Apple Valley Tree

Description of Work: Tree removal in our back yard

Description of Work: Steve was very helpful explaining options and reasons for tree removal and pruning. We wanted some of the yard cleared, and he was great from start to finish. Always there on the job himself, he and his crew took down the trees, chipped them, had the wood removed, and grinded the stumps promptly and well. No complaints at all.

Description of Work: Trimmed trees in front yard per my request. Identified other trees with potential to damage house.

Description of Work: We have a huge pine tree next to our house, which my mother was worried would be blown into it by a heavy wind. We also had an obviously very dead pine tree alongside our driveway (one in a row of 6) that needed removing, and hoped to have the next pine in the row also removed because both were covering our cars in tree sap. In addition, we also had some dead wood in a maple tree on the other side of our front yard that kept raining branches down onto my neighbor's truck during strong winds or hard rain and snow storms. And, finally, we had a pretty tall Hemlock Tree that was such a perfect "V" shape, I felt it was likely to split in half during a storm going right into the road, and suspected there was likely to be some rot in the stump because the open crotch held water. Already we had gotten an estimate of $550 to take down the diseased and dead pine tree by the driveway, but the guy did not seem all that professional, nor did he have the equipment to handle the huge tree by the house. Other companies gave us estimates for that huge tree alone between $700 and $900, without including the hemlock or work on the maple. One day a tree truck was working along our street, doing cutting for the town. So I asked the guy for an estimate of the work we wanted done. Steve Donahue is the owner and operator of Apple Valley Tree, and was the Smithfield Tree Warden for almost twenty years (as he was when this job took place).He came over on his lunch break, and unlike every other tree service we got bids from, asked me Why I wanted these things cut, and What I Expected to see changed in our yard because of it. Steve listened to my concerns, then went through each seperate job and also each area of our property, explaining how my yard worked, and why something I thought I would need to do later would actually harm the foliage (for instance, don't cut off the tops of our hemlock hedge because the trees needed enough greenery to live -- if I trimmed them the way I told him I expected to, I'd likely kill the whole hedge off) and why my grass was dead on the side of the house that also had ugly, green stains on the siding, and how the trees affected our roof, etc... Steve explained that the really huge pine tree next to the house was causing the green mold to form on our siding because the air wasn't circulating enough in that area, and the constant shade meant that side of the house wasn't drying quickly enough after rain storms. He also told me that in our area of the country the north side of any house usually takes the brunt of weather due to wind patterns, pointing out our shed had peeling paint -- but only on one side. He said we didn't need to cut down the pine next to the house. If we just had it trimmed, the wind wouldn't have so much surface area to push against, significantly decreasing the chance it would topple over -- noting we had just gone through a lot of heavy winds in the previous year or two, and if they didn't knock it down only a hurricane or something rare like that would do it. Trimmed, the air would circulate between the tree and house just fine -- cutting down on the green mold if not stopping it completely, allowing the grass to grow because it would shed so many less pine needles, and make the tree look a lot better, pointing out all the snapped branches from snow damage. "You don't need to cut this tree down, it's fine." If those were my concerns, he said, they would all be addressed with a careful haircut. Then we moved to the driveway. He showed me where the disease that had totally killed the outside pine tree was also starting in on the second tree in the row. Steve offered us a day rate ($1,300 back then in 2009) that included significantly trimming the huge pine by the house, cutting down the first two pines in the row by the driveway (by themselves taller than our house), along with the hemlock tree. No one else had even asked me why I wanted any of this done, much less giving me so much information that I could make better decisions. Steve promised all the things listed above would be done in one day, with no "add-ons", even if he had to stay late to finish. If he got through early, he would cut out the dead limbs from our maple, promising he wouldn't let it look "gouged out", but keep it attractive. Also, if he had extra time, he offered to trim some pine limbs from the other trees in the row that were touching the shed roof, making sure the bugs couldn't walk onto our shed. A few weeks later Steve and his crew came -- after he had sent me over proof of his Liability Insurance and also proof that he paid Workman's Comp insurance for his workers ( NEVER have anyone do work on your property without these two things. They deflect the chances of you being sued if/when someone gets hurt or damages property while under hire by you). Steve and his crew started at 8:00 am and did everything he promised -- and more. After trimming the huge pine tree by our house, making it look really nice, and cutting down the other three trees (and working for fifteen minutes to shape how the new 'first' tree in the pine row looked so it would be appealing to the eye, something I hadn't even thought to discuss with him), he completely trimmed the first 8 feet of the pine row for me, making that part of our yard look like a different place, and even though I could tell he was bone-tired (Steve does his own cutting on site. He's the one that talks to you about the job, then arriveds to executes the work personally -- no "second" crews showing up who you've never met before), he then spent 30 minutes after he was scheduled to leave to cut out a lot of dead wood from our maple, much more than we both could see from just looking at it from the ground. The crew carefully cleaned everything up, constantly sweeping and re-sweeping the saw dust off our driveway, walk, and front road and hunting down every scrape of branch in the yard for the chipper. This cleaning activity was done repeatedly throughout the day, not just at the end. When they were done, the whole front and side of our property looked amazing -- several of our neighbors commented how great it came out. And, sure enough, Steve stopped work briefly to show me the bottom chunk of the hemlock tree -- there was rot at the very center, just as I had worried. Now, fast forward 18 months. Two of my neighbors were having tree work done in their respective yards that involved cutting branches from trees in my yard. Twice last month (July 2011) I called Steve and had him come by to consult separately with each neighbor (one on the side of me, whose truck was still catching dead branches from my maple, and the neighbor abutting the back of my yard) and me about what they planned to cut and how it would affect my trees. Steve did the same things he had done with me -- spending about a half hour with each explaining how their yards worked, and what to expect from the tree companies they would hire to do the work. Importantly, Steve also explained to each neighbor and to me what the legalities were. My neighbors had the right to cut anything two feet over the property line with no imput from me, but if the tree service caused my tree to die, the homeowner who hired them -- not the tree service -- was legally responsible to extract the dead tree, and pay for a new tree to be planted in replacement. None of us had known this, except my neighbor on the side had been told by the guy she was hiring that she didn't need to care about what I thought since she could cut anything two feet out -- but never explained that she would be on the hook if the work caused the tree to die, and obviously didn't care how well we would get along -- long after he was gone. Now we knew each other's responsiblities and rights, making relations between me and each neighbor much, much smoother. In both cases Steve wasn't able to do the work himself. My back neighbor's yard was fenced in, so he needed a "climber", which Steve doesn't do anymore, and my side neighbor needed a company that owned a special truck with a bucket that could extend straight over her garage and all the way into the edge of her backyard for the same reason. He assured me that both sides of my yard would be fine after the work, since one tree, the maple he had cut all the dead limbs from a year and a half earlier was dying, "Look at all the dead wood that's happened since just eighteen months ago." After both visits -- coming at the end of two very hot and full work days -- he wouldn't take any money from me, even after I insisted. (I would never presume to call somebody over to my house to give me their professional opinion about work they won't be doing without being willing to pay). Steve calmed my anxiety (I was really worried about the cutting to my trees, especially since the guy hired to cut limbs from the maple wouldn't even call back to discuss it with me), and was excellent in addressing my concerns while explaining my neighbor's legitimate needs, needs I wouldn't have appreciated if not for Steve's information, again, making things smooth between my neighbors and me -- smothing very important to all of us. So I can't recommend Apple Valley Tree strong enough -- I never see Steve outside of his professional life, but he has built up a huge reservoir of trust and respect from me. I will definitely use him in the future.