Threatened because I wouldn't cut a branch off!

[Hddnis]

I think we've all had the neighbor that was mad we were taking down a tree or took off a branch they liked, but I can't remember one ever demanding that I take off a branch.

Job was a simple trim on a silver maple. Get the branches that are touching the roof, even up the canopy, clean the middle out and get a couple of dead branches type of thing, nothing fancy at all. First the neighbor wants us to be careful of the fence since it is very old and she and her husband built it together. No problem at all, we don't hurt fences as a rule anyway.

Fast forward a couple hours, all the trimming is done, all the branches are out of the back yard and chipped, all the gear is packed up, we are blowing off the street and driveway and I've already gotten the big fat check from our customer.

That is when the neighbor comes out and wants to know why we didn't cut the "big branch that is threatening my house" I was polite and we walked back to look. Mind you this tree is healthy, not mature yet, no signs of rot at all, good structure on all the branches which is kind of rare for a silver, and this "big branch" is 9" at the trunk and the tip is barely over her house that is at most forty feet away, it could break off and not even scratch the paint. I talked about these points in a nice manner and reassured her that there was no cause for concern. She seemed fine with this but then hissed "If it comes down and damages my house I'll sue you guys for everything you've ever made doing tree work. It is careless and negligent for you to leave a branch that is a known hazard to life and property."

I'm pretty easy going, but I don't like to be threatened, so I chuckled softly and then said "Why don't you go sit inside and watch that branch and hold your breath waiting for it to fall down." She actually laughed a little bit too, and then went inside.

Gotta' say that I don't remember ever being threatened for not cutting something.



Mr. HE

 

[2treeornot2tree]

Removing that branch would be easy compared to fixxing the stupid in this country.

 

[Hddnis]

Removing that branch would be easy compared to fixxing the stupid in this country.

I hear ya'!!!

I did very briefly consider just taking it down to make her happy. But I'd have had to set up three point rigging to get that one branch down. It would have needed two TIP on separate sides of the tree and then we would have had to set it down touching the fence she was worried about. Not to mention it would have taken a big bite out of that side of the tree and made it look lop sided. The people that owned the tree didn't want extensive trimming and that would have been just that. I only had one ground guy with me because we were knocking out a bunch of small jobs that day. That meant I would have to run the second line from the tree and the ground guy would have had to run two lines.

Once I realized I was even thinking about it I kicked myself real hard in the back of me brain and then said "No." very nicely. It would have meant a solid hour more work for the two of us in an already cramped yard full of stuff we had to be careful of, which would have meant several more chances to break something that we would have to pay for. The risk to reward odds were just not there. Then she got threatening and I was really glad I said no. lol



Mr. HE

 

[KenJax Tree]

As long as the people giving you the $$$ are happy to hell with the neighbors.

 

[Jed1124]

Stuff like this cracks me up. When was the last time somebody went into their mechanics shop and said "no,no, do it like this!" Yet people will come out of the house and tell a trained arborist how to cut their tree having no idea how it should actually be done. After the last couple of storms we have had in the area a lot of people have wanted every branch or tree close to their house cut. Many of them have no defects at all. I have tried to explain if it did not come down in Irene or Sandy, and the wood is not decayed in any way and it is a healthy tree it is going to be alright. NO No it has to come down! We are just a bunch of dummies with chainsaws i guess. lol

 

[capetrees]

Similar happened to me. Told the neighbor it's the owners resposibility to get the hazards away from the any neighbors. I did what I was told to do, mentioned it to the owner and he laughed. Not my problem if the owner doesn't hire me to remove it.

Since we have an ability to notice dangerous branches based on their condition, are we supposed to cruise the neighborhoods looking for hazards?

 

[7.3 rocket]

Stuff like this cracks me up. When was the last time somebody went into their mechanics shop and said "no,no, do it like this!" Yet people will come out of the house and tell a trained arborist how to cut their tree having no idea how it should actually be done. After the last couple of storms we have had in the area a lot of people have wanted every branch or tree close to their house cut. Many of them have no defects at all. I have tried to explain if it did not come down in Irene or Sandy, and the wood is not decayed in any way and it is a healthy tree it is going to be alright. NO No it has to come down! We are just a bunch of dummies with chainsaws i guess. lol

The company I work for does a lot of work for towns. We took down the healthiest 60"+ sugar maple I've ever seen just because the person whose house it was near complained to the tree warden enough.

 

[r0ck1r0ck2]

i've gotta say...

i love how you handled that situation.

well done sir.

 

[Grouchy old man]

Shoulda just said that you will be happy to give her an estimate to cut that branch over her property as long as it's OK with the owner.

 

[treesmith]

We worked for a developer this week clearing a shared driveway full of overgrown shrubs up to 15' with a few up to 40', all garden stuff. There was an old Camelia and a nice Magnolia that should have stayed but the developer wanted a Manchurian Pear hedge and all other shrubs to be the same(newly planted) size. All units were rentals so they didn't care but the old lady who backed onto the property absolutely cracked it. "That's a 60 year old Camelia, how dare you!" The Magnolia bugged me, it was just coming into flower and with a little pruning later it would be a beautiful tree, to cut it down because it would be bigger than the new plants is just idiotic as far as I'm concerned

 

[Hddnis]

We worked for a developer this week clearing a shared driveway full of overgrown shrubs up to 15' with a few up to 40', all garden stuff. There was an old Camelia and a nice Magnolia that should have stayed but the developer wanted a Manchurian Pear hedge and all other shrubs to be the same(newly planted) size. All units were rentals so they didn't care but the old lady who backed onto the property absolutely cracked it. "That's a 60 year old Camelia, how dare you!" The Magnolia bugged me, it was just coming into flower and with a little pruning later it would be a beautiful tree, to cut it down because it would be bigger than the new plants is just idiotic as far as I'm concerned

Wow! I know how you feel. In the end I do what we're being paid to do, as long as it isn't a sin or something. But taking nice old trees for silly reasons is always kind of hard to do. Well, unless they are a big tall doug fir and then I say lay 'em down.:hmm3grin2orange:




Mr. HE

 

[jefflovstrom]

I think we've all had the neighbor that was mad we were taking down a tree or took off a branch they liked, but I can't remember one ever demanding that I take off a branch.

Job was a simple trim on a silver maple. Get the branches that are touching the roof, even up the canopy, clean the middle out and get a couple of dead branches type of thing, nothing fancy at all. First the neighbor wants us to be careful of the fence since it is very old and she and her husband built it together. No problem at all, we don't hurt fences as a rule anyway.

Fast forward a couple hours, all the trimming is done, all the branches are out of the back yard and chipped, all the gear is packed up, we are blowing off the street and driveway and I've already gotten the big fat check from our customer.

That is when the neighbor comes out and wants to know why we didn't cut the "big branch that is threatening my house" I was polite and we walked back to look. Mind you this tree is healthy, not mature yet, no signs of rot at all, good structure on all the branches which is kind of rare for a silver, and this "big branch" is 9" at the trunk and the tip is barely over her house that is at most forty feet away, it could break off and not even scratch the paint. I talked about these points in a nice manner and reassured her that there was no cause for concern. She seemed fine with this but then hissed "If it comes down and damages my house I'll sue you guys for everything you've ever made doing tree work. It is careless and negligent for you to leave a branch that is a known hazard to life and property."

I'm pretty easy going, but I don't like to be threatened, so I chuckled softly and then said "Why don't you go sit inside and watch that branch and hold your breath waiting for it to fall down." She actually laughed a little bit too, and then went inside.

Gotta' say that I don't remember ever being threatened for not cutting something.



Mr. HE

A lot of people believe they know more about their tree than a cert arb.
Jeff

 

[mckeetree]

A lot of people believe they know more about their tree than a cert arb.
Jeff

Yes, that's true. Sad thing about it there is actually quite a few that do.

 

[KenJax Tree]

I had a HO last week acting like be knew more than i did telling me what to cut and how and where to thin the canopy,so i handed him my saddle and told him to go up and show me because i can't see what he's pointing at. I got a blank stare followed by silence and he walked back in the house.

 

[TreeAce]

Shoulda just said that you will be happy to give her an estimate to cut that branch over her property as long as it's OK with the owner.

That one generally gets rid of them the quickest.

 

[flushcut]

I think we've all had the neighbor that was mad we were taking down a tree or took off a branch they liked, but I can't remember one ever demanding that I take off a branch.

Job was a simple trim on a silver maple. Get the branches that are touching the roof, even up the canopy, clean the middle out and get a couple of dead branches type of thing, nothing fancy at all. First the neighbor wants us to be careful of the fence since it is very old and she and her husband built it together. No problem at all, we don't hurt fences as a rule anyway.

Fast forward a couple hours, all the trimming is done, all the branches are out of the back yard and chipped, all the gear is packed up, we are blowing off the street and driveway and I've already gotten the big fat check from our customer.

That is when the neighbor comes out and wants to know why we didn't cut the "big branch that is threatening my house" I was polite and we walked back to look. Mind you this tree is healthy, not mature yet, no signs of rot at all, good structure on all the branches which is kind of rare for a silver, and this "big branch" is 9" at the trunk and the tip is barely over her house that is at most forty feet away, it could break off and not even scratch the paint. I talked about these points in a nice manner and reassured her that there was no cause for concern. She seemed fine with this but then hissed "If it comes down and damages my house I'll sue you guys for everything you've ever made doing tree work. It is careless and negligent for you to leave a branch that is a known hazard to life and property."

I'm pretty easy going, but I don't like to be threatened, so I chuckled softly and then said "Why don't you go sit inside and watch that branch and hold your breath waiting for it to fall down." She actually laughed a little bit too, and then went inside.

Gotta' say that I don't remember ever being threatened for not cutting something.



Mr. HE

You should have said pay me an extra $400 and done. LOL

 

[imagineero]

Trees are such a dividing issue here in sydney. On the one hand you've got the issue of being good stewards, retaining trees for future generations, the environment, the positive psychological effect that trees have and their contribution to streetscape. On the flipside, population growth is causing houses to turn into duplexes, duplexes to turn into small blocks of units, and small blocks of units to turn into bigger ones. Even houses often have a smaller self contained flat built into the back yard nowadays because mortgages are so high people can't afford to pay their house off. Which leaves no yard space!

Seems every time I turn up to a tree there are 6 people telling me that I shouldn't touch it and it's the most important tree in the world, 10 telling me that it must come down, and the one next to it too, and a few more just there to watch. They've all got iphones and take photos. Everyone is angry when it's just a trim. I'm sure glad I'm not a tree officer working for the city, those guys take it from all sides.... they can never make a decision that pleases everyone.

You gotta develop a strategy for dealing with all the nut jobs. I won't tolerate people telling me how to do my job. The very first time they open their mouth I just ask them if they want to do it. Nobody has ever said yes, so when they say no, I tell them that I'm going to do it how I'm going to do it and they can go inside or watch from far away.

 

[Hddnis]

Shoulda just said that you will be happy to give her an estimate to cut that branch over her property as long as it's OK with the owner.

I did make that offer, but she didn't think it was her responsibility to pay for work on someone else's tree. She thought that because we were already there with all the equipment and everything it would be nothing to just take it off, like we should have done anyway. Her overall demeanor was ok I guess, she just wanted her way and would say anything no matter how absurd to try to manipulate me into taking off the branch.

Overall I wasted close to ten minutes talking to her, I had no desire to upset her at all. She was really nice in the beginning, that is why I was thinking I might just take it off for her, although I never said anything about it to her. But then my better sense started going over the reality of it and so I suggested that for a price I could bring a larger crew that would be needed to protect the fence and get the branch down safely. She clearly didn't like the idea of paying money.

Working quarters were pretty tight on this one, a covered deck, a pond, the forty year old fence, the house, two espaliered apple trees, yard ornaments which included a life size carved stone pony statue, all of it added up to a job that can't be done cheap and needs to be done right.

Oh well, maybe she'll think about me every time she looks at that branch.:hmm3grin2orange:



Mr. HE

 

[capetrees]

And it happened again today!

Guy had three trees leaned over from last years snow, good sized pines for around here and due to financial issues, could only get one down for now. Took the biggest one that would have damaged his house if it came down. As we're finishing, the neighbor in the condo yells across the fence that her insurance guy said the trees leaning over her fence are rotten and need to come down. They're not rotten at all. My groundie yells back "Ok, we'll be there soon as we finish here."

Drove away 5 minutes later.

 

[Hddnis]

And it happened again today!

Guy had three trees leaned over from last years snow, good sized pines for around here and due to financial issues, could only get one down for now. Took the biggest one that would have damaged his house if it came down. As we're finishing, the neighbor in the condo yells across the fence that her insurance guy said the trees leaning over her fence are rotten and need to come down. They're not rotten at all. My groundie yells back "Ok, we'll be there soon as we finish here."

Drove away 5 minutes later.

I guess as long as the guy plans to take down the other trees when he can afford it you truly are not done there.:hmm3grin2orange:




Mr. HE