Warranty & Disclaimer

Disclaimer:

We respect your time and we are not always able to keep the exact timing of appointments. We will try our best to be on time, however there are instances beyond our control that cause delays. When you have a scheduled time, please know we may arrive 3 hours before or 3 hours after the scheduled time. We will make every effort to be as close to the scheduled time as possible.

As you may understand, we are in the business of diagnosing tree ailments and disorders. This is nearly 100 % of our business. As a result, we do run into situations where there is no work to be bid on; just information being exchanged. It is this exchange of information that consists of roughly 75% of our client base. We offer non-bias facts about your trees. Unfortunately, we cannot continue this extremely rare and beneficial type of business without charging a fee. There are only a few reasons we charge fees and all are related to us not being able to offer our services to you.

If we provide a service you will not be charged a consultation fee. However, if you are strictly searching for expert advice, information, and or a diagnosis then the fees are as follows:

1. $150.00 if the tree is dead or dangerous (if you call us and want us to determine if your tree is dead).
2. $150.00 if it is determined a service is not needed (this excludes tree pruning).
3. $150.00 if a diagnosis is given (we give free estimates for treatment but not free diagnoses).
4. Arborist visits that are greater than 60 miles from San Leon (office) will incur a $2.50 per mile total round trip fee on all consultations that are cancelled after the trip has started.
5. Local customers for consultations that do not cancel at least 1 day prior to the appointment by email, text or live phone call (not a voice message) and do not show for said scheduled consultation will be billed and required to pay the $150.00 consultation fee. The contacts (emails, texts and live phone calls) are tracked by WhatConverts.

This falls in line with other professional services such as your doctor, dentist, lawyer, therapist, veterinarian, etc. They charge an office visit fee when you want to discuss problems and get information.

When a customer requests to have their trees reassessed that were recently treated within 3 months, there will be a $150 charge to have our Board Certified Master Arborist come back out. If it has been past 3 months from the initial treatment, the arborist will come out when

scheduling permits at his leisure. If there is no potential for the Arborist to show up unannounced (as his schedule allows) the warranty of the treatment will be void.

Warranty Statement From Eric Putnam, BCMA:

It is difficult to place a warranty on living things. There are just too many factors when trying to judge the viability of life. I personally feel that my customers need more than a “shot in the dark” in regards to the time and money they have invested in the preservation of their trees.

In order to help the customer to understand the process, I go into great lengths to explain what they can expect from the service that they contract and how the tree will respond to treatments. Our conversation will determine the level of warranty involved, and there are different levels of warranty depending on the health of the tree at the time of diagnosis.

NOTES ON WARRANTY:

1. Warranties may be verbal, but most of the time they are written out.
2. A warranty is an agreement between me (Eric Putnam, BCMA) and my client about the expected results.
3. A warranty basically covers what the discussed expectations are for the treatment.
4. The purpose of a warranty is to ensure that the customer’s expectations are reasonably met.
5. A warranty is standard on all treatments unless otherwise noted.
6. Warranties expire as soon as the discussed expectations are met. It is recommended that the client takes pictures before the work is started.
7. Warranties cover retreatments only and have zero cash value. Retreatments will be ongoing until the stated expectations are met. Then the warranty will expire.
8. A statement of “no warranty” means that we cannot comfortably predict the outcome of the treatment.
9. A warranted tree may still die after the treatments have been shown to be successful and the warranty expired.
10. Warranties only cover products and services.
11. Warranties do not cover living things.
12. Trees may die while treatment is under warranty. If the tree dies, the warranty will expire.
13. Warranties help to ensure that you, the client, get what you pay for.

As an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist ®, we proudly offer warranties because we are confident about our skill level. Be sure to ask our competitors if they offer a warranty.

Disclaimer Statement From Eric Putnam, BCMA:

We adhere to a strict code of ethics. With this in mind, here are our limits:

Materials We Employ

Biostimulants can be applied in any light non-flooding rain. Chemical medicines can be applied before a rain, usually from 24 hours to 30 minutes before rain according to some labels. Should a rain event occur before the qualified rain time, we may re-evaluate the job to determine the effectiveness of the chemical application. According to labels, we can only put down a certain quantity of chemical per acre, per year, per active ingredient. Simply re-spraying just because it rained is not appropriate. The biostimulant comes out looking like coffee (usually a light cream color to the blackest of coffee). Although we take preventative measures like pre-wetting surfaces before application and then rinsing after the application, there may be some temporary staining occurring. This staining typically goes away within a month or so. The color depends on the formulation being used. Biostimulants are always sprayed over the entire front yard, back yard, or both depending on where the patient is in the landscape–we don’t treat just the tree. We believe that the environment failed the tree, rather than the tree failed in the environment. The whole environment gets treated with biostimulants.

Treatments and Services

Not every treatment works every time. This is why there is a warranty. The warranty covers the quality of the product and services only. The warranty does not imply the survivability of a tree under treatment. We offer a re-treatment until the issues are resolved or until the stated goals are met. You have to keep us informed on the results of the treatment. We have no way of monitoring any tree issues without the help of the customer. The warranty works best when the customer is involved with the process. Not every tree will make a recovery. A tree may not recover in the anticipated way, but in fact has recovered. We do not return any money spent on tree treatments. Our warranty ensures that you get your money’s worth both in time and products invested.

Not every tree needs trimming. Not every tree needs removing. Not every tree needs treatment. Not every infestation needs treatment. There is a real chance that you can call out the Arborist to evaluate your trees and get a clean bill of health. We don’t offer services the customer or the tree doesn’t need. If you call someone out to look at your trees and don’t have an idea of what you need, it can lead to over-selling and over-working your trees. Our decision not to offer you any work is solely based on our code of ethics. We will most likely not want to prune your tree the way you want it pruned. We will discuss all the options for pruning, but in the end it will most likely be me that makes the decision on how to correctly prune your tree. We will not remove a tree that is healthy and serves a purpose. Don’t compare us to the other tree services. We actually care about your trees.

As with life and all sciences, nothing is solid knowledge. The opinions of our arborists are just that: their opinions. Certainly we can cite our opinions which indicates that we operate from a position of knowledge, however, it doesn’t mean that the next tree care company will have the same opinion as our arborists. In fact, we find that we are diametrically opposed to a large majority of the tree services out there. We get by this by citing our opinions and offering warranties.

It will not be possible to have the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist on every job site to manage work being performed by the tree crews. In the event that the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist is required to be onsite there will be an additional fee charged starting at $150.00 per hour, every hour the Master Arborist is onsite. We may decide to forfeit the contract if the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist is required to be onsite during certain times of high demand. All of our crews have been trained by the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist. Sometimes we hire subcontractors that the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist has personally trained. We hire these subcontractors to reduce the waiting times on tree work performed, so the client has a better experience.

Pricing

While it is nearly impossible to give direct pricing in advance over the phone or online, here are a few details that might be helpful. Our minimum for any Physical work performed is $250.00–if you get a quote for under $250.00, you received an undisclosed discount. Our Arborist Visits cost $150.00 per hour. Most arborist visits last less than 1 hour and include drive time completing the hour in most cases. If you paid less than $150.00 per hour, you received an undisclosed discount or accepted an offer. All biostimulant treatments are $10.00 per gallon and have been since the 1980s. We sell our biostimulants at minimum 50 gallons at a time. So you should expect to pay $500.00 to have your yard of trees treated. If you paid less than that, you received an undisclosed discount. If you paid more, we either used more product or decided it required additional products to be included in the spray. Very large trees can require hundreds of gallons of treatment.

Work Performed

Our crews only do work written on the estimate sheet. If you ask the crew to do any extra work, this may result in an extra cost. If you want us to do something that was not agreed to, e.g. improper pruning style, we will most likely stop work and void the contract, as we truly have your best interest in mind. You may still be charged for the quantity of work done. Please review the written text to understand what we intend to do to your trees. If the tree already has been pruned and it meets the standards both parties mutually agreed upon, then you owe for the work completed as long as the work performed is of the quality set forth by industry standards. Obviously if the work is subpar, you won’t have to pay for services. If in the event that this does happen and there is a conflict, we will call in a third party to judge the work performed. This third party evaluator shall be no less than an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist. He/she will judge the work on an A, B, C, or Fail scale and the losing side shall pay the expense of the BCMA. In some cases, we can do a little extra pruning. Over-pruning your trees can and most likely will cause damages to property and even life, many years down the road. Deadwood means about 80% of deadwood will be removed. Through years of experience, we’ve determined that 80% is the most cost-effective price point and with anything more, the costs will outweigh the benefits.

Payments and Discounts

Pay for arborist visits in advance and receive a 20% discount. No other discount is available for arborist visits. You must present all discounts prior to the arborist leaving the estimate. Optimum timing for you to present a discount is after the estimate has been given right before you sign the agreement. After-the-fact discounts tend to disrupt our business model. Discounts are only for in-person estimates. A discount will be considered for estimates that are older than 3 months. No discounts shall be applied to estimates approved more than 24 hours after the arborist has left the bid. All payments are due immediately after the completion of work. Payments are expected the same day as the work was completed. You may pay online via your account on the website. You may also pay by check or cash. You may pay by check or cash if you pay the crew as they’re leaving the job site. We prefer all other payment methods be made through our website’s secure online payment form. Pay almost any way you like.

Cancellation Policy

If we show up to perform the agreed upon work and it has already been done by a competitor and you did not call to cancel before our actual arrival time, you will be charged a $150.00 service fee. If we show up to your job site and you say that you had canceled the work and there is no proof, you will be charged a $150.00 service fee. This fee covers the amount of time our crew has invested in your project at the time of arrival to your place. It’s only fair. After all, you signed a contract. If we show up and someone else is doing the work and it is a cheaper quote and you signed the contract, you owe us a $250.00 cancellation fee. This fee is to cover any embarrassment caused by another crew doing our crew’s work. The tree crew will be gloating over our crew as the king of the hill. This fee will be divided among the crew members as a tip in support of their value. Please call and cancel any work requested before the scheduled work date to prevent any unnecessary experiences or expenses.

We acknowledge that the customer has free will to hire/fire any company as they see fit, for whatever reason. We acknowledge that customers expect a certain professionalism when they decide to cancel the work or switch tree service companies midstream. However, the fact is that most customers break a contract without notice. The unfortunate company that has experienced a broken contract without notice can incur many expenses. These expenses could have been prevented with an advanced cancellation. These expenses are simply passed on to the customer that cancelled without notice. Our cancellation policy allows us to work without requiring a deposit. Deposits ensure that cancellation losses are kept to a minimum. If you must cancel, please do so in advance.

Weather

Weather is not our enemy. Biostimulants work best when applied right before any rain amounts. Most insecticide and/or pesticides require a drying period before rain. Most of the products we use only need an hour or so before the rain. We may choose to re-spray after the rain if the active ingredient does not reach the maximum allowable by law. We cannot break this law. Any application is most likely covered by our warranty. Please do not worry about the weather, we have you covered. If you get rained out, you will be done within the week of your original schedule, most likely the following day. If it’s raining everywhere, you may not get a rain-out call that rainy day. We will call you the next rain-free day to reschedule your appointment. Most estimates can and usually happen during rain events. Arborist visits will likely rain-out like regular tree work. You can be bumped for a rain-out even if your scheduled day didn’t get any rain. Yes, we can rain you out on a sunny day, if our schedule becomes jammed as a result of rain. Everybody on the entire schedule may get pushed back for rain days.

Diagnostic Process

What makes our Board Certified Master Arborist unique is his diagnostic process. Although he may come up with an onsite diagnosis, the diagnosis process keeps with him for hours after he has left the site. As more information comes to him, he may modify the diagnosis and send you updates through our QuickBooks estimate system. This may lead to a treatment change of which he will modify and update you on. This modification of treatment may happen with or without your notice in writing as long as it does not include a pesticide addition. Any changes in diagnosis and or treatment after the price has agreed upon will not change the pricing. Sometimes just before the treatment starts, the Board Certified Master Arborist may change treatment plans based on newly gained knowledge. If the tree has declined to the point of total failure between the time of the estimate and the treatment time, the Board Certified Master Arborist will call off the treatment.

The Board Certified Master Arborist believes that in most cases, it’s the environment that fails the tree, not that the tree failed in the environment. Our stated goal is to bring back the environment to its fullest potential, allowing the tree to then recover. We work on the environment and the tree starts the recovery process on its own.

Marketing

We utilize multiple phone numbers solely for the purpose of tracking our marketing campaigns. Calls to these numbers are recorded and tracked for our own records.