TREE REMOVAL & SURGERY

Connor is an NPTC-qualified arborist. That is the standard the industry works to, and it is worth asking any tree contractor for it before they climb anything above your conservatory. So is public liability insurance — we will send you the certificate before work starts, and anyone who hesitates when you ask is telling you something.

Does it actually need to come down?

Often not, and we will say so. A great many trees people want removed are causing a problem that a crown reduction or crown lift solves — too much shade, branches over the roof, a gutter full of leaves. Reducing a tree keeps the thing that took eighty years to grow, costs less, and is far more likely to get council consent if the tree is protected.

Where a tree genuinely has to go — dead, dying, structurally unsound, lifting a wall, or simply in the wrong place — we will tell you that too.

How removal works in a real garden

Almost nothing round here can be felled in one piece. A tree in a back garden in Chesham or Berkhamsted comes down in sections, roped down piece by piece, with a climber in the canopy and a team below. It is slower, and it is why a removal costs what it does.

• Sectional dismantling where there is no drop zone — which is most gardens
• Rigging to lower heavy sections in a controlled way over greenhouses, fences and next door’s conservatory
• Chipping on site and taking the arisings away, or leaving you the logs if you want them
• Stump grinding afterwards, which we would strongly suggest if anything is going on that ground later

Before we touch it: is it protected?

This is the bit that catches people. Much of Chesham, Amersham, Chesham Bois, the Chalfonts, Great Missenden and central Berkhamsted is a conservation area, and there are Tree Preservation Orders on a great many ordinary garden trees.

Cutting a protected tree without consent is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine, and the liability sits with you as the owner, not the contractor. Any firm willing to start without checking is putting you at risk, not themselves.

We check as a matter of course, write and submit the application, and deal with the tree officer. It takes six weeks in a conservation area and about eight for a tree with an order on it, so it is worth ringing early. Full detail on protected trees.

Dangerous and storm-damaged trees

A genuinely dangerous tree can be dealt with without waiting, but the burden of proving it was dangerous falls on you afterwards, once the evidence is in the chipper. We photograph and document the defect before we touch it so the justification exists on paper. It costs nothing and it protects you.

Common defects worth a look rather than a wait: a split or included fork in a major limb, fungal brackets at the base, a lean that has changed, heaving soil on one side of the root plate, or large deadwood over somewhere people sit.

Nesting birds and bats

Birds’ nests are protected while in use, roughly March to August, so we check before working in the canopy and postpone that section if there is an active nest. Bats roost in cavities and behind loose bark and are protected at all times, including their roosts, whether or not a bat is in there when we look. Where a tree has obvious cavities we look before we cut. This occasionally changes the timing of a job, and it is not negotiable.

Neighbours’ trees

You have a common law right to cut branches back to your boundary — but not if the tree is protected, and you have to offer the arisings back to the owner. In practice a conversation with the neighbour first saves a great deal of grief, and we will happily quote for work on both sides so it gets done once and looks right.

How we work

• Free site visit. We walk the garden with you, talk it through, sketch a rough plan on the spot and take measurements
• Detailed written quotation within 48 hours. Itemised, so you can see what each part costs and leave out anything you’d rather not do yet
• We build it on agreed dates, with our own team doing the clearing, groundwork and construction
• Everything goes. We’re licensed waste carriers, so the spoil and arisings leave legally and the paperwork exists

We don’t put prices on the website. The same job on a flat plot with a drive to the back, and on a sloping garden you can only reach through the house, are genuinely different jobs — any figure here would be a guess. The visit is free and gets you a real number.

Related work

Common questions

QUESTIONS WE GET ASKED

Do I need permission to remove a tree in my garden?

If the tree is in a conservation area or has a Tree Preservation Order on it, yes — and a lot of trees round here are. Cutting without consent is a criminal offence with an unlimited fine, and the liability is yours as the owner. We check for free before quoting, then write and submit the application ourselves if it is needed.

Are you insured and qualified?

Yes to both. Connor is NPTC qualified and we carry public liability insurance — we will send you the certificate before work starts. Ask any tree contractor for both. It matters more here than in most trades, because the consequences of getting it wrong land on your house.

Can you get a big tree out of a small back garden?

Yes — that is most of what we do. It comes down in sections with a climber in the tree, roped down piece by piece rather than felled. It takes longer than dropping it in one, which is reflected in the price, but it is how you get a mature tree out from behind a terrace without touching the greenhouse.

Would a reduction do instead of taking it out?

Very often, yes, and we will tell you when we think so. Most reasons people want a tree gone — shade, branches on the roof, leaves in the gutter — are solved by a proper crown reduction or lift. It costs less, you keep the tree, and if it is protected the council is far more likely to say yes.

Do you grind the stump out too?

We do, and it is worth it if anything is going on that ground afterwards — a lawn, a patio, a fence line. A left stump also sends up suckers and can host honey fungus. It is a separate machine so we usually price it as its own line.

What happens to the wood?

Chipped and taken away as standard, or left as logs if you want them — just say. We are licensed waste carriers so the arisings go legally either way.