TAKOMA TREE EXPERTS

We hired Takoma Tree Svc to cut up and remove a large tree that had fallen during a windstorm. Bill Marvil kept in touch with us while coordinating the day and time, parking arrangements, etc. His crew worked quickly and knew exactly what they were doing, very professional. I learned about them from the Consumer Checkbook website, where they got very good ratings. I would not hesitate to hire them again.

Service was excellent from point of contact to estimate to providing contract to setting service appointment and actual removal of tree. Their business office and experts were very responsive throughout the entire process. This tree had been fine for many years but, suddenly, this year the bark started falling off the upper branches and then off the lower branches; two thirds of the upper branches were dead. DC government determined that the tree was hazardous and needed to be removed. The tree was located in the front yard of my home; challenges included tree branches hanging over an electric line on one side and cable television line on the other as well as the trunk located next to the concrete walk to my door. Another challenge was that in recent storms three large (at least 10 feet long) branches fell off the tree. I contacted four tree service firms. All four responded. Notably, Takoma Tree Experts sent estimator within about a week, sent contract with a reasonable price within another week, responded quickly and informatively to questions I had such as stump grinding and tree location next to concrete walk. I mentioned my concern about the branches that had fallen and they assured me "We would certainly do this by mid next week, before Thanksgiving, might even be possible this Friday, but we will rush it, as long as the weather cooperates." That's all I needed, I signed the contract and their crew showed up the following week. The crew's work was excellent: they showed up on time, got to work, and finished in about 5 to 6 hours, much of which was spent navigating the close quarters challenges in my front yard. They exercised skill and care in cutting down the branches hanging over the electric line as well as the concrete walk so that no damage was done in the relatively close quarters of my front yard. You have to see this to appreciate the skill and care needed to bring these branches down while directing their fall away from the line and walk. This is far more involved than sawing and dropping where there is open area not near power lines, walkways, houses. And yes, they cleaned up and ground up the branches and debris as they went along and left my yard as well as my neighbors yard clear of debris. Still, you can't imagine my relief that this was concluded with any incidents or delays. Finally, it may not be important to some folks, but I also appreciated their variety and convenience of payment methods, including online methods.

I was impressed with the crew's skill at removing a large tree in a difficult location--hillside, power lines, adjacent vegetation--without damage or disruption. I have used this company since the 1990s, and can recommend them highly.

I've been an Angie's List member for well over 10 years, and have hired over $130K of work on my home over the years from AL. I hired Takoma Tree Experts based on Angie's List Reviews. My experience was mixed. The short review is that I am satisfied with the actual work done, but the company did a very poor job communicating with me. I understand now that I reached out at a very busy time (2nd week of August), but after speaking with the company and requesting a quote, I heard nothing for over a week. Eventually, I was told that during my original call, I should have been informed that the estimate would take a while; however, no timeline had been given. Then, after accepting their bid and signing a contract, I was told that work would be done within 3-4 weeks. I didn't hear anything for more than 5 weeks, so I reached out again to check what their schedule was looking like. They promptly responded that they should be scheduling "relatively soon". Then, I received an email a week later requesting to schedule the work the following day. So, I was told it would take 3-4 weeks when I scheduled the work, and it ended up taking over 6 weeks. All work or scheduling updates only came when I reached out to the company - there were no proactive updates to inform of delays. I had just finished over $40K in landscaping, and was waiting on the tree work to finish the planting. Ultimately, I had to do the planting before the tree work to ensure the plants would root properly before winter. Also, I had a new sod lawn that I had cared for meticulously. My plan was to overseed the day following the tree work to keep foot traffic down on the new seed. The delayed timeline meant that I had to seed about 10 days before the work, and the workers ended up walking all over my newly sprouted grass seed. While this isn't the end of the world, if the timeline been properly communicated, I could have tried to plan better by planting earlier. Ultimately, the work they did seems to have been good. They removed a lot of dead branches, and the trees look better. My only complaint on the work was that I witnessed one of the workers literally walking back and forth on a patch of over 30 ground cover bushes that I had planted 2 weeks earlier - for no reason other than not to walk around them. I expected some branches to land on my newly planted bushes, but I didn't expect someone to just have no regard for them and walk back and forth on them like they were nothing. I spoke to the workers at this point. They apologized, and I did not see this again. A final note on the work is that Bill, who did the estimate, has the words "MD Licensed Tree Expert", "ISA Certified Arborist", and EHAP Certified" in his signature line of emails. These terms lead a consumer to believe they are getting someone with significant qualification overseeing a job. When the guys came to work on my trees, I asked the foreman if he was Bill. He said no, Bill is not here. It never actually occurred to me that he wouldn't be there during the work since it's a dynamic job. Then, this other gentleman left my job after about an hour or so, leaving 6-7 laborers to choose what is being cut. To my knowledge, Bill never showed up to check on the work that was done, but he did inform one of the guys to pick up a check from me at the end of the day. I purposely waited a few weeks to see if anyone from Takoma Tree Experts would reach out to me before writing a review. I have heard nothing from them. So, Bill, who is the tree expert (and I assume company owner) came out and estimated the cost of the work done. Then, he sent a team out to do the work using their own skills and ability to the scope of the work. They requested my $4100 for the day, and were gone. And ultimately, the person who is the expert on trees never checked on the work for which they collected the money. My personal assessment is that they were very busy, and probably overwhelmed with work when I called for my job. I am generally pretty forgiving and empathetic to understanding situations. Takoma Tree Experts did everything wrong in making me feel like anything other than $4100 in their pockets as a consumer. Their communication was extremely poor, and, had I understood the timeline better from the beginning, I would not have hired them. In general, my message to other consumers is make sure to get a clear timeline of the work from this company. If your timeline is flexible, I'm guessing you'll be happy. If you have other work floating on either side of their visit, you may want to go with a company that is better at managing their own work timeline. If having the tree expert onsite is important to you, clarify whether or not he will be there during the job. My message to Takoma Tree Experts is that your customers may have other things going on around your work schedule, and simple communication can help them immensely. While I understand that you can not speed up other jobs, you may want to work on your skills at assessing job timelines. Furthermore, when a customer is paying over $4000 for a single day's work, it might make them feel better if you reach out, even in some minimal fashion, to check on the work or even see how they feel the work went.

All work completed by a crew of five in one day, limbs cleaned off roof, all wood taken away, grounds left clean.

I chose Takoma Tree because of their price and follow-up provided by their office assistant. I was first impressed when the team showed up early and with all the equipment they needed. You could tell the team had worked together before and that each man knew his job. TASK: remove 40' remainder of a very large oak tree TIME: Job completed in same day SCOPE OF WORK: Location of the tree was backyard which has a narrow path to reach it. Remaining tree was 3 feet in diameter. Access was by a narrow path along side my house. TEAM: Tree climber plus 4 men. EQUIPMENT: Ropes, chain saws, gasoline and oil for saws, heavy duty plastic trash cans, Bobcat slender hauler, and bucket truck as alternative backup. Start time was close to Noon and they even brought their lunch with them. Taking down the remaining tree was completed the same day. The process was very interesting to watch as the tree climber was quick and precise in his roping off a section, making his cuts, and then directing the path where the segment should fall without damaging my property. Ground crew knew exactly what to do and when so they made the take down in 4 sections. Four sections were then cut into 18' to 24" rounds which were taken by the Bobcat along the narrow path to the waiting truck out front. Even when the truck had to be unloaded, work did nor stop because the men moved as many of the rounds manually to the front until the truck returned. The tree site was raked and sawdust blown away and large debris removed before the crew left. Because they bought the bucket truck, I was able to "add on" a trim job needed to remove dead branches from a tree in my front yard. I thanked the crew for a very well done job and provided them cold water. An excellent job!

Thank you again for your superlative, professional, expedient, and neighborly service, as well as that of your expert crew. In the over fifteen years that our cooperative has contracted with you, you have always been straightforward and helpful. Your responsiveness at this time is so heartening especially at this moment of such worldwide suffering. Sincerely, Judy Twenty-four unit cooperative in DC

Takoma responded promptly and professionally. They did a remarkable job and left the yard as tidy as it could be. Now we need to find folks to do the structural repair!

A 100 year old oak tree fell on our house. It was a horrendous experience, and the process of removing the tree from the room was overwhelming. Takoma Tree was incredibly helpful throughout the entire process. They were thorough, knowledgeable, professional; and the skill level was excellent. I can't recommend them enough!

the crew did a good job. They were very careful to do as little damage as possible .

Excellent company. Excellent service. Very professional and courteous. I will recommend TTE to family and friends. Happy customer!

Takoma Tree Experts came out quickly to remove the limb. They did a clean cut on the tree and removed all the debris.

Excellent job. Takoma's crew fit in my job ahead of the scheduled appointment day. They quickly and professionally took down the tree, working carefully to avoid damage to the townhouse and nearby plants - a real feat in such a small yard. They staged equipment off of the pedestrian sidewalk and halted work if anyone came by so there was no blockage. The estimator had arranged for Miss Utility to mark the yard and learned that gas lines ran under the tree, so we were not able to grind the stump.

This was my second time using them. They basically did the trimming of another tree in the previous visit. The two trees in the yard even though they are on county property, were dropping a lot of limbs. I took care of it myself because the county was not giving me any response. I would say what they gave me, I thought was a fair price.

Takoma Tree Experts were very professional and responsive.

I am pleased with the trimming that was done. I have peace of mind that my property will not be damaged by falling limbs and my front lawn gets a lot more sunlight now.

My experience with them was great. They're professional and on time. They took care of cleaning up after themselves. It went pretty well. They got the job done. They're great.

I was actually very pleased. We had other estimates and this company was much more professional and their cost wasn’t any more.

I am so very pleased with the work of Takoma Tree Service. This is the second occasion that Takoma Tree Service has performed similar work at my residence. Mr. Marvil, who inspected the trees and provided an estimate, was very detailed in his explanation of what need to be dome. The work crew arrived at the scheduled time, and devoted full attention to the job until the work was complete. The crew also removed all debris, and left the yard in perfect condition. I expect to call Mr. Marvil and Takoma Tree Experts when I am again in need of such services.

During a freak wind storm in July, a tree in my yard spit and fell on my neighbors property. I got in touch with a couple of tree services, but only Takoma Tree could respond quickly to remove the tree. They were very prompt and professional. The fallen tree was removed quickly and the crew cleaned up the yard very well. On the advice of Takoma Tree, I also had them remove ivy from the trunk of my oak tree and prune the tree to open it up. It looks much more beautiful and healthy now. I was very pleased with the work they did and will use them in the future.

The work was extensive and took 4 men 6 hours. Even with a bucket lift, the work required rappelling and roped movement within the trees without breaking healthy branches. The yard was raked and all debris was removed. The crew worked as a team and asked questions as they went along to be sure that they were meeting expectations.

Takoma Tree Experts did an EXCELLENT job. I was very pleased with their service. Once I contacted them to accept the contract, they scheduled the work within a week. They brought a large crew, who managed to work around telephone/light poles, multiple wires and all of my plantings with apparently little difficulty. The siting of the tree made it a bit awkward (other tree services were concerned they would not be able to get a bucket truck in which was obviously not a problem for Takoma Tree). I was very impressed also in how attentive they were to the extensive plantings I have around the tree - despite having to put a ladder down in them, I saw no damage - and one of the crew members went through picking up the trimmings by hand. The tree was also shaped nicely. We will definitely use them again if the need arises.

Crew arrived as scheduled. They were professional and courteous. The dead tree was removed and the area cleaned up from all of the debris. The company had all of the necessary equipment to do an expert job. This is a top notch company.

Takoma Tree arrived on time,had the needed staff and equipment to complete the job in a timely and professional manner including cleanup. I would definitely hire them again

We were on vacation when I got a call from a neighbor telling me that a large tree in my backyard fell during a storm. I called Takoma Tree Service and several other providers to request estimates. Takoma Tree Service visited my property and provided an estimate within 24 hours. I got prices from 4 other providers and they were the cheapest. We scheduled for them to come the following week and took out the fallen tree along with another that I needed removed. Their employees were polite and efficient. While I hope to not have any more trees fall in my yard, I will 100% recommend Takoma Tree Service anytime I need anything done with trees.