Tree Service by Certified Arborist Thomas C.Luke

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Trees and landscapes planting trees and plants.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Do not just take the lowest bidder for the job because you will get the lowest quality of work you get what you pay for and what you dont pay for you get low quality work with alot of aggravation.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. Yes are you certified by the International society of Arboriculture. How long have you been in business? Ten years.Who is doing the actual work you or another crew. I personlly work on every Job as a owner operator.Check me out at I.S.A.-Arbor.com Look for Thomas Luke in Largo Florida. What kind of Insurance do you carry? 1,000,000 plus Liability Will you haul all the tree material? Yes Yes Yes

Q. What questions should a consumer ask to hire the right service professional?

A. Are you licensed? Are you certified? Is everyone on the Job Insured? What kind of insurance do you carry ? Is it current? How long has the company been in business? How long has the foreman been in business? what kind of equipment do you use to perform the job? Do you have a list of references? Do you guarantee your work if so How?
do you have any special credentials or continuing eduacation in your field? if there is a problem with the job what are my options? Can we put everything in writing, before the job starts?

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. If you need a tree removed figure out what species the tree is, where in the yard it is what size diameter it is take pictures and email them to me or send picture text to my phone.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. We do honest work for a affordable Price in a timely manner. Usually we do not ask for any money until the work is complete unless the job requires such. Everyone we do work for is always happy with our work because we exceed their expectations and we usually get extra, (tips) because our customers are so happy. We constantly update our equpment and eduacation with the latest training in Arboricultur and landscaping, this is a very important to us.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The freedom to go any where in the state of Florida and even USA to climb and work outdoors. The people we meet and the challenges of getting the jobs finished.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. How much does it cost to prune this tree and or Remove this tree? The answer usually is what you can afford.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. It is easy to get a license in this state not most people know that very few Tree Services have Certified Arborists most of them are actaully unqualified.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I likd to work outdoors, and love climbing and landscape work. I love to design landscapes, and plant trees.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. Taking down a 48 ft Sycamore tree in 2 hours. We did this at a unusaully low price because times are slow however this allowed to pick up another 5 jobs from neighbors and family of the home owner and friends, so we are very pleased with the results.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Yes I attend CEU Classes at Ptec and others through the ISA Every year.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. Our most recent job required us to do a landscape overhaul of a condominium complex. Basically we dialed in all the plants, pruned all the hedges, trimmed the palm trees, pulled the weeds, revamped the irrigation and planted new plants. We had to add irrigation to one of the planting beds and design and replace the gardens with new plants, like gardenias roses and Indian Hawthorne etc. this project took about 2 weeks with 3 men and we charged about $5100. The board was very pleased with the work and want us to come back every year.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. No we do not the price for tree work is based on the size of the tree or limbs to be removed or Prunned, where in reference to other structures it is. Is the tree accessible? Is the tree live or dead? How far do we need to haul on property and off?

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Do not rush into it take time to get trained by a professional.

Q. What is your greatest strength?

A. My greatest strength is the ability to be on every Job managing and monitoring the crews level of production and quality of work. I have the added advantage as a owner operator to make sure that every project exceeds the owners expectations and thus this is why we usually are tipped and given referralls to others in the community. We also do not leave a Plant or Tree debris mess when we work, we always pick up and cleare the area of all debris. We love to work and will do every thing possible to get the job done efficiently and safely.

Q. What are you currently working on improving?

A. We are working on getting some "toys" like a grapple Truck and chipper. Also we would like to acquire a 4 acre lot so we can start a nursery and have an area where we can build sheds and gazebos and out door furniture, etc.