Sometimes you need more than an opinion. You need it in writing, from someone qualified, in a format the council, the insurer, the body corporate or the other side of a dispute will accept.
That is an arborist report. We prepare them across the Gold Coast and the Logan corridor.
Council wants supporting evidence. If you are applying to remove or prune protected vegetation, an application with a proper assessment behind it does far better than one without. That includes pest species identification, which council requires from a Level 3 arborist and which is often the fastest route to an exemption.
You are building. Pool, shed or extension near an established tree. You will want to know what the root zone can take, what needs protecting during construction and what will not survive it. If the job is a formal development application, see the note on report levels further down before you brief anyone.
You are buying or selling. A pre-purchase assessment of large trees near the house is cheap insurance against inheriting a $12,000 problem.
Your insurer asked. After a failure, an insurer may want a written opinion on why the tree came down and whether it was foreseeable.
The body corporate needs it on file. Documented tree risk across common property, so decisions can be made and the committee’s duty of care is demonstrably met.
There is a dispute. Neighbour disagreements about overhanging limbs, root damage, or the removal of a shared tree. An independent assessment usually settles it faster and cheaper than anything else.
You are just not sure. A big tree near the house that worries you, and you want a real answer rather than a guess.
Every report is different, but generally: identification of the tree by species, its dimensions, its age class and its condition. An assessment of structure, including the trunk, root zone, branch attachments and any decay or defects. Its useful remaining life expectancy. A risk assessment covering what could fail, how likely it is and what is underneath. Recommendations, whether that is retain and monitor, prune, or remove. Tree protection zones where construction is involved. Photographs and a site plan. And where it is for council, the specific information the council’s form requires.
Written in plain enough English that you can actually read it, not just the assessing officer.
For most homeowners, a full written report is more than they need.
When we come out to quote any job, you get a free visual health assessment of the trees on your property and honest verbal advice from a qualified arborist. What is healthy, what needs work, what to keep an eye on, and what genuinely needs to come out. That covers most people.
Body corporates and strata get the same at property scale, in writing, at no charge.
The paid report is for when you need a formal document for a third party.
Not all arborist reports are the same, and this is the part nobody explains properly.
Arborist qualifications run in levels. We work at Level 3, which is the qualification Gold Coast City Council recognises for identifying pest species, and it is the level that covers condition assessment, risk assessment and the written documentation most homeowners and body corporates actually need.
Some things require a Level 5 arborist. Council determinations that a tree is actually or potentially dangerous, and many development application reports, sit in that category. If your situation is one of those, we will tell you at the start and point you to someone who can do it. We would rather lose the job than hand you a document that gets rejected.
That honesty cuts both ways. Plenty of people are told they need a full formal report when a condition assessment and a clear scope of works would have done the job for a fraction of the cost. We will tell you that too.
You tell us what the report is for, because that determines the format and the level of detail. We book a site visit, with confirmation and live tracking as usual.
We inspect the tree or trees properly. That means the base, the root zone, the trunk, the union points and the canopy, not a glance from the driveway.
You get the written report by email. We will tell you the turnaround when you brief us, because a single tree and a whole complex are very different pieces of work, and if you have a deadline say so at the start rather than at the end.
If the report recommends work, you are under no obligation to use us for it.
It depends on how many trees and what the report is for. A single tree condition assessment is straightforward and priced accordingly. A whole complex is a bigger job. Tell us what you need it for and we will quote it before you commit to anything.
We will give you a turnaround when you brief us. Urgent reports can usually be prioritised if you tell us the deadline up front, so mention it early rather than after we have booked the site visit.
Not always. Many removals are exempt or straightforward. If council assessment is required, a report usually strengthens the application considerably
No. It says what we find. An independent assessment is only worth anything because it is independent, and a report written to order is worthless to a council or an insurer anyway.
