How to choose a tree cutting contractor in Singapore

Ask for four things before you accept a price. Proof that qualified people are doing the cutting, safety certification and insurance, a written quotation that says what is included, and a clear answer on approvals. A contractor who cannot produce all four is not the cheaper option. They are the riskier one.

• Check who is cutting. Certification belongs to people, not to companies.
• Ask for insurance and bizSafe. Work at height over your property needs both.
• Get it in writing. A number with no scope is not a quotation.
• Raise approvals early. The owner carries that risk, not the contractor.
• Compare like with like. Cheap usually means something was left out.

Tree work is one of the few jobs around a property where the cheapest quotation can end up costing the most. The work happens at height, over things that break, and the consequences of it going wrong land on the property owner.

Here is what to check before you agree a price.

Who is actually doing the cutting?

Ask for the qualification of the person who will be up the tree, not the company they work for. Certification sits with individuals, and it is the single most useful question on this list.

An arborist qualification means someone has been assessed on tree biology, on how a cut affects the tree, and on rigging and safe working at height. That is what separates pruning from damage. A cut in the wrong place does not just look wrong. It leaves a wound the tree cannot close, and the tree pays for it for years.

Crystalene has ISA-certified arborists on staff. Ask us for that and ask everyone else for it too. Any contractor who treats the question as unusual has told you something useful.

What safety and insurance should they carry?

Ask for proof of insurance and for safety certification before the crew arrives, not after something happens.

Two things are worth asking about specifically.

• Insurance. Tree work puts people above your roof, your car and your neighbour's property. Ask what is covered and get it confirmed in writing.
• bizSafe. This is the safety certification commercial and MCST contracts commonly ask for, and it is a reasonable thing for a homeowner to ask about too. Crystalene is bizSafe Level 3 certified.

Then ask what happens before anyone climbs. A contractor working properly has the paperwork ready before the work date, not after you ask for it.

• A risk assessment and a method statement. Sent to you before the work starts, not kept in the van. Crystalene submits both once a date is confirmed.
• A briefing on the day. Our crews hold a toolbox meeting on site before anything is cut, so the people doing the work have been through the plan that morning rather than a week earlier.
• Equipment that is checked on a schedule. Saws, rigging and machinery inspected as routine, not after something fails.

For a condominium or a school, add one more. Ask how the site is kept safe while work is going on, because that is where the real risk sits when residents and children are moving around the grounds during the job.

What should a written quotation include?

A number on its own is not a quotation, and two bare numbers cannot be compared with each other. What you want is a scope.

Look for these.

• Which job it is. Pruning, crown reduction, pollarding and removal are four different pieces of work at four different prices. See pollarding and crown reduction.
• How much is coming off, as a number. A reduction should say what percentage of the crown goes, because "trim it back" means something different to each of you. It is also the figure people try to change on the day, once the crew is already up there.
• Whether clearing and disposal is included. Cutting is half the job. The other half is carting it away.
• Whether the stump is being ground out or left in the ground.
• What happens if the crew find something different when they arrive.
• Who is handling approvals, and what that does to the schedule.

A quotation answering those five can be compared with another that answers them. One that gives a single figure and nothing else cannot.

Why is one quotation so much cheaper?

Almost always because it covers less work. That is worth saying plainly, because a large gap between two prices usually has a boring explanation rather than a sinister one.

The common gaps are disposal left out, no stump removal, no insurance, or a different job being priced altogether. Sometimes it is simply that one contractor has looked at the tree and the other has not.

The expensive version of cheap is the one where the tree gets topped rather than pruned. The price on the day is lower. The tree responds with weak, poorly attached regrowth, the open cuts let decay in, and a few years later there is a worse tree and another bill. You did not save money. You deferred it and added interest.

Have they actually looked at the tree?

This is the quiet test that sorts contractors faster than any certificate. Somebody should look at the tree, in person or in photographs, before a price exists.

The same tree is two different jobs depending on what stands under it. An open lawn and a courtyard reached through the house are different prices before anyone makes a cut. A price quoted over the phone with no photograph and no questions is a guess, and the guess gets corrected on the day with the tree half cut and everyone already committed.

Anyone willing to price your tree without seeing it is telling you how the rest of the job will go.

What should you ask about approvals?

Ask early, and ask before you accept a price. Some trees need NParks approval before any cutting starts, and the risk sits with the property owner rather than with the crew.

A contractor who raises this themselves is doing their job. One who has not mentioned it by the time a price is on the table has left you carrying something they created. Crystalene is an NParks approved contractor, and we check whether a tree sits in a Tree Conservation Area at the site visit, before a price is agreed. More on when a tree needs approval before it is cut.

The six questions, in one place

Take these to every contractor you speak to, including us.

1. Who is doing the cutting, and what are they certified in?
2. What insurance and safety certification do you carry?
3. How much is coming off, as a percentage of the crown?
4. Is clearing, disposal and the stump included in this price?
5. Does this tree need approval, and who is arranging it?
6. What happens to the price if the job turns out to be different?