Tree inspection and assessment in Bolton, MA

Why it is worth an hour

Massachusetts weather is hard on trees. Strong winds, heavy wet snow and ice load branches past what they can carry, and the limb or the tree that fails is rarely a surprise to someone who looked at it beforehand. An inspection finds the weak ones while they are still standing, when dealing with them is a scheduled job at a normal price instead of a midnight phone call.

It is also the way to avoid paying for work you do not need. Plenty of trees that worry their owners are perfectly sound.

“Adam took the time to explain which trees needed immediate attention, which could wait, and why. It never felt like he was trying to sell us unnecessary work, just giving us expert advice we could trust.”

What we look at

• The base. Mushrooms or conks at the root flare, soft or hollow wood, soil lifting or cracking on one side, roots cut by a driveway or a trench.
• The trunk. Long vertical cracks, cavities, old wounds that never closed, bark falling away from dead wood underneath.
• The unions. Two trunks joined in a tight V with bark pinched between them is the most common place a big tree splits.
• The crown. Dead tops, dead limbs, hangers from the last storm, thin foliage on one side, heavy limbs stretched out over the roof.
• The lean. An old lean the tree has grown around is one thing. A new one is another.
• The target. A flawed tree over the woods is a different decision from the same tree over a bedroom.

Signs of emerald ash borer in ash, and of decline in older sugar maples and oaks, get noted too, since both are common in this part of the state.

What you get

A plain conversation in your yard, tree by tree, and a price for any work that is worth doing, sorted by how soon it matters. If a limb can be removed and the tree kept, that is what you will hear. Customers keep saying the same thing in their reviews: no pushing, no padding the list.

“What stood out the most was their honesty and expertise. They never pushed unnecessary services.”

Good times to have trees looked at

• Before you buy a house with big trees near it, or right after you move in.
• Before hurricane season and before winter.
• After any storm that brought limbs down in your yard.
• Before construction, a new driveway, or trenching near trees you want to keep.
• Any time a tree looks different from how it looked last year.

Questions about inspections