as I can't see it from my house.
 
The main problem I see is the communication with the home owner as to exactly what they want done. "You want your tree pruned like I have no affiliation with the arborist trade?", or "you're calling for the farmer cuts?", seems to make it pretty clear about heavy prune jobs. You'd have to know the farmers here that prune their own trees, to understand what I'm talking about.
 
woodworkingboy said:
The main problem I see is the communication with the home owner as to exactly what they want done. "You want your tree pruned like I have no affiliation with the arborist trade?", or "you're calling for the farmer cuts?", seems to make it pretty clear about heavy prune jobs. You'd have to know the farmers here that prune their own trees, to understand what I'm talking about.
Click to expand...
There is no problem, the client is very clear what he wants, I made him aware of the possible consequences, he still wants it done.
 
I'm not into the hack work. Whatever floats your boat or cheque book I guess. Point and cut is not my thing.
 
woodworkingboy said:
Not in your case, Mick, I was referring to in general when people seem unsure of what they want.
Click to expand...


Ok Jay,understood.
yes, confusion about expectations can cause problems. Listening to the client is always a good start.
What is it that really grinds their gears? Light, leaves, danger of failure?
 
Pruning can be sketchy for me. I pruned a row of trees years ago and when I was done the HO called another company to top them a week later. I try and be clear as hell about what pruning is, what trimming is, what this is, and what that is. Sometimes they don't listen and agree to what I propose, and when Im done they are all confused like a screwed them. It hasn't happened in awhile though. Old men are the hardest to deal with. They say "Give it a good cutting" and that can mean a lot of different things.
 
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