Tree Service Companies in Eatontown, NJ

Hiring a Tree Service in New Jersey: What I’d Want to Know Before Anyone Starts Cutting

By Tiffany Slowinski

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Tree work is one of those things I completely ignore until I suddenly cannot.

A branch is hanging over the driveway.

A giant tree looks a little too close to the house.

A storm comes through and now something that was part of the landscaping yesterday is lying across the yard.

At that point, I am not looking to become an expert in trees.

I want to know who to call and whether the person standing in my yard actually knows what they are looking at.

Because there is a pretty big difference between someone who can cut down a tree and someone who can tell me whether the tree should come down in the first place.

That is probably the first thing I would want to understand.

Do I need a tree removed, or do I need someone to evaluate it?

Those are not always the same job.

If I have a dead tree that clearly needs to come down, that is one conversation.

If I have a huge tree leaning toward the house and I am trying to decide whether it is dangerous, whether it can be saved or whether cabling or another treatment makes sense, I want someone qualified to make that judgment.

New Jersey actually distinguishes between those types of work.

A Licensed Tree Care Operator, or LTCO, can perform routine tree work such as pruning, removals and stump grinding.

A Licensed Tree Expert, or LTE, can do that work too, but can also perform more specialized services including tree-risk assessment, diagnosis, consulting, cabling and bracing.

That was new information to me.

It also completely changes how I would choose someone.

If I already know I need a stump ground out, I may not need the same person I would call if a 70-foot tree is suddenly leaning toward my bedroom.

Is this company actually registered in New Jersey?

This would be my next question.

Tree care businesses working for hire in New Jersey are supposed to register with the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts and have at least one full-time Licensed Tree Expert or Licensed Tree Care Operator, depending on the services they provide.

The state also requires registered tree care businesses to maintain liability insurance and workers’ compensation coverage.

That matters.

Tree work involves chainsaws, heavy equipment, enormous pieces of wood and, occasionally, someone hanging 40 feet in the air over your roof.

This is not the project where I am interested in saving $400 by hiring somebody’s cousin with a pickup truck.

I want a real company.

What happens after a storm?

This is probably when homeowners are most vulnerable to making a bad decision.

A tree comes down.

Everyone in town needs help.

Someone knocks on the door and says they can take care of it right now.

I understand the temptation.

I would still check them.

New Jersey’s tree-care licensing law was created in part because of concerns about unqualified and uninsured tree companies, especially after storms.

If someone shows up after a storm, I want the company name, the NJTC registration number and proof that they are actually the business I am hiring.

The tree will still be there five minutes later while I look them up.

Do you carry enough insurance for this job?

I would ask this directly.

The Board checks insurance when a tree-care company registers and again when it renews, but that does not necessarily tell you what the company’s coverage looks like on the exact day someone is standing in your yard.

So I would still ask for a current certificate of insurance.

Especially on a large removal.

Especially near the house.

Especially if there are power lines, neighboring property, a pool or anything else nearby that I really do not want a tree landing on.

I do not need to become an insurance expert either.

I just want confirmation that the company doing potentially dangerous work on my property is properly covered.

How exactly are you planning to take this tree down?

This is where I want the explanation.

Are you climbing it?

Using a bucket truck?

Bringing in a crane?

Will equipment need to cross the lawn?

Are you taking sections over the roof?

How are you protecting the driveway, landscaping and neighboring property?

I do not need to tell the crew how to do its job.

I do want to understand what is about to happen in my yard.

Especially if the answer involves a crane parked next to the hydrangeas I have spent five years trying not to kill.

What is actually included in the estimate?

Tree estimates can sound deceptively simple.

“Remove oak tree.”

OK.

Does that include hauling everything away?

Does it include the stump?

Does stump grinding mean the stump disappears completely or that it gets ground below grade?

What happens to the wood chips?

Are larger logs removed?

Is cleanup included?

Will the lawn need repair after heavy equipment comes through?

If a crane or additional equipment becomes necessary, is that already included?

I want the boring details before the work starts.

Because “tree removal” can mean very different things once the tree is no longer standing.

Do I actually need the stump ground?

Maybe.

If it is in the middle of the lawn where I will stare at it every day, probably.

If we are replanting or doing landscaping in that area, I would want to understand how much of the stump and root flare needs to be removed.

If it is hidden at the edge of the woods, I may care considerably less.

This is another area where I would rather have someone tell me what makes sense for my property than automatically tack another service onto the bill.

What about pruning?

This is where I would be careful with anyone who immediately wants to “take a lot off.”

I want to know why something is being pruned.

Is the goal safety?

Clearance from the house?

Removing dead wood?

Improving the structure of the tree?

I also want to know what the tree will look like when they are done.

Because I have seen enough trees hacked into strange shapes to know that “we trimmed it” is not always the outcome I am looking for.

If it is a tree I care about keeping for another 20 years, I want someone thinking about the health of the tree, not just how fast they can get the branches into the chipper.

If a tree is close to my neighbor’s property, I am asking questions before anyone cuts anything

Trees have a funny way of becoming neighborhood diplomacy.

A trunk may be on my property while branches hang over someone else’s yard.

Or the tree may sit close enough to the property line that nobody is entirely sure whose problem it is.

Before doing anything major, I would make sure I understand where the tree actually sits and whether the work could affect neighboring property.

If there is any real uncertainty, that is not something I am solving with a chainsaw and a guess.

What happens if you find something unexpected?

Maybe the tree is more decayed than it looked.

Maybe access is harder once equipment arrives.

Maybe there is a hollow section nobody could see from the ground.

I understand that tree work can change once the crew gets closer to the problem.

What I want to know beforehand is how those changes are handled.

Who talks to me?

Do we stop and discuss additional cost?

What could reasonably change the estimate?

Again, surprises happen.

Surprise invoices do not have to.

I care a lot about whether someone is trying to save the tree

This is probably my biggest personal filter.

If I call about a tree and the immediate answer is “take it down” without much of an evaluation, I am going to have questions.

Sometimes removal is absolutely the right answer.

Sometimes it is the safest answer.

I just want to know why.

If a beautiful mature tree can reasonably stay, I would like to know that too.

You can plant another tree.

You cannot replace 50 years of growth by next spring.

So how do you actually choose a tree company?

This is exactly why Garden State Circle built this guide around the state record.

For Eatontown, we checked businesses against the New Jersey Board of Tree Experts’ public register and looked at whether each company is registered, who the licensed person attached to the company is and whether that person is a Licensed Tree Care Operator or a Licensed Tree Expert.

That distinction matters because the licenses cover different types of work.

We also looked at the services each company actually publishes and whether it states that it offers storm or emergency service.

At the time we checked the guide, 10 businesses in this local cluster were shown as registered and two were shown as suspended.

That does not tell you which company will do the best job.

It does tell you something much more useful than a random list of names.

It tells you who the state record says is currently registered and what kind of tree-care license is attached to that business.

From there, the questions depend on your tree.

If I need routine trimming, I may make one choice.

If I am standing in my driveway looking at a massive tree leaning toward my house and asking, “Do you think this thing is actually dangerous?” I want someone licensed to answer that question.

Because with trees, the most important decision may happen before anyone ever starts the saw.